Advocate says workplace discrimination comes in many forms

Senator Kris Wells speaks with Alberta Primetime host Michael Higgins about discrimination facing members of the 2SLGBTQ+ community in the workplace.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Michael Higgins: New research, contained in a report titled Working for Change, paints a picture of employment realities for many two-spirit, trans and non-binary people in Canada: 72 per cent of participants reported experiencing workplace discrimination, and 74 per cent hid or minimized aspects of their identity when seeking employment.

I have to think this report overlaps a lot with your own academic research. What stands out, first and foremost, about the window this puts on the workplace?

Kris Wells: I think it’s surprising that not much has changed. We’ve known for a long time that 2SLGBTQ+ individuals have to work to hide, and hide to work, and often have to not bring their full selves to their jobs because it’s not a safe environment.

Particularly right now, with the anti-trans and the anti-2SLGBTQ political backlash we’re seeing all across the world, in the United States, here in Alberta, that really calls into question: How inclusive and safe are our workplaces?

MH: The report points out discrimination, harassment. What does that in the workplace look like for many of the employees we’re talking about here? What does it extend to?

KW: It can be as simple as not recognizing your chosen pronouns, misgendering a person, telling homophobic or transphobic jokes, or not interrupting when those kind of comments happen around the office water cooler.

It could be the backlash we’re seeing to equity, diversity and inclusion that creates a chill on our workplaces and for individuals, on our campuses and our universities. It doesn’t just impact students, but also staff.

MH: How do these lived experiences translate in Alberta? What’s your view on the workplace here in our province?

KW: We’ve seen a number of anti-trans and 2SLGBTQ+pieces of legislation now passed by Danielle Smith and the (United Conservative) government, the kind of legislation we might expect in places like Texas or Alabama, but not here in Alberta.

It’s causing a lot of fear and uncertainty, not only amongst young people who are being targeted in schools, denied access to gender-affirming care, but also being able to walk the streets, to bring your full self to your job or your relationship.

Right now, there’s a lot of anxiety, there’s a lot of fear, there’s a lot of uncertainty. We’re seeing hate crimes increase all across the country. I think people are really looking for leadership from the government to create safe spaces, rather than to try to deny them or take them away.

MH: To dig back into some of the data from that report, the fact that nearly three quarters of participants reported hiding or minimizing aspects of their identity, what does that say to you?

KW: I think any person who’s from the 2SLGBTQ+ community, this is part of your daily reality. You know what it takes to have to exist in this province, and to feel safe. I would challenge any person, if you’re in a same-sex couple, to think about where do you feel safe? Even holding each other’s hands? Is it walking down Whyte Avenue? Is it in the mall? Is it acknowledging and bringing your partner to your workplace events?

People from the heterosexual and the cisgender community don’t have to experience those same daily realities. Is it safe for me here? Is it not safe? Where you’re constantly having to make these evaluations just to simply be yourself and to live your life without threat or fear, just to feel welcome and included in your community. It starts in our streets, it starts in our families, in our schools, and ultimately, our workplaces.

MH: How much of a cultural shift is reflected here in the research? What’s come of societal progress that that has evolved over time, but maybe for some it’s no longer there?

KW: This year we’re celebrating the 20th anniversary of same-sex marriage in Canada, and we’ve made a lot of forward progress, but for many people, it sometimes feels like two steps forward, one big step back.

We’re seeing 2SLGBTQ+ basic human rights, the rights to exist, being threatened and challenged all over the world and it’s disappointing to see that far-right rhetoric taking root here in Alberta. We should be really having our government focusing in on a health care crisis, affordability, not attacking one per cent of a very vulnerable minority.

We know that this is just simply scapegoating. It’s avoiding the real issues that matter to most Albertans. We just want everyone to feel safe and welcome, to be themselves, love who they love, and that should be the end of it.

MH: We’ve spoken with you in the past as an academic, and as an advocate. Now you’re a member of the senate. What has immersion into the federal political dynamic opened your eyes to?

KW: Certainly being aware of the threats to our sovereignty, what it means for us to be Canadian, to be proud of our country, to be proud as a beacon of human rights around the world. With the United States not only attacking our country and our right to exist, but retreating from the west of the democratic world, a lot of countries are looking for Canada step up and fill the void, particularly on human rights and social justice and 2SLGBTQ+ issues.

My work hasn’t really changed as academic and an advocate, I just have a bigger classroom now — the Senate of Canada and Parliament — to really help to amplify these voices and to ensure that the facts and the real evidence get out there in an age of misinformation and disinformation.

Policy needs to be made on good evidence, not on ideology.

MH: What do you see the research in this report paving the way to? What’s going to either drive change or rebuild on past progress?

KW: What always drives change is people. It’s the values we believe in, the ability to speak out on those. We get the communities we’re willing to create. I think this just continues to shine light on Canada and that we need to do more in our workplaces, we need to do more in our schools, we need to do more to address hate experiences of prejudice and discrimination no matter whom they target.

It’s just not the 2SLGBTQ+ community, but it’s our Jewish community, it’s our racialized, our Black community, our Indigenous community.

The question is, why are we so afraid of difference in diversity? This is something we should be celebrating and accepting in our society because of the gifts that it brings. We’re all a better country being a diverse country that accepts our differences, rather than try to erase them.