More than 130,000 people have signed an e-petition calling on Canada to give transgender and non-binary people fleeing harmful laws in their home countries the right to claim asylum, but that’s already possible in this country.
The online petition asking the federal government to take action launched in January has been recently gaining traction on social media, seeing tens of thousands of Canadians, as well as celebrities, sharing the petition and calls to go sign it.
“We, the undersigned, residents of Canada, call upon the House of Commons to extend to transgender and nonbinary people the right to claim asylum in Canada by reason of eliminationist laws in their home countries, whatever country that may be,” reads the e-petition.
Despite the e-petition asking for Canada to allow asylum claims on grounds that are already established, it’s currently garnered the most signatures by far of any current petitions on the House of Commons’ site, from all provinces and territories.
It was initiated by Ontario woman and trans advocate Caitlin Glasson. In an interview with CTV News Kitchener in February, she said she picked an e-petition “as a means of directly approaching the government with something I feel is urgent and important.”
The e-petition points to recent laws and proposed policy changes in the United States and United Kingdom seeking to weaken protections for trans and non-binary people, in making the case for allowing asylum claims from countries that have historically been considered “safe.”
An immigration lawyer with expertise in LGBTQ2S+ cases told CTVNews.ca however, that LGBTQ2S+ people already are able to qualify as refugees by citing a risk of persecution—including in relation to discriminatory laws in their home country—based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.
“This petition is aimed at getting legal protection that we actually already have in Canadian law. We represent many trans and non-binary people in our practice, and they’re very successful in front of the Refugee Board,” said Michael Battista in an interview. “It’s not like only certain countries can claim on the basis of certain grounds.”
According to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), the federal department responsible for Canada’s asylum policies, Canada has a “proud history of protecting and helping resettle the world’s most vulnerable groups,” and that includes allowing LGBTQ2S+ people to claim asylum over concerns of persecution.
Through the streams currently available, the degree of vulnerability for both resettled refugees and asylum claimants’ cases are considered.
Senior departmental spokesperson for IRCC Remi Lariviere said Canada works with agencies such as the United Nations Refugee Agency and Rainbow Refugee Society to resettle government-assisted refugees, while all eligible asylum claimants are assessed on the individual merits of their situation by an independent tribunal known as the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB).
“In making its decisions, the IRB takes into account whether an individual has a well-founded fear of persecution based on race, religion, political opinion, nationality, or membership in a particular social group, including 2SLGBTQI+,” Lariviere said in a statement to CTVNews.ca.
The online petition is being supported by Green Party MP for Kitchener Centre, Ont. Mike Morrice, who called the legal changes in the U.S. and the U.K. “disconcerting,” and pointed to the popularity of the proposal as a strong sign that Canadians want the government to affirm this country’s welcoming reputation.
“I think it’s so important to be mindful of what Canadians are pointing legislators towards in terms of concerns of theirs. And given the number of signatories here, I think that gives us pretty good evidence of that,” he said.
He told CTVNews.ca he was not aware that the current asylum regime was available to claimants from countries considered safe, pointing to the Safe Third Country Agreement.
However, that cross-border agreement blocks refugee claims from non-U.S. citizens who travel through the U.S. to make a refugee claim in Canada, noted Battista. It does not apply to U.S. citizens.
In a follow up, his office told CTVNews.ca that: “While it may be technically possible… practically we’re not aware of any cases someone was successful.”
It is true that while citizens in any country—including the U.S. and U.K.— can make a claim for refugee status, the issue becomes more complicated when going the step further of considering, beyond having the right to claim, the actual rate of success of these claims from applicants coming from certain countries.
Due to a concept known as “internal flight alternative,” part of the considerations in determining whether someone is at risk of persecution is whether that person could safely relocate to another part of their home country.
“So I think if somebody was coming from the United States, there would be that question of could they go to another part of the country and live safely?” said Battista.
For example, the IRB may look at whether it would be reasonable for an American asylum claimant to move to a state such as Minnesota, where the governor recently signed a “trans refuge” order to protect access to gender-affirming care.
According to Kimahli Powell, the CEO of Rainbow Railroad, an organization that helps resettle LGBTQ2S+ refugees in Canada, of the thousands of requests for help received in 2022, 300 requests came from inside the United States, including from American citizens.
“As anti-trans laws rose, and Roe V. Wade was rolled back, these requests spiked,” he tweeted late last year.
Based on 2022 federal statistics released by the IRB, a total of 293 claims alleging prosecution in the U.S. were processed, and the majority were either rejected or withdrawn. It appears fewer than 20 claims were made from citizens alleging persecution in the U.K.
Some supporting the petition have also pointed to current shortcomings when it comes to existing supports for trans individuals in Canada.
