Building Capacity of Trans Communities

Funded by Women and Gender Equality Canada (WAGE), “Building Capacity of Trans Communities” is a project to position TransSask in an optimal vantage to support Two-Spirit, IndigiQueer, trans, non-binary, and gender diverse people in Saskatchewan. This goal will be achieved through two strategies: creating research on these communities in Saskatchewan and internal capacity building.

Research on Gender Diverse People in Saskatchewan

While research on gender diverse people has grown over the past number of years, research on this population in Saskatchewan is lacking. For example, the only two studies on gender diverse people living in Saskatchewan includes the TransPULSE Canada survey with about 3% of their respondents being from Saskatchewan and the Being Safe, Being Me study that showed only 67 responses from both Manitoba & Saskatchewan residents (7% of all research participants).

Due to this absence of data, TransSask is unable to appropriately advocate for our community. To better understand gender diverse people in Saskatchewan, TransSask will be conducting a research project to learn about the gender diverse community with support from faculty at the University of Saskatchewan and the University of Regina. To accomplish this, TransSask will conduct a province-wide survey of gender diverse people’s experiences and collect qualitative interviews from those recruited for the survey.

Based on the results, we will develop a Saskatchewan Transgender Advocacy Strategy that will inform TransSask’s work going forward. We will hold a provincial convening to review the results and finalize the Advocacy Strategy.

Capacity Building

In addition to our research project, TransSask will be undertaking extensive capacity building work. We will recruit and train additional board members, being mindful that there are few opportunities for gender diverse people to participate in non-profit governance generally due to pervasive transphobia and transmisogyny in mainstream organizations. We will also develop a 10-year strategic plan and otherwise increase participation of gender diverse people with TransSask.

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