Meet the KPU Pride Society

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Located in Birch 240 at Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s Surrey campus lies the KPU Pride Society. 

The room is cozy. A pride flag hangs on the light blue wall and the space is filled with books, snacks, and buttons, but also educational pamphlets, safer sex supplies, menstrual products, and students who care about making it a safe space for others. 

Camille Bédard is the president of the society, and helped create the club with Vice President Liam Ruel in 2022 after beginning research with criminology instructor Tara Lyons exploring the experiences of 2SLGBTQ+ students at learning-focused universities. 

In their research, one of the findings was an overwhelming lack of community and safe spaces for queer students, but also having trouble finding a community and feeling a sense of belonging on campus. One of the recommendations from the study at the time was to create a safe space or group for students on campus, which is exactly what they did. 

A few months later, Bédard, Ruel, and former KPU Pride Society President Kayla Garvin formed the club after attending a Pride Advocacy Group (PAG) meeting, composed of members from KPU that empower and support queer students, faculty, and staff. 

“It was just kind of like, ‘Why don’t we just do this?’ We know there’s a need for it,” Bédard says. “So we did, and it flourished.” 

A KPU 2021 student satisfaction survey found 14 per cent of students identify as part of the queer community, which Bédard says is roughly 1,000 students. Before the KPU Pride Society was created, it took Bédard years to meet someone on campus who was either queer or transgender, which shocked him and made him want to create the club even more. 

“To find people who get what you’re going through and get the experiences that you experience, it’s something that can make going to school a little bit easier,” Bédard says. 

After the club was approved by the Kwantlen Student Association, they launched a Discord server, which still runs today, before moving into the Birch space in October last year. Today, the pride society is a space for students to come in to chat with members, hangout, or grab a snack. They also host occasional events on and off campus. 

The club was needed at KPU, Bédard says, as the university was slowly transitioning to in-person classes and people were feeling eager to socialize again. 

“Queer and trans students definitely had it especially hard,” he says. “Namely if they were living in a space where they weren’t accepted, or they couldn’t come out. As long term students at KPU, we realized that this is a community that we belong to, and there’s only good that can come out from initiatives like this.” 

Ruel was one of those students who felt isolated and was glad he was able to create the society to have this safe space for anyone who needs it. Ruel says a year and a half before helping launch the pride society, he experienced many negative experiences in his classes where people would make anti-queer or trans comments. 

“It’s just a very isolating experience, and I think a community is something that I wanted or I needed,” Ruel says. “So it’s important to be part of making sure something like that happened.” 

One of the biggest findings in his research is that a vast majority of people have experienced some form of discrimination directed at them from instructors or peers, Ruel says. 

In the last several months, anti Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) protests have taken place across the Lower Mainland. Bédard says they have a dedicated thread in their Discord server to post alerts so members can counter protest, take a different commute home, or avoid the area to be safe. 

“We’re trying to do our best to nudge the culture in a direction that’s more accepting towards us,” Bédard says. 

In the future, Bédard and Ruel say they want to try and have more educational events for people to attend, while also hosting fun events promoting relaxation like “Eat your Heart Out,” a cookie decorating event that took place on Feb. 14. 

Bédard says for International Transgender of Visibility Day, which is an annual event on March 31 to celebrate the transgender community globally and their contributions to society, one of the pride society members will be organizing an exhibition about some of the historical figures in the transgender community. They hope to have the event in late March. 

Other events they hosted earlier this semester include a PowerPoint Day, where people could present on a topic of their choice, and a movie, both of which were hosted by Destiny Lang, member of the pride society and the KSA queer students representative. 

“Having social events, peer support, and advocacy — all these together are really important [to] have a holistic well-being as a student body,” Lang says. 

Lang has their office inside the KPU Pride Society space and is always happy to talk to students about what they can do on council and events to have within the club. 

“I’m really glad I could use this position, and I feel [being] a liaison between KSA council and the pride society really helped us bring more of our goals to fruition,” Lang says. 

Besides hosting events throughout the semester, one of their biggest goals is club stability and longevity. Bédard says there have been other 2SLGBTQ+ clubs in the past, but did not last due to members graduating and thus dissolving. 

“We want something that lives on after Liam, I, and other members of the pride society leadership graduate,” he says. “So we’ve been working really hard to get everything together … we’re pretty proud of how far we’ve come from the beginning.” 

Bédard and Ruel welcome anyone to come by the KPU Pride Society space weekdays from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm, or to send them an email at kpupridesociety@gmail.com if they want to chat, have questions, or may not feel comfortable coming to the space. Any type of discussion will be kept confidential, Bédard says. 

“It can be especially difficult for queer and trans international students who might be arriving here without any access to the community, they might be afraid of getting outed, having their finances revoked, being kicked out of the house, or being disowned,” he says.

“We have so many resources if a student doesn’t know where to access something, whether that be gender affirming care or a sexual health clinic, we’re always happy to help figure that out.”