Join us on Wednesday, October 28th, as the AVA Webinar Series presents The Indigo Project: Hearing Older LGBTQ2SA+ Voices on Elder Abuse, featuring Dr. Jen Marchbank from Simon Fraser University.
Wednesday, October 28th, 2026
12 – 1:30pm MST
This webinar explores elder abuse within LGBTQ2SA+ communities, with a focus on the lived experiences of queer elders. LGBTQ2SA+ elders have experienced significant historical and systemic oppression, including discrimination, social exclusion, violence, and loss of housing, employment, and family connections.
Drawing on the experiences of nine queer elders who have lived through abuse, Indigo highlights the unique and shared experiences of LGBTQ2SA+ elder abuse and offers insights and recommendations to help practitioners, advocates, and service providers better understand and respond to these experiences.
About the Speaker
Jen’s research projects merge her community activism with NEVR (Network to Eliminate Violence in Relationships) and Youth 4 A Change (Y4AC). She led a knowledge synthesis on 2SLGBTQ+ elder abuse and is part of the Indigo Survivors project with Qmunity, now published as Elder Abuse in the LGBTQ2SA+ Community: The impact of homophobia and transphobia. She led the youth on a previous elder abuse project which created Canada’s first educational materials on queer elder abuse. Her books include Introduction to Gender: Social Science Perspectives; States of Conflict: Gender, Violence & Resistance; Basically Queer; Women, Power & Policy: Comparative Studies of Childcare; and Making Sense of a Global Pandemic: Relationship Violence & Working Together Towards a Violence Free Society. Her current project is Telling our stories: An oral history of 2SLGBTQ+ Surrey, BC.