British Columbia Digital Prides

We see you and appreciate you. (Image: Rainbow above text, blue background. Text: I know you’re tired + stressed + juggling and muddling through. Doing the best you can. I think you’re amazing and I appreciate you. Keep going. Credit: @StacieSwift)

Decolonizing Place Wednesday December 30th at 1:30pm (Pacific Time) on Zoom. Cheryl Bryce will share Lekwungen stories and talk about local colonial impacts.... The event is organized by the InterdepenDance Collective, and invites people involved with dance, Deaf, and disability communities to attend. Sign language interpreters and transcribers are confirmed. Please note that the presentation will be recorded. A transcript, video and audio recordings may be made available or posted online afterwards, if the presenter chooses this. We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts. Register in advance at this link: https://us02web.zoom.us//tZUrdu6srjwuG9XzVPcQ2sDFP0wyovNTZ (Image: Lilac lilies with green leaves.)

Christmas can be a hard season for people. This year is complicated by the pandemic and restrictions on travel and visiting. It's okay to not be okay. (Blue background, red font. Text: It's ok to not be ok at Christmas.)

Transgender Awareness Week helps to raise the visibility of transgender people and address issues faced by members of the community. Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR), is an annual observance on November 20. It honours the memory of transgender people whose lives were lost due to acts of anti-transgender violence. (Image: A crowd of people watching a sunset with candles lit around them. A big circle is in the middle of the frame, it is peach coloured at the top then fades into a brighter pink. Three people in the middle of the frame are wrapped in a trans flag. Text: Left side: Trans Week of Awareness November 13-19 Right Side: Trans Day of Remembrance November 20)

Actor Anthony Stewart Head (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Ted Lasso, Merlin, Little Britain and more) demonstrating how one can (and should) celebrate and support trans people. (Text reads: "If you EVER think Anthony Head is anything less than an angel then you’d best remember that I have always been a huge fan of his and we’ve always had a little contact over the years and he heard I’d come out as Trans and was having a hard time and that I was kind of sad that the photos I h...ad from conventions with him were of me with long hair and no binder and they were all signed to Sarah and so he invited me to spend the day with him at his farm and he picked me up from the station and we just hung out and had lunch and he insisted on paying and took loads of photos and had them printed on photo paper the same day so he could sign them to Jay, along with other photos of him as Giles and Uther and he literally spent five hours chatting with me and got all of the pronoun stuff right every time and then he dropped me off at the station, gave me a final massive hug, waved me through the ticket barrier and insisted I message him when I got home so he knew I got back safe." -Jay Hulme (@jayhulmepoet) Images: Two photographs of actor Anthony Steward Head and fan Jay Hulme. First photo has a farm in the background. Second photo shows Anthony and Jay in born next to white and black horse.) See more

Stop Body Policing Body policing is the informal practice of policing someone's physical appearance when it does not conform to social norms. Since birth, o...ur bodies have been guided and governed by an ever-changing but ever-present set of rules: from school dress codes to abortion restrictions. These unspoken rules often disportionally target and impact people of color, women and queer bodies. Just because many people feel justified talking about other people's bodies (especially when those "other people" are already marginalized) doesn't make it ok! There's nothing 'unacceptable' about natural hair, tattoos, piercings, body hair, or makeup. The way you choose to express yourself is up to you, and only you. -- [Illustration of a young person with black and pink hair in two small buns. They have dark makeup, freckles, a nose piercing and gold hair barrettes. They are wearing a black choker, a chain necklace and star necklace along with visible neck tattoos. They are also wearing a black jacket with a pink top and black striped top. They have visible stomach hair and a check pattern skirt. The background is a pink piece of loose leaf paper with doodles. The text says, 'stop body policing.']

"Instead of using BIPOC, the other option when talking about people who aren’t white, is racializedin terms of who it describes, Black, Indigenous, people of colour. Indigenous people are racialized by white people even though they are Indigenous to the land, but they are being racialized by white people to define them. What BIPOC does not do is capture that verb, that something is happening to us the process of being racialized. That is the issue. BIPOC is passive. It’s mi...ssing the piece that articulates a process of racialization. Racialized is 100 percent the better term. ... "Using the acronym BIPOC suggests an interchangeability in being Black or a person of colour (i.e. South Asian, Korean, Chinese, etc.). There is no interchangeability. What it [BIPOC] does potentially inadvertently, is that by lumping all these groups together, it comes across asand suggeststhat we are having the same experience. So the acronym BIPOC fails to articulate the differential ways that racialized people experience race and racism. ...An example of this is within the criminal justice system in Canada. When you look at those rates as an exampleit is powerful.You have Indigenous people, with gross overrepresentation in the criminal justice system, the second [most-overrepresented group] is Black people. Other ‘people of colour’ are actually not even represented, or not represented proportionally in the prison system. So, if you were to use BIPOC as a statistical identifier it would not show the extent to which Indigenous and Black people are overrepresented, it would average it out. If we lump all people of colour together, you would not see the gross disparity in our experience, as non-white people, in the data. If the word BIPOC is supposed to stand for non-white people, it suggests a shared experience amongst racialized people. It makes the situation of our disparate experiences seem much less and far less problematic. It also erases the ways that non-Black, non-Indigenous people can act in anti-Black and anti-Indigenous ways." https://www-chatelaine-com.cdn.ampproject.org//what-/amp/ See more

