Rechie Valdez is Canada’s new Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth (WAGE). But what role will she play in LGBTQ2S+ rights across Canada in the months and years to come?

Prime Minister Mark Carney announced his new cabinet this week, lining up the roster of 28 major ministers and 10 more minor secretaries of state. And unlike Carney’s previous cabinet ahead of the federal election, it once again includes a designated minister focused on Women and Gender Equality.

The portfolio has typically been the ministry responsible for LGBTQ2S+ issues. Carney faced backlash from gender equity and LGBTQ2S+ groups after his first cabinet did away with the WAGE minister, dissolving a role previously held by Marci Ien under former prime minister Justin Trudeau. Oversight of the WAGE ministry during that pre-election cabinet was folded into Minister of Canadian Culture and Identity Steven Guilbeault’s portfolio.

The MP for Mississauga–Streetsville, Valdez was first elected in 2021, and was the first Filipino Canadian woman elected as an MP in Canada. Before politics she owned a baking business and even competed in The Big Bake on Food Network Canada.

She’ll play a key role in executing some of the objectives from the Liberals’ election party platform, including making the 2SLGBTQI+ Community Capacity Fund permanent and establishing a new in vitro fertilization (IVF) program that would provide up to $20,000 for a single standard cycle of IVF treatment.

Senior editor Mel Woods explains what her appointment means.