Touring in the States has never been harder for Canadian musicians. And it's only getting worse.
"We're really starting to see who is going to get left behind in the economic reality of, uh, fascism," Montreal singer-songwriter Russell Louder tells Exclaim!
With the leaders of our largest market to the south relentlessly redefining who is eligible for entry based on arbitrary policy, artists need to prepare a bureaucratically bulletproof defence of their livelihood in order to protect their wallets — and, more precariously, their freedom — if they're willing to take the risk of crossing the US border at all as it becomes an even more hostile environment for the 2SLGBTQIA+ community.
"People will get disappeared to El Salvador; trans people, trans artists, trans musicians. I have no doubt in my mind," Louder warns.
"I feel like if all of my trans community and family can't safely go, then why would I?" asks Big Gay Night organizer and Shania Twink vocalist CJ Wiley.
Trans, nonbinary and gender nonconforming artists have been and are becoming even larger legislative targets in the US and UK — as well as culture war scapegoats just about everywhere else — with their identities used as political tools to stoke division. The US, in particular, has seen a rise in transphobic hate since the return of the Trump administration.
"I've been a touring musician for like 25 years, and the Canadian border and the UK border have always been the two hardest and scary borders," Laura Jane Grace tells me from the road in South Dakota, as she makes her way across the States on tour with the Mississippi Medicals. "And with Canada in particular, what's fucked up is it's not the going into Canada that's scary, it's the coming back into the US that is always the scariest. And that's as a US citizen."
Grace will return to Canada this summer on tour with Murder by Death for some dates, as well as a headlining tour of her own. As an American, she has a much different perspective on the tightening border. And as a trans woman, that issue becomes even more complex. "All it's going to take is some over-ambitious border guard to Google you or look you up and decide that it's a problem," she says.
Entering the US, "They'll search through everything, and it feels like they're just looking for a reason to mess with you, or they just want to mess with you so they can tell you about the one time that Alan Jackson came through," she says. "The one tip I would say, for bands, routing-wise, choosing which border crossing you go through ... the less traffic ones are usually a little [easier]."
Grace enthuses, "I've always looked at Canada as great touring, great shows, great audiences, great bands. I feel like American bands have foolishly always thought of it as an afterthought in their touring cycle. Like, 'All right, once we go everywhere else, we'll go to Canada,' whereas I've always [felt], 'No no no, like, Canada should be a main focus in this.'"
For Grace, leaving the US isn't off the table, "I've always had love for Winnipeg," she shares. "And if I could move there, especially at this point, not to be the cliche person who's moved to Canada, but, like, I fucking would."
She laughs, "As a Floridian, winters are still kind of exotic to me." However, she concedes, "The added stress level of uncertainty when already what you're doing is a fairly uncertain enterprise… Like, how do you continue to plan for the future?"
One thing few Canadian musicians can plan on is safe travel to the US for the foreseeable future. In April, Toronto singer-songwriter Bells Larsen outright cancelled his US tour dates in response to growing hostilities toward trans people. "If random people are getting randomly questioned/stopped/detained at borders, how can I — as someone wanting to make money abroad by exhibiting my lived experience as a trans person — expect to pass go and get out of jail free?" he asked in a public statement at the time.
Winnipeg's Michele ii Visser of Boniface echoes that statement, "I don't think it would be safe for me to book a tour at all, given the Bells Larsen thing. As far as American tour plans go … not unless there was a solid team behind me that could keep us safe, and that doesn't seem like it'll be the case."
Many artists are opting instead to tour within their home country as instability reigns south of the border. While plenty of work remains, Canada still routinely ranks among the world's safest countries for trans people. Just as we narrowly avoided Conservative leadership of our own in April, Canada has become one of the few havens for gender diverse people. Still, fascism never stops knocking at the door of our federal politics — and, under Liberal rule, geographic, financial, and structural challenges remain barriers to touring sustainably in Canada alone.
Additionally, the Canadian music industry has largely avoided implementing protections for touring gender diverse musicians abroad — though things are improving.