“It’s hard to get people to care about improving trans lives here in Canada when things are so much worse in many U.S. states,” tweeted Metropolitan Church of Toronto associate pastor Rev. Junia Joplin.
“I’m not saying don’t sign the petition. I did, in fact. But I’ve lived as an American in Canada long enough to recognize how folks in both countries have a rosier view of Canada than it deserves.”
While the e-petition is “talking about something that’s already established in Canadian law,” Battista said, he thinks there’s still value in it, for drawing attention to the issue and giving the government a chance to make it clear that this is a valid basis for seeking protection.
“Because most people who face persecution based on their sexual orientation, their trans status, or their non-binary status, don’t realize that they can actually seek safety in another country under international law on that basis… don’t realize that it can be the basis of seeking safety in Canada,” he said.
The e-petition will remain open for signatures until May 26. Shortly after that, Morrice can present it in the House of Commons, a routine move that happens to any petition that garners more than 500 signatures. The government is not bound to act based on the calls in e-petitions, but it will have to respond within 45 days.
Immigration Minister Sean Fraser’s office is aware of the e-petition, pointing CTVNews.ca to the current rules.
Asked whether she was concerned that the government’s response will do little more than point back to the existing protections, the e-petition sponsor said no.
Montreal Alouettes wide receiver Tyson Philpot has announced he will be out for the rest of the CFL season.
The Delta, B.C., native posted the news on his Instagram page Thursday.
“To Be Continued. Shoutout my team, the fans of the CFL and the whole city of Montreal! I can’t wait to be back healthy and write this next chapter in 2025,” the statement read.
Philpot, 24, injured his foot in a 33-23 win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Aug. 10 and was placed on the six-game injured list the next week.
The six-foot-one, 195-pound receiver had 58 receptions, 779 yards and five touchdowns in nine games for the league-leading Alouettes in his third season.
Philpot scored the game-winning touchdown in Montreal’s Grey Cup win last season to punctuate a six-reception, 63-yard performance.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa sustained a concussion for the third time in his NFL career, leaving his team’s game Thursday night against Buffalo after running into defensive back Damar Hamlin and hitting the back of his head against the turf.
Tagovailoa remained down for about two minutes before getting to his feet and walking to the sideline after the play in the third quarter. He made his way to the tunnel not long afterward, looking into the stands before smiling and departing toward the locker room.
The Dolphins needed almost no time before announcing it was a concussion. The team said he had two during the 2022 season, and Tagovailoa was diagnosed with another concussion when he was a college player at Alabama.
Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said Tagovailoa would get “proper procedural evaluation” and “appropriate care” on Friday.
“The furthest thing from my mind is, ‘What is the timeline?’ We just need to evaluate and just worry about my teammate, like the rest of the guys are,” McDaniel said. “We’ll get more information tomorrow and take it day by day from here.”
Some players saw Tagovailoa in the locker room after the game and said they were encouraged. Tagovailoa spoke with some players and then went home after the game, McDaniel said.
“I have a lot of love for Tua, built a great relationship with him,” said quarterback Skylar Thompson, who replaced Tagovailoa after the injury. “You care about the person more than the player and everybody in the organization would say the same thing. Just really praying for Tua and hopefully everything will come out all right.”
Tagovailoa signed a four-year, $212 million extension before this season — a deal that makes him one of the highest-paid players in the NFL — and was the NFL’s leading passer in Week 1 this season. Tagovailoa left with the Dolphins trailing 31-10, and that was the final score.
“If you know Tua outside of football, you can’t help but feel for him,” Bills quarterback Josh Allen said on Amazon following the game. “He’s a great football player but he’s an even greater human being. He’s one of the best humans on the planet. I’ve got a lot of love for him and I’m just praying for him and his family, hoping everything’s OK. But it’s tough, man. This game of football that we play, it’s got its highs and it’s got its lows — and this is one of the lows.”
Tagovailoa’s college years and first three NFL seasons were marred by injury, though he positioned himself for a big pay bump with an injury-free and productive 2023 as he led the Dolphins into the playoffs. He threw for 29 touchdowns and a league-best 4,624 yards last year.
When, or if, he can come back this season is anyone’s guess. Tagovailoa said in April 2023 that the concussions he had in the 2022 season left him contemplating his playing future. “I think I considered it for a time,” he said then, when asked if he considered stepping away from the game to protect himself.
McDaniel said it’s not his place to say if Tagovailoa should return to football. “He’ll be evaluated and we’ll have conversations and progress as appropriate,” McDaniel said.
Tagovailoa was hurt Thursday on a fourth-down keeper with about 4:30 left in the third. He went straight ahead into Hamlin and did not slide, leading with his right shoulder instead.
Hamlin was the player who suffered a cardiac arrest after making a tackle during a Monday night game in January 2023 at Cincinnati, causing the NFL to suspend a pivotal game that quickly lost significance in the aftermath of a scary scene that unfolded in front of a national television audience.
