BC Election Candidate Survey Response: BCNDP

Advocacy Canada 

c/o Board of Directors 

Sent via email  

October 6, 2024  

Re: BC NDP Response to Advocacy Canada  

Dear Board and Membership of Advocacy Canada.  

Thanks for the opportunity to engage with your membership. David Eby and the BC  NDP share your vision for a society that celebrates inclusivity and belonging for all.  We hope you will accept this collaborative response from all BC NDP candidates.  Thanks for the great work that you’re doing in our communities – we appreciate it. 

Will you advocate to strengthen anti-discrimination laws protecting the  2SLGBTQIA+ community in British Columbia? 

Strongly agree. 

Please provide details on any specific policies or initiatives you would propose.  

BC is stronger when everyone is truly free to be who they are. Building a more  welcoming, inclusive province is a priority for David Eby and the BC NDP – we believe  BC is for all of us — whoever we are, and whoever we love. That’s why we’ve taken  big steps to make BC more welcoming to 2SLGBTQIA+ folks, including: bringing  back the Human Rights Commission, boosting resources to the Human Rights  Tribunal to ensure those who discriminate are held to account, updating ID cards to  include an ‘x’ gender option and eliminating unnecessary gendered language in BC  regulations. 

At the same time, we know there are growing movements fueling hate and  discrimination against 2SLGBTQIA+ folks, making them feel unsafe in their  communities. While this is happening around the world and across Canada, it is  disturbing that here in BC, John Rustad has fanned the flames, targeting  2SLGBTQIA+ students for his perceived political gain, promising to allow issues of  human rights to go to free votes and introducing legislation to exclude transgender  athletes from provincially-funded sports. 

David Eby and the BC NDP will continue to stand with the 2SLGBTQIA+ community  and will take action to stand against hate. Our new Action Plan for You commits to  new action to protect people – including the 2SLGBTQIA+ community – with new,  tough hate crime legislation.

Do you plan to improve access to healthcare services specifically tailored for the  2SLGBTQIA+ community, including mental health support and gender-affirming  care? 

Strongly agree 

Please describe any specific actions or reforms you would implement.  

Everyone in BC deserves to be able to safely access the health care they need when  they need it. David Eby and the BC NDP are taking action to improve healthcare  services and remove barriers for the 2SLGBTQIA+ community. Since 2017, that’s  included expanding gender affirming care, making Pre-exposure prophylaxis,  known as PrEP, available for no cost to all British Columbians at high risk of HIV  infection, and covering one cycle of in-vitro fertilization – saving families an average  of $15,000 to $20,000 on their path to parenthood. We will keep improving  healthcare services for the 2SLGBTQIA community. 

David Eby and the BC NDP are also taking action to provide hope and help for  people experiencing the pain of mental illness. We are expanding mental health  counseling care across BC through a new $50 million Community Mental Health  Resilience Fund. To help support vulnerable youth, we are fast-tracking Foundry  youth health centres which are welcoming, stigma-free centers offering free and  confidential supports for diverse young people in need of physical and mental care.  Moving forward with Foundry centers in ten more communities will quadruple the  number since 2017. We have also made a platform commitment to provide BC  students the help they need by making sure every public school has a mental health  counselor. We know all of these actions are critical to 2SLGBTQIA+ young people  thriving in our province. 

John Rustad puts all this progress at risk. Rustad has called homosexuality a  “lifestyle” and criticized gender-affirming care, claiming falsely that gender-affirming  surgeries are using too many health-care resources. And he would make cuts to the  healthcare services people need. In fact, Rustad’s healthcare plan includes a $4.1  billion cut. 

David Eby and the BC NDP team will continue improving healthcare and mental  health services for all British Columbians and we will work to make our province  safer and more inclusive for 2SLGBTQIA+ people. We have more work to do, and we  can’t afford to go backwards. 

Will you take steps to ensure that schools in British Columbia provide an inclusive  and safe environment for 2SLGBTQIA+ students? 

Strongly agree 

Detail any programs or policies you would support to promote inclusivity in  education.  

School must be a place where every student feels secure and respected so they can  focus on learning. David Eby and the BC NDP believe all students deserve to be  welcomed, included, and respected in a safe learning environment while being fully  and completely themselves.

