Queer And Trans Americans Are Trying To Flee To Canada. Here’s Why

It has been one of the roughest Pride seasons on record. This month, the federal government announced a $1.5-million investment in security funding for Pride festivals across the country, doled out in response to growing anti-LGBTQ2S+ sentiment felt at events over the last few years. Meanwhile, Canada’s largest Pride festival, Pride Toronto, is nearly $1 million in the red this year after major corporate sponsors dropped their support. Those sponsors, including U.S. companies Google and Home Depot, failed to renew their funding due to the ongoing diversity, equity and inclusion slashes happening in American corporate boardrooms.

This rise in hate and decline in monetary support can in part be traced to the increasingly hostile anti-LGBTQ2S+ climate brewing south of the border, where President Donald Trump’s government has tabled anti-queer and -trans legislation at an alarming rate. 

Within his first 100 days, LGBTQ2S+ watchdog GLAAD reports, Trump lobbed at least 225 attacks against queer and trans Americans. In a particularly damning move this January, Trump signed an executive order claiming there are only two biological sexes, calling on federal agencies to use a person’s sex assigned a birth in lieu of gender on identification documents.

It’s because of this hostility that many LGBTQ2S+ Americans are turning to Canada for reprieve. Maureen Silcoff, an immigration and refugee lawyer at Toronto’s Silcoff Shacter, says she’s seeing an increase in the number of inquiries from Americans seeking to relocate to Canada. Some are even hoping to claim asylum from the U.S. 

Hannah Kreager—a trans woman from Arizona—is one such case. As reported in The Cut, Kreager, now living in Calgary, filed an asylum claim in June that her legal team says could be precedent-setting for other trans folks seeking safety in Canada.

To claim refugee status in this country, individuals are required to go before a tribunal and outline their case: a story of both their personal experiences and their country of origin’s record and legislation on human rights issues. Each ruling is made on a case-by-case basis.

But while Canada has a long history of accepting refugees into the country, Silcoff says that claiming asylum from the U.S. isn’t as straightforward. In fact, “asylum might be the most difficult process” for Americans, she says. That’s because, historically, LGBTQ2S+ people who have sought refugee status in Canada have come from countries with known human rights violations—including countries where being queer is illegal or punishable by law. On the other hand, Canada does not typically see refugee claimants from the U.S. Claiming asylum is also even more complicated for families with trans kids, who Silcoff is increasingly hearing from: the entire family unit—not just the child—must meet the tribunal’s threshold for refugee status, meaning they must all experience some level of persecution. And many asylum claimants must prove that there aren’t any internal alternatives to turn to—that, say, they can’t try to relocate to a safer part of the country without fear for their safety.

As a result, Silcoff says she will often share other pathways to relocation with LGBTQ2S+ Americans trying to come to Canada “that would get the person the same result: being able to be in Canada and free from the harm that they're concerned about.” A visa to study at a Canadian institution, for instance, can give temporary reprieve to younger queer and trans people hoping to leave the U.S., while visas to work in Canada can be more straightforward for families looking to relocate. 

And even if one LGBTQ2S+ American is granted asylum, it’s not guaranteed that all others will face the same fate at a tribunal hearing. “I think it really depends on the facts of each case,” says Silcoff. “The tribunal could accept an individual as a refugee, but it partly depends on that person’s situation, and partly depends on what [the] says about the laws and policies of the U.S.”

In the remaining two and a half years of the Trump presidency, Silcoff anticipates she’ll hear more from Americans looking to Canada as an option for greater safety. That’s why, she says, “it's so important for the legal community to help individuals make informed decisions when they come to Canada about their options.”