Qouleur

From Peter Flegel, Executive Director, Federal Anti-Racism Secretariat, Canadian Heritage: Hello, On behalf of the Federal Anti-Racism Secretariat, I would like to inform you that the Department of Canadian Heritage is seeking individuals interested in serving on the Court Challenges Program’s Human Rights Expert Panel. The seven-member expert panel is responsible for making decisions on funding test cases of national significance and for working with the Official Languages R...ights Expert Panel to determine how the Program’s annual budget will be allocated. The Expert Panel receives administrative support from the University of Ottawa. A Selection Committee will be responsible for the selection of qualified candidates. The selection process is open, transparent and merit-based, consistent with the approach established for all Government of Canada appointments. The Minister of Canadian Heritage wishes to appoint candidates who collectively represent the diversity of Canada. A Notice of Opportunity for Ministerial Appointment, inviting leaders in the areas of human rights to apply for positions on the Expert Panel, has been posted on our website at https://www.canada.ca//court-challenges-program-human-righ. In order to have a large number of applications that reflect Canada’s diversity, I invite you to share this information with your network. For more information on the Program, you can visit the website at https://www.canada.ca//fundi/court-challenges-program.html. For any questions, please feel free to contact Danielle Labbé, Manager, Operations and Promotion Human Rights, International and Intergovernmental Affairs, and Human Rights, Canadian Heritage at: [email protected]. Thank you for your attention. Warm regards, Peter Flegel Executive Director Federal Anti-Racism Secretariat Canadian Heritage

Dear Members of the Qouleur Qommunity, (this is a long read, so be prepared) My name is Alan Wong, and I am one of the co-founders of Qouleur in Montreal. First of all, I would like to wish all of you a Happy New Year and an optimistic outlook for the months ahead following what for many of us was a very hard and trying 2017. May you all have many many many more positive experiences than not in 2018. ... Second, you have probably noticed that we have not organized or held an edition of our festival the past couple of years. As with much of the community organizing that happens in this city (and likely elsewhere), coordinating such large-scale activities and events requires a certain capacity among the volunteers involved to pull off these kinds of endeavours. For those of us who were the core organizers of this event, we had maximized our ability to put the Qouleur festival together, often at significant costs to our physical, emotional, and mental well-being. We were hoping to attract new blood to the organizing committee to assume the roles of primary coordinators that we had been holding for several years; however, while there was some interest expressed by a few individuals, ultimately it was not enough to cohere into a group that could manage this undertaking. Additionally, we have noticed that there have been new events and organizations that have emerged in the past couple of years that have taken up much of the activism and community organizing around QTIBPOC issues, including Sisters in Motion, for which Qouleur used its remaining financial resources to sponsor the 2017 edition. Consequently, after some internal discussions, the core organizers of Qouleur have decided to call it a day and fold the festival. We had an amazing run, and we are proud of everything that we have accomplished through this event; but we also have other projects we want to pursue, personal and otherwise, and with the knowledge that Malek Yalaoui, Dona La Luna, Che Bellevue, Lindsay Nixon, and so many other incredible QTIBPOC organizers are continuing to bring exciting events, both new and extant, to the Montreal scene, we feel confident that any holes in the community fabric that Qouleur’s closure might leave behind will be filled in immediately by other events and organizations with similar goals and values to ours, contributing to the Montreal QTIBPOC community in ways that will empower its members through artistic, cultural, social, and political expression. We will continue to manage and moderate this Facebook community page, however, as a resource and forum for the community. We would like to express our gratitude, appreciation, and thanks to all of those individuals who have given Qouleur their time, energy, and love over the yearsas organizers, as volunteers, as artists, as performers, as speakers, as panelists, as attendees, as sponsors, and as supporters. Without you, there would never have been a Qouleur in the first place. Qouleur Qollective