Good morning, members of the committee, and the Enchanté member organizations that have already provided testimony today.

My name is Tyler Boyce. I'm the executive director of the Enchanté Network, Canada's national association for 2SLGBTQI+ organizations. I'm also a proud Black gay man.

Today, I'm here to share the real life stories and challenges facing hundreds of queer and trans organizations across this country. Let me start with an uncomfortable truth. The organizations that the Enchanté Network supports should not have to exist. Their existence is a direct result of the gaps in government systems that have left 2SLGBTQI+ Canadians without access to health care, housing and basic safety, yet these organizations step in to provide life-saving services from suicide prevention to mental health supports, despite being underfunded, undervalued and now increasingly unsafe.

Anti-gender hate has created a chilling effect across the 2SLGBTQI+ sector, threatening the very existence of those vital spaces. This chilling effect is not abstract. Last summer, a queer organization in North Bay, Ontario called me. Their executive director, a trans man, had opened an email in the morning with threats against his life. Anti-gender extremists told him that they were going to put him through a wood chipper.

Just months later, I spoke with a mother in Vancouver, and she shared how she stopped attending the local parent support group for trans youth in her community because she feared being followed home. She described taking winding routes home from meetings, worried that anti-gender extremists might harm her simply for seeking the support that she needed as a parent.

Earlier this year, a cyber-attack on TransCar+ in Ontario forced them to halt services and divert their already scarce resources to cybersecurity efforts rather than providing their life-saving care to trans youth. These stories are just a few examples of how hate is not only targeting individuals but destabilizing the very organizations working to keep Canadians safe.

Meanwhile, the resources to address this crisis are grossly insufficient. Canada's national action plan to combat hate allocates 5.5% of its $273.6 million to 2SLGBTQI+ organizations. That's barely a fraction of what we need. When will our elected officials finally meet us with the resources necessary for us to meet this moment?

The Enchanté Network's very own rainbow resilience fund received over $1.6 million in requests from queer organizations in less than three weeks. However, we only had $500,000 to distribute, due to limited government support. For every organization that we helped, three more were left vulnerable to threats of violence. If something happens to these organizations that are left unsupported, the responsibility will lie squarely with our elected officials, who have failed to act decisively to prevent it.

Fortunately, this committee does have the power to act. I urge you to recommend three things. One, provide new and expanded funding to ensure that 2SLGBTQI+ organizations can continue to offer life-saving supports. Two, renew rainbow resilience fund support to address urgent safety needs. Three, improve systems for reporting hate crimes so that law enforcement and community safety alternatives can be best equipped to support our communities.

These are not luxuries; they are necessities, and the cost of inaction is devastating. When organizations like OUTLoud North Bay or TransCar+ face overwhelming threats of hate, it reflects the broader danger of anti-gender hate. 2SLGBTQI+ organizations are doing their part, often at a great personal and financial cost. It's time for government to step up and do its part as well.

Members of this committee, we have a choice to continue underfunding and overlooking the organizations that are quite literally saving lives or to act decisively to protect the spaces and the people who rely on them. The future does not have to be defined by this chilling effect. There is a Canada where queer and trans Canadians can thrive, where hate is no longer tolerated, and where every person, regardless of who they are, has the chance to live a safe, full and dignified life, but we can only get there if you act.

Thank you.

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