Widow says she swore at PM on condolence call

Kate Shewan, of the Youth Project, from left, Nova Scotia NDP spokesperson for LGBTQ affairs Susan Leblanc, transgender activist Serina Slaunwhite, lawyer Susanne Litke and transgender activist Michael Davies-Cole pose at the legislature in Halifax on Thursday.

A transgender activist has filed a human rights complaint against the Nova Scotia Department of Health, saying it’s unfair the province covers breast removal surgeries for transgender men, but not breast augmentations for transgender women.

Serina Slaunwhite has spent the last year and a half fighting the provincial medicare program after she was denied breast implants in April 2017, on the grounds that the surgery is not considered to be medically necessary.

She filed the human rights complaint after she felt her concerns went unanswered.

“This should be included along with the rest of the surgeries that are publicly funded by the province for sex reassignment surgery .... It’s gender discrimination,” Slaunwhite said Thursday.

“Why is that not covered? If you’re going to do masculinization surgeries and breast removal for trans men, then they should be able to do the opposite for trans women.”

She said Nova Scotia’s MSI program wouldn’t give her a “clear cut answer.”

In an email, Department of Health spokeswoman Tracy Barron said transgender women usually develop breasts through hormonal therapy, which is covered by the province, while the only way for transgender men to permanently masculinize their chest is through surgery.

But Susanne Litke, a lawyer at Dalhousie Legal Aid Service who represents Slaunwhite, says in many cases, breasts grown during hormone therapy aren’t substantial enough for transgender women to feel at home in their bodies.

She said this kind of surgery is medically necessary to help transgender women avoid gender dysphoria, a condition that entails feeling a disconnect between how their body appears and how they identify.

“It doesn’t always develop the size and volume of breast that they would be comfortable with in terms of the ‘passing’ issue,” said Litke.

“When that breast development isn’t enough for the person to be comfortable in their body, then it’s a medical necessity.”

The widow of a civilian killed in last Friday’s Fredericton shootings says she has no regrets about the profane phrase she directed at Justin Trudeau during his condolence call to her Wednesday.

Melissa Robichaud said her family was hurt the prime minister did not reach out to them Sunday while in the city, where he paid public tribute to Constables Robb Costello and Sara Burns at city hall.

Robichaud said Trudeau told her he had wanted to give his condolences for the death of her husband, Donnie Robichaud, but couldn’t because he was meeting with families of the police officers.

“So I said so what. They wear a vest, they carry a gun, that makes them more important than one of us? I called him a piece of (expletive),” she said in an interview Thursday.

Robichaud said she swore at him because her two sons have been made to feel that their father was somehow less important.

“Honestly I just lost my husband and my kids have just lost their father. My son put it on Facebook how hurt he was that he (Trudeau) was in town and he couldn’t even find a phone number to call and give his condolences or anything like that.”

Donnie Robichaud and Bobbie Lee Wright were also gunned down with Costello and Burns at an apartment complex on the city’s north side. When asked for a response Thursday, it was clear the Prime Minister’s Office was wary of commenting in detail about what was said.

“The Prime Minister reached out to personally offer his condolences to the families of the victims,” spokeswoman Chantal Gagnon said in an email.

“We cannot imagine what they are going through. He offered our support to the families and will continue to do so.”