Tagovailoa wound up on his back, both his hands in the air and Bills players immediately pointed at him as if to suggest there was an injury. Dolphins center Aaron Brewer quickly did the same, waving to the sideline.
Tagovailoa appeared to be making a fist with his right hand as he lay on the ground. It was movement consistent with something that is referred to as the “fencing response,” which can be common after a traumatic brain injury.
Tagovailoa eventually got to his feet. McDaniel grabbed the side of his quarterback’s head and gave him a kiss on the cheek as Tagovailoa departed. Thompson came into the game to take Tagovailoa’s spot.
“I love Tua on and off the football field,” Bills edge Von Miller said. “I’m a huge fan of him. I can empathize and sympathize with him because I’ve been there. I wish him the best.”
Tagovailoa’s history with concussions — and how he has since worked to avoid them — is a huge part of the story of his career, and now comes to the forefront once again.
He had at least two concussions during the 2022 season. He was hurt in a Week 3 game against Buffalo and cleared concussion protocol, though he appeared disoriented on that play but returned to the game.
The NFL later changed its concussion protocol to mandate that if a player shows possible concussion symptoms — including a lack of balance or stability — he must sit out the rest of the game.
Less than a week later, in a Thursday night game at Cincinnati, Tagovailoa was concussed on a scary hit that briefly knocked him unconscious and led to him being taken off the field on a stretcher.
His second known concussion of that season came in a December game against Green Bay, and he didn’t play for the rest of the 2022 season. After that, Tagovailoa began studying ways where he may be able to fall more safely and protect himself against further injury — including studying jiu-jitsu.
“I’m not worried about anything that’s out of my hands,” McDaniel said. “I’m just worried about the human being.”
NEW YORK (AP) — When her husband turns on the television to hear news about the upcoming presidential election, that’s often a signal for Lori Johnson Malveaux to leave the room.
It can get to be too much. Often, she’ll go to a TV in another room to watch a movie on the Hallmark Channel or BET. She craves something comforting and entertaining. And in that, she has company.
While about half of Americans say they are following political news “extremely” or “very” closely, about 6 in 10 say they need to limit how much information they consume about the government and politics to avoid feeling overloaded or fatigued, according to a new survey from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and USAFacts.
Make no mistake: Malveaux plans to vote. She always does. “I just get to the point where I don’t want to hear the rhetoric,” she said.
The 54-year-old Democrat said she’s most bothered when she hears people on the news telling her that something she saw with her own eyes — like the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol — didn’t really happen.
“I feel like I’m being gaslit. That’s the way to put it,” she said.
Sometimes it feels like ‘a bombardment’
Caleb Pack, 23, a Republican from Ardmore, Oklahoma, who works in IT, tries to keep informed through the news feeds on his phone, which is stocked with a variety of sources, including CNN, Fox News, The Wall Street Journal and The Associated Press.
Yet sometimes, Pack says, it seems like a bombardment.
“It’s good to know what’s going on, but both sides are pulling a little bit extreme,” he said. “It just feels like it’s a conversation piece everywhere, and it’s hard to escape it.”
Media fatigue isn’t a new phenomenon. A Pew Research Center survey conducted in late 2019 found roughly two in three Americans felt worn out by the amount of news there is, about the same as in a poll taken in early 2018. During the 2016 presidential campaign, about 6 in 10 people felt overloaded by campaign news.
But it can be particularly acute with news related to politics. The AP-NORC/USAFacts poll found that half of Americans feel a need to limit their consumption of information related to crime or overseas conflicts, while only about 4 in 10 are limiting news about the economy and jobs.
It’s easy to understand, with television outlets like CNN, Fox News Channel and MSNBC full of political talk and a wide array of political news online, sometimes complicated by disinformation.
“There’s a glut of information,” said Richard Coffin, director of research and advocacy for USAFacts, “and people are having a hard time figuring out what is true or not.”
Women are more likely to feel they need to limit media
In the AP-NORC poll, about 6 in 10 men said they follow news about elections and politics at least “very” closely, compared to about half of women. For all types of news, not just politics, women are more likely than men to report the need to limit their media consumption, the survey found.
White adults are also more likely than Black or Hispanic adults to say they need to limit media consumption on politics, the poll found.
Kaleb Aravzo, 19, a Democrat, gets a baseline of news by listening to National Public Radio in the morning at home in Logan, Utah. Too much politics, particularly when he’s on social media sites like TikTok and Instagram, can trigger anxiety and depression.
“If it pops up on my page when I’m on social media,” he said, “I’ll just scroll past it.”
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Sanders reported from Washington. David Bauder writes about media for the AP. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder.
The AP poll of 1,019 adults was conducted July 29-August 8, 2024, using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 4.0 percentage points.
