Coming to Canada felt like a rebirth for Rahma Esslouani.
Growing up in Morocco, Esslouani, a nonbinary lesbian, said their family would use culture and religion as an excuse to control how they dressed and what hobbies they did. They fled to Turkey in 2019 after their family tried to force them to marry a man, but experienced the same discrimination and persecution that they had tried to escape.
“Always I was living in fear,” Esslouani said. “Fear to be myself, fear to go outside.”
When in Turkey, Esslouani was approached by police, who asked them to come to a nearby station, where they were arrested for being lesbian and non-binary. While being in a same-sex relationship or gender non-conforming isn’t illegal in Turkey, laws around “offences against public morals” have been used to arrest queer and gender-diverse people.
After being released from jail, Esslouani decided to flee again. In 2023 they contacted Rainbow Railroad, a global non-profit based in Toronto dedicated to support persecuted LGBTQ people around the world. The organization helped them file an application to relocate to Canada in March 2024.
In July, Esslouani arrived in Toronto.
“It’s like living a dream,” they said. “I can go outside. I can walk and I can hold my partner’s hand without fear.”
Esslouani is one of over 300 queer refugees that Rainbow Railroad helped relocate last year, according to a new report published by the organization Friday in honour of World Refugee Day.
Since January alone, the organization said it has relocated to Canada 70 queer refugees who were originally bound for the United States.
Along with resettling people from nearly 30 countries, the report says that Rainbow Railroad received 13,402 requests for help and supported almost 6,000 queer individuals in 2024. The organization defines support as any advocacy work of partnerships with local organizations in other countries as well as providing information people need to get help elsewhere.
Roughly 80 per cent of these requests came from people between the ages of 18 and 35 — and Devon Matthews, head of programs, said the organization has seen an uptick in requests from young people in historically queer-friendly countries like the U.S. and Argentina.
“We’re seeing a real backsliding in rights and access for queer people, specifically for trans folks,” Matthews said. “And youth are really preventatively nervous around their circumstances or their ability to access the type of care that they may have been afforded at some point.”
Matthews pointed to the U.S., where, since the start of President Donald Trump’s second term, the government has backtracked on many protections for queer and trans people. The president has also suspended the country’s refugee program — a move that is being challenged in court.
These policy changes south of the border also bring new significance to Rainbow Railroad’s new official partnership with the Canadian government, Matthews said.
First announced in 2023, Rainbow Railroad and the federal government ran a pilot program in 2024 designed to resettle LGBTQ refugees in Canada through the country’s Government-Assisted Refugees program. This year, the partnership started operating officially, and Matthews says the organization plans to fill all of the annual 250 spots dedicated to queer refugees this year.
“It’s a completely historic program,” Matthews said. “We are able to refer LGBTQ+ people for resettlement and work alongside agencies such as the (UN High Commissioner for Refugees) instead of through them.”
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada said the partnership with Rainbow Railroad will work in addition to its collaboration with the Rainbow Refugee Society — which sponsors up to 50 LGBTQ refugees each year — and its work with the UNCHR.
“Canada has a proud history of protecting and helping resettle the world’s most vulnerable groups, including LGBTQI+ refugees,” the agency wrote in an emailed statement.
It was through partnerships like these that Esslouani was able to leave Turkey for Canada last July.
While finding a job has been difficult, Esslouani said the past year has been better than they could have imagined. They can dress however they want and they have a partner. Seeing the rainbow flag everywhere has also been reassuring.
Esslouani said they’re also excited to celebrate their first Pride later this month.
“It’s my victory,” they said. “I am free, I am here.”
