Serious Legal Problems faced by Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Other Sexual-Minority People in Western Canada: A Qualitative Study

Appendix A: Recruitment script and eligibility screener

Request for Participants – “A Qualitative Look at Serious Legal Problems: LGBTQ2+ People in Western Canada”

The Community Based Research Centre Society, with funding from the Department of Justice Canada, is seeking participants for a new interview study documenting serious legal problems faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, and Two-Spirit people in Western Canada (including British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba). If you identify as LGBTQ2+ and have experienced a serious legal problem in the past three years, you may be eligible to participate.

If you are eligible and consent to participate, you will be asked to complete a qualitative interview with a peer researcher over the phone or over Zoom. The interviewer will ask you to share your experiences of serious legal problems and barriers to accessing justice in Canada over the last three years. Your contributions will help to illuminate the legal challenges facing lesbian, gay, and bisexual people. The interview will take approximately 60-90 minutes, and you will be provided with a $50 honorarium as a thank you for your time.

In order to be included in this study, you must identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, or Two-Spirit, or as another sexual-minority. Additionally, you must have experienced a serious legal problem (as outlined in our eligibility screener) in the last three years, be 16 years of age or older, and be able to complete an interview in English in order to be eligible. You do not have to have engaged in legal action to be eligible.

If you are interested in participating, please complete the following eligibility screener on Survey Monkey: [insert link]. The screener will ask some demographic questions about yourself and about different types of legal problems you’ve experienced. You will be asked to provide a name, phone number, and email address so that we can contact you for follow-up. Your contact information will be kept confidential and stored securely on encrypted servers at the University of Victoria. If you are selected to participate in an interview, this information will be destroyed once we have successfully contacted you. Personal information will be destroyed for participants who are not selected for an interview. If you decide you would like to withdraw from the study, you will have your contact information erased from the servers.

Your contact information will not be shared with the Department of Justice or outside of our research team. However, Survey Monkey servers are located in the United States and as such please be advised that there is a possibility that information about you gathered as part of this research study may be accessed without your knowledge or consent by the US government in compliance with the US Freedom Act.

Participation in this research is voluntary and potential participants are under no obligation to participate. Choosing to participate or not will not affect your ability to access services, standing, or relationships where you might have heard about this study.

If you are not eligible to participate, your contact information will be deleted. All participants, regardless of eligibility, will receive a list of mental health resources that are local to their area. If you experience any negative mental health impacts as a result of your participation, we encourage you to contact these resources. These mental health resources will be low or no barrier and inclusive of LGBTQ2+ communities. You are also able to bring a support person of your choosing with you to your interview if you would like. Support persons will be required to sign a confidentiality agreement to ensure that the information you share in the interview will not be communicated outside of the interview context.

Please note, the research team cannot provide any legal advice and that the researchers are not able to support the research participants with their legal proceedings.

If you have any questions about this research project, please contact CBRC’s Research Manager, Ben Klassen at ben.klassen@cbrc.net.

This study is being led by Nathan Lachowsky (University of Victoria, Community-Based Research Centre), Jody Jollimore (Community-Based Research Centre), Daniel Grace (University of Toronto), Olivier Ferlatte (Université de Montréal), Rod Knight (University of British Columbia), and Travis Salway (Simon Fraser University).

Serious legal problems – eligibility screener

To be hosted on Survey Monkey; data collected will be stored securely and kept confidential

Introduction: Thank you for your interest in participating in this research project entitled “A Qualitative Look at Serious Legal Problems: LGBTQ2+ People in Western Canada.” The questions asked in this survey will help to determine whether you are eligible to participate in this study. We are seeking a diverse group of participants in terms of sexual and gender identities, race/ethnicity, and the nature of legal problems experienced, which is why it is important to ask these questions.

At the end of the survey, you will be asked to provide a name, phone number, and email address so that we can contact you for follow-up. Your contact information will be kept confidential and will not be shared with the Department of Justice or outside of our research team. If you have any questions about this research project, please contact CBRC’s Research Manager, Ben Klassen at ben.klassen@cbrc.net.

