Open Letter to MP Hanley - Federal 2SLGBTQIA+ Action Plan

Dear Brendan,

On behalf of Queer Yukon Society, the Yukon’s leading organization advancing 2S+ equity, I am writing to make you aware of the upcoming expiry of the Federal 2SLGBTQIA+ Action Plan, and to ask for you to support 2SLGBTQIA+ people in the Yukon by calling on the Government of Canada to include a renewed and expanded action plan in the 2026 federal budget.

The Federal 2SLGBTQIA+ Action Plan, launched in 2022, has been the primary vehicle driving the Government of Canada's work on 2SLGBTQIA+ issues, including funding for local 2SLGBTQIA+ organizations, programs and services. Without renewal, the action plan will expire in March 2027.

Over the last five years, the Action Plan has had a tremendous impact on the Yukon. It has led to stronger local organizations and strengthened services and programs that our communities rely on. With the Territorial Government’s priority to reduce public spending in the fiscal years to come, not-for-profit organizations across the Yukon, especially those in the minority equity sector, are anticipating their projects and operations being put at risk. If the Federal Action Plan is not renewed, the progress we’ve made in the Yukon will be put at risk or at least significantly slowed down.

Queer Yukon Society, alongside 2SLGBTQIA+ and allied organizations across Canada, is calling on the Government of Canada to renew and expand the action plan, in light of the devastating rise of anti-2SLGBTQIA+ hate in Canada and around the world.

We are calling for an investment of $90 million a year over five years in the 2026 federal budget. Such an investment would have a generational impact on front-line services, housing, healthcare, support for LGBTQ+ refugees, and economic and business development.

We are calling on the new action plan to be laser-focused on the following three objectives: (1) unlocking the economic power of Canada's queer community, (2) growing Canada's global human rights leadership in an age of backlash and (3) shoring up the support and services that keep our communities going.

As the MP for the Yukon, I am asking you to do what you can to encourage Minister Valdez of Women and Gender Equality Canada, and Prime Minister Carney, to renew and expand the Federal 2SLGBTQIA+ Action Plan in the upcoming federal budget.

Sincerely,

Niall Janssen
Executive Director, Queer Yukon Society