- A Queer Podcast
Welcome to Rainbow Country
An Untouchable Archive of Queer Life in So-Called Canada
- Rainbow Country is not just a podcast.
It’s a living archive; a refusal to be erased.
Rainbow Country, hosted by Mr. Teri Westerby (he/him), is a space where queer and trans people in so-called Canada speak their truths anonymously, yet powerfully. Starting with the people in his community of Chilliwack, BC, each story is held with honesty, compassion, and defiance.
You’ll hear stories of survival and resistance, but also of love, laughter, and joy, thriving in the shadows and cracks of systems that tried to erase us, but never could.
Because our existence is unstoppable.
For Teri, a trans man, community advocate, elected trustee, political educator and coming out coach, who grew up in schools and communities where silence was the norm, this project is personal. He knows the cost of being erased and the liberation of finally being seen.
Rainbow Country is his way of creating what he never had: a record of truth, a place where queer voices cannot be silenced, and an archive for those still searching for themselves.
Coming Soon
- Coming Soon!
No Straight Lines & The Business of Belonging.
Queer community has always been about more than simply finding people like us.
It’s about finding one another, sharing knowledge, creating opportunity, and building spaces where we don’t have to shrink who we are to belong.
I sit down with Rachel from No Straight Lines, an LGBTQ+ non-profit in Chilliwack bringing queer people together through business and community to talk about why connection matters and what becomes possible when we stop waiting for a seat at someone else’s table and start building our own.
- 1h 07m
How a Trans + Non Binary Fox can teach children to love themselves.
Every child is discovering who they are.
What if the stories we shared helped them meet themselves with curiosity, confidence and love?
Trevor and Tamara Day created Avery the Fox: a series of beautifully illustrated children’s books about gender, self-discovery and learning to love what makes us different.
In this uplifting episode of Rainbow Country, Mr. Teri speaks with Trevor and Tamara about the story behind Avery, the importance of giving children language for gender diversity and how picture books can help young people understand themselves while learning to respect others.
- 44m 46s
The people already here. How Queer Educators are building better schools.
Critics say queer inclusion is being pushed into our schools. Chris’s story reveals the truth: queer people were already here.
We were the students growing up without the words to understand ourselves, and now we are the teachers, parents, and leaders changing education from within.
Chris grew up in Chilliwack, attended these schools, and followed the life they were told to want.
Today, they are a queer parent of five, an educator, and the district’s SOGI lead, helping build the schools an entire generation of queer children needed but never had.
- 1h 09m
Queer on the Ballot: from Controversy to Authority with Nicole McMahon
What happens when the people society has spent decades debating finally take their place as the researchers, candidates, organizers, and leaders shaping the country?
Research professor Nicole McMahon, Ph.D talks about her research into the rise of queer and trans political power in Canada, and how they change institutions from the inside-out when lived experience is finally recognized as expertise.
- 1h 21m
They taught him to shrink. He chose to become whole. The Blue Hour Gospel.
Colin was born in the late ’80s. He grew up in small town and learned early that the way he moves through the world didn’t quite fit what was expected of him.
Author of ‘The Blue Hour Gospel’, his newly released, illustrated memoir reflects on Colin’s life, the lessons he’s gathered, and the patterns he’s had to unlearn. In it, he asks what happens when we stop trying to fix ourselves to fit the story, and start listening more deeply to who we are and to each other.
- 59m 58s
Too queer for church. Too Christian for queer spaces. A refusal to choose.
Stace grew up being told she had to choose: her faith, or her love. Her church and family said she couldn’t be both a lesbian and a Christian.
Yet, rejection hasn’t only come from the pews. Stace has found that even within queer spaces, her faith is not always accepted.
Eventually, Stacey realized she was never meant to split herself in two. Now, she’s building a new family and community that welcomes all of who she is.
- 2h 04m
Living as herself nearly cost her everything. But it was worth it.
“K” is a transgender woman born in the 1970s, in a time and place where there were no words, no pathways, and no safe harbours for people like her.
She couldn’t stop the truth of who she is, but accepting her truth cost her nearly everything.
She was alone growing up, and she still feels alone now. But she also says something else: that she can die happy, knowing she finally lived as herself.
- 59m 04s
Legally protected. Medically abandoned. Trans life, Underground.
“T” is an autistic transgender man born in the 70s. He grew up fighting rejection at home, discrimination from doctors, and the dangers of underground hormones.
Despite years of secrecy and control from the ones who claimed to love him, he found true love that gave him the freedom to live openly as himself.
Now living with partial paralysis, T is happier and more whole than ever.
- 1h 15m
The Courage (& politics) of being a visibly queer leader in Chilliwack
I grew up in a world where everyone knew their lines in the script, except me. I thought if I hid the feeling well enough, maybe it would go away.
That’s when I first learned what shame feels like. It’s quiet. It sits in your stomach and whispers, don’t let anyone find out.
Looking back, that was the first time I realized I was born in a closet, not to hide myself away, but to keep the truth of who I was away from me.
Amplifying & Archiving Queer Stories
Freedom
Queer people fight for our promised freedoms against institutions who try to limit us and how we express ourselves.
Intersectionality
Queer people can also be affected by sexism, racism, classism, abelism, colonialism, and exclusion from faith communities.
Canada is often painted as a progressive safe haven, and while that may be true for many, for queer and trans people, that promise is far from reality.
From medical gatekeeping and political skapegoating to social stigma and everyday survival, queer people are forced to navigate systems of control just to live as they are, nevermind to succeed and be whole.
Each episode is a reminder: you are not alone, you are not broken, and none of us are going anywhere.
Visiblity
Queer people are living authentically, out loud, and fight to stay safe while doing so.
Wholeness
Queer people are already whole, just as we are. We experience many barriers and many joys.
- Share Your Story
A safe way to add your voice to the archive.
Do you have a story you want to share? Rainbow Country is built from the anonymous voices of queer and trans people across so-called Canada, and your truth matters here.
Whether it’s about survival, joy, struggle, or resistance, your story deserves to be heard and held with care.
By sharing, you help create a record that cannot be erased; one that reminds others they are not alone. If you’re ready, I invite you to add your voice to this archive of honesty, compassion, and defiance by contacting me using this form.