End of year message from our ED Doug Kerr:
The past year has felt like a pivotal moment for the rights of LGBTIQ people around the world. The year was filled with successes and legal victories but also disappointing setbacks including new anti-LGBTIQ laws, amid rising hatred and violence in many countries.
In Canada, the rise of an organized, anti-gender / anti-rights movement, connected to this global backlash, has made many of us realize that we cannot be complacent here at home. What happens in Nashville, Moscow or Kampala has an impact here. The forces that oppose human rights are pushing back – from the United Nations down to local school boards. We should all be concerned about where this could go in the next decade.
But I am also leaving 2023 with pride and optimism in our ability to organize and collaborate for change. When I reflect upon the work of our 67 members across Canada, especially since we were created in 2016, it’s remarkable to think of the growth of our shared work on international solidarity with communities around the world. I won’t single out any particular organization, but within our membership, there are wonderful organizations who are trailblazers at the international level. There are international cooperation organizations that never had conversations about SOGIESC issues until just a few years ago, who are now developing new inclusion policies and partnerships with our communities. And there are many 2SLGBTIQ organizations in our membership who have expanded their international solidarity work. This past year alone saw five of our members start new projects funded by the Act Together for Inclusion Fund with partners in francophone Africa, Honduras, Ghana, Jamaica, Fiji, Tunisia & Morocco – and it will be exciting in 2024 to see these projects unfold.
I’m also proud that Dignity Network Canada, as a coalition, has over the past year, continued to work closely with partners in the Canadian government and build bridges to all parties in parliament. Support for human rights for LGBTIQ folks around the world should not be a partisan issue in this country and we will continue to do this important outreach and education work with our friends at the Canadian Pride Caucus and across all of parliament.
Looking towards 2024, with new supporters including government, foundations, unions and individuals, we are launching a new period of growth for Dignity Network Canada. Our small but mighty team is expanding. We will be launching Beyond Borders, a new campaign to ensure that progress on SOGIESC inclusion in Canadian foreign policy and development aid, continues into the future. We will be ramping up our policy and communications capacity with the addition of two new staff. Led by a brilliant Board of Directors, we are also launching a new strategic planning process to determine our future and I’m looking forward to talking to all of our members and partners about what this looks like.
Doug
