Jade came out as trans in the early 2000s. From their teenage experiences in Ottawa, Jade felt there was a lack of acceptance and understanding for trans youth in the LGBTQ community. Ultimately this inspired them to create Trans Youth Ottawa – the first trans youth support group in the city. Jade speaks about the excitement of starting the group and the continued challenge of keeping the group’s history alive.
Jade’s story is one of a series of stories collected at the Moving Trans History Forward Conference in 2018, put on by the Transgender Archives at the University of Victoria. The MTHF conference graciously allowed onmyplanet.ca to record stories on site during the conference. onmyplanet.ca also recorded stories at the MTHF 2014 and 2016 conferences.