TIGblogs TIG | TIGblogs GROUP TIGBLOGS LOGIN SIGNUP
Michael Gfroerer - My Blog
Michael Gfroerer - My Blog


UPCOMING EVENTS-2009
Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

Tupilak and ILGCN plans for 2009:
Stockholm * Tupilak yearly meeting     February
Riga * Baltic Pride     May 15-17
Reykjavik * Solidarity with the Faroe Islands (with Nordic parliamentarians)   Spring
Stockholm -- Nordic Focus on LGBT Nigeria (with Swedish Humanists) Spring.
Bucharest * ILGCN World Cultural Conference (stage 1)    June
Budapest * ILGCN World Cultural Conference (stage 2)   June
Visby * Rainbow Human Rights & Culture Festival    July
Helsinki -- 10th Tribade Day & Night Festival: focus on Tallinn, St.Petersburg   September   .
St. Petersburg --  ILGCN World Conference  (stage 3)       September
Stockholm * Cultural evenings at Musik Valvet, Art Exhibition
(volunteers welcome!)
    -- Bill Schiller, Tupilak international secretary and secretary general of  ILGCN
  (International Lesbian & Gay Cultural Network) Information Secretariat - Stockholm

January 13, 2009 | 3:06 PM Comments  0 comments

Tags:


Migrations and Proud Art Culutral Conference Report / Article
Related to country: Canada

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

The International Lesbian and Gay Cultural Network,
Toronto, Canada

November, 2008

WHEN PRIDE IS NOT ENOUGH..
…we demand freedom, equality and justice!

Migrations and Proud Art, the International Lesbian and Gay Cultural Network's first conference in Canada was greeted with great enthusiasm and support! The three-day conference--co-presented by LGBTOUT, a student group at the University of Toronto, and the Mark S. Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies--focused on the issues of LGBTQ immigration in Canada. Also featured, was an evening of queer culture, with live music, dance, an author's reading, and a multi-media presentation by the Evolutionary Girls' Club.
Many queers around the world look to Canada as a source of inspiration and hope, as though Canada is a LGBTQ Utopia. Though Canada is composed of a relatively liberal and accepting populace, we were informed by respected immigration lawyer El-Farouk Khaki and immigration consultant Peter Bernier that recent changes to Canada's immigration law by the minority Conservative government, as well as other recent changes have diluted the fairness and compassion of the Immigration and Refugee Board (the IRB).
Instead of being an agency which protects immigrants from being returned to their country of origin and further persecution, the IRB has become a number-crunching, partisan government agency, playing Russian roulette with the lives of those in danger.
Briefly attended by the local Member of Parliament, Olivia Chow, we were also informed by Supporting Our Youth community worker Suhail Abualsameed, and Black CAP (which assists black peoples arriving in Canada with HIV / AIDS issues from Africa and the Carribean) about discrimination within the LGBTQ community and the homophobia within ethnic groups.
These topics can seem disheartening and over-whelming, but ignoring them does not make them disappear.
Participants were deeply moved by the struggles of our brothers and sisters in Eastern Europe and the Baltics. I only wish that our Dykes on Bikes, the Gay Men's Fraternity, Totally Naked Toronto Men, Spearhead Leather and Denim Social Club or P-Flag could have been there with you to face the violent homophobic fascists who threaten your freedom, dignity and innate selves.

But we must not be let trampled and crushed. What we lack in numbers, we make up for in spirit and hope.
Where do we go from here?
Several participants and organizers suggested having a Pride event. This could greatly increase the visibility of the ILGCN, however, in my experience, it's difficult to lure people away from the village-especially during Pride.
What is needed, in my opinion, is the cementing of the connections and networks that the ILGCN has established in Toronto, which could be easily done by including the participating people and organizations in the ILGCN's mailing list.
Of particular concern to me, is the plight of those in Riga, Moscow and Cracow who were the victims of homophobic violence. I have suggested to Bill Schiller, the Secretary General of the Information Secretariat of the ILGCN in Stockholm, that there be some follow-up: investigation of the violence directed at Pride in Riga, Moscow and Cracow. This could be done by reporting the violent events to Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and / or the International Justice Mission. The video of Cracow Pride is evidence enough of the violence and injustice our brave friends in that city encountered. As a former member of Amnesty International, I know that human rights abuses must be reported from outside the country of concern. [see footnotes 1 & 2]
I believe that these actions could help not only to reveal the injustice in these cities, but also protect LGBTQ peoples from future harm.

