APCOM’s Executive Director, as a member of Dignity Network Canada’s Global Advisory Board members, was invited to Vancouver, Canada, together with another Global Advisory Board member, Zhanar Sekerbayeva, from Kazakhstan, co-founder of ‘Feminita’ for a number of engagement with Canada’s members of parliament and Ministers, as part of the Pride celebrations, and highlighting Canada’s role in its support on LGBTQI inclusion in Asia Pacific region, in line with its Feminist International Foreign Policy, and Indo-Pacific Strategy.
“Canada recognizes how important it is to remain steadfast in our support for LGBTQI+ communities around the world – including the Asia-Pacific Region. And although we’ve celebrated some important progress in recent years, it’s clear that now, we face growing challenges. Around the world, anti-gender and anti-rights movements are growing in size and influence. Sowing fear and spreading instability. Discrimination and the threat of violence is growing, and unfortunately this impacts many communities – whether based on race, religion, or just who you are and who you choose to love.”
The Honourable Randeep Sarai, Canada’s Secretary of State for International Development, opening remarks at the LGBTQI+ Inclusion Across Borders: Canada’s partnership in Asia Pacific panel, Vancouver, Canada, on 28 August 2025.
The Honourable Randeep Sarai also emphasized that Canada remains paramount that it stand up for equal rights, dignity and respect, and it shouldn’t be controversial to believe that diversity enriches and strengthens our communities.
He highlighted that Canada has been a strong supporter of LGBTQI+ communities and organizations through programs like:
- The LGBTQ2I International Assistance Program
- The Women’s Voice and Leadership Program
- The Equality Fund
- And the Strengthening Civil Society and Democratic Spaces in the Indo-Pacific Program.
On the panel, Midnight gave examples of how Canada’s support to APCOM has helped strengthen its capacity as a regional regranting mechanism, and thereby localising and institutionalizing expertise within the region, as well as,
“…working with 15 LGBTQI organisations to strengthen and build capacity of the organisations – including internal organizational management, programming, and sustainability. Increasing knowledge and skills in advocacy for gender equality, human rights, and socio-economic inclusion, particularly targeted at the Asian Development Bank. The grant from Canada has strengthened LGBTQI organizations’ networking capacity, and movement building at country, regional and global levels,”
commented Midnight, APCOM Executive Director.
Prior to the panel discussion, Minister Sarai was part of the small roundtable discussion hosted by Dignity Network Canada’s Executive Director, Doug Kerr, with its network members. Midnight presented the situation in the region, particularly when it comes to funding, our project documents on Connecting Voices for LGBTQI Socio Economic Inclusion and Human Rights in Asia and Impact of the project, and also invited the Minister to come to the region.
As part of the engagement Midnight (APCOM Executive Director) and Zhanar (Co-founder of Feminita, Kazakhstan) were able to meet with some key people in Canada as well.
Meeting Members of Parliament
Meeting with local groups
About Dignity Network Canada
Dignity Network Canada believes that Canada and Canadians play a role in the world around supporting movements involved in the advancement of human rights of LGBTIQ people worldwide. Our vision is a world where LGBTIQ people everywhere enjoy full human rights and socio-economic well-being.
We are a group of civil society organizations across Canada involved in supporting the human rights of people regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity and expression and sex characteristics (SOGIESC) globally.
We act as a Canadian hub for communication and knowledge-sharing across organizations on global LGBTIQ and SOGIESC human rights issues, especially emphasizing the perspectives of international partners.
- Convene and host gatherings, conferences and meetings on Canada and global SOGIESC human rights.
- Encourage and support public awareness, education and research related to global SOGIESC human rights issues.
- Engage and support advocacy efforts both nationally and internationally to advance SOGIESC human rights and inclusion.
Visit https://dignitynetwork.ca/en/ for more information.
