Vancouver’s police force has been ordered to pay a transgender woman $15,000 for repeatedly referring to her as a man, and refusing to provide her post-op treatment while she was in jail.
According to the The Toronto Sun news publication, A B.C. Human Rights Tribunal described how Angela Dawson had completed gender reassignment surgery in March 2010 before several encounters with police officers in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside on Tuesday.
Dawson, who according to the police, is well-known as an individual who skates around on rollerblades on the road to direct traffic, while wearing flashy clothing and big headphones. She’s been dubbed Vancouver’s own “Roller Girl” with a small following on Twitter as well as her own Youtube Channel.
Dawson was arrested 11 days after her surgery on an outstanding warrant. Being “very concerned” about undertaking these procedures called ‘dilations’, Dawson explained the risks of not doing them would include infections or irreversible damage to the vaginal canal. She had informed the offers that she was in need of post-op medical attention as a result. However, the on-duty male nurse did not believe her story unless she took off her pants, to which she refused. The nurse decided to leave her without treatment.
Another male nurse checked on Dawson the following morning, only this time giving her a glove and vaseline to use as a dilator in lieu of treatment at the hospital. According to the tribunal, long periods of time without dilation after gender reassignment surgery would cause the surgery to fail to hold.
According to a report from the Winnipeg Free Press, another incident dated June 2010, was an arrest report referring to Dawson as “he” and “him” and by her legal name, Jeffrey, even though she gave her name as Angela at the scene.
The arresting officer testified that he used her legal name on the form because that was how she was identified in a police database. However, on other citations, Dawson was referred to as Angela.
The police board argued it was Dawson’s responsibility to legally change her name, but she testified she didn’t think she could afford it.
The tribunal determined that police had discriminated against Dawson, and was ordered to pay $15,000 in damages “for injury to dignity, feelings and self-respect.”
The tribunal also found police had “virtually no policies or training” on how to handle cases with trans people without discrimination.
According to the Winnipeg Free Press:
Vancouver police Const. Brian Montague said that the department will carefully review the decision to ensure the safety of anyone in custody remains a top priority. He said being sensitive to how transgender people identify is very important.
“Our officers are hired and trained based on some fundamental core values,” he said. “One of those core values is respect, and we expect our officers to be respectful of each and every one of the hundreds of people they encounter on a daily basis.”
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