Last year, about 350 transgender and gender-diverse people were killed due to transphobia according to TransRespect Versus TransPhobia Worldwide. 

It’s a sobering number as the transgender community commemorated the International Trans Day of Remembrance on Friday. 

Moose Jaw Pride held a vigil outside of its Rainbow Retro store to mark the occasion. 

The International Trans Day of Remembrance mourns those transgender people who have been killed because of their sexuality and raise awareness of transphobia. 

Most of the murders in the Trans community can in Brazil, Mexico, and the United States. 

Moose Jaw Pride vice-chair Cole Ramsey said the number of transgender people murdered is usually under-reported. 

“Unfortunately, because of the difficulty of covering data from across the world in different languages, and certainly from different countries that often are very hostile to transgender people, the numbers that we have, or that we know, is much lower than the real number.” 

In Canada, there were only two known cases of a transgender person being killed in 2019. 

An unknown 49-year-old person was murdered on Dec. 21, 2019, in Montreal and Julie Berman, 51, was beaten to death on Dec. 22, 2019, in Toronto. 

While the number of murders in Canada is low, and Ramsey feels the level of acceptance is on the rise, transphobia is still a reality in our society. 

“Murder is a really extreme example of the transphobia that exists day-to-day, but it continues to exist in our communities on an interpersonal level and on a systemic level,” Ramsey said.  

“A lot of the work that we do with Moose Jaw Pride is working with local folks who are facing those challenges and trying to help them navigate those systems and those interactions.” 

The Trans Day of Remembrance takes place every year on Nov. 20.