Our Health

Thank you for your interest in Our Health.
Please click here to access the 2023 study.

We want to understand what life is like for 2SLGBTQQIA+ people across Canada and want to hear from you. How’s your mental and physical health? Your spiritual wellness? Your romantic and/or sex life (if applicable)? How are you managing your chronic health condition? How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected you, your chosen family, and people in your communities?

Community-Based Research Centre, Egale Canada, The Enchanté Network, and 2 Spirits in Motion Society are collaborating on a ground-breaking national project that will look into the current state of health among people in our communities. Add your voice and complete our online survey now to help us support the health of 2SLGBTQQIA+ people across Canada by improving programs, services, and policies! All participants will receive a small honorarium for completing the survey. For e-transfers, CBRC uses a platform called Plooto. You are eligible to participate if you are a member of 2SLGBTQQIA+ communities, live in Canada, and are 15 years of age or older. In order to participate in the Dried Blood Spot (DBS) component, testing for COVID-19 antibodies, you must be 18 years of age or older.”

2SLGBTQQIA+ Communities and Chronic Health

The Our Health: Canada-Wide 2SLGBTQQIA+ Community Survey especially wants to hear from community members who are living with chronic health conditions. We are using an expansive understanding of chronic health, to ensure that people living with conditions that are under-represented or less understood can feel included in this work. Living with chronic pain? A cancer survivor? Have a mental health condition? We want to hear from you.

How Common is COVID-19 Among 2SLGBTQQIA+ People in Canada?

In addition to the online survey, you can help us find out how many 2SLGBTQQIA+ people in Canada contracted SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19). Survey participants have the option of taking a COVID-19 antibody test that we will mail to your home or any address of your choosing. It’s a quick and simple finger prick test where you provide a few drops of blood and then mail the sample back to us (in a pre-paid envelope that we will provide to you). We want you to take the test regardless of whether or not you were diagnosed with COVID-19 or have been vaccinated.

This COVID-19 antibody test is anonymous and you can decide whether you’d like to receive the results. You can also choose to have your sample tested for HIV, hepatitis C, and/or syphilis if you would like. You can choose to have your blood sample destroyed immediately afterwards, returned to you, or saved for future research. By participating you will help us learn if testing for COVID-19 antibodies from home is an effective strategy for people who face barriers to testing (i.e., immunocompromised people, people who live in remote communities, etc).

In honour of your time and support, participants who complete the COVID-19 antibody test will receive a small honorarium. For e-transfers, CBRC uses a platform called Plooto.

More About the Survey

This is the largest multi-lingual community health survey dedicated to Two-Spirit, Indigiqueer, lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, questioning, intersex, asexual, and other sexually and gender diverse people in Canada. As 2SLGBTQQIA+ people, we are collectively strong, creative, and determined. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we have shown up for each other and pushed for systemic change.

Our communities have also long faced challenges when it comes to our health and wellbeing. We often face stigma and discrimination which profoundly impacts our mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical health and wellbeing. This is especially true for those of us who face compounding challenges due to intersections of our race, ethnicity, gender identity or expression, sexuality, class, age, immigration status, languages, disabilities, substance use, profession (e.g. sex work), or geographic location. Conducting a Canada-wide 2SLGBTQQIA+ survey during this pandemic⎯ which is further changing the ways we work, socialize, get support, and build community⎯ will help us tell politicians, policy makers, and service providers about the challenges and needs of our communities.

By taking the 30-60 minute survey, you will help ensure that the experiences and needs of 2SLGBTQQIA+ people are considered in policy, programs, and services.

Thank you for your interest in Our Health.
The study is now closed.

The Principal Investigator for this project is Nathan Lachowsky at the University of Victoria. For more information on this research project, please contact our team via email at [email protected], by calling toll-free at 1-844-900-2279 or through social media (Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram).
This project is funded by Canada’s COVID-19 Immunity Task Force and the Public Health Agency of Canada, with testing support provided by the National Microbiology Laboratory.

The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the views of the Public Health Agency of Canada.