PAST EVENTS
QPIRG Concordia’s “Keeping it Reel” monthly Subversive Cinema Series, in collaboration with Q-Team, the Prisoner Correspondence Project, Queer Concordia, Queer McGill, the 2110 Centre for Gender Advocacy, and the Union for Gender Empowerment present:
CRIMINAL QUEERS – A Montreal Film Premiere and Directors’ Talk
Friday, November 13th @ 7:30pm
Concordia University, Hall Building
1455 de Maisonneuve Ouest, Room H-110
Criminal Queers visualizes a radical trans/queer struggle against the prison industrial complex and toward a world without walls. Remembering that prison breaks are both a theoretical and material practice of freedom, this film imagines what spaces might be opened up if crowbars, wigs, and metal files become tools for transformation. Follow Yoshi, Joy, Susan and Lucy as they fiercely read everything from the Human Rights Campaign and hate crimes legislation to the non-profitization of social movements. Criminal Queers grows our collective liberation by working to abolish the multiple ways our hearts, genders, and desires are confined.
Criminal Queers brings together powerful abolitionist voices like Angela Y. Davis (who plays herself in the film), with a fictional, campy world of queer insurrection. Reworking what a queer history might mean for the possibility of surviving the present, the program centers the devastating effects the prison industrial complex (PIC) has had on transgender/ gender non-conforming and queer communities.
The program will include a lecture by the California filmmakers Chris Vargas and Eric Stanley, giving historical and contemporary analysis and examples of the ways in which queer communities are impacted by forms of state violence; the feature film, Criminal Queers; and a question and answer period with the artists.
[This event was also made possible, in part, by the generous support of the Arts and Science Federation of Associations at Concordia, the Concordia Students Union, and T. Waugh, Concordia Research Chair in Sexual Representation.]
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PRISONS, TRANS PROFILING, AND CRIMINAL “JUSTICE”
- Discussion with the Prisoner Correspondence Project for trans-identified folks in Montreal -
Monday, October 26th @ 7pm
ASTTEQ – 1300 Rue Sanguinet
This discussion will be chance to touch base with a few members of the Prisoner Correspondence Project (an organization that works to support trans and gay prisoners in Quebec and across the US and Canada) and share our ideas about experiences of police profiling of our communities, and how this makes trans folks in particular to prisons and incarceration.
The discussion will be a chance to discuss ways we can work to support prisoners and ex-prisoners, and in the process, build broader strategies of self-defense and survival against policing and prisons.
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BEYOND PRISONS, TOWARDS COMMUNITY STRATEGIES – Supporting Work Within and Against Prisons
Saturday October 24th from 4pm to 6pm
at the Comité Social Centre-Sud at 1710 Beaudry (metro Beaudry)
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Featuring:
- Gisele Dias – Prisoner HIV/AIDS Support Action Network (PASAN), Toronto
- Peter Collins – HIV/AIDS activist and prisoner at Bath Institution, Ontario
- Amazon Contreraz – jailhouse lawyer, trans activist and prisoner at Corcoran, California
- Sadie Ryanne – DC Trans Coalition (DCTC), Washington DC
- Farah Abdill – community organizer, Montreal
Beyond Prisons, Toward Community Strategies will be an afternoon of community organizations and individuals coming together to discuss the ways we can expand our existing models of support and service provision, as prisoners, exprisoners and allies, and work towards a broader movement to end our reliance on prisons.
The presenters–made up of prisoners, ex-prisoners, and allies–will introduce their current projects, which include gay and trans prisoner support, HIV prevention, advocacy for prisoner self-determination, and local initiatives to support folks inside. How can we confront the violence of prison expansion, deepening rates of in-prison HIV transmission, medical negligence and isolation? Through these discussions, we hope to forge coalitions between different community groups and strengthen the day to day struggles both within and against prisons.
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ACTING UP FOR PRISONERS – Discussion and short film screening about HIV and imprisonment
ACCM Drop-In Centre (contact info below)
Monday October 5th
7-9PM (Dinner served beforehand at 6PM)
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The Prisoner Correspondence Project will be facilitating a discussion at ACCM (AIDS Community Care Montreal) drop-in about the intersection of HIV and imprisonment, incarceration of HIV+ communities, as well as the work we do around AIDS and gay and trans prisoner support.
Following a discussion will be a screening of ACTING UP FOR PRISONERS, about a California-based ACT-UP chapter confronting medical neglect and segregation of HIV+ prisoners at a California state prison.
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This workshop/film-screening is open to all HIV+ people and ACCM members. Please note that the event, as well as the film, will be in English. For details about where the ACCM drop-in centre is located, or if you are interested in attending, please contact Marcelle at centre@accmontreal.org or at (514) 529-9462.
