Egale Canada (formerly Equality for Gays And Lesbians Everywhere) is an advocacy organization founded in 1986 by Les McAfee to advance equality for Canadian lesbian,

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

, bisexual and

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through ...

(

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term ...

) people and their families, across

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. The organization's current executive director is former Toronto politician Helen Kennedy. Past executive directors have included Gilles Marchildon, John Fisher and Kaj Hasselriis. Helen Kennedy is the first woman to head the organization.

Overview

Egale's work includes lobbying for more equitable laws for

people, intervening in legal cases that affect human rights and equality, and increasing public education and

awareness Awareness is the state of being conscious of something. More specifically, it is the ability to directly know and perceive, to feel, or to be cognizant of events. Another definition describes it as a state wherein a subject is aware of some infor ...

by providing information to individuals, groups, and media. Egale has over 3,300 members including people in every province and territory of Canada. Founded in 1986 by political activist Les McAfee, Egale Canada was incorporated as a federal not-for-profit organization in 1995, with a focus on education, advocacy, litigation and expert consultation. The organization was initially named "Equality for Gays and Lesbians Everywhere". As they extended their efforts to include bisexual and transgender issues, they felt that the acronym was not inclusive enough, and therefore changed the name from the acronym E.G.A.L.E. to simply "Egale" (''égale'' being the French word for "equal") in 2001. Egale Canada's partner organization, Egale Canada Human Rights Trust (ECHRT), was founded in 1995 as a charity dedicated to advancing LGBT human rights through education, research and community engagement.

Focus areas

Relationship recognition

Egale successfully lobbied for the introduction and passage of Bill C-23, which amended 68 federal statutes to provide same-sex couples with the same legal status as that of opposite-sex married couples. They also supported union activities and lobbied the federal government in support of equal

employment benefits Employee benefits and (especially in British English) benefits in kind (also called fringe benefits, perquisites, or perks) include various types of non-wage compensation provided to employees in addition to their normal wages or salaries. Insta ...

to those in same-sex relationships; coordinated coalitions of equality groups in cases on same-sex pension benefits and equal funeral leave for same-sex families. Additionally, they have on two occasions challenged the legal definition of the word "spouse." The first instance was when the group intervened before the Supreme Court of Canada to challenge the opposite-sex definition of "spouse" in the Old Age Security Act ('' Egan v. Canada''). Although the challenge was unsuccessful, it did set a unanimous precedent by which sexual orientation was henceforth entered into the

Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms The ''Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms'' (french: Charte canadienne des droits et libertés), often simply referred to as the ''Charter'' in Canada, is a bill of rights entrenched in the Constitution of Canada, forming the first part ...

as a grounds for protection from discrimination. The second challenge was successful, and revised the opposite-sex definition of "spouse" in Ontario's Family Law Act (''M. v. H.'') so that the right to

common-law marriage Common-law marriage, also known as non-ceremonial marriage, marriage, informal marriage, or marriage by habit and repute, is a legal framework where a couple may be considered married without having formally registered their relation as a civil ...

extended to same-sex couples. They also helped convince Statistics Canada to include same-sex families in the nationwide census, and worked with LEGIT to advance equal immigration rights for gays and lesbians.

Combating censorship and promoting freedom

Egale intervened to support efforts to have LGBT pride officially proclaimed in many cities; supported community initiatives in response to the Calgary bathhouse raids; decried the heavy-handed censorship practices of Canada Customs and helped Little Sisters Bookstore win their court case. Egale has also supported freedom of speech for people with anti-gay points of view, including Albertan pastor Stephen Boissoin, who was found guilty by the

Alberta Human Rights Commission The Alberta Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is a quasi-judicial human rights body in Alberta, Canada, created by the provincial government. The Commission was established under and tasked with administering the ''Alberta Human Rights Act'' (AHRA ...

of exposing gays to hatred. Part of the ruling was financial compensation paid to Egale as requested by the complainant Darren Lund (who is not homosexual), but Egale refused to accept the money.

Helping create safer schools

In 2007 Egale commissioned a survey of 3,700 high school students from across Canada in order to gain data on the situation of LGBT students in Canadian schools and gain insight into the level of homophobia and

transphobia Transphobia is a collection of ideas and phenomena that encompass a range of negative attitudes, feelings, or actions towards transgender people or transness in general. Transphobia can include fear, aversion, hatred, violence or anger to ...

in schools. The final report, entitled ''Every Class in Every School,'' was released in 2011. Responding to data discovered in the report which indicates that schools with a gay-straight alliance are seen and felt as being more supportive Egale created the mygsa.ca website. The site provides an online community and resources for students who wish to start or maintain a gay-straight alliance in their school. The site also provides resources for faculty and parents who wish to support LGBT students. Egale has also supported a number of legal challenges involving the rights of youth in the education system, especially the case of

Marc Hall ''Hall v Durham Catholic School Board'' was a 2002 court case in which Marc Hall, a Canadian teenager, fought a successful legal battle against the Durham Catholic District School Board to bring a same-sex date to his high school prom. The case m ...

who wanted to bring a same-sex date to his prom; fought against the ban by the Surrey School Board of books depicting same-sex families.

