LGBTQ+

With anti-trans legislation taking shape across Canada, the question of which jurisdictions remain safe for trans people is on a lot of people’s minds. Transfeminine jurist and activist Celeste Trianon began producing the Canadian Anti-Trans Risk Map in 2023 to provide some answers. The map colour-codes each Canadian province and territory, as well as the country as a whole, according to the level of risk each jurisdiction’s government poses to its trans residents. Inspired by a similar project in the U.S., produced by trans journalist and public commentator Erin Reed, Trianon wanted to visualize the anti-trans political movement so she could answer the question, “I’m planning on moving to Canada: where should I go?”

Legal literacy is important to Trianon, who is based in Montreal, Quebec. Much of the general population “has no idea what is happening, especially with respect to legislation” targeting trans rights, she says. But some parts of Canada are much worse for trans people than others, and people, both within the LGBTQ2S+ community and without, need to know the difference.

Trianon works from the assumption that every jurisdiction—be it a province, territory or the country as a whole—is at “medium risk” of enacting a law or policy that harms trans people. Since she began monitoring anti-trans legal developments, Trianon has noticed the “biggest shift” in Alberta and Saskatchewan, where anti-trans legislation has been passed, and Manitoba and New Brunswick, “where things have gone down,” she says. Alberta currently ranks on her map as having the “worst active anti-trans laws,” thanks to recent provincial legislation restricting gender-affirming healthcare for trans youth and making it more difficult for all youth to change their names and pronouns at school.

She deems Manitoba, New Brunswick and Yukon to be “low risk” jurisdictions. These are provinces and territories that have taken active steps to be more inclusive and protective of their trans residents.