For the third year in a row, members of the Newfoundland NDP party asked the governing Conservatives to add Gender Identity and Gender Expression to the Human Rights Code. This year, not only did they ask via Question Period, but did so via signed petition - that contained over 400 signatures of NL citizens. In addition, a speech was read to commemorate transgender day of remembrance - which included a thank you to the various organizations working on behalf of trans rights in NL. the presenter, Gerry Rogers - the first openly-lesbian elected to NL provincial public office, mentioned me specifically by name! I was the only person named individually by Gerry. Given that Gerry and I have not seen eye to eye on many things, I take this as a huge and sincere compliment.
While many of the local gay/lesbian organizations, who call themselves LGBT, failed this past year to even recognize that I exist nor engage me in my work(i will specifically reference Egale Canada, Pflag Canada, St. John's Pride Inc, LBGT-MUN, and Planned Parenthood NL), for Gerry to point this out, not only validates my work, but makes all these organizations looks stupid.
The good news, is that unlike most of these orgs, MUNSU and LBGT-MUN elect new boards every September - hence, a chance for a fresh start every year. I am excited to have just recently worked with these two entities on a TDOR event partnership.
Ultimately, the highlight of the day in the house was the answers given by the government to Gerry's two questions. Minister Darin King suggested that any trans person who has not felt justice has been served via Human Rights Commission process, should contact him directly to discuss. This is exactly what I will do, given that I was refused a Human Rights Inquiry hearing by the commission, regarding a complaint in filed against Newfoundland's public health insurance program - re transgender discrimination.
Furthermore, Rogers questioned the Minister of Health, Susan Sullivan, regarding the monopoly still held by Ontario's CAMH - in terms of approving NL funding for SRS. Sullivan essentially indicated that she knows there is work to do, and that she is open to meeting and taking advise from experts.
Now, the challenge for me, is to convince Sullivan that the expert advice needs to come from trans citizens, and not gay/lesbian organizations who are simply looking to build an empire.
Overall, my biggest disappointment was the lack of media attention paid to this. Not only were these historic questions asked in the house, the tabling of a petition for trans rights is also a first, as was a press release I sent out on the same morning, publishing the fact that for the first time, I as a trans person had won a job competition but was refused employment.
Oh well, now comes the continuing dilemma for me - do I continue to get involved? or go back to living my new life as a supposedly post-transitioned woman?
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Saturday, November 24, 2012
NL Trans Community Commemorate TDOR 11/20/2012
After hosting a very successful TDOR event in 2011, which brought widespread attention to trans issues, I was reluctant to get involved in any TDOR events this year, out of a fear of a let down. However, when I was approached by a volunteer team representing LBGT-MUN and MUNSU (organizations which I didn't get along with last school year), I felt it was important to not only accept and reach out, but to take action to put together the best possible event we could. Ultimately, we co-hosted a very successful event on Tuesday night in a large lecture hall in the Science Building.
A statement was read on behalf of Gerry Rogers, the first openly-lesbian person to be voted into provincial public office in Newfoundland - this on the same day she presented a petition to the House asking for trans human rights protection, and the same day she asked the Minister of Health to cancel the CAMH monopoly on funding approval for SRS.
Statements of support were also obtained and read on behalf of Dwight Ball, Leader of the NL Provincial Liberals, Charlene Johnson, NL Minister of Children, Youth and Family Services, Randall Garrison, NDP federal MP who tabled trans rights bill C-279, and Christin Milloy, Ontario Libertarian Candidate in the 2011 Ontario Provincial election - the first openly trans person to seek provincial public office in Canada. An excerpt from a speech delivered at last years event by Noah Davis Power, the youngest person to ever seek provincial political office in NL, was also read.
Also present and delivering speeches included a representative from a local high school Gay/Straight Alliance, a rep from the upcoming national university queer services conference, and a rep from a local grass roots anti-bullying program.
