Canada’s commitment to LGBTIQ+ rights must not stop at our borders

Dignity Network Canada welcomes Action Plan renewal but calls for renewed global leadership and investment

We join with 2SLGBTIQ+ communities across Canada in welcoming the federal budget’s commitment to renew Canada’s 2SLGBTIQ+ National Action Plan. This is an important milestone for our communities in Canada and the result of sustained advocacy by organizations across the country including Dignity Network Canada and our 70+ members. We are proud to have helped secure this commitment. But Canada’s commitment to equality cannot stop at its borders. We remain concerned that the international commitments of the renewed Action Plan are not yet clear, and are disappointed that the budget offers no specific commitment to renew Canada’s international LGBTIQ+ assistance programming. 

LGBTIQ+ communities are under unprecedented assault around the world. After decades of progress, we are witnessing a deeply troubling and globally coordinated resurgence of efforts to criminalize and isolate LGBTIQ+ people. Almost everywhere, LGBTIQ+ communities are on the frontlines of transnational repression, as authoritarian actors target our rights to drive wider attacks on democracy and international cooperation. LGBTIQ+ rights issues are severely marginalized in development aid: just 4 cents in every $100 spent on global aid reaches LGBTIQ+ rights work. Canada is one of the few governments in the world to make dedicated investments in this work, which saves lives, protects human rights defenders, lifts our communities out of poverty, and spurs hope on the frontlines of democratic resilience. At this critical moment, our communities are counting on Canada to build on, not retreat from its consistent legacy of global leadership on these issues.

We also join with colleagues in the international cooperation sector who have, in light of yesterday’s budget, expressed concern over its broad silence on international assistance more generally. DNC and our members have consistently called for LGBTIQ+ rights to remain part of and be meaningfully strengthened within Canada’s Foreign Policy and approach to international assistance. These commitments must be  unapologetic, bold, and backed by meaningful investment. 

In light of the budget’s broad silence on international LGBTIQ+ assistance, we reaffirm our central call: the government must follow through on its existing promise made in the Liberal Party’s Canada Strong election platform, to renew and strengthen Global Affairs Canada’s LGBTIQ+ International Assistance Programme. We call on the government to make a signature investment of $20m per year over five years. This represents a tiny fraction of Canada’s multi-billion dollar aid budget (less than 0.3% of Canada’s overall ODA spending). 

Canada’s new Foreign Policy and approach to international assistance must also ensure that general development programmes do not discriminate against, do harm to, or leave LGBTIQ+ communities behind. We stand with our colleagues across civil society in calling for a renewed Canadian commitment to international human rights, gender equality, sustainable development and effective global cooperation and governance.

Renewing the Action Plan is an important step forward. Now Canada must ensure that its commitment to our communities extends beyond our borders. At a time when LGBTIQ+ people around the world need allies more than ever, Canada must continue to be one.