Through our Safe Access to Schools Act – opposed by John Rustad’s BC  Conservatives – we’ve taken action to ensure schools remain inclusive, safe, and  accessible places for learning, by activating protected zones on and around school  grounds to prevent any disruptive behaviour, such as aggressive protests against  SOGI 123, from occurring within 20 metres of schools. 

SOGI hasn’t changed since John Rustad’s BC Liberals brought it in, now he is willing  to cancel these important anti-bullying resources. John Rustad’s BC Conservatives  are also promising to establish a school textbook censorship committee if elected.  This represents a huge risk to the progress we’ve made in ensuring a safe and  welcoming environment for every student in BC’s public-school system. David Eby  and the BC NDP will continue to support education that promotes safe, caring and  inclusive schools and to ensure young people learn to value diversity and to treat  everyone with respect and dignity, so that every student feels like they belong.  

SOGI 123 is an essential element in creating safe and inclusive classrooms for all  students regardless of their sexual orientation, gender identity, race, ethnicity, or  religious beliefs. 

Strongly agree 

Explain your rating of the question on SOGI 123.  

David Eby and the BC NDP believe that schools need to be inclusive, safe, and  welcoming places for learning, where all students can be respected while being fully  and completely themselves. This is the purpose of SOGI – it is a set of materials like  handouts and activities that are designed to teach kids that it’s not ok to bully  people and promotes safety for 2SLGBTQIA+ kids and anti-discrimination for all  students. 

SOGI was brought in by the BC Liberals in 2016 when John Rustad was in Cabinet  and has not changed. John Rustad supported it for years, and nothing about SOGI  has changed since then. 

John Rustad now sees political advantage in attacking 2SLGBTQIA+ students as well  as teachers and schools who are just trying to do their best for these kids – some of  the most vulnerable in our province, including being at risk of suicide. He even made  a reprehensible comparison of SOGI policy to the abuse of Indigenous children in  residential schools – something former BC Liberal MLA and now BC Conservative candidate Eleanor Sturko called both “incredibly insulting to Indigenous people & to  members of the LGBT community.” 

While we are trying to create inclusive safe spaces for our children, where every child  belongs, John Rustad has promoted extremist views and wants to create division at  the expense of our children and youth. Rustad is a risk we can’t afford. 

Will you address the housing and homelessness issues disproportionately affecting  the 2SLGBTQIA+ community? 

Outline any specific strategies or housing programs you would endorse.  

David Eby and the BC NDP are determined to keep taking action to address  struggles people, including the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, are having with housing  and homelessness – unlike John Rustad who has pledged to cancel our entire  housing program. 

Our Homes for People plan is delivering many different types of housing, relying on  collaboration with nonprofit and for-profit housing providers. We’re supporting all  different kinds of housing, because we’re in a housing crisis! We support quick  construction of nonprofit, private, co-op, social, and affordable housing across BC. 

Housing affordability has also been a priority for our government since day one.  We’ve made “renovictions” and “demovictions” – that used to be routine – illegal.  We’ve eliminated evictions for “landlord use” in purpose built rental housing. We’ve  ended the “fixed term lease” scam used to raise rents on tenants beyond rent control  levels. 

Our rent control is tied to the tenant, and is limited to a maximum of the level of  inflation that year. This protects the tenants while not interfering with the supply of  new rental housing that our province desperately needs as our population growth  sets new records. For example, we’re building 4 times more rental housing than  Ontario is right now. 

And, to help make rents more affordable for seniors with low and moderate incomes,  we’ve increased the Shelter Aid for Elderly Renters (SAFER) housing supplement by  66%. And, for those who do face homelessness, we’ve launched the HEART and  HEARTH programs, which meet people where they’re at through a cross-functional  team of service providers and increased housing options – temporary and  permanent. 

