What to know
- Friends of Ruby has opened a new, expanded Toronto location after a major flood disrupted operations in 2025.
- The organization supports 2SLGBTQ+ youth aged 16–29 with mental health care, housing support, and drop-in services, and continued programming throughout the disruption.
- Demand for services has surged, with nearly 200 youth on counselling waitlists and wait times stretching up to 8–12 months.
- Friends of Ruby reports a 53% increase in demand year over year, highlighting growing pressure on queer youth services across Toronto and beyond.
A crucial service provider in Toronto has opened the doors to a new location that will support hundreds of youth every year.
Friends of Ruby (FOR), an organization providing community and social services for 2SLGBTQ+ youth aged 16-29, experienced a massive flood early in 2025, extensively disrupting its operations.
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The organization was able to continue providing its drop-in and other services by relocating its office staff to work from home, and running support programming in the upper levels of the space throughout the entirety of 2025 and into 2026.
“Our focus through all of 2025 was about not disrupting service to the youth we serve,” Carol Osler, executive director of the organization, told Queer & Now, adding that FOR still saw more than 600 youth coming through to seek support through our counselling or therapeutic programs.
The work FOR does includes supporting young people through challenges posed by homophobia, transphobia, and the challenges of growing up in a world where 2SLGBTQ+ rights are becoming increasingly less secure. Canadian research shows that 2SLGBTQ+ young people face disproportionately high rates of depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation.
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“We know that young people need ongoing support,” Osler explained. “Whether that’s family, biological or chosen family, we all need to walk with somebody as we’re trying to strengthen our way in life.”
“It’s hard to be a young person in today’s environment,” she explained, adding that Queer youth are often struggling with isolation, complex trauma, and issues related to access to community.
“Friends of Ruby is that service that is positioned to help guide youth through their journeys.”
Located closer to The Village at Church and Wellesley, Osler says FOR’s new location will allow for growth while meeting 2SLGBTQ+ where they are.
“We know our youth are on Church Street and in that general neighbourhood, and we’re just so excited,” she shared.
“I think we as a community recognize that if we’re dispersed all over [the city] we don’t have the same focus. We can’t put the same level of commitment into a small program that might be running out in one of the communities.”
Osler shared that now that FOR has moved into their new building, the organization is planning to create robust and vibrant murals on one of the exterior walls that faces Church St., reflecting what FOR is and the work its team does.
What is Friends of Ruby?
Founded by Egale Canada as Egale Youth Services, FOR has been a pillar of support for young Queer people in the Toronto area since 2014.
Osler shared that the free mental health sessions provided by FOOB would be worth over $2 million. Meanwhile, the organization doesn’t have the resources to support everyone trying to access their counselling.
“We have almost 200 youth on our wait list,” the executive director explained, adding that someone looking for mental health services could wait eight to 12 months before being brought in for a formal session.
“We’re trying to be the kind of one-of-a-kind hub for mental health support for youth and social service support,” she continued.
While a Canadian survey of unhoused communities found that 26 per cent of youth experiencing homelessness identified as 2SLGBTQ+, the centre seeks to address this using 54 housing units to support young Queer people in need across Toronto.
Friends of Ruby: By the numbers
Since opening, FOR has completed more than 12,927 individual counselling sessions, 5,718 case management sessions, and welcomed 18,140 people to drop-ins. Additionally, in 2024 alone, the charity distributed 8,142 bags of groceries and 950 harm reduction kits.
“Since we opened… we have grown at a rate of 20 to 25% year over year,” Osler shared — but that increase in need has exploded.
“Just last year to this year, staff are expressing almost a 53% increase,” she explained.
Osler underscored that these services, designed by Queer professionals who have an understanding of the complex barriers facing 2SLGBTQ+ young people, are more important than ever.
“We know what’s happening south of the border is wrong, and we know that what some of our western provinces want to do is wrong and backward,” Osler shared. “And we have to stand together with our youth in this community.”
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She shared her belief that there is a direct correlation between the increase in demand for FOR services and the ongoing backsliding of Queer rights in North America. This is something the organization is trying to address through its programming.
“Friends of Ruby’s desire is to make a safer, more inclusive world for 2SLGBTQ youth.”
Osler is inviting the wider community to stop by their new space, located at 70 Richmond St., during the festivities of Pride weekend to see the facility and celebrate community with our young people and the FOR team.
