“Somehow troublemakers become respected with age. You live long enough, they put you on a magazine, you know what I mean?” barbara findlay told Xtra in 2016.
The groundbreaking lesbian lawyer and activist died this past week at the age of 77, choosing MAiD after an extended illness. She leaves behind a five-decade career fighting for the rights of LGBTQ2S+ people, women, disabled people and other marginalized groups across Canada, and is one of the most influential figures of queer and trans rights in Canadian history.
The video above—produced in 2016 by Nik Sheehan and Daniele Simone for Xtra’s B.C.-based iteration Xtra West—discussed the documentary In particular, barbara findlay, which premiered at the Vancouver Queer Film Festival that year. But it’s also a snapshot of findlay’s characteristic blunt humour and deep passion for queer and trans advocacy.
Findlay’s life was full of enough stories to fill multiple biographies and documentaries. Called to the bar in 1977—not long after homosexuality was decriminalized in Canada—her work spanned numerous landmark moments for queer and trans rights in Canadian history. She was an instrumental figure in cases the including the legalization of same-sex marriage in Canada and the right for two mothers to be listed on a child’s birth certificate, as well enshrining trans rights as protected human rights and fighting back against municipalities that refuse to declare Pride.
She also notably represented Kimberly Nixon, a trans woman who in the ’90s was turned down as a volunteer by Vancouver Rape Relief due to being trans. While the court eventually ruled against Nixon in 2007, the case served as a landmark legal framework for trans rights within Canadian human rights law and bridged many divides between the fight for gay rights and for trans rights.
“It was absolutely worth it because of the impact this case [has had] on feminism and women’s groups in Canada,” findlay told Xtra at the time. “We have been able to serve as a catalyst for the women’s movement. Almost all of the women’s centres in Canada are now trans-inclusive. So Kimberly has changed the world for trans women.”
Findlay’s list of accolades is long. In 2001, she became the first openly gay lawyer named Queen’s counsel. She was awarded the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2013, and an honorary doctorate by Simon Fraser University in 2023.
She was given a lifetime achievement award by us here at Xtra West in 1997, and in 2015 to mark the end of Xtra West’s print run, she appeared in a community portrait of notable queer figures living in Vancouver. Her writing was also a regular presence in the pages of Xtra in the ‘90s. On social media this week, former Xtra West publisher Fred Lee recalled her feisty presence.
“Her legal columns were incredibly insightful and rarely needed editing. Her signature in lowercase became the subject of its own firestorm,” he wrote.
This week, tributes to findlay and her work have rolled in from various notable figures.
For queer and trans people in Canada today, even if you are not familiar with findlay the person, her work has touched every aspect of our lives. And while the end of someone’s life prompts this level of reflection, it’s worth considering how we maintain findlay’s legacy in the days and years to come.
In 2006, findlay reflected in the pages of Xtra on participating in a restorative justice conference with one of the youths who had beaten Aaron Webster to death in Stanley Park in 2001. She said she’s been invited to speak on the impact of the crime on queer communities, and spoke directly to the young man.
“It is not tolerance we’re after, I told the youth,” findlay wrote. “Tolerance means you can hold your nose and tell stories about someone behind their back as long as you are polite to them when you meet them face to face.
It is genuine acceptance that we want.”
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