We know that solving BC’s housing crisis is an all hands-on-deck situation. David Eby  is building the partnerships needed across British Columbia to get the job done. In  the coming years, he and the BC NDP team will: 

• Fast-track BC’s factory home construction to quickly deliver lower cost  middle-class homes. This is the next logical step after cutting red tape to allow  for the construction of more single homes, duplexes, triplexes and  townhomes. Factory-built home construction will play a critical role in solving  the housing crisis – delivering immediate results. BC’s emerging factory 
• Prioritize housing for public land. We’ll never sell public land that is suitable  for attainable housing to be built on. Instead, we’ll partner with the non-profit  and private sector to build attainable middle income housing. 
• Drive the construction of more market rental housing by waiving provincial  property taxes for new purpose built rental projects. 
• Encourage municipal partnerships to build more housing through a new local  infrastructure investment fund that’s tied to housing starts, while offering  more flexibility to cities exceeding those targets.

John Rustad wants to cancel our progress on housing and end our protections for  tenants, including eliminating our rent control entirely. And in sixteen years, he built  fewer than 140 student housing units…in the entire province. We’ve built 8,000 and  our new target for 2027 is 12,000. Building student housing takes pressure off our  neighbourhoods and frees up more housing for everyone. 

We can’t afford to let Rustad cancel housing action for our province. Let’s keep  taking action on housing and build a future where everyone can afford to live here. 

Will you work to combat hate crimes and violence against the 2SLGBTQIA+  community?

 Strongly agree 

Provide details on your approach to reducing hate crimes and ensuring justice for  victims. 

No one should ever be the target of violence because of who they are or who they  love. Although data specific to B.C. is limited, evidence suggests that transgender  and gender diverse individuals are 1.5 to 2.5 times more likely to experience multiple  forms of sexual, physical and generalized violence compared to cisgender people.  Indigenous and other racialized community members are especially impacted. BC  must be a safe and welcoming place where everyone is free to be themselves. 

David Eby and the BC NDP are taking action to fight hate crimes and ensure justice  for victims of hate crimes. One of the first actions we took as government was to  bring back the Human Rights Commission and we are boosting resources to the  Human Rights Tribunal to ensure those who discriminate are held to account.  Through Safe and Supported: British Columbia’s Gender-Based Violence Action Plan,  we are fighting gender-based violence. We are also strengthening services to  support victims of crime and survivors like bringing back stable funding for sexual  assault centres and expanding funding to historic levels for legal aid to victims of  crime. We are also making available 24/7 support in 150 languages for all victims of  crime, including sexual violence and human trafficking from VictimLinkBC. 

David Eby and the BC NDP team will continue taking action, strengthening  implementation of the Safe and Supported: BC’s Gender-Based Violence Action Plan  by working with service providers, Indigenous partners and families on initiatives,  like the Path Forward Community Fund, to make BC safer and more inclusive for  women, girls and 2SLGBTQIA+ people. 

Our new Action Plan for You commits to new action to protect people – including  the 2SLGBTQIA+ community – with new, tough hate crime legislation. 

Disturbingly, instead of being a leader in combating hate crime and violence in our  communities, John Rustad has refused to denounce candidates who are openly  stoking hatred against the 2SLGBTQIA+ community. He has made false claims  accusing trans British Columbians of using too many health care resources. He and 

his party tried to bring in legislation that excluded trans athletes from participating in provincially funded sports. For political advantage he attacked SOGI in our schools,  making 2SLGBTQIA+ students less safe in our schools. Rustad and his Conservatives  are a risk we can’t afford. 

Will you support increased funding for 2SLGBTQIA+ community organizations and  services? 

Agree  

Please elaborate on your funding priorities for these organizations. 

David Eby and the BC NDP believe that British Columbia is stronger because of our  diversity. Since we became government in 2017 we have been working in  partnership with the 2SLGBTQIA+ community organizations and we’re committed to  continuing to strengthen partnerships. 

We are taking action to support community organizations throughout the province,  including a specific anti-hate community support fund for organizations impacted  by acts of hate. The anti-hate community support fund is provided to organizations  and at-risk groups, including the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, for security equipment,  graffiti removal and repairs to damaged property as part of community efforts to  respond to hate-motivated crimes. 

Women, girls and 2SLGBTQIA+ people who are Indigenous are at higher risk of  human trafficking, as are survivors of gender-based violence. B.C. is collaborating  with other governments and police to address and prevent human trafficking. At the  community level, we also support prevention and awareness initiatives and  organizations that support survivors. 

Will you promote public awareness and education to foster acceptance and  understanding of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community? 

Strongly agree 

Detail any campaigns or educational initiatives you would support or propose. 

