Sawt Falasteen - Canadian LGBTQ community denounces alarming rise in attacks

For years, many parts of the country have been considered a haven where one can freely live one's sexual and gender identity. Canada was one of the first countries in the world to legalize same-sex marriage.

In the five years to 2023, however, the number of crimes and offences in Canada related to the sexual orientation of victims quadrupled from 186 to 860, according to Statistics Canada.

As in other places in the world, "street violence" and hate on social media has exploded in recent years, observes Pascal Vaillancourt, director of Interligne, a support service for the LGBTQ community.

"People call us and tell us about troubles that we had been hearing less and less about," he told AFP, pointing to a rise in verbal abuse and physical attacks.

He says he himself was recently -- and for the first time -- the victim of violent and homophobic threats on the streets of Montreal while out with his partner.

Canada, a "pioneer of diversity and inclusion" in the world, is experiencing a "significant change" with a "marked decline" in public support for the LGBTQ community, says Sanyam Sethi of polling firm Ipsos Canada.

According to a major survey published in June on topics such as same-sex marriage, public displays of affection or anti-discrimination laws, Canada recorded some of the largest declines in almost all aspects among the 26 countries polled.

Only 49 percent of Canadians said they support LGBTQ people speaking openly about their sexual orientation or gender identity, compared to 61 percent in 2021.

"This is the sharpest decline in the world, along with Mexico and Turkey," commented Sethi.

Overall support for members of the LGBTQ community to be legally protected from discrimination remained high, however, according to the survey.

- Growing polarization -

Tensions around LGBTQ issues in the United States are spilling over into Canada, according to community groups, which are observing a growing polarization.

"It has become something that you can be for or against," says Marie Houzeau, executive director of research and social intervention group Gris-Montreal.

The online posts of conservative influencers have also become an issue, she says.

Young people often hear the same types of hateful comments over and over in online bubbles closed off by social networks' algorithms, making them feel justified when they repeat that speech aggressively against homosexuals and transgender people, she explains.

There is "a climate of hate that is setting in," fueled by conservative politicians who deliver a divisive and populist message, says Vaillancourt, who feels that the hard-fought rights of the community are "becoming fragile."

In some Canadian provinces -- Alberta, New Brunswick and Saskatchewan -- governments have announced that they want to toughen laws targeting young transsexuals by banning transition surgeries for minors.

The policy has been strongly denounced by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whose father Pierre Trudeau decriminalized same-sex sexual activities in 1969.

- Violent radicalization -

The country is still shaken from a knife attack last year on a gender identity class at the University of Waterloo in Ontario. A man seriously wounded three people, including the teacher of the class.

Canadian intelligence services also warned in their latest public report for 2023 that extremists against "gender ideology" could "carry out extreme violence" against the LGBTQ community.

In this tense climate, Trudeau posted on X that his government would ensure organizers of Pride marches are provided with "the necessary means of protection" so that "hate" does not harm festivities.

In the Pembina Valley, a rural and conservative region of Manitoba province, south of Winnipeg, a Pride march was disrupted this summer after organizers and local restaurant owners received threats.

Pauline Emerson-Froebe, president of Pembina Valley Pride, told AFP those who attacked the march wanted to silence the community.

"Some people are against the fact that we speak publicly about our sexual orientation," she said. "They tell us not to say anything, to just keep quiet."

Y.Zaher--SF-PST