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ACCM is the oldest AIDS service organization in Montreal, working to support communities living with HIV/AIDS, reduce stigma associated with HIV and to enhance the quality of life for directly affected communities.
For more information about ACCM visit www.accmontreal.org
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REFLECTIONS ON REVOLUTION – Radical movements from the Weather Underground to Prisons to Palestine
Featuring: Laura Whitehorn & Susie Day, with an introduction by a member of Montreal’s Prisoner Correspondence Project.
Saturday, May 16 2009, 7pm
1400 de Maisonneuve Ouest, Room LB-125 (de Sève Cinema, Concordia University)
Former member of the Weather Underground and ex-political prisoner Laura Whitehorn and writer and activist Susie Day talk about activism from the sixties to the present day, how this history influences our organizing, and the connections between struggles such as anti-imperialist organizing, queer liberation, and political prisoner movements.
Limited seating available, please arrive early to avoid disappointment. This venue is wheelchair accessible. Presentations will be made in English with whisper translation into French. For childcare or other accessibility needs, please get in touch 48 hours prior to the event.
Presented by members of Certain Days Freedom for Political Prisoners Calendar, Open Door Books, Prisoner Correspondence Project, Project 10, Q-Team, and Tadamon!
Contact: 514 664 1036 / qteam@riseup.net
This event is taking place as part of Montreal’s Festival of Anarchy: www.anarchistbookfair.ca
Speaker Bios:
Laura Whitehorn: After a relatively middle class beginning in New Rochelle, NY, Laura joined the Weather Underground Organization and later spent over 14 years in prison for a series of property bombings that protested racism and the imperial policies of the U.S. government. She’s been an out lesbian most of her life and, for almost 10 years, she’s been out of prison. Laura is now a senior editor at POZ, a magazine for HIV-positive people.
Susie Day: Suzie clawed her way up from the lower middle class of Kansas City to work as a hip New York City paralegal and occasional activist. She’s written for various queer and leftist publications about political prisoners and labor issues. She also writes a monthly political satire column that nets her sometimes as much as 50 dollars.
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YOU IMPROVISE TO SURVIVE! (as part of Inter -)
Tuesday, April 7th @ 6pm
2110 Centre for Gender Advocacy – 2110 Rue Mackay (Metro Guy-Concordia)
This workshop will feature statements from gay, queer and trans prisoners across the US and Canada on what sexual “safety” means when condom access is restricted and when queer sex is criminal. The workshop will draw specifically on the development of a resource series called Fucking Without Fear that has been underway with the Prisoner Correspondence Project for the past six months, as well an anthology of writings by our penpals on the inside on how they negotiate risk, safety, and survival against a prison landscape. The workshop seeks to forge dialogue about how anti-prison struggles, and queer anti-prison struggles in particular, can work more closely with HIV/AIDS prevention work and the histories of queer AIDS and prison organizing that precede us. We hope to use this as a point of departure to start dialogue about how we can support one another, and each others’ struggles for control over our own sexual lives, as trans folks and gays and queers across prison walls.
The workshop will take place in English with whisper translation towards French available. Free childcare also available with 48 hours notice (email queertrans.prisonersolidarity@gmail.com). The 2110 is a wheelchair accessible and scent-free space.
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REVISITING QUEER HISTORIES, RESISTING QUEER POLICING: Film screening and discussion on policing and queer imprisonment.
(As part of Radical Queer Semaine, taking place in Montreal from March 6 – 15 2009)
Friday, March 13 @ 5pm – Le chat des artistes, 2250 rue Parthenais,
metro frontenac.
>From the takeover of the International AIDS Conference in 1989, to the Sex Garage riots in 1991, to queer and HIV+ prisoner support in the late 1980s, Montreal queer communities have forged a long tradition of organizing against policing, criminalization and imprisonment. This film screening & discussion will feature archival films of these sites of local queer struggle, and a discussion about the barriers and obstacles we face today in our work in a Quebec context as a Montreal-based queer and trans prisoner support collective.
***The Prisoner Correspondence Project coordinates a penpal program for incarcerated LGBT folks and queers in prison. We also coordinate a resource library on queer and trans survival inside prisons.
*** This workshop will be presented in both french and english; translation will be provided both ways
***We regret that this venue is not wheelchair accessible.
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The Prisoner Correspondence Project will be putting on two events this February in Ottawa, Ontario, as part of the Aids Committee of Ottawa’s Snowblower 2009 – the popular health and wellness festival for guys into guys:
Thursday, Feb 12 @ 8pm:
“Fucking without Fear: Sexual ‘Safety’ Inside and Outside Prisons”
(Aids Committee of Ottawa: 700-251 Bank Street)
This workshop / discussion will feature statements from gay, queer and trans prisoners across the US and Canada on what sexual “safety” means when condom access is restricted or when queer sex is criminal. The workshop and discussion that will follow seeks to start dialogue about how we can support one another, and each others’ struggles for control over our own sexual lives, as trans folks and gays and queers across prison walls.
