Nourishing Inclusion: Integrating Two-Spirit, Trans, and Queer Communities into Food Security Solutions in British Columbia

In BC, one in five families compromises nutrition, skips meals, or goes days without eating. Since 2005, public health data have tracked those repeatedly at risk of food insecurity, such as lone mothers, Indigenous and Black individuals, and those on social assistance. Rex, a transmale in his late 20s, shared during a dissertation interview that after coming out as trans he lost his job, father, partner, and faced mounting costs, saying, “so far everyone I am telling is leaving me.” Stories like Rex’s and other Two-Spirit, trans, and queer individuals remain absent from food security data due to historic stigma. This project remedies this through partnerships with the Community-based Research Centre (CBRC), BC Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC), UVic, UBC, YorkU, Saige Community Food Share, and Ribbon Community to include 2S/LGBTQIA+ communities in food security data. Using survey data from CBRC’s Our Health and Statistics Canada alongside interviews, we will analyze predictors, barriers, and facilitators of queer food security in BC. We will collaborate with health authorities to redesign health equity and food security indicators to promote the visibility of diverse queer communities and engender more equitable health systems.