Michael Gfroerer
Toronto ILGCN Coordinator

These attacks, could be in violation of the following international agreements…

1) The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 1; "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights…";

2) The Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of Non-International Armed Conflicts (Protocol II), 8 June 1977. Part IV. Civilian Population, Art 13. Protection of the civilian population: 2. The civilian population as such, as well as individual civilians, shall not be the object of attack. Acts or threats of violence the primary purpose of which is to spread terror among the civilian population are prohibited.

December 3, 2008 | 7:06 PM Comments  0 comments



LGBTQ Canadian Immigration
Related to country: Sweden

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

The International Lesbian & Gay Cultural Network,
LGBT-OUT, University of Toronto
and
the Mark S. Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies
present

MIGRATIONS and PROUD ART
SEXUALITY, GENDER AND LOVE ARE HUMAN RIGHTS

"All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights…"
-Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Friday, November 14th, 8 pm; the Music Room at Hart House, University of Toronto
(7 Hart House Circle-south of Hoskin Avenue, off Tower Road)
PROUD ART-1
- Erica Eaton, Art and Activism for Social Change
- Marc Ellis, original works for the piano
- Anna Gutmanis: singer-songwriter
- Farzana Doctor, reading from her novel Stealing Nasreen
- Michael Gfroerer, Toronto ILGCN Coordinator: New Piano Music
- Alex Cheung, violin
- Alicia Lee Davis, choreographer-dancer
Admission: PWYC/$10 suggested
proceeds will go to SOY's Newcomer/Immigrant Youth Program, Express

Saturday, November 15th, 2-6 pm; The International Student Centre
33 St George Street, Cumberland House, University of Toronto
MIGRATIONS-LGBTTQ immigration

- Olivia Chow, MP for Trinity-Spadina, NDP Critic for Immigration and Citizenship
- El-Farouk Khaki, LL.B, winner of the Steinert and Ferreiro Award, 2007
- Suhail Abualsameed, SOY Newcomer
- Peter Bernier, LEGIT
- Georgia Wilder, MELAB Language Centre
- The Tupilak-ILGCN travelling art and photo exhibit

Sunday, November 16th, 2-6 pm; the International Student Centre
PROUD ART-2
- Believe Dhliwayo: Black-Cap, The experiances of newcomer LGBT PHA
- Docs and Dramas: Poland, Belarus, and the Nordics
- Tupilak/ILGCN travelling art and photo exhibit
(Saturday and Sunday-donations welcome)

for more info go to www.ilgcn.tupilak.org; www.lgbtout.com

The International Lesbian & Gay Cultural Network was created at the ILGA world conference in Paris in 1992 to promote international rainbow culture and exchange across borders. The ILGCN is not a booking agency, has no membership fee and no funds of its own – but tries to facilitate contact between organizations and individuals – convinced that both cultural workers and political activists belong together on the rainbow barricades – using homo culture as a powerful weapon against homophobia and silence. Special support is given to those facing dictatorial regimes, oppressive religious leaders, intolerant media and gangs of neo-Nazis and other homophobes attacking rainbow events.

LGBTOUT stands for Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Trans People of the University of Toronto. We are an officially recognized group at the U of T for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, transsexual, queer students and others who are marginalized on the basis of their sexual orientations and/or gender identifications. We have been fighting for queer rights and visibility for more than 30 years!

LGBTOUT offers spaces to explore our diverse identities both socially and politically, where people can develop a wide range of skills and learn more about our communities.

Migration and Proud Art will be focused on immigration issues. Toronto's LGBTQ media and immigration workers have remarked upon the Canadian Immigration and Refugee's Boards lack of sensitivity re. LGBTQ immigration. Several claimants have been denied Canadian citizenship which has compromised their personal security in their homeland. The objective of this conference is to raise awareness of the issues facing LGBTQ immigrants, with particular reference to the issues facing those who attempt to secure refugee status.

We will also continue our focus on LGBT arts discussions and performance.

