Overview 

The health of the 2SLGBTQIA+ (two-spirt, lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer or questioning, intersex, and asexual) community is significantly impacted by experiences of ongoing stigmatization, discrimination and hate when accessing healthcare, sporting environments, educational environments, workplace, housing, and social environments with friends and or family. This population has significantly lower levels of mental, physical, and spiritual health due to these experiences, which can place this population at a higher susceptibility to injury.  

Canada is the first country to collect data on gender diversity, as of 2022. Nova Scotia (0.48%), Yukon (0.47%), and British Columbia (0.44%) have the highest proportions of trans and non-binary people aged 15 years and older. Victoria (0.75%), Halifax (0.66%), and Fredericton (0.60%) have the highest reported proportion of gender diverse individuals throughout urban Canadian environments.

The mental well-being of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community is significantly impacted due to experiences of homophobia, transphobia, biphobia, and heterosexism in several environments, promoting social exclusion. Such harassment and discrimination can result in physical violence, causing harm and injury.

Experiences of discrimination, violence, and social exclusion can lead to trans, gender diverse, and questioning individuals having a lower mental health status than non-2SLGBTQIA+ populations. The violence and discrimination experienced by this population can lead to the need to navigate coping mechanisms such as substances (including alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, and other substances). Trans, gender diverse and questioning individuals are reported to have tried such substances at younger age than cisgender males and females. This can increase the risk of poisoning and other intentional and unintentional injuries for this community. Social inclusion being a determinant of health, impacts the mental and spiritual health of this community, leading to suicide and self-harm being significantly more frequent among 2SLGBTQIA+ people than the rest of the population.

With two of cities (Halifax and Fredericton) throughout Atlantic Canada having the highest proportion of gender diversity, promotion of safe and supportive environments for the 2SLGBTQIA+ community must be prioritized in order to prevent unintentional and intentional injuries, and aid in an equitable and injury free Atlantic Canada.