"I don't see any bigger industry things supporting the artist," says Juno Hailey of Toronto punk band Chinese Medicine. Her label home, Twin Fang, "is different. The stuff [founder Sarah Sleeth] has done … is what I always dreamed a record label would be. I told her, 'I want to release this album The Trans Agenda. I don't want to change that.' And she's like, 'That's not my responsibility. I love your art.' ... I think things like [what] Twin Fang [is doing] are what's going to change the industry."
Grace advises, "A good resource for Canadian bands to know about [is] that, if you're in the US and something happens, there are organizations like MusiCares that you can look to that could help you."
Gina Kennedy of Altered by Mom shares, "[The Canadian Independent Music Association (CIMA)] in particular is one organization that's really jumping on these issues. They recently held a 'What You Need to Know' seminar about touring in the US, and they're really trying to help where they can."
Meanwhile, Visser says Manitoba Music provided her with an immigration lawyer who was at the ready on a call when she passed into the States for SXSW.
As a musician and author who's been dealing with the border problem for decades, Rae Spoon suggests that, for those who do opt to press on south, "it would be worthwhile to have an American immigration lawyer. That's very cynical and sad, but true. That would be your number one move if you had the money."
Grace adds, "Any kind of lawyer help — that's good, but [make] sure that you're communicating really directly with the promoter who's bringing you over to make sure that they're on hand to make a call or be called if they need to."
"The gender stuff is just a whole other angle to it," she continues. "And I think we're all going to learn in real time what specific ramifications [will come] of that."
Most of the artists interviewed for this article have not changed their gender markers on their passports — whether as a result of bureaucratic hold-ups or plain procrastination. However, many now hesitate to get the forms in order.
Hailey is the outlier, changing her gender marker with her name despite knowing full well that having an F on her passport may limit her travelling options — specifically to her ancestral countries of China and Congo, where she would have liked to visit in this lifetime.
"The fact that I am a clockable trans woman means that I can still move through life with a lot of male privilege if I want to, and for travel and stuff like that, it's easier," she says. "But I think once I changed my name legally, and started really going by that and started trying to live more authentically ... eventually it just started to feel weird. It felt like there was a disconnect. I have this new name now; it's on all my stuff, but when I go to the doctor's office, I'm a man."
She continues, "But if you have the means, if you're able, if you're willing, to be as outspoken, as loud and proud as you can be, it's huge. Just being alive is representation. Just being alive is a protest."
When systemic protections fail, we must at least be able to rely on each other. Visser, who previously travelled buddy-system style with her brother in the States, recommends "strength in numbers and having a community and people who can support you, if possible." Spoon adds, "I'm not leaving anyone alone, even at an ONroute in Ontario; like we're standing there while someone's in [the washroom]. If it is a trans washroom, especially."
Allies, whether they're cisgender bandmates, managers, or road crew, need to do their part as well. "A big thing is just trusting me," explains Visser. "If I'm communicating that something is not comfortable for me or … doesn't feel safe to me — even though it might be perceived as safe for other people — trusting me and being open to communication about how to accommodate being trans makes me feel cared for."
The week Larsen cancelled his tour, Wiley's Shania Twink were playing shows in Ontario. "There's just so much support in that group of people, and we don't shy away, obviously, from talking about what's going on in the world, because we're literally Shania Twink," they say. "We're gay, and we're out and proud. Spending time with community [helps]."
When Wiley had to cancel their Beyond the Binary showcase at Toronto's Burdock Brewery after receiving online death threats, the venue "offered to reschedule the show and hire a security team and everything," they say. "They were really kind. They took my band out for dinner. It was just really nice."
They add, "Allies are invited and should come [to shows]. And buy a tote bag; show your support. For the queer community, please."
Where money lacks, the community does its best to pick up the slack. Coming to shows, buying merch, pre-saving releases on streaming, liking posts to boost the algorithm; these are some of the ways people at home can further help their favourite artists.
Spoon adds, "You don't need to be gay to get gay bashed, I've always said. You also don't need to be gay, trans, or whatever, to just be supportive, right?"