Editor’s Note, Oct. 31, 2023: We have adjusted the wording of this article in two places for the sake of clarity. The changes are further described at the bottom of this article.
This story was a finalist for Best Investigative in the 2024 Canadian Online Publishing Awards.
Community centres on Vancouver Island have recently come under fire as they hosted, or nearly hosted, an event that community members say was harmful — particularly to people who are trans.
The event — which went by variations of the same name referencing inclusivity, gender identity and women’s rights — took place at the Saltair Community Centre on Oct. 1 as well as the Parksville Community Centre on Oct. 4. The Oct. 4 event was originally supposed to take place at the Cowichan Community Centre but was cancelled and moved to Parksville after community members spoke out against it.
The name of the event sounds inclusive, but speakers included Meghan Murphy, Bryony Dixon and Serena “Freedombear” Winterburn — all of whom have faced criticism for their views on trans-inclusive policies, trans people and gender identity. This summer, Dixon stepped down as director of the Nanaimo Fringe Festival after the community called out transphobic online speech on her social media accounts. Murphy has made headlines several times over the years for her feminist ideologies that exclude people who are trans. And Winterburn has been vocally opposed to sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) resources in schools, advocating for parental rights in classrooms.
Both Murphy and Winterburn spoke at the controversial 1 Million March 4 Children rally in Victoria, B.C. on Sept. 20. These rallies took place across the country, and many — including the one in Victoria — were met with larger counter-protests in support of trans people and the 2SLGBTQIA+ community.
Read also: Reporter’s Notebook: Let’s talk about ‘1 Million March 4 Children’
Cowichan Valley resident Joanne Hughes has been following anti-SOGI protests that have taken place across the country. She is a parent to a son who is trans and says she believes “firmly in educating children in an appropriate manner for their age when it comes to healthy sexuality.” She began to follow social media posts from speakers at the Sept. 20 rally in Victoria, including those of Murphy and Winterburn, and was alerted to the event set to take place at the Cowichan Community Centre.
Hughes wasn’t aware of the Oct. 1 event in Saltair, but when she heard about an upcoming one at the Cowichan Community Centre, Hughes and many other community members quickly wrote to the centre with concern about the event. When they heard it was moved to the Parksville Community Centre, they called and emailed about the event again.
These community centres, Hughes notes, are either publicly funded or non-profits that take funding and donations from various public resources to operate. While she does not contest the rights for people to have different views than her — even if she and others consider sharing them harmful — she says she takes issue with events like these taking place in public spaces.
“It’s permissive tax exemptions, grants for programming and operating, federal funding for employment [or] through sponsorships. They are getting funded,” Hughes says. “Whether it’s through [a grocery store] or a construction company, it’s still public funding. You know, my money goes to [that grocery store]. They’re using my money to fund things like this.”
In recent months, the debate around what should receive public funding support has come to the forefront locally. The Municipality of North Cowichan recently denied property tax exemption for a crisis pregnancy centre that has received public backlash for its pro-life stance and for allegedly seeking to prevent or discourage people from having abortions. Community members also pushed back, ultimately without success, against a tax exemption for a local camp that has come under scrutiny for having a staff agreement that requires staff to identify homosexuality, among other things, as sinful.
Read also: North Cowichan denies tax break for House of Grace Pregnancy Centre
But Meghan Murphy and Serena Winterburn say they feel ostracized and are treated as fringe members of society. And these are feelings that motivate them to continue to hold public events and rallies, so that people whose views aren’t generally accepted by society don’t feel alone.
“I wanted it to be a space for people to talk about something that they’re not allowed to talk about. I mean, we’re allowed to talk about trans rights and we’re allowed to talk about gender identity ideology … there’s no marginalization or silencing of that point of view,” Murphy says. “So we’re trying to have a conversation about issues, ideas and viewpoints that are silenced and marginalized and [that] people are attempting to criminalize.”