(Image: A field of red poppies. Text: We will remember them.)

Trans Care BC is sharing a new resource to assist with the process of updating personal identification The Updating ID Guide. This online tool provides information about how to legally change your name and gender marker on identity documents issued by the B.C provincial and Canadian federal governments. http://live-transcarebc.button.build/updating-id/ (Image: Graphics on left side: computer, hand holding ID, file card, passport. Logo at bottom, right: Trans Care BC Provinc...ial Health Services Authority www.transcare.ca Text: Trans Care BC is excited to share a new online resource! The Updating ID Guide The Updating ID Guide is an online tool to assist in the process of legally changing your name and gender marker. In partnership with Pro Bono Students Canada, University of Victoria Chapter, this resource has been developed to provide information about how to legally change your name and gender marker on identity documents issued by the British Columbia (B.C.) provincial and Canadian federal governments. Find information on updating the following: Federal Documents Canadian Passport Citizenship Certificate, Permanent Resident Card Temporary Resident Documents, Certificate of Indian Status Social, Insurance Number Income Tax Records, Voter Information Provincial Documents: B.C. Drivers License BCID, B.C. birth certificate B.C. Services Card (photo or non-photo), Enhanced Drivers License and Enhanced Identification Card http://live-transcarebc.button.build/updating-id/) See more

Osh-Tisch (ó:tsikyap dapés) was a leading baté (Crow word referring to a person assigned male at birth who is a woman) of the Crow nation and held an esteemed position in her society. In the Crow nation, it was not only acceptable for one to be baté, but they were often regarded highly as being the bridge between the two genders. Being baté, Osh-Tisch was allowed to take on both traditionally female and traditionally male roles and was known for excelling at both. She was est...eemed not only for the amazing sewing skills that earned her the right to make the Crow Chief Iron Bull’s a buffalo skin lodge, but she was also known for her ferocity in battle. In fact, her strength as a warrior is what earned her the name Osh-Tisch, which translates to finds them and kills them. Not only incredibly threatening and impressive, but it also refers to the time she helped another soldier by shooting a wounded enemy in the Battle of Rosebud. From what we know, Osh-Tisch had a very good life for a long time. She was accepted by her community, and she flourished. However, it did not last. In the late 1890s, a federal agent came onto Crow territory and decided to enforce European values. (Information from https://www.makingqueerhistory.com///osh-tisch-the-warrior) (Image: Black and white image of Osh-Tisch. To the right of them it reads: Not gay as in happy, but two-spirit as in fuck colonialism. Bottom of the page the text says www.indigenousaction.org)

November 8th is National Aboriginal Veterans Day. It is a time to remember and commemorate the contributions of Indigenous veterans in the First and Second World Wars, as well as the Korean War. Over 12,000 Indigenous peoples volunteered to fight shoulder to shoulder with Canadians in all three wars. First Nations, Inuit and Métis enlisted despite not being eligible for conscription. Indigenous peoples were not eligible because they were not recognized as Canadian citizens ...and did not even have the right to vote until 1960. It is important to remember Indigenous veterans on this day (as well as Remembrance Day), not only for their contributions but also for the battles they continued to fight upon their return: disenfranchised as indigenous people, denial of benefits, loss of Indian Status, and expropriation of their land. (Link: 14 Facts You May Not Know About Contributions of Indigenous Veterans Image: Red beaded poppy with black center.) https://www.ictinc.ca//14-facts-you-may-not-know-about-con

Take a moment to just breathe. Credit: LunarBaboon.com Lunarbaboon (Image: Four panel grey and white comic. All four panels have a man who is bald and a beard. Panel 1 he is standing, it says: After 4 years.... Panel 2 he is kneeling, it says: It feels good to stop for a moment.... Panel 3 he is stretched out on the floor, arms stretched out on either side, it says: take a break from the anxiety and anger.... Panel 4 he is lying on the floor, hands placed on his stomach, it says: and just breathe.. Above his mouth is a line to the word Ahhh.)