Most of my time on the microphone featured me reading speeches on behalf of many of these others already mentioned, and I joked that the only person who's speech I did not have, was one for myself. I did go on to state that I would be taking up Minister of Justice Darin King's offer to meet with anyone from the trans community who has gone through the provincial Human Rights process and felt hard done by. I also spoke briefly about concerns that we are now seeing victims of trans death right here in Canada. I also highlighted injustices being done to Ce Ce McDonald in Minnesota, a transwoman who was jailed in a male prison after what many have reported was self-defence, against an attack of three transphobic men.
The event concluded with a candle light vigil, which included a video tribute to the victims. Amazingly enough, I did not capture any audio, video, or still photos of the event, so this makes it extra important for me to document this event here in my blog. As historians look back, I think it is very important for documentation to exist, of the hard work done by trans advocates in Newfoundland (even if 99% of that documentation will be about my work).
I was quite pleased to not only see a larger crowd at this last-minute, informal event, than the one I hosted last year, but to see more trans people in attendance, and to even see folks in attendance of whom I have not gotten along with in the past.
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Trans Issues In Newfoundland House 11/20/2012
Gerry Rogers, NDP reads Petition re Trans Human Rights
Gerry Rogers, NDP, Question Period - Trans Health CAMH Monopoly
Gerry Rogers, NDP, Question Period - Trans Human Rights
Gerry Rogers, NDP, Members Statement - Transgender Day of Remembrance
my name is specifically mentioned during the 4th video. how cool! thanks Gerry for all your hard work.
i will blog in greater detail later today
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McCreath to collaboration with MUNSU's LBGT Resource Centre for TDOR Event!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE!
LGBT-MUN (MUNSU's LGBT Resource Centre) and NPATH present:
Candle-Light Vigil
International Transgender Day of Remembrance
Tuesday, Nov 20, 2012, 7 pm
MUN, Science Lecture Hall, Room 2109
Transgender day of Remembrance is an annual event that has been recognized around the globe by transgender communities since 1998 to memorialize the members of our community who have died in the past year as a result of transphobic and other gender-motivated hatred, violence and discrimination. In addition to paying respect and recognition to the victims, we express love and respect for transgender members of our community who live in the face of widespread discrimination. We encourage allies to join us in memorializing and celebrating those we have lost and to be reminded that transgender people are your sons, daughters, parents, friends and neighbors.
Newfoundland Patients Association for Transgender Health (NPATH.net) & Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador's Lesbian Bisexual Gay and Transgender resource centre will present an event that will pay tribute to our fallen peers, and raise education and awareness to current transgender issues, through speeches from prominent members of the local Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender community.
NPATH is a soon-to-be launched non-profit society that will undertake a mandate of undertaking educational and legal activism work to ensure transsexuals and other members of the trans* community of Newfoundland and Labrador can gain fair and equal access to health care products, services, and funding.
Questions, comments, or media inquiries:
Jennifer McCreath
Monday, November 19, 2012
NL Government Refuses to Hire Transgender! Excuses kept Secret!
NL Government Refuses to Hire Transgender! Excuses kept Secret!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Nov 20, 2012
Jennifer McCreath became a public figure in Newfoundland when she made mainstream news, first, for being a transsexual government senior policy analyst in 2008, and then, for suddenly losing what was supposedly a safe and secure job, in early 2009. After a year of unemployment, three years as a temporary file clerk, and several 'runner up' job competitions, McCreath finally ranked #1 in a permanent job competition, last month, for a role that would have seen her oversee the Records Centre for the Department of Information, Business and Rural Development. However, McCreath was advised days later that Deputy Minister, Brent Meade, was not going to sign off on the competition committee's recommendation and that she would not be offered the job. When asked to see the paper work of why, she was told it was 'confidential'. She was told, however, that a secondary evaluation had been conducted (something that is only done for unionized jobs; however, this job was posted as non-bargaining). When asked why a secondary evaluation was conducted on this job, she was advised it was a coincident mistake. She was then told the competition would be cancelled outright.