We want BC to be a safe and welcoming place where everyone is free to be  themselves. Yet too many 2SLGBTQIA+ people face prejudice and discrimination and  disturbingly there are growing movements fueling hate and discrimination against  2SLGBTQIA+ folks, making them feel unsafe in their communities 

And that is why David Eby and the BC NDP will continue to raise awareness, support  2SLGBTQIA+ people’s rights and improve supports for transgender, Two Spirit and  gender-diverse people. We will keep taking actions alongside 2SLGBTQIA+  communities that are supported by evidence-based research and people’s lived  experiences.  

B.C. is the first province in Canada to amend provincial laws to remove outdated  gendered and binary language. We have taken action to ensure people can access  options in the gender field of their government ID. And through SOGI and the Safe 

Access to Schools Act – opposed by John Rustad – we will continue to make our  schools safe and welcoming places for all students. 

To raise awareness for the rights of trans people, every year our government has  celebrated the achievements and contributions of transgender, Two-Spirit and  gender-diverse people in B.C. on the International Transgender Day of Visibility. In  2019 we raised the Trans flag for the first time at B.C. legislature on Transgender Day  of Remembrance. 

John Rustad puts the progress the 2SLGBTQIA+ community has made at risk.  Rustad called homosexuality a “lifestyle”, made 2SLGBTQIA+ kids less safe with his  disparaging statements of SOGI – just for perceived political advantage – and  criticized gender-affirming care, claiming falsely that gender-affirming surgeries  require too many health-care resources. We can’t afford to go backwards. 

Will you ensure that your policies and initiatives address the diverse needs within  the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, including those intersecting with other marginalized  identities (e.g., race, disability, socioeconomic status)? 

Strongly agree 

Describe your approach to creating inclusive and intersectional policies 

Too many people are deeply affected by barriers because of their gender, race, socio economic status, sexual orientation or ability and people often experience multiple,  intersecting barriers such as poverty, racism, ableism, homophobia, and, or  transphobia. 

David Eby and the BC NDP have taken action to create inclusive and intersectional  policies, including: 

To-date, some of the actions we’ve taken include: 

• We recently worked in partnership with QMUNITY and the Law Foundation of  British Columbia to establish B.C.’s first pro-bono 2SLGBTQIA+ legal clinic • We launched the Anti-Hate Community Support Fund to support  organizations at risk of hate-motivated crimes 
• Took action to ensure the spectrum of gender identity is included on BC  government ID. Now, British Columbians can choose ‘X’ as a third option in  the gender field on their government-issued ID 
• Became the first province in Canada to systemically amend provincial laws to  remove outdated gendered and binary language. These changes were made  to ensure that all British Columbians have equal access to government  services, no matter their sexual orientation, gender identity, race or cultural  beliefs 
• Made it easier for people to change their gender designation on government issued identification: https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2023HLTH0017-000294

We also passed BC’s historic Anti-Racism Data Act so that moving forward the BC  government can collect intersectional demographic data to help identify barriers to  government programs and services. Once these barriers are identified and backed  by data, they can be addressed so more people can equally benefit from  government supports. 

There is more work to do and David Eby and the BC NDP will continue to advance  and protect the diverse needs of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community. We can’t afford to let  John Rustad take us backwards. 

The BC Office of the Human Rights Commissioner’s report “From Hate to Hope”  includes several recommendations to address hate and discrimination. Will you  work to implement these recommendations, particularly those affecting the  2SLGBTQIA+ community? 

Agree 

Please specify which recommendations from the Commissioner’s report you will  prioritize and how you plan to implement them.  

During the pandemic there was a spike in hate incidents, especially against Asian  British Columbians, and since then we have seen a worrying increase in anti 2SLGBTQIA+ rhetoric here in BC that directly correlates to the targeting of gay and  trans communities in the United States. There are very real impacts for 2SLGBTQIA+  people here who feel that they are not welcome for being who they are. We are  grateful to the Office of the Human Rights Commissioner for their work on this  report, From Hate to Hope: Inquiry into Hate in the COVID-19 Pandemic. 

John Rustad’s government eliminated the Human Rights Commission making BC  the only province in Canada without one. The BC NDP re-established the  independent office to support human rights through education, research and  investigations. We are also boosting resources to the BC Human Rights Tribunal,  which supports the work of the Commission, to ensure those who discriminate are  held to account. 

