Local NDP MP drops from NDP
leadership race

> Peter Julian’s campaign fails due to low funds

Mercedes Deutscher
News Editor

 

s the battle for the federal NDP

leadership continues, a local
candidate has officially withdrawn.

On July 6, Peter Julian announced
at Parliament Hill that he would be
dropping out of the leadership race
due to the low level of donations
to his leadership campaign.

“We were not at the level that
we needed to be to move forward
for a national campaign that is
entering the most critical phase,”
Julian told the National Post. “You
have to be honest with yourself.”

Julian’s campaign funds trailed
behind those of other leadership
candidates. Julian’s campaign held
$19,143— a very low total compared to
Guy Caron’s (Quebec) $57,235, Niki
Ashton’s (Manitoba) $65,521, or Charlie
Angus’ (Ontario) $110,765. Jagmeet
Singh, an MP in Ontario, entered the
leadership race in May, and his campaign
funds have yet to be announced.

“One of the ways that members
express their appreciation, express
their support, is by giving financial
donations,” Julian said to CBC.

“In this semester that just finished,
we were far below where we needed to
be in terms of financial donations. |
accept the verdict of the membership.”

Still, all money that Julian had
raised was from his supporters.

“I’ve seen the graveyard of politicians
who have invested a lot of their personal
money because they thought they could
change the dynamic financially, and
many of those people [...] are still paying
off huge debts,” Julian said to CTV.

In spite of his unsuccessful
fundraising campaign, Julian had
received more endorsements than any
other NDP leadership candidate. This
included six caucus endorsements.

Julian added that he would be

endorsing one of the remaining leadership

candidates, but would announce his
endorsement at a later and undetermined
date. He noted that he had tremendous
respect for the remaining candidates, a

sentiment that was returned to Julian.
Julian, who has been the Member
of Parliament for New Westminster
since 2004, was the first to announce his
candidacy for leadership of the federal
NDP back in February. He planned on
running on a platform of eliminating
post-secondary tuition fees, opposing
pipelines, finding sustainable answers to
climate change, protecting Indigenous

 

Photo via ipolitics.ca

rights, and reducing economic inequality.

Despite Julian’s personal leadership
run coming to a close, his policies have
been adopted and modified by other

leadership candidates, notably by Singh.

Members of the NDP will vote
via preferential ballot starting on
September 18 through to October 29.
The successful candidate will succeed
incumbent leader Tom Mulcair.

The fight isn't over: Stonewall and beyond

> Douglas College shows its pride

Jessica Berget
Staff Writer

 

On July 27, the DSU Pride hosted “The
Fight Isn’t Over: Stonewall and Beyond,”
an event focusing on empowering

and supporting LGBTQ/2S youth.

DSU Pride Representative Christen
McDonald opened with an introduction
of the host of the event, and the film
that was to be screened, Major.

Kelendria Nation, a black trans
woman activist and educator, hosted
and facilitated the event. After an
introduction of herself and the event,
Nation began speaking about the film,
which was focused on the life of Miss
Major Griffin-Gracy, a trans woman
activist and community leader for
transgender rights and a participant
in the Stonewall Riots. The film
chronicled her life as a trans woman
and her successes and struggles as an
activist and trans woman of colour.

After the film, there

was a discussion.

How would the community ensure
trans elders would be taken care of?
In the film, Miss Major expressed her
concern over who will take care of her
when she can't take care of herself.
Cicely-Belle Blain, a black,
non-binary writer, artist, founder
and co-organizer of the Black
Lives Matter Vancouver group
addressed the question first.
“Family and community is so
integral to taking care of one another.
It’s about developing and creating

those communities. A lot of people
express this idea of being rejected or
neglected by family, which leaves them
to be homeless or isolated. We tend

to think of this as an American issue,
but it is something that is prevalent

in Vancouver as well,” Blain said.

Blain described her experiences
as a youth worker at QMUNITY, a
queer resource centre, and how a
disproportionate amount of queer and
trans youth are homeless and isolated
due to rejection from families.

“T think reshaping our
understanding of what family is a
great step, and the idea of a chosen
family is a great way to reshape our
idea of traditional western standards of
family. For me, it’s really about creating
those communities,” Blain said.

Another speaker was
BC NDP candidate and trans
activist Morgane Oger.

“I tend to look at the populations
rather than the individuals, but it’s the
individuals who are affected. Neglect
of our elders is a very real problem,
especially when the neglect is allowed
to happen. It’s important to remember
that when people age in the LGBTQ/2S
community, they become very afraid and
age back into the closet and hide their
gender identity and sexuality because of
the fear that the people who look after
them aren't as open-minded,’ Oger said.

What should be the number one
priority in tackling the trans
community’s struggles?

“I would say education of the people
we do first contact with in services.

The caregivers, the police, people
who represent the state. Those
people need to be taught to behave
appropriately with all LGBTQ/2S people
[because] people still think it’s okay to
discriminate against us,” said Oger.
“Tt’s important for people to undo
the idea of a gender binary. I was working
ona book chapter recently about
being black and non-binary and how
a lot of the ways in which black folks
are oppressed is through segregating
the black community by gender...
It goes all the way back to slavery.
Black men were over-sexualized and
women were used as a tool, so forcing
the gender binary on black bodies
has created so much discrimination.
I think a greater acknowledgment
of gender fluidity and how gender is
made up is important,” Blain said.
“Not everyone fits into the gender
binary, not everyone wants to fit,” said
Nation “For myself, as a trans woman
of colour, I utilized the binary, and
it comes authentic for me, and it’s
important to remember that some
people fit in the binary [...] but some
do not, and it’s important[ to allow
them room to express who they are.”

How can allies support the

trans community?

“One thing is how we learn about these
things [on] social media and how it can
sometimes be detrimental in how these
things make us feel,” Blain said. “A lot of
ally-ship is done on social media; I think
it’s about being sensitive to what you

are sharing because people share stuff
out of shock factor. Violence against gay

and lesbian folks is going down for the
first time in history, but towards trans
women, it’s on the rise. It’s important to
be caring for people who are impacted
by that, rather than thinking “This
doesn’t impact me, but I’m shocked
so I must tell everybody about it.”
“Don't speak for others about things
you don't understand—first rule,’ Oger
said. “Be a friend, offer moral support.”

Does violent activism still have

a place in the movement?

“People who claim to be organizing for
queer liberation have forgotten that
Stonewall was a riot against police
because they were raiding safe spaces
for queer and trans people,” Blain said.
“Somehow we come to 2017 and the
[police] we were protesting against are
now included in the pride parade [...]
people already have a negative image
of [Black Lives Matter], so we have

to tread very carefully. We've moved
on to other forms of activism.”

The speakers closed on their
hopes for the movement.

“T would like to see better
addressing of the root causes
of inequality,” said Oger.

“Abolishment of police, prisons,
government—but in the nearer future,
support of queer and trans youth and
funding to programs that support them,
educational resources for teachers and
parents, and a place for trans youth and
trans youth of colour to be themselves
and really flourish,” Blain said.