McCreath is not new to 'coincidental' job competition controversies. Shortly after her position was phased out in 2009, a new job was posted that was very similar. McCreath applied but was not even offered an interview. Five years ago, McCreath was employed by the Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO), where she co-wrote policies, procedures, and guidelines for how Government bodies should protect their information resources. She also managed and delivered a privacy review program that insured that all OCIO projects were compliant with the newly-proclaimed privacy provisions of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy (ATIPP) Act, through collaborative work with Department of Justice's ATIPP Coordinator's Office and the House of Assembly's Information Management Branch.
Coincidentally enough, McCreath has interviewed for work twice over at the Department of Justice's ATIPP office, and once at the HoA's Information Management Branch, and was not offered work on any of those three occasions. She has also unsuccessfully interviewed for analyst or senior analyst level information management and/or information privacy work with the NL Centre for Health Information, Western Health, and Central Health, as well as for not less than ten other different provincial Government departments.
McCreath feels extremely frustrated that despite a Bachelor Degree and a College Diploma, as well as what is now seven years of experience in the field of information management and protection, that she has been unable to secure employment beyond a clerical level. McCreath is further frustrated that with recent amendments to the province's ATIPP Act, through the controversial Bill 29, Government now has a legal right to refuse to disclose information pertaining to her job competitions; hence, McCreath may never know for sure, whether she loses these competitions due to merit, or discrimination.
"While I may not have any concrete proof of discrimination, it seems very strange that there always seems to be a rare exception or loop hole that keeps me from finding work at the analyst or senior analyst level," McCreath said. "Not only is it tough to go from a $60000/yr job to a $30,000/yr job, but to find myself stuck paying for much of my own health care, compounds the problem, not to mention, student-debt that still remains from over a decade ago. Explicit Human Rights protection, much like the protection recently added to Ontario and Manitoba's Human Rights Acts, would send a strong message to everyone that trans people are people, and deserve respect and equality that clearly does not yet exist here, both legally or morally, in society. It is perhaps needed here, even more so than in the big cities on the mainland. Heck, most trans people in Newfoundland are chronically underemployed, live in poverty, have insufficient access to health care funding, and even fear for their own physical safety. This is not right!"
As a former ATIPP professional, McCreath was alarmed when she first read Bill 29 earlier this year, and immediately took note of clause 22.1.a. "One of the ten international principles of access and privacy, is ensuring individuals have access to information about them that is under the custody and control of Government. To say now, that job competition screening and job interview notes are 'confidential', not only violates a fundamental principle, but it opens the door for discrimination and/or corruption to be hidden under a blanket of secrecy. Sadly enough, my friends have dubbed 22.1.a, the McCreath Clause," said Jennifer.
Since starting her transition from male to female, McCreath has lost family, friends, employment, and housing. She has been refused leases by landlords, been detained at airport customs and missed flights, been denied health care, been denied health care funding, has had complaints rejected by the Human Rights Commission of NL, and has even been ask not to use public washrooms.
McCreath is one of Canada's best-known and most-respected transgender rights activists. A portfolio of her work and her media appearances is posted here: http://jennifermccreath.blogspot.ca/2012/09/jennifer-mccreaths-media-portfolio.html and a full bio of her is posted here:http://jennifermccreath.blogspot.ca/2012/11/updated-bio-11012012.html.
The global trans community is commemorating International Transgender Awareness Week, including Transgender Day of Remembrance on Nov 20. McCreath will be co-hosting and delivering a keynote address at an event Tuesday night, Nov 20, 2012, 7 pm, at MUN University in Science Building room 2109. McCreath also plans to be in attendance in the Gallery of the HoA on Tuesday afternoon during Question Period, when it is anticipated that members of the NDP will recognize Transgender Day of Remembrance, and will ask the Government questions about trans issues.
inquiries or interviews:
Jennifer McCreath,
info@jennifermccreath.com
709-753-9529
or in person after Question Period and after MUN event.