Friday, Feb 13 @7pm:
“Silence (still)=Death: An Evening of Queer Short Films”
(Pink Triangle Services: 301-251 Bank Street)
An evening of short films showcasing the early responses to the AIDS Crisis. In an era of AIDS profiteering, the deepening criminalization of HIV positive communities, and being told AIDS-is-over, this event is an effort to revisit this history of radical gay and queer activism across the US and Canada, to honour queer struggle against HIV/AIDS, as well as to incite action in the present. Featuring films made throughout the 1980s and early 90s by: ACT UP, DIVA TV, James Wentzy, John Greyson, archives of Montreal-area AIDS organizing, and more!
For more information about these events or Snowblower 2009 in general, check out: http://www.aco-cso.ca/Snowblower/
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HIV/AIDS: COMMUNITY RESPONSES & ACTIVISM
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 5th, 2009 at 7pm
At QPIRG CONCORDIA — 500 De Maisonneuve O., Suite 204
This venue is wheelchair accessible and a scent-free space.
a panel discussion exploring the HIV/AIDS pandemic, community responses and activism. Through these speakers, we hope to bring light to all of the hidden and silenced histories of the pandemic, illuminating a variety of tactics used to combat oppression, stigma and invisibility.
Guest speakers include:
Anna-Louise Crago-
Anna-Louise has been a sex worker activist and HIV activist, in Montreal and internationally for over a decade. In 2006, she and the other team members at Stella, Montreal’s center by and for sex workers, received the “Aids Action Award” from Human Rights Watch and the Canadian HIV Legal Network, for their work fighting HIV. Anna-Louise currently works with sex workers organizing for the recognition of their rights in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. She has just finished co-authoring an investigation into human & labour rights violations against sex workers of all genders in Botswana, Namibia and South Africa, including around access to HIV prevention and treatment. In 2008, she had the honour of being chosen to co-author one of the plenary speeches at the World Aids Conference in Mexico City.
Mikiki from Toronto-
Mikiki is a queer multi-disciplinary artist working mostly in video and performance. Mikiki was the programming director of Eastern Edge Gallery in St. John’s and Truck Gallery in Calgary before their own art-practice and political interests then informed a career shift into sexual health education. Mikiki worked as a Sexuality Educator with CBCA in Calgary, Canada before moving to Ottawa to work with ACO as Gay Men’s Prevention Coordinator. Mikiki worked last year at ACCM in Montréal as their HIV Educator before running away to Toronto where they’ve been for the last nine months.
Doug McColeman from AIDS Community Care Montreal-
Doug McColeman was born and bred in “Canada’s Largest City.” A social activist since the early 1980’s, he escaped to Montréal in 1990 and founded Queer Nation Montréal. Worked 12 years for an international NGO representing the interests of the world’s airlines. In 2005 decided that his talents and conscience would be better served representing the interests of his own community. For the past 3 years Doug has been in charge of developing Directions Montréal a project aimed at promoting the health of gay men in Montréal regardless of their sero-status, focussing on the Anglophone community.
Farah from Solidarity across Borders-
Je m’appelle Farah. Travailleuse du sexe, je milite depuis longtemps dans differentes causes sociales. Je suis également vih+ depuis bientôt 16 ans et je suis por ainsi dire trés préocupé par la banalisation du sida, et surtout par nos jeunes. C’est d’autant plus grave que les gouvernements et les médias en parlent de moins en moins. Sans dramatiser cette réalité, je trouve cela trés inquiètant. Alors j’ai tenue à assister à cette discution pour donner ainsi un visage et peut-être une voie de plus parmis vous tous.
co sponsored by:
The Prisoner Correspondence Project, which coordinates a letter-writing program for LGBT folks and queers in prison across the US and Canada. We’re always looking for similarly-identified people on the outside to support the project, or act as penpals!
