David Pepper, a Canadian activist and organizer, began his country-wide, one-person awareness raising-trip, the North Star Triangle Project, yesterday. The project is a volunteer effort to mobilize the GLBT community to sponsor people being persecuted because of their sexual orientation or gender expression.
David Pepper (Ottawa Citizen, photo by Chris Mikula)
Starting in Winnipeg, Pepper will travel by bus to 14 Canadian cities, including Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon, and Lethbridge, with several stops in Ontario before finishing in Windsor by the end of April. He will also be going to British Columbia in May and to the East Coast in June. Along the way, he will be meeting with gay groups and individuals to discuss refugee issues and plans of action. In an interview with the Ottawa Citizen, Pepper said:
“I believe that there are gays and lesbians in every town in this country who want to do something for gay refugees in the rest of the world. If I can help link them up with resources locally, provincially or nationally in a way that helps them contribute with their own aspirations, that in itself will be a goal met.”
Janet Dench, the executive director for the Canadian Council for Refugees, sees the campaign as very important:
“It’s really important that more Canadians think about how they can contribute to giving a new home to someone facing persecution, including members of GLBT communities, who know what it’s like to suffer discrimination. I’m really hoping that it will speak to the imaginations of people across the country.”
Last June, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney urged individuals to use the Private Sponsorship of Refugees Program to support those seeking refugee status due to the treatment of gay people in their country of origin. The program uses private resources from communities, organizations, and groups of five Canadian citizens (or permanent residents) or more to provide financial and emotional support for refugees and sponsors an average of 3,500 people a year. Pepper began his first group of five shortly after Kenney’s statement, with the goal of sponsoring a specific woman from Colombia (her paperwork is still in process). And his speaking campaign grew from there.
Homosexuality is currently illegal in 77 countries and means a death penalty in five of them. Historically, Canada has not been the greatest at accepting gay refugees, frequently relying on outdated methods for determining sexual orientation. Last May, Yaser, a gay Iranian man was deported after the Immigration Refugee Board in Vancouver denied his claim because they didn’t believe he was gay — Yaser was unable to identify the rainbow flag and had never been to a Pride parade (no word on whether or not he could name at least 3 cast members of Queer Eye and/or identify Portia De Rossi in a lineup).
In 2007, a Nicaraguan man was denied asylum because Immigration didn’t believe he was gay. According to a board member, he was questioned because he had been unclear about his orientation when leaving Nicaragua and had not been sexually active while living first in the U.S. and then in Toronto (3 dude-on-dude blowjobs a year is the required minimum to retain your gay card fyi). Additionally, in 2009, Kenney appointed Doug Cryer, a Conservative who opposed same-sex marriage, to the tribunal that decides whether a gay person receives refugee status.
However, at the end of this March, Kenney also announced that Citizenship and Immigration Canada would be partnering with the Rainbow Refugee Committee to provide $100,000 in support of gay refugees in Canada over the next three years. Opinions have been divided over the sponsorship, which is unquestionably important but which was also rather strategically announced during the campaign period for the upcoming election.
The thing is, despite the fact that many groups have called for changes to the refugee process — Egale, a national gay advocacy group, AGIR, a Montreal group, and the Rainbow Committee in Vancouver — individuals like Pepper getting the word out through grassroots public awareness campaigns are still one of the best chances the process has for change.
In the Ottawa Citizen, Pepper said:
“I have tons of privilege and one of the privileges I have right now is the luxury of time and resources. This is about going out and educating and getting the attention of people of goodwill — my generation and the younger generation — who actually care and know that we can help change the world and make it better.”
You can follow the North Star Triangle Project on Twitter or read updates from each stop on this blog.
anybody know if there’s something similar we can do in the US? Also, that requirement to have three bjs a year is so fucked up.
Uh, I think she was kidding about the bj rule.
Also, as far as I know the US doesn’t have any LGBT asylum rules or anything. Hopefully that will change.
That’s a relief, then. I’m really bad at picking up on irony. and in, I think, Turkey, in order for men to be exempted from military service for being gay you have to get an anal exam or submit photos of yourself having sex, so… three bjs a year would be kind of believable?
I didn’t assume the BJ thing was a joke.
Shit, Winnipeg!? When did this start? I missed it, didn’t I… Grr…
Damn, I missed him in Winnipeg as well…I didn’t realise that Canada had such a bad track record with accepting gay refugees, thanks for the article.
At least we’re openly remedying it, which is very awesome to stand behind.
((Woo, ‘Peg pride lawlz))
Hi Alannah,
The Wpg event was great..sorry you missed it but not to worry…there will be other opportunities for stuff including the good work being done by the Rainbow Resource Centre…you can always check with Chad there to find out more.
And follow the blog — my family is in Wpg so i do get there!
D
Will you be visiting Montreal as well?
Hi Jacky,
thanks for the comments! Yes, absolutely will be in Montreal. Not confirmed date yet…but definitely between May 30 and June 11.
Email me so we can keep in touch.
David
What a great idea! It’s easy to feel helpless when you see oppression against your community everywhere you turn, but it’s good to know that some people are doing grass roots organizing to get around it. I would also imagine that being personally sponsored by a group of citizens in the country you’re trying to move to would feel more welcoming and help ease some of the stress that always comes along with such a huge change.
“Homosexuality is currently illegal in 77 countries and means a death penalty in five of them.”
i have a lot of feelings about this :(
That thing of them not believing he was gay because he didn’t recognise the rainbow flag – that’s crazy. There was a similar story in the UK about a woman denied refugee status because she didn’t buy gay magazines, wasn’t there?
I don’t buy gay magazines, or go to pride parades, and am 100% homo!
They would never believe I was gay either! I’ve been married, to men, TWICE…..AND had THREE KID! OMG I can’t possible me a queer if THAT’S the case! I must be faking it! :(
someone get that guy a klondike bar.
Edmonton April 18! I want to help…
Hi there xxbabygirlxxx…
argh! Just seeing this today (in Lethbridge!). Missed connecting with you in Edmonton, but email me and we can keep in touch. I will give you an idea of what happened there and other places.
Thanks again for offer to help. You can still help if you have contacts in other Canadian cities I am visiting!
check it out on the blog!
Best,
David
Carolyn — wow! Thanks so much for this amazing contribution to the project. I really appreciate it. I was pointed to it by a queer refugee in Toronto who has connected…so you have really helped out!
People can still help in various ways — but most immediately I am looking for contacts to meet with in Sault Ste. Marie and Sudbury next week.
Also we have an awesome meeting set for Thunder Bay on Tuesday. Check out http://www.northstartriangle.blogspot.com for the details!