Background Information
Canada is a signatory of the 1951 Geneva Refugee Convention, "…refugees will not be returned involuntarily to a country where they face persecution." But in 2003, the Canadian Immigration and Refugee Board rejected the refugee claim of Enrique Villegas, the Mexican refugee claimant. Forced to return to Mexico, Villegas was found dead in his Mexico City apartment in April 2007.
In 2008, the refugee claim of the young gay Nicaraguan Alvaro Orozco was rejected-he presently lives in fear for his safety. Alvaro's claim was conducted over closed-circuit television, and during his hearing, the IRB remarked that he should not be in danger if he returned to Nicaragua, as he did not look gay; this despite the fact the media in Nicaragua wrote several articles with pictures of Alvaro. Homosexuality is still a crime in Nicargua.
(see lzuniga.tigblogs.org and orangehabitat.com/oh/alvaro/ for more details)

A recent report by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, in evaluating Canada's record in dealing with refugees, found that "…it was evident that a lack of experience and training in dealing with refugee claims cases led to some errors in approach…some officers may not have received training specific to interviewing refugee claimants. UNHCR observes that the quality of interviewing techniques varies greatly…the quality of interviewing skills is inconsistent."
There have been numerous cases where the Canadian Immigration and Refugee Board rejected claims because they did not consider the bona fide fears of LGBTQ claimants. The only reasonable conclusion is that the Canadian Immigration and Refugee Board does not consider sexuality a human right. Despite the many advancements on LGBTQ rights and freedoms over the years-which were only won due to dogged determination-these advancements are inconsistently understood by various levels of government. LGBTQ rights were perhaps intentionally omitted from the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and non-Canadian citizens fare even worse than those with citizenship status.
What is emerging from the chaos of recent Canadian Immigration and Refugee Board decisions is that decisions, which are adversely affecting claimants, are not based on justice, Canadian law and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, but rather upon a reluctance to admit LGBTQ rights as a criteria for Canadian citizenship.
The "Migrations" aspect of the Toronto Cultural Conference will address these facts, and hopefully shed some light on Canada's dealings with LGBTQ immigrants.

Conference Speakers

Olivia Chow, MP for Trinity-Spadina, NDP Critic for Immigration and Citizenship

El-Farouk Khaki LL.B, was born in Tanzania, which his family fled in 1971 escaping political persecution. His parents arrived in Canada in 1974 and settled in Vancouver where Khaki grew up. He earned a law degree from the University of British Columbia before moving to Ottawa in 1988 and has lived and worked in Toronto since 1989. He worked as a political staffer at Queen's Park until 1993 when he left to establish his legal practice. Khaki is a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada and has been in private practice since 1993.
Khaki founded Salaam in 1991, a support group for queer Muslims. In 2003, he helped organized the first female-led, mixed-gender Muslim congregational prayers in Canada for the Salaam/Al-Fateha International Conference, and in 2005, organized the first such prayers anywhere to be held in a mosque. He has served on the Toronto Mayor's Committee on Community & Race Relations, on the board of The 519 Community Centre, and is now elected chair of Africans in Partnership Against AIDS.
Khaki regularly speaks publicly at events and in news media on issues ranging from refugee protection, to the global AIDS crisis, Canadian multiculturalism,racism, persecution of sexual minorities around the world, and religious and racial profiling in the war on terror, among other topics. His appearances include CTV's morning television program Canada AM,CBC Radio One's The Current, and others.
On April 30, 2007, Khaki won the New Democratic Party's nomination in Toronto Centre. Since then, incumbent Bill Graham resigned necessitating a by-election to be held on March 17, 2008.
In 1994, Khaki represented a refugee claim before the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada which lasted eight sittings rather than the usual single session and led to the implementation of sensitivity training for IRB Members and staff on sexual orientation issues.
Khaki continues to specialize in representing before the IRB a variety of severely marginalized social groups, such as persons living with HIV/AIDS and women fleeing domestic violence or other gender-based persecution.
(source: Wikipedia)

