Skip to content

Maureen Sullivan vs. transgender people

Maureen Sullivan is a conservative Canadian anti-transgender activist. Sullivan has served on the board and steering committee of anti-trans group Canadian Women’s Sex-Based Rights (caWsbar) and has been involved in advocating for sex-segregated prisons with Heather Mason.

Background

In a bio supplied to the caWsbar site, Sullivan identified as a “mum and a businesswoman.”

Anti-trans activism

Acording to the caWsbas site, Sullivan began following anti-trans developments in Canada in 2017, inspired by hearing Jordan Peterson and Meghan Murphy testify at the Bill C-16 hearings in 2017: “It’s her objective that all our daughters’ Charter rights be restored with the repeal of C-16.”

On March 8, 2025 caWsbar’s event Reality Based Women Unite was held in Calgary. The event featured Sullivan, Liza Vespi, Drea Humphrey, Ghislaine Gendron, Trish Oliver, John Carpay, Amy Hamm, Heather Mason, and Kara Dansky.

According to Sullivan’s speech, on October 2022, Sullivan read a report in the Toronto Sun about Stephanie Green, a 26-year-old who was charged with sexual assault at a Parry Sound shelter. Green identified as transgender. Sullivan, who was a self-described “couch TERF” before that, contacted Heather Mason about joining protests organized by anti-trans group Keep Prisons Single Sex.

Anti-trans coverage

Staff report (March 29, 2025). Solidarity with our Sisters in Quebec – A Speech from Ghislaine Gendron at caWsbar’s Reality-Based Women Unite 2025. Gender Dissent https://www.genderdissent.com/post/solidarity-with-our-sisters-in-quebec [archive]

Humphrey, Drea (March 11, 2025). Empowered women come together to address sex-based spaces. Rebel News rebelnews.com/the_need_for_sex_based_spaces_attracts_diverse_group_to_international_women_s_day_event

Legal Team (February 13, 2025). TDF sponsors women’s rights event. The Democracy Fund https://www.thedemocracyfund.ca/the_democracy_fund_sponsors_reality_based_women_unite

Selected writing by Sullivan

Sullivan, Maureen; “Vee, Esme” (December 12, 2025). Brief to the Committee on the Status of Women on How Gender Identity Ideology is Anti-Feminist. Canadian Women’s Sex-Based Rights https://www.ourcommons.ca/Content/Committee/451/FEWO/Brief/BR13842322/br-external/CanadianWomensSexBasedRights-e.pdf

Sullivan, Maureen; “Vee, Esme” (December 12, 2024). Brief to the Committee on the Status of Women on Hate-Motivated Violence in the 2SLGBTQIA+ Community. Canadian Women’s Sex-Based Rights https://www.cawsbar.ca/post/brief-to-the-committee-on-the-status-of-women-on-hate-motivated-violence-in-the-2slgbtqia-community

Sullivan, Maureen and signatories (June 22, 2024). Submission to the Employment Equity Act Review Task Force: The Importance of Clearly Defining Women Within the Employment Equity Act. https://womensdeclaration.com/documents/404/Submission_letter_-_EEA_Review_Feedback_-_June_22_2024.pdf

Media

Canadian Women’s Sex-Based Rights (November 11, 2025). Reality Based Women Unite 2025. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcqEzDJKfxU

MaureenWRC with Maureen Sullivan and Tania Alessandrini (March 25, 2024). First Podcast Maureen March 21 & Tania. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHebuNhWWss

Resources

Canadian Women’s Sex-Based Rights (cawsbar.ca)

  • Steering committee
  • cawsbar.ca/steering-committee [archive]

X/Twitter (x.com)

TicketBud (ticketbud.com)

  • Reality Based Women Unite 2025
  • cawsbar.ticketbud.com/reality25 [archive]

YouTube (youtube.com)