Cowichan Community Centre cancels event
Hughes, who used to swim regularly at the Cowichan Community Centre, remembers noticing a sign in the change room affirming that visitors could use whatever change room they identified with. She says that as a mother to a son who is trans, she appreciated seeing that and connected with another person in the change room who is also a parent to a person who is trans.
“I was so thrilled. I went and told the staff, I just said, ‘Thank you for that. Like, that’s just wonderful,’” Hughes says.
So when she saw that an event hosted by Meghan Murphy — who has been vocally opposed to gender-neutral washrooms, among other things — was being held at the Cowichan Community Centre, she was surprised.
Before writing to the centre, Hughes looked up CVRD policies regarding diversity, equity and inclusion. She made sure to cite the policies in her letter, asking how an event that could be harmful to community members and isn’t inclusive was allowed to go forward. She is also part of a Facebook group where many other members expressed concern about the event being hosted at the community centre, and Hughes says others called and wrote letters as well.
The CVRD’s 2022 Official Community Plan for the Electoral Areas includes an Equity Checklist to be used when implementing all policies. The checklist includes self-reflection, identifying those who are affected by actions and decisions, assessing the community context behind a topic or policy, analysis to project how different scenarios affect the community, implementing a policy and continuously learning and adjusting policies as priorities change.
The Equity Framework section of the OCP says “the CVRD applies a social equity lens to better understand the needs of diverse populations in relation to the eight policy areas: climate crisis, infrastructure, complete communities, mobility, natural assets, food and agriculture, regional prosperity and governance and implementation.” The OCP points to a definition of equity as “just and fair inclusion into a society in which all can participate, prosper and reach their full potential.” It also acknowledges that barriers in society exist for some people and are perpetuated through cultural practices and norms and institutions.
Two days before the “Inclusivity, Gender Identity and Women’s Rights” event was to take place at the Cowichan Community Centre, Meghan Murphy posted on her blog that the centre cancelled the event.
She shared a letter written to her team by the Cowichan Community Centre’s administrative and facility booking coordinator.
“I am emailing to notify you that we will be cancelling the upcoming October 4th rental (FA-19201) at the Cowichan Community Centre,” the letter reads. “As a public facility we are required to follow policy under the BC Human Rights Code. Given the likelihood that the purpose of this event is to promote, or would have the effect of promoting discrimination, contempt or hatred for any group or person on the basis of sex, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, or any other similar factor, it is determined this rental must be cancelled.”
The letter goes on to explain the CVRD’s commitment to “providing a positive work environment that embraces diversity and treats everyone with dignity and respect” as well as the CVRD’s obligation to create a “respectful, safe and supportive work environment.”
In response to questions sent from The Discourse via email, the CVRD said no additional information could be provided at this time.
While Hughes and others in the Facebook group she’s in expressed support for the event cancellation, Murphy’s blog post accused the community centre of engaging in discrimination “against women who wish to speak about and advocate for their rights and safety, to discuss the ways in which gender identity ideology and legislation marginalizes women and girls and to discuss the ways in which this modern version of ‘inclusivity’ actually silences and excludes Canadians from having conversations about policies and laws that affect them and their families.”
In an interview with The Discourse, Murphy says she is considering filing a lawsuit against the CVRD and Cowichan Community Centre and alleges that their email to her amounts to libel. She says video from the event in Saltair, which had just taken place, proves that the goal was not to discriminate or promote hatred towards a group or person.
Event moved to Parksville Community Centre
The day after Murphy posted the letter from the Cowichan Community Centre, she shared on her blog that the Oct. 4 event was being moved to Parksville. The event name also changed to “Inclusivity, Gender Identity, Women’s Spaces and Kids” and was shared on social media.
Hughes, seeing that the event had been moved to another public space, shared the information online and called and wrote to the Parksville Community Centre. She says others did the same and were told by staff on the phone that the event had been cancelled. Someone else was told the event was postponed, Hughes said.
