On the Margins of Trans Legal Change - Public Conference

In recent years, Canada has seen significant law reforms aimed at recognizing, protecting, and promoting the growing population of trans and other gender-diverse persons. The changes have been so fast and numerous that providers of legal services and the public have had trouble keeping up, as have many trans people. Moreover, despite these changes, marginalization and exclusion remain part of the lived reality of many trans individuals and communities. Questions arise about who remains “on the margins” of trans legal change, and about the unintended consequences of recent law reforms.

On the Margins of Trans Legal Change is a two-day symposium that will provide a platform to reflect critically on recent legal changes and to consider the challenges facing individuals whom law reform has yet to reach. This symposium will stimulate the development, exchange, and translation of interdisciplinary knowledge and community expertise about the aftermath of legal reform and the possibilities for social justice with, and beyond, the law. We will survey legislative, policy, and community-based solutions that aim to better recognize and protect diverse trans communities, and to advance their flourishing. The symposium will showcase analyses of the current Canadian trans legislative framework and identify its gaps and unintended consequences. It will also foster and sustain a network of established and emerging scholars, community advocates, and legal service providers across Canada.

Participants in the symposium will ask: What can we learn from research evidence and community projects addressing the experiences and perspectives of the populations and individuals whose vulnerabilities, needs, or aspirations legal reforms have failed to meet? What are some of the potential uses and misuses of law as a tool for trans emancipation? Which realities and worldviews do dominant legal orders erase? Where is there space for transformative change?

For information, program and registration: translegalchange.wordpress.com