Adebayo Chris Katiiti: From Exile to Ewaka Housing—Black Trans Refugee Advocacy Beyond "Inclusion" Adebayo

Chris Katiiti is a Black trans feminist organizer and educator whose work centers the liberation, safety, dignity, and self-determination of Black 2SLGBTQ people—especially refugees, newcomers, immigrants, and those facing displacement, racism, transphobia, poverty, and state violence.

He founded RaricaNow (RARICANow! Society) to support and promote human rights for LGBTQ refugees and newcomers in Canada and Edmonton, and recently launched Ewaka Housing, described by the John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights as the first initiative of its kind in Edmonton, providing housing for Black 2SLGBTQ refugees and newcomers.

He explains that his advocacy is about "survival with dignity," including access to housing, healthcare, employment, legal protection, community, and joy, and argues liberation is not charity or symbolic inclusion like rainbow flags, but confronting the conditions that make Black trans communities disposable.

Katiiti recounts the dangers of advocacy in Uganda—criminalization, hostile media and religious narratives, public outing, violence with impunity, and inability to seek police protection—sharing that he lost his home, family, friends, food, and culture and was once shot at by a police officer during a gathering.

He describes carrying trauma and guilt from supporting others' stories and from being able to live more freely in Canada while many Ugandan trans people remain unsafe, while also emphasizing the unconditional love and solidarity within Ugandan queer communities.

He details a complicated path to Canada, arriving in August 2016—after police raided a gay pride event in Uganda and arrested him days before his scheduled departure—including undressed by police to "check" his gender, and reflects that exile began in childhood when he was beaten for not conforming and escaped confinement to play soccer.

In Canada, he found community support but also faced loneliness, poverty, culture shock, immigration-system barriers, anti-Black racism, transphobia, and institutional neglect, noting that newcomers can also be misinformed about Indigenous peoples and stressing the importance of learning Canada's history and realities.

He explains how his advocacy shifted from crisis response in Uganda to more structured, intergenerational community-building in Canada—educating institutions, pushing policy change, connecting local and global struggles, challenging racism within queer and trans spaces, and demanding culturally competent services—while sharing he nearly "un-alived" himself and understands the mental-health burden many refugees face.

Katiiti also highlights his work as a musician (the album SAMEBLOOD) and, as the subject and advocate featured in the CBC-covered documentary A Long Road to Peace (directed by Katie Cutting), and as producer of Unpacking Black Trans Legacy (with Media 21 Productions, funded by TELUS StoryHive); he says he is working on a project he refers to as Rehearsal for Freedom.

He speaks about reclaiming Pride spaces and recognizing Pride's roots in resistance to police brutality while Black trans voices remain marginalized and Black trans people continue to be killed. He hopes trans voices—especially Black trans 2SLGBTQ refugees and newcomers—are included directly rather than spoken for, and envisions a Canada committed to liberation through safety, shelter, food, economic stability, and funded organizations, noting he has supported a large number of Black 2SLGBTQ refugees in Canada over roughly a decade (sources vary between approximately 200 and 450—worth confirming against his current figure before publication).

He lists recognitions including the King Charles III Coronation Medal, the Salma Lakhani Award for Leadership in Pluralism and Reconciliation from the John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights (2023), and mentions winning the Mr. Pride Uganda title in 2015, and closes with a call for governments to provide long-term protection and relocation to safety for Black trans people amid rising violence and remembrance of lives lost.