Call for Abstracts:
Download a PDF of this Call for Abstracts
Two Spirit, Trans, Non-Binary, and Gender Nonconforming
Access to Justice Symposium
Location: Carleton University, in person and online
Date of Symposium: 27 March 2023
Deadline for Participant Submissions: March 8 at 5pm ET
JusticeTrans is pleased to announce that a Symposium on Two Spirit, Trans, Non-Binary, and Gender Nonconforming (2STNBGN) Access to Justice will be held at Carleton University, in Ottawa, Ontario, on Monday, March 27. The Symposium will feature panels on the results of JusticeTrans’ pan-Canadian 2STNBGN Legal Needs Assessment and community-based research. A panel has been reserved by the organizing team for 2STNBGN scholars (including graduate students) and/or community researchers based in or related to Canada to present their work at the Symposium. The team calls for abstracts related to 2STNBGN justice, broadly defined, to fill this panel and showcase the diverse work of 2STNBGN researcher.
Submissions should be sent in a word or pdf document to Pierre Cloutier de Repentigny (pierre.cloutier@carleton.ca) and Nat Jackett (nat@justicetrans.org) no later than March 8, 2023, at 5pm ET. Submissions should contain the name(s) of the presenters and their affiliations (if any), an abstract of no more than 250 words, whether the presentation would be in person or online, and a short biography of no more than 150 words. Successful applicants will be notified by March 12, 2023. The organizing team may also offer modest funding to assist presenters with travel costs. If you would like to request such funding, please include in your submission a short description of how this funding would assist you.
While the social and legal recognition of 2STNBGN realities is increasing, discrimination against 2STNBGN people is still quite common and recent events suggest a surge in transphobia. Recent studies have highlighted the high number of legal problems 2STNBGN people face and, to a lesser extent, the difficulties they encounter within the legal system. JusticeTrans’ legal needs assessment, focussed on qualitative data, dresses a dire portrait of the access to justice situation of 2STNBGN people in Canada. The study was based on 703 survey responses across Canada and 61 individuals interviewed through various means, representing the diversity of the 2STNBGN community. The research was led by national non-governmental organisation, JusticeTrans, in collaboration with other community organization serving 2STNBGN people and a community research council made-up of diverse 2STNBGN community members. The Symposium prime purpose is to launch the report based on this study: 2STNBGN Perspectives on Access to Justice. Furthermore, the Symposium will serve as an opportunity to gather feedback on further knowledge translation activities based on the study geared towards advocacy and community work.
The Goal of the Symposium is to
- to generate conversation and connection amongst scholars, students, community members, NGOs, and advocates about 2STNBGN legal needs and the barriers they experience regarding access to justice;
- to increase knowledge amongst scholars, students, community members, NGOs, and advocates about 2STNBGN access to justice;
- to develop a concrete action plan to increase access to justice;
- to further translate the knowledge developed in JusticeTrans’ Legal Needs Assessment in shorter and more accessible formats.
The Symposium is funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Carleton University’s Faculty of Public Affairs and Department of Law and Legal Studies, and JusticeTrans.