.The four years since the 2007 provincial election in Ontario have been riddled with commendable advancements, broken promises, and reprehensible misactions from all three major parties. Many of these have had a direct effect on LGBTQ Ontarians, their families, and their communities, and the time has come to highlight some of these in advance of Election Day, on October 6th.

As with every provincial election, Queer Ontario has developed a Provincial Election Report Card to outline the Progressive Conservative, Liberal, and New Democratic actions and statements around pertinent issues that affect LGBTQ persons in Ontario. Our hope is that you vote in favour of human rights and unconditional support for LGBTQ persons, and consider the many ways in which LGBTQ Ontarians are still being marginalized and going under-recognized  throughout the province.

The Queer Ontario Steering Committee

Note:

1. As much as we would have liked to, the Green Party of Ontario was excluded from this edition of the Report Card because no Green Party candidates were elected in the 2007 provincial elections. This has prevented us from being able to document and analyze the party’s performance, as we have done for the other three major ones.

2. “LGBTQ” will be used to refer to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, transsexual, genderqueer, intersex, two-spirited, queer, pansexual, polyamorous, and kinky individuals; and all other individuals who are marginalized for their sexual or gender differences.

3. Lastly, Queer Ontario is a non-partisan group. The information in this Report Card is informational and should not be read as an endorsement of any political party or candidate.
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A presentation given by Nick Mulé, Chairperson of Queer Ontario, at the We Demand: Sex / Activism / History in Canada Conference that took place in Vancouver, BC from August 25 to August 28, 2011.

Summary:
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A mere three years and four months following the 1971 “We Demand” demonstration in Ottawa, the Coalition for Lesbian and Gay Rights in Ontario (CLGRO) was founded. Very much based upon the principles of the “We Demand” document, over the next 34 plus years CLGRO was at the forefront of the lesbian and gay movement in Ontario. This paper examines how CLGRO was influenced by the “We Demand” action and how it in turn became an influential forerunner within the LGBT movement not only provincially, but nationally and internationally. Underscoring the work of CLGRO and its successor Queer Ontario is the politic of queer liberationism. As such, a queer liberationist perspective has and continues to distinguish the work of CLGRO and Queer Ontario. In a climate in which a neo-liberal, mainstreaming, assimilationist approach dominates both from within and without the LGBT movement, the work of queer liberationists is compounded and multi-layered requiring a critical discourse that questions and challenges on all fronts including within the movement itself. With the number of political LGBT groups decreasing across the country, and fewer and fewer of those remaining undertaking a liberationist agenda, the movement is at risk of sliding into a heteronormative and cisgendered worldview. Queer liberationists, as exemplified by CLGRO and Queer Ontario, through principled work based on the integrity of the original “We Demand” calls for change provide a progressive, alternative voice to the status quo, towards ensuring diversity both within LGBT communities and in broader Canadian society.
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The PowerPoint Presentation:

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On Wednesday, June 1st, 2011,  Queer Ontario delivered a deputation to the Independent Civilian Review into Matters Relating to the G20 Summit, which was launched by the Toronto Police Services Board on September 23, 2010 to look into the policing strategy that was employed by the Toronto Police Service during the G20. Headed by John W. Morden,  a former Associate Chief Justice for the Province of Ontario, and guided by the Terms of References outlined here, the Review will present a report with a set of recommendations to the Police Services Board which will determine:

(1) the role the Board played in the planning of the police strategy for the G20 Summit;
(2) the role the Toronto Police Service played during the G20 police strategy; and
(3) whether or not the plans that were developed and implemented were adequate and effective for the proper policing of the Summit.

There are still tho hearing sessions left — one on the 6th, and another on the 13th — so feel free to register at http://g20review.ca/hearings.html if you wish to depute.

Also, do note that while the reviewers are asking deputants to focus on the question of the role civilian oversight should have in determining the policing strategies of major events, they also appear to be accepting deputations on other G20-related issues, so please take the time to share your insights.

Queer Ontario’s deputation can be previewed and downloaded here:

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For a text-only version, click on Read more…