Again, Hughes noted the community centre’s pledge “to provide a comfortable, safe and healthy facility where all are welcome” as well as its encouragement of cultural, artistic and racial diversity.
“Our focus is to bring people together, to share knowledge, inspire and motivate productivity in a safe, healthy, socially accepting environment,” the centre’s website says.
But as they watched the social media feeds of Winterburn, Dixon and Murphy, there was no indication that the event had been cancelled — and a livestream of the event was eventually shared on Facebook.
“Throughout the day I was monitoring Serena, Meghan and Bryony’s social media and people were asking them if it has been cancelled and they just kept saying no,” Hughes says. “Meanwhile I’m on the [other] Facebook page saying I think it’s still going on … I think this person actually lied to me. And other people start coming into those threads saying they phoned and were told it was cancelled … so that was really upsetting.”
In a phone interview with The Discourse, Parskville Community Centre Board of Directors president Duane Round says that the centre is mostly run by volunteers, and that miscommunication about whether or not the event was going forward led to some confusion.
“It was never cancelled because it hadn’t been booked at that time,” Round says.
They received the event request not long before the event was to take place as well as “a few emails” opposing the event. He says it appeared the event organizers prematurely shared an event poster before the Parksville Community Centre approved the booking request.
Murphy, who organized the event and took care of the booking with some volunteers, says she did not get the impression that there was any debate about whether or not the event was happening.
At first glance, Round says he had no idea what the event was. He Googled it and came up empty so he asked the booking coordinator to not confirm any booking until he looked into it further and spoke with the board. He also notes that because he was very busy organizing other events, he didn’t have much time to look into the event. But a board member did and said they didn’t see any evidence of hateful views related to the event. They also learned that the event was held in Saltair and couldn’t find any information about disruptions related to the event online.
Video shared online of the Saltair event does show counter-protestors outside the Saltair Community Centre, but no major disruptions were seen in the video aside from some heated exchanges of words. Winterburn invited some of the protestors into the event to speak but they were clapped over and heckled while speaking.
Given what they found online, Round says he asked the centre’s booking coordinator to request booking information from the event organizer. One form, Round says, came from Bryony Dixon on what he says is a private email address with an email signature identifying Dixon’s professional role with Vancouver Island University. Dixon works at VIU as the education abroad coordinator.
Seeing the VIU email signature and knowing the event was held in Saltair at a similar community centre helped Round make the decision to approve the event, he says.
“We based it on the information we had … and we proceeded on that basis,” Round says.
A statement from VIU says the university did not sanction the event and played no role in the organizing of it. It also included a link to a statement put out by VIU in support of 2SLGBTQIA+ people as well as another affirming that VIU is “a welcoming space for all, defined by equality and free from discrimination and hate.”
In a phone interview with The Discourse, Murphy says Dixon was only participating in the event as a speaker and had no role in organizing the event.
Event organizer says ‘trans’ isn’t real
While he didn’t attend the event or watch video from it, Round says he was informed by Parksville Community Centre volunteers that there wasn’t any hateful rhetoric shared at the event. He says he received numerous emails and comments on social media posts — half of which were from people who were upset that the event was held and the other half from people thanking the community centre for holding the event.
Video from the event showed discussion on many topics such as the use of puberty blockers, SOGI 123 and concern about trans women being in spaces that have traditionally been for cis women, including bathrooms and women’s prisons. One audience member asked Murphy if she believes trans women are women — to which she responded no, and that trans women are men. She has shared her thoughts on this topic before, including on her blog where she says she is not transphobic, but that there is also “no such thing as a trans person.”
“Trans is not a real, valid category with a coherent definition, which means that transphobia is also not a real, valid or coherent concept,” Murphy says in a blog post.
Denying the existence of trans people expresses more than a difference of opinion — it causes real harm. In 2018 the New York Times published a story about a federal government plan to define gender strictly on the basis of sex assigned at birth. After, Trans Lifeline, a hotline that responds to trans people in crisis, reported that calls increased to four times the normal amount.