&
the 2110 Centre for Gender Advocacy, a volunteer and collectively run organization, committed to fighting gender oppression, especially as it relates to communities of color, First Nations and Indigenous people, transsexual, transgendered and/or intersex people, deaf people, LGB, Queer and Questioning people, people who experience sizeism, sex workers, low income people and/or people with disabilities and other marginalized communities.
www.prisonercorrespondenceproject.com
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TEAR DOWN THE WALLS!
organizing in prison/organizing on campus
a round table on promoting dialogue & solidarity between students & prisoners
Thursday January 15th, 6:30pm
At the Concordia Community Solidarity Co-op Bookstore
2150 Bishop Street, metro Guy-Concordia
(see map at www.co-opbookstore.ca)
With speakers from:
Certain Days political prisoner calendar project
Open Door Books
Prisoner Correspondence Project
ReCon
Project descriptions:
Certain Days Political Prisoner Calendar Project
The Certain Days political prisoner calendar project We work to support, educate about and fundraise for political prisoners through the production of a yearly calendar. The calendar is a project produced by organizers in Montreal and Toronto, with the support of 3 political prisoners in upstate New York. We work with an anti-imperialist, anti-racist, feminist, queer and trans positive perspective to help free our movement’s political prisoners.
Open Door Books
We have been sending books to prisons across the US and Canada for over fifteen years. We regularly send to youth detention centres, immigration detention centres, and federal and provincial prisons throughout Quebec and Ontario. Open Door Books relies entirely on donations of books provided by folks living in Montreal. We seek to support and work in solidarity with incarcerated communities. We believe books can be a life-changing resource and a distraction from the grind of prison life. We believe all prisoners have the right to access quality books and reading material of their choice.
Prisoner Correspondence Project
We coordinate a direct-correspondence program for gay, lesbian, transsexual, transgender, gendervariant, two-spirit, intersex, bisexual and queer inmates in Canada, linking these inmates with people a part of these same communities outside of prison. The project also coordinates a resource library of information regarding harm reduction practice (safer sex, safer drug-use, clean needle care), HIV and HEPC prevention, homophobia, transphobia, coming out, etc.
ReCon
Re-Con is a prisoner initiated re-integration program, created in 1999, for lifers and long-term prisoners pending release at the Federal Training Center in Quebec. The motivation behind its inception was to establish a connection between the prisoner and the outside community, after a long period of incarceration. It is Re-Con’s main goal to establish links with the community, especially regarding the community resources that may aid in the reintegration process and in diminishing the effects of long-term incarceration (institutionalization).
Presented by the above working groups of QPIRG Concordia as well as the Concordia Community Solidarity Co-op Bookstore
Free childcare is available for this event, with 48 hours advance notice. Please contact workinggroups@qpirgconcordia.ca or 514-848-7585 to request childcare or for general info
www.qpirgconcordia.org
www.co-opbookstore.ca
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workshop on queer youth & criminalization
KINGS AND QUEEN AND CRIMINAL QUEERS
a part of the 2110 centre’s Too Cool For School workshop series
wednesday 17 september at 2110 Mackay at 12 noon .
Come check out the Prisoner Correspondence Project workshop and discussion charting the ways in which queer and gender nonconforming communities continue to be criminalized. The workshop will outline the legal status of queerness historically, and the implications that these histories have for us as queers and trans people today. The workshop will provide an opportunity to talk about our experiences of marginalization in the context of the current legal landscape in Montreal / Quebec / Canada. The workshop will provide an overview of projects and organizations that intervene on this process of criminalization and discuss strategies for responding.
If you want to find out more about the Prisoner Correspondence Project and what we do, this will be a great opportunity to find out more. There will be also coffee (and maybe snacks) provided.
This workshop is a part of the 2110 Centre’s TOO COOL FOR SCHOOL programming and workshop series. For more information, visit http://centre2110.org.
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How Queer Prisoners are Written Out of Mainstream Pride Movements
A panel & discussion about prisons and pride
Friday August 1st 6.30 PM
Le Cagibi – 5490 Saint-Laurent
THE PRISONER CORRESPONDENCE PROJECT brings you IMPRISONED PRIDE, a panel discussing questions of incarceration & queer communities. What meaning does “Pride” have for queer and trans prisoners in Canada? What do community & visibility signify when you’re isolated and kept from view?
IMPRISONED PRIDE will feature a series of audio recordings of currently incarcerated queer prisoners, speaking to their experiences behind bars and their thoughts on Pride. The event will bring together participants in the PRISONER CORRESPONDENCE PROJECT, currently and formerly incarcerated people, as well as outside supporters organizing against against criminalization of queer communities, and medical negligence behind bars.
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Le Cagibi is wheelchair accessible. Whisper translation & free childcare available / Le Cagibi est accessible aux fauteuils-roulantes. Traduction chuchotement & service de garde pour enfants disponible.
This event is organized by the PRISONER CORRESPONDENCE PROJECT. The PRISONER CORRESPONDENCE PROJECT coordinates a penpal program linking queer people behind bars with queer people on the outside.
This event is part of broader PERVERS/CITé programming, promoting a radical queer alternative to mainstream Pride events. For more information about other Pervers/cité events, visit www.perverscite.org
