Q & A: Ottawa's Debbie Owusu-Akyeeah talks about gender, sexual diversity and everyone's human rights

‘What trans folks face right now is just one example of a very large, interconnected, well-resourced pushback on human rights writ large,’ she warns.

Published Jul 18, 2023 • Last updated 5 hours ago • 4 minute read

Debbie Owusu-Akyeeah: ‘I am absolutely committed to the potential of this city.’ Photo by Jean Levac /POSTMEDIA

Our Summer Spotlight series highlights some of the Ottawa residents striving to build a better community. Today, Brigitte Pellerin puts some questions to Debbie Owusu-Akyeeah.

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Debbie Owusu-Akyeeah is executive director of the Canadian Centre for Gender and Sexual Diversity, headquartered in Ottawa.

Q. Tell us a little bit about you. How did you come to be in Ottawa?

I am the proud child of immigrants, and I grew up in Brampton. My parents are from Ghana, and I grew up in a relatively large but close-knit diasporic community. My experience as someone born in this country to immigrant parents — and growing up in a working-class immigrant community — informed and shaped many of my views around politics and the world.

When I was a very ambitious teenager deciding what she wanted to be later in life, I knew that I wanted to centre my future on feminism, social justice and policy. I looked for programs that had women and gender studies in them. At first, I thought I was going to move to St. Catherine’s to go to Brock University because my older brother lived there. But then it just made sense that Ottawa was where I needed to be, in close proximity to decision-making at the federal level.

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Q. And what’s keeping you here?

I am absolutely committed to the potential of this city. The city has a reputation of being a sleepy, quiet, political town. I like to remind people that there are major urban centres that also happen to be the capital of a country, like Paris and London, that are not only where legislation is happening nationally, but also where arts and culture are centred, where ideas and people come to shape the communities around them. I think that’s the potential for Ottawa.

Q. Tell us what role the Centre for Gender and Sexual Diversity plays in the life of our city?

The organization focuses on the experiences of gender and sexually diverse people and promoting ally-ship in a way that is accessible. We have a strong focus on education. The majority of our mandate happens in school communities across the country in the form of workshops and resources. But we also do educational work outside of the classroom through youth engagement projects or public education projects centred on young people, but also the adults who make decisions that shape their lives.

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During the last school board elections, we unearthed what was happening here and across the country where a number of relatively high-profile transphobic candidates were running to halt curricular changes and policies advancing gender diversity.

I think my biggest asset for the work is being a community connector. I was fielding phone calls from people who were going to vote, asking “Who do I not vote for?” because people were seeing what was happening, and they didn’t want to accidentally vote for someone who was going to cause harm to young queer and trans people.

Q. You’re very involved in the community outside of your day job, including the work you did on the Ottawa People’s Commission on the trucker convoy. You write and speak publicly a lot. Why are you so involved like that?

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I think it’s important for my generation. I’m a younger millennial; as a 31-year-old, I’m getting my wings when it comes to this life. At the end of the day, the decisions that are made now by generations older than us are going to have impacts on us, immediately and in the long run.

It’s so important to look at the lessons learned from previous generations, who have laid the foundation for the things that we are benefiting from now, and I always say this in the context of today’s LGBTQ rights. At a time when they were facing the most risk, they fought for us to have the language to define our experiences. And for the visibility that has benefited not only my generation, I would even say more so younger generations.

Q. You have the attention of everyone in Ottawa for one minute. What do you tell them?

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That there is a sense of urgency to pay attention to what’s happening in our communities right now. I think what we tend to do is often think, “Oh, it’s not that serious, doesn’t have a direct impact on me.” But the reality is, it is serious, and it absolutely does have a direct impact.

What trans folks face right now is just one example of a very large, interconnected, well-resourced pushback on human rights writ large. If we don’t join the fight to push back again, in the short term and also in the long run, we’re going to see a deterioration of the things that we hold near and dear to our hearts: our freedom of expression, or freedom to assemble, and other tenets of human rights that we hold really close to us.

We need to acknowledge and name. Yes, it’s actually happening. And it’s happening in our communities. That acknowledgement goes a long, long way in encouraging us to act. Please help support outspoken leaders by following them on social media and if you have the means financially to support LGBTQ organizations that are in your communities, please do that.

Q. When you want a break, what do you do to relax?

I do nothing. As someone who’s always on the go, doing nothing is the best self-care for me. Whether it’s just resting or watching TV, doing nothing work-related has been good for me.

(This Q and A interview has been lightly edited.)

Do you know someone we should talk to who is doing good work in the Ottawa community? You can email us at [email protected]