Health committee  Yes, I would say that any of the health surveys that collect demographic information should be collecting this data. In any survey that has the question of male or female, we have to actually add more inclusive gender identity questions, as well as sexual orientation questions. I

Health committee  I would like to speak to the work that I do. Something I feel very strongly about is a national strategy on addressing and ending LGBTQ2S youth homelessness across Canada. That would involve working with provinces across the country to develop specific plans for each province tha

Health committee  I can comment. We do have some initiatives. There's the Trans Lifeline, and there's the LGBT Youth Line in Toronto. We do have some of these initiatives which are really great. They are certainly used widely. They're under-resourced and definitely used. I think that oftentimes

Health committee  That is extremely harmful, especially if I think about the population of youth I work with. A lot of these youth need the GSA. They need to have a safe space where they can talk about their identity, and in many instances, that's before coming out to their families, to prepare th

Health committee  If I could add a comment, a lot of the shelters and a lot of the drop-in services for people experiencing homelessness are faith-based. We do have a lot across the country that are run by faith organizations. A lot of the young people I work with have had negative experiences in

Health committee  Actually, I can't comment on that.

Health committee  It depends on the subgroup you're talking about. Each group will have different access to employment and education. I could speak about the people I work with. Oftentimes they may not be able to secure formal employment, because a lot of the young transpeople I work with haven'

Health committee  I think as early as possible, so perhaps even in preschool we can start talking about identity in different ways. Obviously, the way you explain this to a child in preschool would be quite different, but if you look at the books that are offered in day cares and in preschools,

Health committee  What would that look like, exactly?

Health committee  Absolutely, I think that's really been missing, especially with the population I work with. A lot of these young people are quite young when they come out. They're still in school, and their families are not prepared to deal with and to support them and they don't have the resou

Health committee  Yes, absolutely, I think that's a very good question and a very important point. Currently in medical school there is really no training around LGBTQ2S awareness or inclusion; that's really lacking. Perhaps they might sometimes have a guest lecturer, but that might not happen f

Health committee  It is 25% to 40% of those youth, yes.

Health committee  Sure, absolutely. It's really tough to wrap your head around this, absolutely, especially given how high the rates are. We know that family conflict is the number one cause of youth homelessness across the board, regardless of a young person's identity, but for LGBTQ2S youth,

Health committee  Yes.

Health committee  Yes, absolutely. Sprott House is a 25-bed facility. It's a transitional housing program. It's more of an independent-style housing program. It's not an emergency shelter. If a young person has just been kicked out of the home, finds his or her way to Toronto and needs a place t