Rebuilding Trust with 2SLGBTQIA+ Communities: Co-Developing a Public Apology
Through ongoing community engagements, Canadian Blood Services understood that an apology to 2SLGBTQIA+ communities would be significant and meaningful, following the removal of criteria that previously prevented sexually active gay, bi, and queer men, and some trans donors from donating.
The apology was developed in close collaboration and consultation with 2SLGBTQIA+ communities, and serves as a foundation on which we can further build trust and repair relationships with those impacted by the former policy.
Time Zones
- 01:00 pm - 02:15 pm Eastern
- 12:00 pm - 01:15 pm Central
- 11:00 pm - 12:15 pm Mountain
- 10:00 am - 11:15 am Pacific
About the presenters:
Ellis Westwood (he/him)
Ellis is an award-winning stakeholder engagement practitioner who has spent 20 years working developing groundbreaking P2 processes. Since joining Canadian Blood Services in 2019, Ellis has transformed the organization’s engagement with 2SLGBTQIA+ communities. Working in partnership with Wisdom2Action, his approach has been to rebuild trust through dialogue and collaboration, most recently through the co-development of a public apology to 2SLGTQIA+ communities for the harms caused by past donor screening policies.
Fae Johnstone (she/they)
Fae Johnstone is a trailblazing trans woman and 2SLGBTQIA+ advocate. She is an organizer, speaker and consultant, and a leading advocate for queer and trans communities, rights, health and safety in Canada Fae has advocated with governments and other decision makers to advance systemic change for 2SLGBTQIA+ communities for 10+ years. She is the Executive Director of Wisdom2Action, and works with her team to champion 2SLGBTQIA+, feminist, and progressive causes across Canada.
Terrie Foster (they/them)
Terrie Foster is a specialist in facilitating safe and equity-centered engagement with queer and trans blood donors, especially those who have or might experience barriers to donating blood. Her method is to centre participants’ experiences, their safety and their voice. She led a three-year engagement process with queer and trans donors as part of our “men who have sex with men plasma donation pilot” in London and Calgary and was a community facilitator in a 2023 trans donor engagement project funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).
Dennis Stuebing (he/him)
Dennis Stuebing is Director and Co-Owner of Wisdom2Action based on the traditional and unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq in Kentville, Nova Scotia. Dennis is an experienced project manager and policy analyst and has worked in government and civil society organizations. His work, in Canada and abroad, has focussed on children’s rights, child protection, international development and humanitarian assistance.
Dennis earned a Doctorate in Global Studies in 2017 (University of Saint Joseph, Macau). His research focussed on children’s agency in humanitarian assistance and child protection systems in Pacific Island countries. He analyzed the ways that children participate in their own protection during emergencies in Fiji and Tonga framed by principles drawn from the Convention on the Rights of the Child. He has also earned a Master of Arts degree in International Development (Saint Mary’s University, Halifax) and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology with an Option in Peace and Conflict Studies (University of Waterloo).
