Backgrounder: Funding for five Quebec 2SLGBTQI+ organizations

On August 13, 2023, Women and Gender Equality Canada announced funding of $1,145,301 for five 2SLGBTQI+ projects, which is part of the $12.7 million 2SLGBTQI+ Projects Fund announced in Budget 2021.

2SLGBTQI+ Projects Fund

The Projects Fund supports 2SLGBTQI+ not-for-profit organizations in developing community-informed projects that address systemic barriers faced by 2SLGBTQI+ people. The funding also supports efforts to address intersectional barriers, including those facing Indigenous, Black, racialized, and rural or remote 2SLGBTQI+ communities.

Project Funding Details

Massimadi Foundation, $120,549

Momentum: Unlimited Afroqueer Creation

Designed for the 2SLGBTQIA+ communities, this project will allow the Massimadi Foundation to address obstacles and gaps with community-informed solutions. Actions to accomplish this goal consist in training and providing mentorship for young Black 2SLGBTQIA+ artists in writing short film scripts. The Momentum: Unlimited Afroqueer Creation team will form a jury, select candidates, and develop a training schedule, including group workshops on theory and practical aspects of film led by artists, arts professionals, and specialists, as well as industry conferences on various professions in film. Group workshops, screenwriting mentorships, and individual writing sessions will help participants finalize their scripts. Participation in the REGARD short film festival will include panels and networking sessions, which, along with organized events, will provide opportunities to meet local producers, distributors, and decision-makers in the film industry. These encounters will facilitate the development of Francophone queer filmmaking. Lastly, a three-year monitoring tool will be developed to track the screenwriting projects’ progress after the program ends. 

By the end of the project, the Massimadi Foundation will be better able to overcome challenges faced by 2SLGBTQIA+ communities – especially young people who are Black and queer – and to reduce discrimination against people of multiple intersecting identities.

Gay and Grey Montreal, $193,102

2SLGBTQIA+ Quebec Anglophone Community Creating Links

Through this project, Gay and Grey Montreal will address the need for a coordinated peer support system for the Anglophone 2SLGBTQIA+ community living in Quebec, with an objective to disseminate tools, support, and knowledge on care and rights; to navigate and access informed and inclusive social and health services; and to create safer and inclusive spaces for the diversity found within the 2SLGBTQIA+ communities. This will be achieved by establishing a peer support consortium of gay-positive agencies targeting or welcoming 2SLGBTQIA+ Anglophone clients, research and a map of existing 2SLGBTQIA+ Anglo organizations, the promotion of projects through best partnerships for diversity services to the Anglophone population, and strategic steps to ensure broad-based inclusion.

By the end of the project, the organization will have proposed an effective model for a peer support system that integrates existing structures and services appropriate to the Anglophone 2SLGBTQIA+ community living in Quebec.

AGIR : Action lesbienne, gai, bisexuelle, trans et queer (LGBTQ) avec les immigrants et réfugiés, $371,009

Building Community-Based Knowledge and Tools for LGBTQ+ Migrants and Refugees Through Cross-Sectoral Collaboration

Through this project, AGIR : Action lesbienne, gai, bisexuelle, trans et queer (LGBTQ) avec les immigrants et réfugiés, will develop community-informed solutions to key barriers and gaps facing LGBTQ2 communities. This will be achieved by the elaboration of a five-year strategic plan, engagement in community-based knowledge activities to adapt a care model to LGBTQ+ migrants and refugees, and the development of multilingual tools for LGBTQ+ migrants and healthcare and social service practitioners.

Centre for Gender Advocacy, $188,541

The Montreal Sex Worker Support Network

Through this project, the Centre for Gender Advocacy will develop community-informed solutions to key barriers and gaps facing LGBTQ2 communities. This will be achieved by supporting initiatives to address and overcome issues related to 2SLGBTQI+ people engaged in the sex trade, increase the understanding of this demographic, create new tools, and make services more inclusive.

Fierté Montréal / Montréal Pride, $272,100

Together for All, a Podcast That Reflects Us!

As part of this project, Montréal Pride will develop solutions informed by the 2SLGBTQI+ communities to address the main barriers and gaps facing its members. More specifically, the project will contribute to advancing equality for 2SLGBTQI+ people by creating an audio program and awareness-raising content to highlight the struggles, stories, advocacy, and solutions of LGBTQ2+ people living outside urban areas and those who are members of the trans, racialized, Indigenous, Two-Spirit, elderly, low-income, and disabled communities.

Measures that will be taken to achieve this goal include identifying the needs of 2SLGBTQI+ communities located outside of urban centres and defining a strategy for appropriate content; defining the applicable committee procedures and rules for the various working and monitoring groups under the project; developing the visual identity for the audio program and promoting it; and finally, recording, producing, and broadcasting awareness-raising content.