New federal funding helps SQUAD reduce barriers for Sudbury’s queer community

Federal funding of more than $250,000 for SQUAD expands 2SLGBTQIA+ safe spaces, education and mental health support to combat isolation and promote inclusion.

The organization Sudbury Queers United Around Diversity, also known as SQUAD, continues its work for safety, diversity and equality for the 2SLGBTQIA+ community.

Sudbury MP Viviane Lapointe announced more than $250,000 in federal funding to help the group continue reducing barriers on Wednesday.

“The work that SQUAD does really speak to the values that we all hold as Canadians. The values of respect, the values of democracy, of inclusive societies,” said Lapointe.

“This funding helps them do a lot of this great work that they do, the advocacy, the support, as well as the education.”

SQUAD opened a safe space on Durham Street downtown in August.

The funding will be used to expand services and offer workshops that foster inclusion, education and understanding.

“Suicide is at a higher rate within the queer community… They have proven that isolation and loneliness is the equivalent of smoking 15 cigarettes a day,” said SQUAD frontline social worker Paul Pasanen.

“So, it affects you not just mentally and emotionally – but it affects you physically. Within everything that comes with that, you know the pressures of minority stress."

SQUAD is also working with one local long-term care facility to possibly offer a Rainbow space and at another one offering training videos about how staff and residents can be more accepting and inclusive.