[LE FIL CULTUREL DE L’ONTARIO FRANÇAIS]
Pride month is off to a good start and French Ontario is offering several activities to participate in it. The FrancoQueer organization adopts the theme “Be…” for the entire month, as a slogan to complete, an invitation to be yourself, no matter how you identify.
Drag art
The organization to follow
FrancoQueer is the main organization to follow during Pride Month in French Ontario. Its calendar includes cultural activities, as well as training and conferences on various issues encountered by the Franco-Ontarian LGBTQ+ community. Many of them can be followed from anywhere, since they take place online.
For example, this evening, a non-binding meeting of the Committee of the Carrefour des immigrant.es FrancoQueer will take place so that everyone can learn about its mandate and, who knows, discover a desire to get involved! Friday, training on inclusive communication will be held from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. And next Tuesday, FrancoQueer will present the results of “community, intersectoral and intersectional research on the inclusiveness of care and services offered to Francophones 2SLGBTQIA+ in Ontario”, led by the Franco-Ontarian Network for Inclusion 2SLGBTQIA+.
And on June 13, it will be a party with the Fierté Boréal drag show. This partnership between FrancoQueer and Collège Boréal will feature French-speaking drag queens like Jezebel Bardot and Sophie Stiquée, but also English-speaking ones like Ocean Giovanni. The show will be coupled with an educational activity to learn more about the art of drag.
For conferences and training: Online, June 6, 7 and 11. For the drag show: Toronto, June 13. Details and registrations on the FrancoQueer website.
Mona from Grenoble in the North
The well-known drag queen Mona from Grenoble will be the guest of Cabaret Queer de Hearst this Friday. The winner of the third season of Big Brother Celebrities gives in the humor of the “mate at the party” style. Saucy without being shocking, Mona de Grenoble is endearing and will certainly appeal to everyone in the room. At the time of writing, there were tickets remaining at the tables in the last row of the room. The show will be followed by a karaoke battle. This is the third edition of Hearst Queer Cabaret.
Hearst, June 7. Details and tickets on the Hearst Arts Council website.
Community
Pride in Sturgeon Falls
The West Nipissing Pride parade will take place this Sunday in downtown Sturgeon Falls. Floats and participants will gather at noon on Main Street, starting at the corner of Market Street. Departure is scheduled for 1 p.m. A party is then organized at Sonia’s Patio restaurant, to socialize and sing in a karaoke activity.
More Pride parades are happening this week. This Saturday, the Brockville Pride Parade will take place at noon, starting at Reynolds Park. The one in Belleville will take place from the north side of the Riverside parking lot, also at noon. The famous Toronto Pride parade will take place at the end of the month, on June 30.
Brockville and Belleville on June 8 and Sturgeon Falls on June 9. Details on the Pride Nipissing West website.
Regular discussions
June being Pride Month, but also Seniors’ Month, it is an opportunity to remember that the Fédération des seniors et des retirees francophones de l’Ontario (FARFO) is organizing a discussion on a theme related to the community LGBTQ+ every two weeks. Titled Beyond the rainbow, these virtual meetings aim to provide a safe space for LGBTQ+ seniors and their allies. Discussions take place every other Wednesday at 4 p.m., on the Zoom platform. A moderator is present to lead the meeting and ensure the smooth running of the discussions. FARFO sometimes offers more specific avenues for discussion, and sometimes simply lets the conversation take its course. The next meeting is this Wednesday.
Online, June 12 and every other Wednesday. Details and registrations on the FARFO website.
Natalie King at the Alliance Française
June is also National Indigenous History Month. To mark this occasion as well as Pride Month, the Alliance Française de Toronto (AFT) presents an exhibition by queer Anishinaabe interdisciplinary artist, Natalie King. The works composing Triumphant Stories of good medicine will be presented at the Pierre Léon gallery from June 8 to 29.
Natalie King draws inspiration from her own intersectionality and creates vibrant and colorful works. If she is also an animator, community worker, videographer and sculptor, it is her works on canvas that will adorn the walls of the AFT starting Saturday. The paintings tell varied stories of women, urban life and love of one’s culture. They “aim to embrace the ambiguity and multiplicity of identity within the experience of queer Anishinaabe women.” King’s practice is part of a resolutely critical, anti-colonial, non-oppressive and forward-looking perspective,” we read in his biography.
Toronto, June 8 to 29. Free. Details on the AFT website.