Follow @Jenn_McCreath Tweet
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Nov 20, 2012
Jennifer McCreath became a public figure in Newfoundland when she made mainstream news, first, for being a transsexual government senior policy analyst in 2008, and then, for suddenly losing what was supposedly a safe and secure job, in early 2009. After a year of unemployment, three years as a temporary file clerk, and several 'runner up' job competitions, McCreath finally ranked #1 in a permanent job competition, last month, for a role that would have seen her oversee the Records Centre for the Department of Information, Business and Rural Development. However, McCreath was advised days later that Deputy Minister, Brent Meade, was not going to sign off on the competition committee's recommendation and that she would not be offered the job. When asked to see the paper work of why, she was told it was 'confidential'. She was told, however, that a secondary evaluation had been conducted (something that is only done for unionized jobs; however, this job was posted as non-bargaining). When asked why a secondary evaluation was conducted on this job, she was advised it was a coincident mistake. She was then told the competition would be cancelled outright.
McCreath is not new to 'coincidental' job competition controversies. Shortly after her position was phased out in 2009, a new job was posted that was very similar. McCreath applied but was not even offered an interview. Five years ago, McCreath was employed by the Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO), where she co-wrote policies, procedures, and guidelines for how Government bodies should protect their information resources. She also managed and delivered a privacy review program that insured that all OCIO projects were compliant with the newly-proclaimed privacy provisions of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy (ATIPP) Act, through collaborative work with Department of Justice's ATIPP Coordinator's Office and the House of Assembly's Information Management Branch.
Coincidentally enough, McCreath has interviewed for work twice over at the Department of Justice's ATIPP office, and once at the HoA's Information Management Branch, and was not offered work on any of those three occasions. She has also unsuccessfully interviewed for analyst or senior analyst level information management and/or information privacy work with the NL Centre for Health Information, Western Health, and Central Health, as well as for not less than ten other different provincial Government departments.
McCreath feels extremely frustrated that despite a Bachelor Degree and a College Diploma, as well as what is now seven years of experience in the field of information management and protection, that she has been unable to secure employment beyond a clerical level. McCreath is further frustrated that with recent amendments to the province's ATIPP Act, through the controversial Bill 29, Government now has a legal right to refuse to disclose information pertaining to her job competitions; hence, McCreath may never know for sure, whether she loses these competitions due to merit, or discrimination.
"While I may not have any concrete proof of discrimination, it seems very strange that there always seems to be a rare exception or loop hole that keeps me from finding work at the analyst or senior analyst level," McCreath said. "Not only is it tough to go from a $60000/yr job to a $30,000/yr job, but to find myself stuck paying for much of my own health care, compounds the problem, not to mention, student-debt that still remains from over a decade ago. Explicit Human Rights protection, much like the protection recently added to Ontario and Manitoba's Human Rights Acts, would send a strong message to everyone that trans people are people, and deserve respect and equality that clearly does not yet exist here, both legally or morally, in society. It is perhaps needed here, even more so than in the big cities on the mainland. Heck, most trans people in Newfoundland are chronically underemployed, live in poverty, have insufficient access to health care funding, and even fear for their own physical safety. This is not right!"
As a former ATIPP professional, McCreath was alarmed when she first read Bill 29 earlier this year, and immediately took note of clause 22.1.a. "One of the ten international principles of access and privacy, is ensuring individuals have access to information about them that is under the custody and control of Government. To say now, that job competition screening and job interview notes are 'confidential', not only violates a fundamental principle, but it opens the door for discrimination and/or corruption to be hidden under a blanket of secrecy. Sadly enough, my friends have dubbed 22.1.a, the McCreath Clause," said Jennifer.
