A new downtown Mission space hopes to be a symbol of belonging, hope, resilience, and Pride.
Binary Freedom Foundation opened its doors on North Railway Avenue earlier in December with a grand opening for its community space and plant shop.
Co-founders Briana Lachance and Violet Wilson saw the demand for an organization supporting the 2SLGBTQIA+ community in the Fraser Valley and created the Binary Freedom Foundation (BFF).
Lachance said many 2SLGBTQIA+ people in the Fraser Valley are falling between the gaps unless they’re youth.
“As we were talking to others in the community, we found this tiny community in the Fraser Valley just screaming for a need,” Lachance said.
The foundation offers peer groups, a parenting group, community events and counselling at a discounted rate. Advocacy is also important to the organization.
So far, BFF has been helping people with rental applications and job interviews.
“There seems to be a lot of trouble with people when they're applying for rental applications. If they're visibly queer, it seems like a lot of landowners or apartments seem to not enjoy that,” Lachance said.
BFF is also an advocate for better policies for trans people in Fraser Valley shelters.
“We've helped some people with issues that they've had being sexually assaulted in some of the shelters,” Lachance said.
She went on to say: “A lot of trans people are getting turned away if they're not meeting a certain visual criteria or they're saying you're trans female, but you've done nothing to transition, so we're gonna have to put you in our male area. Well, that's putting them at extreme risk for violence, sexual abuse, etc.”
According to Lachance, BFF is partnering closely with people in Abbotsford at the moment due to a need for 2SLGBTQIA+ voices in the city.
“We recently had two of our clients move out of Abbotsford because they couldn't go to the grocery store and they couldn't go to the park,” Lachance said.
She says Chilliwack and Mission have been more supportive of Pride.
“We had a gigantic Pride event in Mission and I really didn't hear any backlash for it in the community. And even if you look at the other communities with their protests and all of that, Mission has a group of … maybe 10 of them that walk the streets of their signs. But outside of that 10 – the thousands of people here – it's not that bad. Mission has always been very welcoming,” Lachance said.
Lachance says the response from the community has been amazing so far.
The plant store on North Railway features over 200 different varieties of plants with profits going towards the foundation.
“We mostly do unique house plants. We do have some kind of basic but we really wanted to take things that you wouldn't normally find at your grocery store or other plant stores,” Lachance said.
The building also features a community space available for meetings or studying.
“We're all people that just want to make a safe space for our community. We are a queer- based organization. That means a safe space for everyone. We're inclusive. You don't have to be queer to come. You don't have to identify as anything to come through our doors. We're just here for our community,” she said.
