MEDIA ADVISORY
26 September 2013

 

TORONTO:  Lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, Two Spirit, queer and questioning (LGBTQ) youth are at significantly greater risk of suicide than their heterosexual and cisgender peers: 33% of LGB youth have attempted suicide in comparison to 7% of youth in general, and 47% of trans youth have thought about suicide in the past year alone.

 Egale Canada Human Rights Trust (ECHRT) hosted experts from across Canada and the United States for the first ever LGBTQ Youth Suicide Prevention Summit in Canada. Participants included leading academics and researchers, educators, social service providers, medical professionals, coroners and medical examiners, LGBTQ and Aboriginal community leaders, and public policy developers.

The Summit culminated in the drafting of twenty recommendations for the prevention of suicide among LGBTQ youth in Canada. ECHRT will launch the “Report on Outcomes and Recommendations” from the Summit, highlight work that has been done in the past year, and announce new initiatives to deliver on the recommendations of the 2012 Summit.

 

WHO: Helen Kennedy, Executive Director, Egale Canada Human Rights Trust
Nancy Campana, Parent and  Founder, Run for Rocky
Jeremy Dutcher, Co-Chair, Wabanaki Two Spirit Alliance
WHAT: Launch of Twenty Recommendations for the Prevention of Suicide among LGBTQ Youth in Canada.
WHEN: Friday, 27 September 2013 – 10:00 AM
WHERE: Legislative Assembly, Queen’s Park,  Media  Studio, Toronto

 

ECHRT will be joined by Nancy Campana, parent, who founded the “Run for Rocky” in 2013 in memory of her son and Jeremy Dutcher, Co-Chair of the Wabanaki Two Spirit Alliance, a group dedicated to health promotion and community building among LGBT First Nations people in the Atlantic Provinces and Northern States.

Egale Canada Human Rights Trust (ECHRT) is Canada’s only national charity promoting LGBT human rights through research, education and community engagement.

 

For more information:

Helen Kennedy, Executive Director, o: 416-964-7887 ext. 7000 / c: 416-270-1999

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