  1. How old are you?
  2. Where do you currently reside?
    1. British Columbia
    2. Alberta
    3. Saskatchewan
    4. Manitoba
    5. Ontario
    6. Quebec
    7. Newfoundland & Labrador
    8. New Brunswick
    9. Nova Scotia
    10. Prince Edward Island
    11. Yukon
    12. Northwest Territories
    13. Nunavut
    14. Outside of Canada [ineligible]
  3. How do you typically describe your sexual identity?
    1. Lesbian
    2. Gay
    3. Bisexual
    4. Queer
    5. Straight
    6. I prefer to use another term (please describe):
  4. How do you typically describe your gender identity?
    1. Man
    2. Woman
    3. Non-binary
    4. I prefer to use another term (please describe):
  5. Do you have lived experience as trans, a history of gender transition, or identify as transgender?
    1. Yes
    2. No
  6. What is your gender expression/presentation?
    1. Mostly feminine
    2. Mostly androgynous
    3. Mostly masculine
    4. Fluidity between expressions
  7. How do you describe your race/ethnicity? (Check all that apply)
    1. African
    2. Arab, West Asian (e.g. Iranian, Afghan)
    3. Black
    4. Caribbean
    5. East Asian (e.g. Chinese, Japanese, Korean)
    6. Indigenous
    7. Latin American, Hispanic
    8. South Asian (e.g. East Indian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan)
    9. Southeast Asian (e.g. Filipino, Vietnamese, Thai)
    10. White
    11. I prefer not to answer
    12. Other (please specify)
  8. If you are Indigenous, are you Two-Spirit?
    1. I am Indigenous and Two-Spirit
    2. I am Indigenous but not Two-Spirit
    3. I am not Indigenous
  9. How would you describe your money situation in the past 12 months?
    1. Comfortable, with extra
    2. Enough, but no extra
    3. Have to cut back
    4. Cannot make ends meet
  10. In the past three years, did you have a serious legal dispute or problem in relation to… (Check all that apply):
    1. A large purchase or service where you did not get what you paid for and the seller did not fix the problem (e.g., a home, renovations, vehicles).
    2. Your employer or your job, excluding personal injuries (e.g., not receiving pay for vacation, overtime, severance, maternity, sick leave, or employment insurance benefits, unfair dismissal or disciplinary procedures, or a health and safety issue).
    3. A personal injury or serious health issue that occurred at work, in a commercial establishment, in a traffic accident or any other public place.
    4. Your neighbourhood such as vandalism, property damage, threats or excessive noise.
    5. Your house, your rent, your mortgage, or rent owed to you (e.g. foreclosure, collecting rent, eviction).
    6. Money you owe (debt) or collecting money owed to you, excluding rent and housing issues (e.g. declaring bankruptcy, collection agency issues or credit issues).
    7. Obtaining social or housing assistance, old age security or guaranteed income supplement or other government assistance or with the amount received (excluding disability assistance)
    8. Obtaining disability assistance or with the amount received (e.g. disability pension income, private insurance companies, workers compensation, benefits for disabled children).
    9. Immigration, refugee status or sponsoring a family member’s application to immigrate to Canada.
    10. Contact with the police or other part of the criminal justice system involving being stopped, accused, charged, detained, arrested, or with pardons
    11. Contact with the police or other part of the criminal justice system as a victim or a witness of a crime
    12. A breakdown of your family or relationship such as a divorce or separation, excluding child custody problems (e.g. spousal support or division of property)
    13. Child custody or other problem involving parental responsibilities (e.g. child protection or welfare services).
    14. A will, or taking care of financial or health issues for a person who was unable to look after themselves.
    15. Poor or incorrect medical treatment (e.g. harmed while being treated by a medical professional).
    16. Civil court proceedings or a letter threatening legal action over a civil matter (e.g. breach of contract, landlord tenant issues, or suing for money for damages or obtaining recovery from injuries).
    17. Being harassed (e.g. at school, university or work, in a public place or in a commercial establishment). Harassment is any improper conduct by an individual that is directed at and offensive to another individual and that the individual knew or should reasonably have known would cause offence or harm.
    18. Being discriminated against (e.g. at school, university or work, in a public place or in a commercial establishment). Discrimination means treating someone differently or unfairly because of a personal characteristic or distinction, which, whether intentional or not, has an effect that imposes disadvantages not imposed on others or that withholds or limits access that is given to others.
    19. Your use or possession of criminalized drugs or narcotics
    20. Disclosure of your HIV status (i.e., criminalization of HIV non-disclosure)
    21. Involvement in sex work
    22. Any other issue – Specify: ______________________________________
    23. I did not experience a serious problem
  11. If you answered yes to any of the above legal disputes or problems, did your legal problem include interactions with the justice system? (eg. police officer, a lawyer, a court, etc.)
  12. If you answered yes to any of the above legal problems, please provide us with a very brief (2-4 sentences) description of the legal problems you faced. We are asking this because we want to ensure that we capture a wide range of legal problems in the project. During an interview we would ask for more detail of your experience.
    [write-in response]
  13. If you are interested in participating in the project, please provide your name, phone number and email address so that we can follow-up with you. This information will be kept confidential and will not be shared outside of our research team.
    Name (can be a pseudonym): ______________________________________
    Phone: __ __ __ - __ __ __ - __ __ __ __
    Email address: ______________________________________