An icon of Vancouver’s queer communities has been honoured with induction to the Order of Canada.
“What an amazing thing to be part of,” Janine Fuller told Global News. “You’re kind of blown away for a while. I’ve known for a while now and I think it’s being seen to be part of something that’s so big.”
Fuller ran Little Sister’s Book and Art Emporium from 1990 to 2015, a West End bookstore that has long been a community hub and resource for the region’s LGBTQ2 community.
The bookshop came to national attention in 1990 when it took the federal government to court over censorship.
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Canada Customs had seized shipments of books bound for Little Sister’s as “obscene materials,” while the same materials bound for other retailers were shipped without disruption.
The case wound its way to the Supreme Court of Canada, which ruled in 2000 in the bookstore’s favour.
Fuller noted it was “ironic” that she was now being honoured by the same government she’d fought decades ago.
“She organized a fight, a successful fight, to stand up for human rights and for freedom of speech,” Vancouver-West End MLA Spencer Chandra Herbert said of Fuller.
“We’re here for her because she’s a leader, she inspires us, she makes us better, she has made B.C. a better place and Canada a better place for us all.”
In addition to her advocacy for freedom of speech and LGBTQ2 rights, Fuller has fought for renters’ rights and against so-called “renovictions.”
She has also been diagnosed with Huntington’s disease, a progressive brain disorder, and has become a powerful voice for those living with the condition.
“Having it, (it’s) hard not to advocate,” she said. “It’s not easy but I think it’s important. Because it’s such an invisible disease nobody really knows about it so you have to talk about it.”
Gov. Gen. Mary Simon highlighted that work, saying Fuller had become “a beacon of hope for others with the condition.”
Despite the success of her advocacy, Fuller said the fight for LGBTQ2 rights is still far from over, pointing to growing intolerance and new efforts to target the community.
“When you look at the legislation around queer things it is really frightening that that kind of thing is still happening, and it really makes me angry, sad,” she said. “But irrepressible in my desire to keep talking about it, to make sure that people of all avenues get the visibility and the rights they deserve.”
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