A transgender rights advocate from St. John’s says removing the out-of-province travel required for transition-related surgery readiness assessments is a huge help.

On Monday, government announced that it is no longer necessary to travel to Toronto for transition-related surgery readiness assessments at the Canadian Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH).

Blair Curtis says the announcement means the world. Curtis was on the wait list at CAMH, and says they couldn’t wait any longer, and had to pay for it themself. Curtis says it’s uplifting to know that trans folks won’t have to pay out of pocket, as many can’t afford it.

They say they went through extreme gender dysphoria and not having to leave the province will help transgender individuals with that.

Curtis says being able to stay in province and knowing government is taking to steps to ensure trans people have access to these surgeries will alleviate dysphoria. They say trans people all across the province are very excited.

Activist, Gemma Hickey says the announcement marked an amazing and historic day. They say it’s one less barrier for transgender individuals.

Hickey says they’ve built up a trust with healthcare professionals here at home like doctors, nurses and therapists. They are the people who know them and can assess them properly, and trans individuals shouldn’t have to go away to get the same thing.

Hickey says it’s a great day for that reason alone.