A researcher with the University of Oregon surveyed 100 trans people and found that the national news story resulted in severe mental health impacts. “I feel like they’re trying to erase me as a person,” many people reported.
A 2018 U.S. study found that recognizing the chosen names of trans youth significantly decreases depressive symptoms, suicidal thoughts and suicidal behaviour. Here in B.C., a 2016 study found that school-based interventions to recognize and support students of diverse genders and sexual orientations could lead to four fewer suicide attempts each year at a typical B.C. school.
A 2018 United Nations report links a lack of legal recognition to violence against trans people worldwide, “to levels that offend the human conscience.”
Read also: How does SOGI 123 show up in Cowichan Valley schools?
Two days after the event, the Parksville Community Centre shared a post on Facebook saying it welcomes everyone regardless of politics, religion, race or sexuality and that it is an inclusive facility.
“We apologize for any miscommunication that may have been conveyed on the cancellation of the event and appreciate the feedback,” the post says. “There will be a policy review on the booking procedure to ensure no group or individual renting the facility uses hate speech or discriminates against any individual or group.”
The post says it has over 700 comments, but many are hidden with only 75 visible. Round says some were taken down because they were “projecting hatred” at the centre. Some of the remaining comments thank the centre for giving space for the event, while others call for more inclusive policies.
Round says that due to disruptions surrounding the event, the Parksville Community Centre will no longer rent to the group in future. When asked about what events can or should be held in a public space, Round says that’s a good question, and they’re having conversations about it now.
“We like to stay neutral. We have our personal opinions but when we’re working on or are speaking on behalf of the society, we have to stay neutral and not take sides in any of the issues,” Round says. “So it’s a very difficult question to answer and it’s one we’re going to have to take a really close look at and come up with some parameters of what’s acceptable and what isn’t.”
How can we talk about this?
When asked why the events didn’t include people who are trans or allies as speakers, Murphy says community members who felt left out due to their views initially asked Murphy to host a talk. She brought on Winterburn and Dixon thinking it would round out the panel and give voice to a group that she says is underrepresented.
“In this case, I wanted it to be a space for people to talk about something that they’re not allowed to talk about,” Murphy says. “The idea of having opposing viewpoints is not something that I’m closed off to, but the other viewpoint is far overrepresented and supported in Canada.”
Murphy says others have tried to organize events featuring both her and trans activists in the past, without success. If it were possible, she says she thinks it would be good.
Hughes suggests that one reason why people who are trans may not be interested in participating in a panel is that it takes a lot out of someone to ask them to defend their right to exist.
“No trans person wants to come and speak on a panel with someone denying their existence,” Hughes says.
Since speaking up online in support of SOGI 123 and 2SLGBTQIA+ inclusive policies, Hughes says she has also faced pushback from people messaging her privately online. She hears of people having their personal information shared without consent online or receiving threats in their community and sometimes wonders if she should take a step back as well. There’s a fear of retaliation from people who aren’t willing to have dialogue, she says.
But she understands that dialogue needs to happen, too, pointing to her own family that had questions and challenges to navigate. She says sharing space with people who are different from us, who may not agree with us, in order to learn is important. However, she still questions whether public funds and spaces should be set aside for things that many people see as harmful.
“I’ve had colleagues with different backgrounds and religions. I have colleagues that I don’t agree with. One of my dearest colleagues was from Ghana and was a very religious man … but we had amazing discussions,” Hughes says. “I’m not anti freedom of choice at all. I believe these organizations can exist, but I think they should be funded by people who believe the same thing — not by me.”
Round says he’s not really familiar with issues that have come up regarding this event, such as SOGI 123 in schools or gender ideology and opposition to it. He says he’d like to find a way to bring people together at the community centre to learn more about topics that matter to the community and “provide the space for free for an open dialogue and open discussion.”
“What I have gathered from all these emails and this incident is that both sides seem to agree on one thing — they want a safe and inclusive environment,” Round says.