Suhail Abualsameed: EXPRESS
Express is a safe and supportive space where newcomers to Canada and/or immigrant queer youth find a place gather, share ideas, questions, and have fun!
EXPRESS targets and provides support for youth between16 and 29 who are immigrants, newcomers to Canada, refugees, refugee claimants and non-status queer and trans youth. Most of the participants are young people coming from countries and/or cultures where it's not safe, legal or easy to be queer or trans.
EXPRESS includes a weekly meeting on Tuesdays at 5:30 p.m. The project had a number of newcomer/immigrant queer youth involved from more than 20 different nationalities and/or ethnicities since May of 2002.
Some of the youth participating in EXPRESS can not - due to work commitment or school schedule - attend all the weekly meetings, and some other newcomer/immigrant queer youth have not been able to participate in any of the meetings because of family or cultural pressures over their sexuality. An internet based group and mailing list has been created to maintain some level of connection between the youth and provide some of the support they need outside the regular meeting hours.
Some of the youth participating in EXPRESS are refugee claimants on the basis of their sexual orientation. The project provides significant direct support to these youth in this process as well as the personal and emotional support they receive at the drop-in meetings. Since the launch of the project a significant number of youth participants have gained their legal status in Canada with support from EXPRESS.

Suhail Abualsameed is a community worker and a public speaker who’s concerned with issues of multiculturalism, diversity, identity and the social determinants of health among many others.
Suhail has been running SOY's newcomer/immigrant queer youth program since 2002. He has also coordinated community based research of TeenNet (a research project based at the department of Public Health Sciences at the University of Toronto) in the Middle east since 2004. He recently initiated and started coordinating a Community Based Research project addressing HIV/AIDS issues among the Muslim communities in the GTA.

Peter Bernier
"I have been helping gay couples with immigration to Canada since 1994 when we got my partner his permanent residence. He has now become a Canadian citizen and we recently celebrated our 15th anniversary. I am one of Canada's most experienced experts on Canadian immigration for gays. I am a member of the Canadian Society of Immigration Consultants (CSIC) as required to represent you, a member of the Canadian Association of Immigration Professionals (CAPIC), Co-Chair of CAPIC's Ontario Education Committee, and a High Honours Graduate of the Immigration Practitioner's Certificate Program. I have volunteered with LEGIT in Toronto since 1994 when I founded LEGIT-Toronto."

Georgia Wilder is the director of the Toronto MELAB Language Centre at the University of Toronto where she provides English proficiency gateway testing and newcomer referrals, including LGBTTIQ resources, to speakers of other languages. Since receiving her PhD in English literature in 2000, she has worked as a lecturer in University of Toronto’s English Department, the Ontario College of Art and Design’s writing support program, and Innis College’s Writing and Rhetoric program. She also designed and coordinated introductory writing and literature courses for the double cohort year at University of Toronto in Scarborough. Her published work investigates the rhetorical construction of queer agencies in early modern England, and issues of language learning and subjectivity in present-day North America. She has presented at conferences internationally, including the Centre for Seventeenth-Century Studies Conference in Durham, England and the Asociaci_n Nacional Universitaria de Profesores de Inglés (ANUPI) teaching conference in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. (confirmed)

Believe Dhliwayo works for Black Coalition for AIDS Prevention as the ISAP Coordinator. He is a qualified HIV/AIDS Counsellor and has a Postgraduate Diploma in Developmental Studies. Believe is a board member for HIV Legal Clinic of Ontario (HALCO) and has initiated and worked with community-based AIDS service organizations, UN agencies and civic organizations. Believe has worked closely with the Gay and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ) a non Governmental organization that has fought tirelessly for the rights of LGBTs in Zimbabwe. Believe has first hand experience of seeing his comrades being arrested or stigmatized as a result of their sexual orientation. Believe continues to fight the restoration of dignity, status, and rights of newcomer LGBTs living with HIV/AIDS. He is a person living with HIV for the last 13 years.

Performance/Arts Presenters

Tupilak/ILGCN travelling art and photo exhibit

Reading from her novel Stealing Nasreen…Farzana Doctor is a Toronto-based author and social worker. Her novel, Stealing Nasreen (Inanna, 2007) has received critical acclaim from the Globe and Mail, Quill and Quire, and NOW Magazine. She has had her poetry, reviews, short stories and creative non-fiction published in NOW, Trikone, Herizons, Siren, Aurat Durbar and Sightlines 7 Anthology. She has also co-written a manual for therapists and was part of the video collective that produced the documentary, "Rewriting the Script". She is now working on her second novel.

