image of a person, walking towards the page, with various shapes around them

Welcome to JusticeTrans

Access to Justice and Legal Information for Two Spirit, Trans, Non-Binary, and Gender Non-Conforming Communities Across Canada

JusticeTrans recognizes that Canadian law is a colonial creation that is inherently oppressive to the lives of many. Canadian law exists to uphold the colonial state’s authority and the unequitable power structures it places upon us. 

As such, the law is often used to harm Indigenous, Black, and racialized communities and to uphold systems of white supremacy and patriarchy. It also has a long history of being used as a tool for transphobia, homophobia, and sexism. 

We aim to use this website to give Two Spirit, trans, non-binary, and gender non-conforming peoples tools to combat these injustices if they wish to fight within the legal system. 

However, we also recognize that legal justice is not the appropriate tool for everyone, and support members of our communities who prefer to focus their efforts on justice outside of the legal system and the carceral state.  

How To Use Our Site

This site is designed to provide Two Spirit, trans, non-binary, and gender non-conforming communities in Canada with relevant and up-to-date legal information. Our information is broken down into national legal issues and provincial legal issues, as many laws change between each province or territory. Use the provincial info tab on our header to find your province or territory, and then if the information you are looking for is not there please look to the national info page. Note that we do not and cannot provide legal advice, and this information is provided for general education purposes only (please see our disclaimer for more details). 

Jurisdiction 101

One of the most important facets of Canadian law is federalism, or the existence of other provincial and territorial governments within Canada. These governments have the power to make laws in certain areas while the federal government has the power to make laws in other areas, as defined by the Constitution Act of 1982. While these powers intersect in some cases, in general provinces are responsible for law relating to education, healthcare, private property, and all matters that are local or private in nature (such as personal identification documents or birth certificates). The federal government is responsible for areas of law relating to citizenship, marriage and divorce, criminal law, unemployment insurance, trade, defense, and statistics, among other areas. Provinces and territories also all have uniquely structured justice systems.  

Because of this, it is recommended to first consult legal resources specific to your province or territory, and to consult with lawyers or other sources of legal aid or information within your province or territory. In the context of our site, our Canada-wide information focuses on policies of the Correctional Service of Canada, citizenship and migration information, family law, the military, passports, and sex work.  

Contact Us

Have you been helped by the information or resources on this site? Do you have comments or ideas on how we could improve
to better reflect and support our community? Did we miss something in our resources?

We would greatly appreciate if you could provide your feedback to below!

Please note that JusticeTrans does not provide direct services to community members at this time.

We are also operated by a small team of staff and therefore response times may vary.

We thank you for your patience and understanding.