When Zhya Aramiy was living in Turkey and Iraq, he had to keep his Pride flags hidden away.
Aramiy, who identifies as gay, fled from Iraq at the age of 27 after facing threats, physical violence and ostracization from his family because of his sexuality.
“I was at the point where I said, ‘I can’t stand it anymore,’” said Aramiy. “Either I have to lose my life here, just stay living this way, or I have to save my life … go somewhere safe.”
After living in Turkey for seven years as a refugee, Aramiy, now 35, relocated to Toronto last September. He said when he first visited the Church and Wellesley neighbourhood, known as the city’s Gay Village, it was the first time he had seen so many Pride flags out in the open.
“When I was going out on Church Street, I could see lots of rainbow flags, all over, around me, everywhere I could see,” Aramiy said.
“This I can say is the most beautiful moment, when I experienced it for the first time.”
Aramiy is among hundreds of LGBTQ+ newcomers to Canada who are celebrating their first Pride in Toronto this month, an event that some of them say is not only a celebration of identity, but also a symbol of hope and belonging after fleeing persecution.
The Canadian government says more than 70 countries criminalize consensual same-sex relations, including six countries that punish same-sex relations with the death penalty. A 2022 statement from the United Nations Human Rights Office notes that while accurate data on forcibly displaced LGBTQ+ people is lacking, they are among the most vulnerable of the 84 million forcibly displaced people worldwide.
Toronto’s first Newcomer’s Pride Parade was held earlier this month and more than 600 people participated, according to the African Centre for Refugees, one of the parade’s organizers.
Pride Toronto’s culminating parade this Sunday will feature many LGBTQ+ newcomers marching together, including Henry Bisaso.
The 27-year-old is celebrating his first Pride in Toronto after the African Centre for Refugees helped him relocate from Uganda last September. Bisaso said he had to leave the East African country after he and his boyfriend were targeted for harassment when photos of them were shared online.
“As an LGBT person in Uganda, you don’t have the freedom to really express your feelings,” Bisaso said. He added he feared he would lose his life, citing the country’s enactment last year of an anti-gay law that allows the death penalty.
Bisaso said that during his time in Toronto, he’s met other members of the LGBTQ+ newcomer community who “really give him courage.” Sunday’s parade is expected to feel like a big moment, he said.
“It’s gonna be a day where people celebrate Pride and you’re not scared of anything happening,” Bisaso said. “Because in Uganda, I’ve only been seeing this on TV.”
Latoya Nugent, the head of engagement for the Rainbow Railroad charity that supports LGBTQ+ people facing persecution in their country, said she has also built confidence after moving to Toronto from Jamaica in 2022.
Nugent said she faced discrimination in Jamaica as a queer woman. As an activist there, Nugent said she was once arrested after challenging “a culture that is very homophobic and queerphobic.”
“I experienced, especially after the arrest, a lot of fears and panic attacks, and so on. It just did not feel safe for me to peacefully walk the streets,” Nugent said. “Since I’ve relocated, I have been walking kilometres.”
Nugent said relocation can be life-changing for LGBTQ+ people, and those who leave their home countries often do so for a variety of reasons, such as unlawful detention, community rejection, violence and harassment. For her, coming to Canada made life “more colourful” and she now seeks to help others find the same acceptance.
“I now feel like I have a Canadian family, I have friends, I have a network of people I can call on … I can celebrate who I am, every day,” said Nugent.
Nugent added that challenges for LGBTQ+ newcomers don’t always end when they arrive in Canada. She said the country still has work to do to help those newcomers, such as supporting intersectional identities through inclusive spaces.
“When people relocate, although they feel like they can find community and find community that affirms queer identity, they also want to feel like their racial identity is affirmed,” she said.
Nugent also points to practical challenges for newcomers such as finding housing, which can be difficult if they don’t have financial history in Canada.
“It’s not enough for folks to feel like they’re OK, like their rights are protected. They still have to live and thrive here,” Nugent said.
For Aramiy, support for LGBTQ+ newcomers also means giving them confidence to believe in who they are and letting them know they belong. Part of that will be on display on Sunday, when he plans to march proudly in the Pride parade alongside his friends, celebrating their true selves.
“The feeling that I get here, it just makes me feel home,” said Aramiy. “It just makes me feel like all of these people around me, they are with me and they stand up with me, they support me.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 29, 2024.
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
