Legal Problems Facing Trans People in Ontario – first report / Problèmes juridiques rencontrés par les personnes trans en Ontario – rapport 1

Posted on September 12, 2018

We are pleased to announce Legal Problems Facing Trans People in Ontario / Problèmes juridiques rencontrés par les personnes trans en Ontario, the first report emanating from the research project entitled TRANSforming JUSTICE: Trans Legal Needs Assessment Ontario / TRANSformer la JUSTICE Évaluation des besoins juridiques trans en Ontario (TFJ):

HALCO is leading the TFJ project in partnership with faculty from the University of Toronto, Western University, and Ryerson University. The project goals are to:

  • assess the legal needs of trans people in Ontario
  • identify access to justice barriers
  • canvas the needs of legal service providers (lawyers and paralegals) in serving trans clients, and
  • make recommendations necessary to improve access to justice for trans people in Ontario.

Throughout the course of data collection, and as a core component of the project goals, TFJ team members held public legal education workshops with trans community members and continuing professional development workshops with legal service providers.

TFJ data was collected between May 2016 and February 2017, and included:

  • an online survey of 232 trans people in Ontario (182 completed the legal problems module of the survey)
  • 13 focus groups held in cities across Ontario, with 125 trans participants in total , including specific focus groups and workshops for:
    • First Nations, Métis, or Inuit (First Peoples) trans/Two-Spirit people
    • racialized trans people/trans People of Colour, and
    • trans people living with or affected by HIV.
  • individual interviews with 19 trans people living with or affected by HIV, and
  • 9 focus groups held across Ontario, with 82 legal service providers.

As noted in the report, findings from survey, focus group and interview participants reveal that:

  • trans respondents experienced justiciable legal problems in far greater proportion than the general population in Canada;
  • experiences of social exclusion, harassment, and violence based on respondents’ trans status often caused or complicated justiciable legal problems; and
  • obtaining legal assistance for justiciable legal problems was very rare, such that most of the problems were left unaddressed, at least formally, even when the impact of the problems was significant.

Reports on other aspects of project findings will be released over the coming months, including recommendations for action to improve access to justice and address the legal needs of trans people in Ontario. Here area links to the report on our website:

For more information about TFJ, please visit the TFJ page of our website:  www.halco.org/our-services/trans-legal-needs-assessment-ontario.

 

 

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