Human rights protection and combating hate crimes

Egale successfully lobbied the federal government to add "sexual orientation" to the

Canadian Human Rights Act The ''Canadian Human Rights Act'' (french: Loi canadienne sur les droits de la personne) is a statute passed by the Parliament of Canada in 1977 with the express goal of extending the law to ensure equal opportunity to individuals who may be vi ...

to protect lesbians, gays and bisexuals from discrimination; lent support to many provincial and territorial efforts to have equal rights enshrined in legislation across the country; lobbied the Government to introduce more severe penalties for those convicted of gay-bashing and other hate crimes; supported the addition of "sexual orientation" to the grounds covered by hate propaganda legislation; intervened in the Nixon case to support the rights of transgender people. In 2007, responding to the suicide of an LGBT youth because of homophobic bullying, Egale created the ''Report Homophobic Violence, Period'' (RHVP) program in conjunction with the

Toronto Police Service The Toronto Police Service (TPS) is a municipal police force in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and the primary agency responsible for providing law enforcement and policing services in Toronto. Established in 1834, it was the first local police ser ...

. RHVP is a reporting, public awareness and education program that focuses on youth ages 13 to 25 and addresses the issue of

homophobic Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who are identified or perceived as being lesbian, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred or antipathy, m ...

and transphobic bullying and violence.

Community outreach and public education

They developed fact sheets on current issues affecting the LGBT communities; established a Website and manages six e-mail

discussion groups A focus group is a group interview involving a small number of demographically similar people or participants who have other common traits/experiences. Their reactions to specific researcher/evaluator-posed questions are studied. Focus groups are ...

to help keep our communities informed across the country; hosted an historic national conference in Montreal (Rainbow Visions); testified before the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission in support of diversity in Canada's broadcasting policy and to oppose the limitation of access to lesbian and gay materials on the Internet through restrictive regulations; presented to the plenary session of the United Nations

World Conference on Human Rights The World Conference on Human Rights was held by the United Nations in Vienna, Austria, on 14 to 25 June 1993. It was the first human rights conference held since the end of the Cold War. The main result of the conference was the Vienna Declarati ...

in Vienna and participated in the

Fourth World Conference on Women The Fourth World Conference on Women: Action for Equality, Development and Peace was the name given for a conference convened by the United Nations during 4–15 September 1995 in Beijing, China. At this conference, governments from around the ...

in Beijing.

Controversies

Immigration issue

Egale blamed the Conservative government for allegedly failing to help gay

immigrants Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, a ...

from countries that have anti-gay laws, such as Iran, Iraq, Malaysia, Jordan, Mexico and Nicaragua. As of 2017, 72 countries still criminalize LGBTQ activity.

Bill C-2

In 2005, the organization was criticized by some of Canada's gay press for failing to submit a brief, after indicating an intention to do so, to the Canadian House of Commons Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights regarding the potential impact on LGBT communities of

Bill C-2 Bill C-2 refers to various legislation introduced into the House of Commons of Canada. Because Bill C-1 is a ''pro forma'' bill asserting the independence of Parliament, Bill C-2 is the first substantive bill introduced into each session of the Ho ...

, a controversial piece of legislation that revised the age of sexual consent. ''

Xtra! ''Xtra Magazine'' (formerly ''DailyXtra'' and ''Xtra!'') is an LGBTQ-focused digital publication and former print newspaper published by Pink Triangle Press in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The publication is a continuation of the company's former ...

'' asserted that Egale was devoting so much time and effort to advocacy around

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being Mexico, constituting ...

that it was missing the boat on other important issues.Gareth Kirkby
"Egale blows it on speaking out about dangers of Bill C-2"
. ''

'', July 14, 2005.

Leadership Award

In 2009, Egale Canada presented Jaime Watt, a political strategist in the government of former Premier of Ontario

Mike Harris Michael Deane Harris (born January 23, 1945) is a Canadian retired politician who served as the 22nd premier of Ontario from 1995 to 2002 and leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario (PC Party) from 1990 to 2002. During his time ...

, with its inaugural Leadership Award in honour of his role in supporting the provincial law that granted

rights to same-sex couples. The decision was denounced by some LGBT activists because of Watt's role in some other government policies that had been unpopular within the gay community.Andrew Brett
"Egale's gay gaffe: Common Sense Revolutionary Jaime Watt cops Egale's top gay award and has activists stunned"
''

Now Now most commonly refers to the present time. Now, NOW, or The Now may also refer to: Organizations * Natal Organisation of Women, a South African women's organization * National Organization for Women, an American feminist organization * Now ...

'', June 18, 2009. Retrieved June 19, 2021.

References

External links

Egale Canada
{{Authority control Organizations established in 1986 LGBT political advocacy groups in Canada 1986 establishments in Ontario Non-profit organizations based in Toronto