Gay seniors in Quebec get funding

I have a piece up on the national page of the Xtra.ca site today about funding for gay seniors in Québec. I had done an article with Bill Ryan for Outlooks over a year ago, so it was good to pick up on an old contact and see that the issue of gay and lesbian seniors was evolving. I'll also confess that the head of the Québec Lesbian Network gave me the name of the film she was sending out to those residences, but I wasn't able to catch it because it was in French, and while my French is okay, I wasn't able to decipher it. The two provincial governments that I spoke to - chosen because that's where Xtra has outlets - were also quick to respond and get back to me (which is always a plus), though I will have to say that their websites are unfriendly for media contacts.

De La Salle works towards its first gay-straight alliance

My second piece in the current issue of Capital Xtra is about a student's difficulty in establishing a Gay-Straight Alliance in her French public high school. This story very nearly made it into the previous issue, but I ended up holding off while waiting for one of the meetings to take place, to know what kinds of developments might happen. Well, so much for that - after the meeting took place, the school board's communications person kept insisting that everything was still up in the air, and that there wasn't really a story. We ran with the story as is, without the school board's input, and there may yet be a follow-up once they finally make some more definitive progress.

Pride Cornwall cancelled for 2009

Of the two pieces I have in the current issue of Capital Xtra, the first is about the current woes facing Cornwall Pride, which has had to cancel their 2009 festivities. I've been dealing a lot with Pride issues in my journalism career, so on the one hand, it was a fairly easy piece to write, and on the other hand, it was disappointing to hear that there are some serious issues in the various queer communities around the country. I'm hoping that by next year, I won't have to report on the outright demise of these cities' Pride organisations.

Liberals pass resolution to end gay organ donor ban

I have a piece on the national page of Xtra.ca today, which stems from the Liberal convention over the weekend. Thanks to my contacts, I was able to get a copy of the resolution itself (after party spokespeople didn't call me back), which kept me on track to be able to speak to several MPs after Question Period today. I've been getting to know MP Rob Oliphant thanks to our many post-QP chats (which often show up on my Hill Queeries blog), so it was great getting to speak to him for a story. I'm only disappointed that I didn't get to speak to anyone from the Young Liberals, but there is the possibility of updating this story if they get back to me by tomorrow.

Thoughts From the Hill - May Edition

The May issue of Outlooks is now widely available, and I have my usual Thoughts From the Hill panel therein, this time looking at issues relating to our immigration system. I was largely motivated for this piece after the coverage I have been doing on the various aspects of our immigration system of late, particularly with respect to gay and lesbian refugees, but I hadn't much heard from my usual political panellists on the issue yet, so I took the opportunity. There is likely to be more coverage on this issue still to come, as the Citizenship and Immigration Committee examines the issue of appointments to the Immigration and Refugee Board, and I've been following those proceedings to a certain extent.

You can read this month's panel in Outlooks' print edition, or in the online edition, which you can download in .pdf format here. (The panel can be found on page 13).

Queer Liberals organize and launch new website in lead-up to party convention

My second piece previewing the Liberal convention this weekend is now up, and it's getting some big-time attention. It's one of the top stories on National News Watch tonight, which is pretty cool, especially since it's a widely read news aggregator.

I've been keeping an eye on this group since November, when the group's new president, Bryn Hendricks, told me that it was starting up. With the convention now just days away, they've ramped into high gear in order to launch themselves there. There was plenty more in our interview, especially some partisan one-upmanship, with refutations of NDP "sanctimoniousness."

There was one thing that couldn't fit into the article, which I thought I'd share here, which was about the role that former MP Sheila Copps has been playing with the group, which includes her role in narrating their inaugural video. 

Hendricks: She helped us initially at the first event that we did, being a spokesperson for us, and to speak on our behalf, and then when we created this DVD and creating the script, we started looking at who would be a good person to narrate, and we knew that a lot of the current MPs and people that are around and have worked on different gay and lesbian issues were going to be interviewed, but we thought that it would be good to take Sheila as a non-sitting, former member of Parliament, to express vocally – because she’s got a great voice and great enthusiasm – but just as somebody who participating in the past who we wanted to include beyond an interview. 

Villeneuve: Sheila’s been a trail-blazer on this issue. She stood up for queer rights when she didn’t have to. There was no reason for her to do that, but she believed that was the right thing to do. So Sheila Copps was the perfect person to narrate this video. It was a testament to the work that she’s done and the work that I know she will continue to do on this issue.

Hendricks: When Svend Robinson came out back in the 80s, Sheila Copps was the only Member of Parliament who stood by his side. So it’s fitting for her to be able to narrate this, and she was absolutely thrilled to do so.

Liberals set to crown Iggy at convention, but party mum on new policy resolutions

I have a piece up today on the national page of Xtra.ca on the Liberal convention in Vancouver this weekend. This is the first of two pieces about the convention, the second hopefully going up later today or first thing tomorrow.

My colleagues in the Press Gallery keep asking if I'll be attending the convention, and alas, I won't be. One of the drawbacks of freelancing, and writing for an organisation that doesn't have the budget for it. Nevertheless, it's been an interesting story to follow, and there was plenty more to talk about that didn't fit into my word-count. Things like the "Council of Presidents" that will be meeting, and more about the party learning how to adapt to new technologies like Twitter and Facebook to get engage with their grassroots.

Something else that unfortunately didn't make it in was this amusing quote from Peter Bochove: "I think their principal thing they may be talking about is the economy and how to beat that son-of-a-bitch that’s currently in power, and that’s fine with me – provided that after the election, we can re-open this dialogue."