The Commission’s report identifies ten recommendations addressed to various  ministries, including Attorney General, Public Safety and Solicitor General, Education  and Child Care, Emergency Management and Climate Readiness, as well as the BC  Public Service. David Eby and the BC NDP are committed to an all-of-government  response to the report and using the findings from this report to inform the  Province’s approach to combating hate, including hate aimed at the 2LGBTQIA+  community. 

2SLGBTQIA+ seniors face unique needs as they age, particularly in the areas of  specialized healthcare, assisted living where they are free to live authentically, and  affordable housing. Will you work to implement specific policies and programs to  address these unique needs?

Strongly agree 

Please specify how you will address the unique needs of 2SLGBTQIA+ seniors.

Seniors need care they can count on and 2SLGBTQIA+ seniors need care specific to  their needs. The increased costs from global inflation and high interest rates are  especially hard on those seniors who are on fixed or restricted incomes. We need to  ensure that seniors are getting the specialized care they need and are not making a  choice between paying for medication and rent or food. We want to build a province  where every senior has the support and resources to live a comfortable life 

There is a record level of health-care construction under the BC NDP, including 29  new and expanded hospitals, and building cancer centres and long-term care  homes closer to home. David Eby and the BC NDP are taking action for 2SLGBTQIA+  seniors, so that they feel safe, welcomed, included, and be able to live authentically.  This includes long-term care, assisted living and health care they receive at the  hospital or with a family doctor or a nurse practitioner. 

We’re also committed to ensuring that seniors can thrive in their homes and  communities for as long as possible, instead of moving into care. That’s why we’re  taking action to hire more home care workers, so seniors have more frequent visits,  and we’re providing seniors with more home support services such as grocery  shopping, light housekeeping, transportation to appointments, and friendly visiting  through our Better At Home program. We are adding 900 new health-care providers  over three years to support seniors to live at home longer – 400 additional staff for  community-based professional services and 500 home-support workers. 

With more nurses, social workers, physiotherapists, occupational therapists and  home-support workers, home health clients will have more access to comprehensive  and responsive care. Seniors will see improved overnight response, more regular  contact with their care manager and improved response to care needs that arise  unexpectedly. 

Seniors will also be supported to stay in their homes longer with a new virtual  service, Long-term Care at Home, that provides some of the essential support of a  long-term care facility in their own home. This program is now being piloted with a  goal of supporting more than 2,700 seniors and their caregivers over the next four  years. 

Housing affordability has also been a priority for our government since day one.  We’ve made “renovictions” and “demovictions” – that used to be routine – illegal.  We’ve eliminated evictions for “landlord use” in purpose built rental housing. We’ve  ended the “fixed term lease” scam used to raise rents on tenants beyond rent control  levels. 

Our rent control is tied to the tenant, and is limited to a maximum of the level of  inflation that year. This protects the tenants while not interfering with the supply of  new rental housing that our province desperately needs as our population growth  sets new records 

And, to help make rents more affordable for seniors with low and moderate incomes,  we’ve increased the Shelter Aid for Elderly Renters (SAFER) housing supplement by 

66%. And, for those who do face homelessness, we’ve launched the HEART and  HEARTH programs, which meet people where they’re at through a cross-functional  team of service providers and increased housing options – temporary and  permanent. 

We will always keep working to build a more inclusive province for everyone – no  matter who you are, or who you love. 

Unfortunately, all this progress is now at risk with John Rustad’s BC Conservatives,  who are planning tax breaks for those at the top and will make seniors pay for it with  over $4 billion in cuts to healthcare and the supports seniors rely on. When John  Rustad was last in power, his government doubled MSP fees, froze the SAFER  housing supplement, and passed laws that devastated long-term care and led to the  layoff of 10,000 workers, leaving seniors without the quality of care they need in  dangerously understaffed homes. On top of that, his team of candidates have made  deeply homophobic remarks and spread mistruths about 2SLGBTQIA people. We  can’t afford to let John Rustad slash healthcare, especially for our 2SLGBQTQIA  seniors, like he did before – we need to keep moving forward so that seniors can get  the inclusive care and support they need.