Tess Williams, a former APSA board director, is a member of Vancouver's Rainbow Week of Action organizing committee. You can learn more about this upcoming event on May 17, which is also the International Day against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia.
Tess also was crucial in advocating for the need for gender-affirming care to be included in our extended health care benefits — we can't thank her enough for her brilliant work on behalf of our members. We are very pleased to say that those discussions with SFU have resulted in the University proactively completing preliminary work to provide a basic suite of gender-affirming benefits with our benefits carrier, Pacific Blue Cross. According to SFU, "These benefits will ensure that our transgender and gender non-conforming employees have access to the care and support they need."