.
Hi Everyone,
.
I would like to thank all that attended and participated in Queer Ontario’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Sunday, November 4, 2012.
.
This is to announce our new Steering Committee roster as elected at the AGM (election results in parentheses, positions are staggered):
.
Queer Ontario Steering Committee
.
Chairperson: Nick Mulé
Vice Chairperson: Davina Hader (Newly Elected)
Secretary: Martin Otarola
Treasurer: Richard Hudler (Re-Elected)
Member At Large: Alana Boltwood (Newly Elected)
.
We have a very promising team of individuals to assist Queer Ontario in continuing our important work.  Congratulations to Richard Hudler on his re-election as Treasurer, who has our trust and confidence in overseeing the QO finances and advising us on budgetary matters; Davina Hader who was an important and effective liaison to QO on trans issues and carried out extensive cinematography work on the Queer Liberation Theory Project and was a Member At Large, now moves into the role of Vice Chairperson where she will carry on with these duties and more; and Alana Boltwood whose far reaching work on multiple issues as Chairperson of the Research and Education Committee and her ongoing assistance with the QO Think Tank positions her well as our newly elected Member At Large.
.
A special thanks is extended to Casey Oraa who chose not to stand in the role of Vice Chairperson.  In this position Casey contributed immensely to QO doing extensive behind the scenes work at every level.  Of course he is best known for raising the profile of issues such as GSAs, queer youth and the education system, with his skilled handling of these difficult issues in the media and his ongoing coalition work with community activists and organizations.  Although he will be greatly missed on the QO Steering Committee, we look forward to continuing to work with him within QO in general.
.
In order to align our governance with our fiscal year, Queer Ontario’s next AGM will be in May 2013 at which time the positions of Chairperson, Secretary and Members At Large (1 position within Toronto and 2 outside) will open up for elections.
.
Thanks everyone and we look forward to another exciting year made even more so by the promise and talent of our newly elected Queer Ontario Steering Committee members.
.
Cheers,
.
Nick Mulé
Chairperson,
Queer Ontario
.
.

.

Hi Everyone,
.
This is to report that Queer Ontario had a highly successful presence at the 2nd Annual LGBTQ Volunteer Fair put on by the 519 Church Street Community Centre.
.
Earlier this afternoon Research and Education Committee Chairperson, Alana Boltwood, and I staffed the Queer Ontario table which elicited the signing up of 56 new volunteers!  There was an exciting mix of ages, races, ethnicities, interests and skill sets matching the vibrancy felt in the room and at the event itself.  In addition to Toronto numerous were from other geographical areas including North York, Markham, Brampton, Oshawa, Ottawa, Ajax, New Lowell and Thunder Bay.
.
This is the 2nd year Queer Ontario has taken part and received such a great response.  Special thanks are extended to Queer Ontario Secretary, Martin Otarola, for setting us up with the needed material resources and Alana for joining me for the full event in representing Queer Ontario to potential volunteers.
.
We will soon be following up with each of these volunteers to see how best we can involve them in the important work of Queer Ontario.
.
Cheers,

.
Nick Mulé
Chairperson,
Queer Ontario
.

Queer Ontario’s first Annual General Meeting and Elections were held Saturday, November 5, 2011 at the 519 Community Centre in Toronto.

Elected to the steering committee were Chair Nick Mule, Vice-Chair Casey Oraa, Secretary Martin Otarola and Treasurer Richard Hudler, as well as At-Large Members Lisa Duke and Davina Hader. They join fellow steering committee members Alana Boltwood (Chair, Research and Education), Dwayne Shaw (Chair, Events) and David Demchuk (Chair, Governance and Media).

AGM Reports

The following reports are now available in the Documents section of the website, under Queer Ontario 2011 AGM, as well as via the links below:

Nick Mule – Chair’s report

Richard Hudler – Treasurer’s report

A.J. Lowik – Queer Liberation Theory Project report

Participation from Outside Toronto

To encourage participation from outside Toronto, Queer Ontario used Cover It Live to live-blog the event, streamed an audio webcast via UStream and created the hashtag #QO2011 for participation on Twitter. The archive of the Cover It Live live-blog is now available, as is the audio recording of the meeting (part one, part two – apologies for the ads).