Judy Girard was a role model and leader in the development and enhancement of services for the Ottawa LGBTQ2s+ community.
In the late 1970s, Judy joined the board of Ottawa’s first LGBTQ2s+ community group, Gays of Ottawa, and led the initiative for sister organization Pink Triangle Services (PTS)—now Kind Space—to become the first LGBTQ charity in Canada. She helped raise funds for PTS by organizing its legendary gala for many years. She also participated in LGBTQ2s+ sensitivity training for Ottawa Police Services and other organizations after violent attacks and murders of gay men occurred in Major’s Hill Park in the 1980s.
Judy helped other communities where equity, inclusion and social justice needed an advocate. As a teacher at the School of Social Work at Carleton University, she championed education and the importance of culturally appropriate programs within a human rights/social justice framework.
This fund is intended to build upon Judy’s legacy and advance LGBTQ2s+ community programming and services.