Posted: Thursday, 5 January 2006

The Canadian Labour Congress Solidarity and Pride Working Group has been working on the issue of discrimination on the basis of gender identity and gender expression for some time. At the 1997 Solidarity and Pride Conference, a number of delegates passionately argued the need for the CLC to take up the issue of the rights of transgender workers.

Following the Conference, the Group began to work on transgender issues, recognizing that we needed serious input and education from transgender activists to help us define the role the union movement should play. We agreed that the Group would deal with discrimination issues on the basis of sexual orientation and of gender identity/expression.

Since that time, the Solidarity and Pride Working Group has met with trans activists from across the country. We organized numerous meetings, roundtables and discussions; reviewed any number of policy documents; and set aside a part of every meeting for trans issues. Transgender issues were a central theme in the CLC’s second Solidarity and Pride Conference in 2001 and a large caucus of trans delegates made a number of important recommendations. We have also seen a number of initiatives in the labour movement, including several Canadian Labour Congress convention resolutions (2002) and some important legislative and legal changes.

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