Summary of Internship
To: Assistant Dean Herlehy and the Social Justice Fellowship Committee
From: Morgan Koch
Date: September 14, 2009
Egale Canada is a national organization committed to advancing equality, education,
diversity and justice for lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans-identified people (LGBT), and their
families. Egale has intervened before the Supreme Court of Canada in every LGBT rights case,
including Egan v. Canada, Mossop v. Canada, Vriend v. Alberta, M v. H, Little Sisters Book and
Art Emporium v. Canada Customs, B.C. College of Teachers v. Trinity Western University,
Chamberlain v. Surrey School Board , and most recently the Reference re Same-Sex Marriage .
Egale has also participated and continues to participate in numerous lower court and tribunal cases today.
I helped Egale with all their on-going projects and new ones that arose while I was there.
In October, Egale is launching a national website aimed at LGBT junior and high school students. The website will list which schools across Canada have LGBT support and students can talk with one another. It will also be informative for teachers and students on how to combat homophobic and transphobic bullying and violence in schools which is a huge problem in schools today. This is largely what I worked on. I found recent cases of homophobic and transphobic bullying across Canada and lobbied against provinces (Alberta) that now have outlawed any discussion of sexual orientation in schools. I researched and compiled national directories of LGBT resources including shelters, school and university groups, counseling services, bookstores and what the different school board policies are on homophobic and Morgan Koch
transphobic bullying in different areas. I also drafted the legal privacy policy for the website which was then taken to Egale’s Legal Issues Committee.
I was also on and still am on the Egale Canada Legal Issues Committee. I was in charge
of the phone calls and emails that came in daily and would people call everyday with LGBT
human rights violations. I did the preliminary legal research on all the new cases that we
received and I would find similar or precedent cases and legislation. On Egale’s legal issues
committee, I personally worked on such cases as the Freeman, Christian Horizons and Lu’s
Pharmacy as well as other cases of discrimination in the Canadian Military.
I was also on the 2009 Pride Toronto Human Rights Committee. Every year Egale has a
booth during the Toronto Pride weekend. Egale and other human rights organizations try and
bring the focus of the parade back to human rights and social justice. This year was the 40 th anniversary of the decriminalization of homosexuality by Pierre Trudeau in Canada. I did all the international and national legal case research that was provided to people when they came to our booth. I researched international human rights violations committed against LGBT people and turned them into massive posters and surveys. With Egale we marched with the International
Grade Marshal, who was from Uganda where homosexuality is illegal, in the front of the entire parade.
I also worked on smaller Egale projects like the Report Homophobic Violence Period
(RHVP) Campaign which is a joint program with the Toronto Police to help stop violence in schools, I drafted Egale’s input in the Canadian Human Rights Commission’s National Report
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Card on Human Rights, and drafted Egale’s submissions for the United Nations Universal
Periodic Review that went to the Senate.
Egale also lobbies against various homophobic bills that are trying to be passed in
Canada. Bill 44, which was passed in Alberta in the summer, outlawed any discussion of sex, gender identity and sexual orientation in the class room. Egale is also involved in the Trans Bill
C-389 from Bill Siksay. He is trying to get gender identity included as a prohibited ground of discrimination in the Canada Human Rights Code and listed as a hate crime in the Criminal
Code . And Bill C-291, which is a Bill to bring the appeal process to the Immigration and
Refugee Act . Many people are denied immigration or refugee status because of their sexual orientation in Canada, especially bisexuals. A judge can decide that a person is “not gay enough” to require protection and be sent back to their, usually homophobic, country. At the moment there is no appeal process for these people and Egale is lobbying for this Bill. I did the preliminary research on the Bill and was in discussion with the standing senate committee to find the status of the Bill.
My biggest contribution to Egale was that I set up a Pro Bono student program. I had a contact at Pro Bono Students Canada and she started talking to me about whether or not Egale would like to have some students from the Toronto law schools come and work in the office. My friend came into our office and we met with the Executive Director and starting in October two law students are starting work with Egale and helping them with their upcoming legal cases.
During my internship I was most surprised to find that there is much more discrimination towards LGBT people in Canada then I thought. The daily phone calls and emails were
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heartbreaking. People who were no different than me are treated like second class citizens in their own country. They are fired from their jobs, made fun of at work, or denied work only because of their sexual orientation.
My social justice fellowship showed me what it was like to work for a small
nongovernmental organization with really hard working and dedicated people. During my
summer at Egale I learned many valuable skills such as legal research and writing, working
under pressure and the rewards of advancing dignity for all . Egale Canada does such valuable work with very little money and resources. They only have four people in the organization and what they accomplish with such little manpower and money is absolutely amazing. I am still in contact with Egale and it is possible that the Executive Director of Egale Canada, Helen
Kennedy, may come and speak at the law school in 2010.
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