Evolutionary Girls Club: Art and Activism for Social Change (confirmed)
Erica Eaton, ILGCN cultural ambassador, USA
"I am an educator, scholar, writer, activist, traveler who often makes meaning through video and installation. I value art for its ability to create a type of knowledge. Art allows us to look at something in a new way. I do not set out to represent what is already known, but to look at what is there through different lenses. Art can tell stories that otherwise remain untold. We are able say things that would otherwise be unspeakable and hear from multiple perspectives. Art is a way to test a thesis. Often I am faced with an opening of possibilities rather than any definite conclusion when I am making or participating with art. Time based and installation works draw us into these possibilities using sound, light, space and motion. Visual associations create meaning using histories, dreams, visions and emotion. The engaging of these elements in unexpected juxtapositions can jolt the compulsion to stay with the familiar and allow the incomplete and uncertain to be savored and explored...
My work attempts to make the familiar strange and the strange familiar. I am fascinated with how people make meaning, and how that meaning is applied in our lived lives. At its core my work deals with the relationships between memory, nostalgia and meaning and how this complex web plays out socially, politically and emotionally. At its most obvious, my work deals with issues that I am passionate and curious about: race, gender, sexual orientation, class, mass amnesia, the effects of new technologies on our collective consciousness and visions for creating new possibilities."

Composer-pianist Marc Ellis is a recent graduate from York Universities Music Composition program. Growing up in Walkerton, Ontario his passion, flare and love of music was discovered at a very young age. His first composition was written in grade 4 and he hasn't stopped since. His ability to improvise is largely due to his many years as pianist and conductor for his church choir.
Marc is a two-time finalist for Star Search, one of the largest talent competitions in Ontario. His composition entitled 'The Spirit of Walkerton' earned him a nomination for Junior Citizen of the year in 2000 for his his musical and volunteer contributions.
Marc has performed at such events in Toronto as Fashion Cares, Bloor Street Entertains, the ROM, Holt Renfrew, and headlined Prides Main Event party Arctic Babylon at the Guvernment

Canadian composer-pianist, ILGCN Orfeo musica awardee and ILGCN Toronto Coordinator Michael Gfroerer has performed around Toronto and in Europe and has been heard on CBC Radio. In 2007, he was awarded the ILGCN's Orfeo Musica "for outstanding international cooperation and utilization of music and song to focus on lesbian, gay, bi- and trans identity, dignity and importance" regarding his same-sex love song cycle "Pectus Amor" and his solo cello work "Fires", which deals with censorship of the LGBT media. He was Co-Artistic Director and a founding member of CONTACT contemporary music--a music organization with a mandate to explore and promote the music of Canadian composers and LGBTQ international composers. Michael has also been a firm advocate for human rights, working with Amnesty International, the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace, the Canada-Tibet Committee, and the Coalition for a Just Immigration Policy.

Anna Gutmanis
Anna began to write her own songs as a teenager, moving to Toronto at 19 to pursue her passion for music and social justice. She began performing as a solo artist at cafes and clubs, joining activist groups such as Lesbians Against the Right. In 1984, Anna cut a demo with L’Etranger, a prominent Toronto band. "Empire," a song decrying racism and sexism, charted at several radio stations. She cut a self-titled EP in 1989. The album and its single "Then Came You" received airplay in every Canadian province and territory. In 1992, she received a Factor Grant, with new music appearing on the 7th Factor Compilation of New Canadian Talent. In 2007, Anna sought out legendary music producer Karen Kane to record "I Am Who I Am." This song is a powerful statement against homophobia. Anna’s new single was recently featured on JD Doyle’s "Queer Music Heritage" radio show, and has received airplay from Ireland to Australia. She is also a graduate of University of Toronto’s Sexual Diversity Studies and Equity Studies programs, and works as a counsellor in women’s shelters. (confirmed)

Contact Information:

www.ilgcn.tupilak.org

ilgcn.tigblog.org/post/485927

Toronto ILGCN Coordinator, Michael Gfroerer, michaelgfroerer@gmail.com,
416.506.1521


September 24, 2008 | 5:17 PM Comments  0 comments





Michael Gfroerer's Profile


Latest Posts
UPCOMING EVENTS-2009
Migrations and Proud...
LGBTQ Canadian...

Monthly Archive
September 2008
December 2008
January 2009

Change Language


Tags Archive
bisexual equality gay humanrights immigration lesbian lgbtq queer socialjustice transgendered

Filter By Type
Travel
Topics


4010 views
Important Disclaimer