A transgender woman from St. Catharines who filmed police demanding her "deadname" has filed a complaint with the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (HRTO), seeking better training for police and compensation.
Sabrina Hill was filming a web video at the St. Catharines bus terminal on Dec. 17, 2023, when officers with Niagara regional police approached her, prompting a back-and-forth between Hill and one of the officers.
"What's your deadname?" asks an officer later identified in the documents as Const. Ashley Del Duca.
"I'm sorry — what is my what?" Hill responded.
"Your deadname," the officer said.
In the video, Hill asks what a "deadname" is. Del Duca responds, "I'm just trying to be respectful to you," before asking for Hill's pronouns.
Hill said the officers had demanded she stop filming and give her name, which she refused. She later told CBC it was because she didn't feel she needed to identify herself and doesn't trust the police.
While the term "deadname" is used by some people to refer to a person's former name, often their birth name, it's not embraced by all transgender people.
WATCH | Officer asks transgender woman for her 'deadname': Video shows officer ask trans person "what's your deadname?" Duration 0:36 A video shows a Niagara police officer asking a trans person f
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