Since starting her transition from male to female, McCreath has lost family, friends, employment, and housing. She has been refused leases by landlords, been detained at airport customs and missed flights, been denied health care, been denied health care funding, has had complaints rejected by the Human Rights Commission of NL, and has even been ask not to use public washrooms.
McCreath is one of Canada's best-known and most-respected transgender rights activists. A portfolio of her work and her media appearances is posted here: http://jennifermccreath.blogspot.ca/2012/09/jennifer-mccreaths-media-portfolio.html and a full bio of her is posted here:http://jennifermccreath.blogspot.ca/2012/11/updated-bio-11012012.html.
The global trans community is commemorating International Transgender Awareness Week, including Transgender Day of Remembrance on Nov 20. McCreath will be co-hosting and delivering a keynote address at an event Tuesday night, Nov 20, 2012, 7 pm, at MUN University in Science Building room 2109. McCreath also plans to be in attendance in the Gallery of the HoA on Tuesday afternoon during Question Period, when it is anticipated that members of the NDP will recognize Transgender Day of Remembrance, and will ask the Government questions about trans issues.
inquiries or interviews:
Jennifer McCreath,
info@jennifermccreath.com
709-753-9529
or in person after Question Period and after MUN event.
Follow @Jenn_McCreath Tweet
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
It Gets Worse! My response to Vancouver RCMP gay video 11/14/2012
While many members of the gay adult world have come out with videos suggesting to the gay youth of this world, that 'it gets better,' when it was brought to my attention that gay RCMP officers formerly from Newfoundland and currently working in Vancouver, had not only put together a video, but were doing a live phone in show, I couldn't resist the opportunity to call in and remind everyone that life in Newfoundland for members of the trans community, of all ages, is still very tough.
While the goal should be to take steps to make the world better for LGB and T people of all ages, it isn't going to magically happen. It takes a significant amount of work - including major sacrifices from altruistic activists. far too often, the issues facing trans people are overlooked. How coincident that a friend pointed out that the word 'trans' was only mentioned once within this near 10 minute video.
I felt it was important to remind everyone that those public figures who come out publicly and do advocacy and activism work, generally do not benefit personally. In fact, while their efforts help to educate society, their life often becomes even more challenging. Cue my life story over the past 5 years.
To hear my clip on the radio, as well as a brief assessment, check out my vlog here!
Follow @Jenn_McCreath Tweet
While the goal should be to take steps to make the world better for LGB and T people of all ages, it isn't going to magically happen. It takes a significant amount of work - including major sacrifices from altruistic activists. far too often, the issues facing trans people are overlooked. How coincident that a friend pointed out that the word 'trans' was only mentioned once within this near 10 minute video.
I felt it was important to remind everyone that those public figures who come out publicly and do advocacy and activism work, generally do not benefit personally. In fact, while their efforts help to educate society, their life often becomes even more challenging. Cue my life story over the past 5 years.
To hear my clip on the radio, as well as a brief assessment, check out my vlog here!
Follow @Jenn_McCreath Tweet
Monday, November 12, 2012
on a roll with my NFL pics! 11/12/2012
Wow, 93-52 so far this year for me with my game picks! this has got to be the best first half of an NFL season that i have ever had - in this my 20th year of following the sport. Sure, some of it fluke, but lots of these pics include some well-thought upsets. Even against the spread, i find myself at 75-68, which is not to bad either. Funny how my pics are better than almost all major television analysts who also pic the games each week - including the likes of Dan Marino, Boomer Esiason, Bill Cowher and Shannon Sharpe from CBS; Terry Bradshaw, Michael Strahan, Howie Long and Jimmy Johnson from Fox, and Cris Carter, Keyshawn Johnson, Tom Jackson and Mike Ditka from ESPN. Only Chris Berman from ESPN has better picks than i do, so far this seasons, out of all these guys!
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what does all this really mean? well, nothing really. there's no way i would ever put money on these games. as i still have no confidence in my pics. but sure, it's fun to have the bragging rights to say i am better than the guys who get paid to make these pics!
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