Numbers are a great place to start a conversation. While they never tell the whole story, they do offer a launching point.

Take a look at the ones above.

They represent some statistics on an important topic — a part of a story from across our province and country. And while they don’t offer a complete narrative about the topic they do help to paint a compelling picture — a picture that reaffirms for me why schools need to be an important place of understanding and acceptance.

The topic I want to talk about today is also a polarizing one in our communities. My experience has shown that few people are without a strong opinion on the topic.

Let’s begin today’s discussion by looking at the two largest numbers …

1,000,000

• The approximate number of persons in Canada who identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer or questioning (2021)

75,000

• The approximate number of persons in Canada who identified as trans or non-binary (2018)

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