Celebrate Trans Day of Visibility with Advocacy Canada in Kelowna
Published 6:00 pm Saturday, March 7, 2026
Advocacy Canada is hosting a Trans Day for Visibility event to share lived experiences and bring solidarity.
The event is taking place at the Laurel Packinghouse at 1304 Ellis St. from 6-8 p.m., with this year’s theme being Living Trans. Ordinary Lives. Extraordinary Courage.
Wilbur Turner, the president and founder of Advocacy Canada, will open the evening with an interactive session “where community members can share, connect and reflect on what visibility means across generations and circumstances.”
The keynote speaker of the night will be Mardi Peironek, who is a 64-year old trans woman that has been living authentically since the age of 15.
Peironek has a growing online platform where she advocates for trans rights, drawing on her own lived experience. She shares stories from a remarkable life as a 1980s performance artist, model, recovery community member, and survival industry worker and is known for her quick wit and warmth.
“Trans Day of Visibility has never been more important than it is right now,” she said. We are watching a coordinated rise in anti-trans rhetoric from political leaders across Canada and beyond — rhetoric that has real consequences for real people. This is not an abstract debate. It is an attack on the dignity, safety, and humanity of our community. On March 31, we come
together not just to be seen, but to remind one another that we are not alone. Solidarity is not a slogan. It is how we survive, and it is how we build something better as a community.”
Admission is by donation and free for youth 17 and under.