November 20, 2025, marks the Transgender Day of Remembrance, a day meant to honour the memory of transgender people whose lives have been lost in acts of anti-transgender violence.
As the transgender community continues to face persecution and violence, both in Canada and beyond, the day offers a time to reflect on the history of transgender people in our communities, and work togther to ensure an end to anti-trans violence and discrimination.
The Fort Frances Times sat down with a local trans man, Elijah McEvoy, to discuss the significance of Transgender Day of Remembrance, as well as what it signifies on a personal and community level.
Q: What comes to mind for you when you think about Trans Day of Remembrance?
McEvoy: “It’s really about grieving all of the people in our community who have been lost due to anti-trans violence, whether by actual murder or suicide. I think it’s just really a time for the whole community to mourn that loss together, but it’s also a time of supporting each other. Nothing really brings people closer together than grief. My friends and I get a lot of hate from people, but there hasn’t been physical violence in Fort Frances. I think we’re a pretty tight-knit community, so even when the haters do come out of the woodwork, we’ve got a big crowd of people willing to back us up. I don’t think there’s a trans person alive who hasn’t gotten a death threat.”
Q: What is most important about Trans Day of Remembrance for you?
McEvoy: “Awareness. I think a lot of the people who need the awareness the most are the people who are not going to care whether we live or die. But I think that the more we talk about it, the more we put into the public consciousness. This isn’t just about bathrooms. This isn’t just about not being made fun of. Like, I couldn’t care less if I’m made fun of. This is about people who are literally losing their lives because of the hate we face as a community. Many people aren’t even getting reported. A lot of the time, when trans men are murdered, it’s misreported as femicide.”
Q: If someone wants to help, how can they get involved?
McEvoy: “Honestly, just to talk to people. I don’t think it has to be as big as looking for an organization or anything. It really is just like talking to us face to face. It really is just talking to us like people, because we are people. If you don’t know how to approach the subject, somebody is going to be willing to teach you. I’m not an educator. I want to talk about it because I’m an open book. I’m more than happy to educate as long as I’m being interacted with on a good-faith basis.”
Q: How welcoming do you think Fort Frances is to Two-Spirit, trans, non-binary and gender non-conforming people?
McEvoy: “I think it’s very split down the middle. Like I said, we have a big community of queer people here that is welcoming. We do events and stuff. I feel like, if you look for somebody, there’s going to be somebody there who is willing to welcome you, but we’re a rural area, so there’s a lot of conservative people, there’s a lot of churches, which I’m not saying is inherently making somebody transphobic or homophobic, but it depends on the church. I had a friend come out, and then as soon as she did, her mom ditched her church to find a new one because they were preaching hate, which is great. Nobody is telling the people to abandon their faith, but if your church is preaching hate, don’t jump on that bandwagon. Which, unfortunately, I feel like it’s pretty fifty-fifty.”
Q: How do you feel about travelling to the United States with all the anti-trans rhetoric going on right now?
McEvoy: “I haven’t set foot in the States since 2016 when Trump was first elected. During the Biden administration, I felt like it still wasn’t safe enough. I felt like everything had been stirred up when the Republicans were in power, when Trump was in power. It’s not just Trump; he’s a figurehead; I just feel like they’re really making us a scapegoat right now. Like, ‘Hey, look at this! Have a culture war so you don’t see all the other shit going on under the table!'”
Q: If you had one wish for Trans Day of Remembrance, what would it be?
McEvoy: “I wish that people would listen to us with an open mind, without jumping straight to reactionary conclusions. I feel like a lot of the hate we get is because people are so socialized to be disgusted with queer people in the first place, and they don’t necessarily unpack that gut reaction and actually listen to what our problems are like. You don’t have to understand or agree with me to treat me like a human being. I think that if more cis people just listened with an open mind to what we’re actually facing, maybe we could get at least half of them to chill out.”
Q: Do you feel like Trans Day of Remembrance gets enough attention in the Fort?
McEvoy: “Honestly, this is the first time I have heard there actually being any buzz around it in the Fort. I think you might be the first person to even write about that. What’s sadder about it is that you are also trans. Nobody else cares enough to put this in the public eye other than ourselves, and I think that is really sad. I don’t think that I have heard of the Fort having anything for Trans Day of Remembrance or Trans Day of Visibility at all. I’m glad that we have Pride events, but even that only started five years ago. There might be a handful of us, but we’re still people, and we’re still members of this community.”
Q: What do you love most about Trans Day of Remembrance?
McEvoy: “It is a day of grieving more than anything, but it’s the sense of community. It’s easier to reach our own community now than it ever has been because of the internet, but I feel like just being able to not sit with that grief yourself and to be alive with people like you who feel the same way as you is powerful. Whether it’s physically or spiritually, we’re not alone in feeling this way; it’s our entire community that is grieving right now, and our entire community that is also celebrating the people who are still alive and who are still fighting for us to have a better future.”
