Gender Affirming Care is governed by the province’s Gender Affirming Care Policy (2023) which provides details on readiness assessments, referrals and approvals. The Nova Scotia Health Authority also has a specific advocacy and navigation program, prideHealth, that supports 2SLGBTQIA+ people in understanding the gender affirming care policy in practice as well as navigating the healthcare system, including referrals to trained mental health providers, STBBI testing, and gender affirming primary care providers for hormones and/or surgery assessments.
Youth in Nova Scotia (aged 19 and under inside or outside of the HRM) can seek out gender affirming care by contacting their primary care provider or the IWK Trans Health Team. Youth outside of Halifax (province wide) can also call Nova Scotia Health's Mental Health and Addictions Intake Service toll-free at 1-855-922-1122 and ask to be connected to the child and youth community health clinic nearest them. Adults aged 18+ can contact their primary care provider, or connect with prideHealth to be put in touch with a Gender Affirming Hormone Prescriber. prideHealth also refers to primary care providers for surgical readiness assessments as most primary care providers can take people on for the majority of their primary care needs.
It is important to note that in Nova Scotia, accessing gender-affirming care involves navigating significant wait times, particularly for surgeries and specialist consultations. For example, wait time to see a specialist for gender-affirming care can range from six to 18 months which is a significant part of the overall timeline for accessing surgery and other gender-affirming treatments.
Gender affirming surgeries are a publicly funded service through Medical Services Insurance (MSI). Some surgeries (listed here) are available in Nova Scotia, while others will be referred to the Centre de Chirurgie in Montreal. For those who travel to Montreal for gender affirming surgery, some costs directly associated with the procedure can be covered. These include transportation and accommodation costs as per the Nova Scotia Out-of-Province Travel and Accommodation Assistance Policy. Some community support resources to consider are the Nova Scotia Youth Project (for those up to age 24), the Cape Breton Transgender Network (volunteer support and advocacy for all ages/families) and pflag Canada are additional community resources.
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