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Wikipedia:WikiProject LGBTQ+ studies/LGBT in Canada work group

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WikiProject LGBT in Canada
ShortcutWP:CANQUEER, WP:CANLGBT
CategoryLGBT in Canada
Parent
project(s)		LGBT studies, Canada

Welcome to the LGBT in Canada work group of WikiProject LGBT studies! This group was formed to better coordinate efforts to create and improve articles on LGBT topics and personalities in Canada.

Scope

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This group includes within its scope all articles related to LGBT topics, personalities, history and culture in Canada. It exists primarily as a way to improve Wikipedia's ability to identify topics in need of attention, such as missing articles, articles with sourcing problems, articles which need expansion, and on and so forth.

Participants

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Projects

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Ongoing

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Potential new articles

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People

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Note that this list is meant to keep track of potential future article topics. Reliable source coverage, demonstrating that a person passes one or more of our inclusion criteria, is always needed to support an article, so not everybody listed here will necessarily always qualify for an article under current circumstances; however, their notability may improve in the future as more sources become available. Do not start an unsourced or primary-sourced article about a person listed here just to assert their mere existence.

Events

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Organizations

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Film and television

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Theatre

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Notability to be determined

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  • The Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives maintains a National Portrait Collection of individuals who have been deemed significant figures in Canadian LGBT history. The following inductees should all be considered as potential article topics, depending on the depth of additional sourcing that can be located about them, but should not be added to Wikipedia based solely on this distinction alone: Elmer Bagares, Chris Bearchall, Rick Bébout, Anne Bishop, Bernard Courte, Harold Desmarais, C.M. Donald, John Duggan, Sara Ellen Dunlop, Gloria Eshkibok, John Fisher, Amy Gottlieb, Charlie Hill, Richard Hudler, David Kelley, Denis Leblanc, Bev Lepischak, Alan Li, Tim McCaskill, Peter Millard, Bonte Minnema, Pat Murphy, Carmen Paquette, Neil Richards, Marie Robertson, Kyle Scanlon, Douglas Stewart, Shelley Tremain, Susan Ursel. Numerous other inductees do already have Wikipedia articles — see the bluelinks at Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives#National Portrait Collection — although some of them may still need to have this distinction added to their separate articles.
  • Inductees into the Vancouver-based Q Hall of Fame Canada should also be considered as potential article topics, although again further sourcing is needed rather than relying on this distinction alone: Ted Northe (note that his name is currently a piped redirect to Imperial Court System rather than to an independent article), Rick Bébout, Karen Busby, Jeremy Dias, Dogwood Monarchist Society, Kevin Dale McKeown, NiQ, Cynthia Petersen, Garth Wiens.

Sourcing issues

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People who are culturally identified with the LGBT community in Canada, or have been named in association with it in one or more unsatisfactory sources, but whose articles do not actually cite proper sources to allow them to be categorized or described as being LGBT in their current state. Some may not actually be LGBT at all and may have been claimed in error by the identifying sources, while others are LGBT and can be more adequately sourced as such than they currently are — either way, the attention of this project is needed for confirmation and sourcing improvement if appropriate:

  • Reid Anderson has a profile on the Mark S. Bonham Centre's "QueerBio" database
  • Elizabeth Bachinsky has been identified as queer by some bloggers, and has contributed to LGBT anthologies, but currently states on her website that she has a husband; is there any source which clarifies whether she identifies as bisexual or pansexual or as a straight ally?
  • John Baird is fairly widely understood to be openly gay in his personal life, such that his sexuality is frequently alluded to, coyly or otherwise, by third parties writing or speaking about him; however, as of 2024 nobody has ever found any media source in which Baird has actually spoken on the record about his own sexuality one way or the other. Accordingly, he cannot be described or categorized as gay on Wikipedia as things currently stand; however, due to continued attempts to categorize him as such on the basis of the aforementioned unsatisfactory sources, his article requires regular monitoring for this issue. Wikipedians should, however, also remain conscious of the possibility that a more valid source may emerge in the future.
  • Louky Bersianik is covered in some studies of lesbian literature in Canada; however, these sources do not adequately clarify whether she identified as lesbian or bisexual, or is simply included because of the sometimes fuzzy line between lesbian and feminist literature. A clearer, more unambiguous citation is needed.
  • Robert Bourassa has long been claimed as gay, and/or dying of HIV/AIDS, in unreliable sources, but neither of these claims has ever been asserted in a RS that I'm aware of.
  • Manon Briand's biographical sketch in Thomas Waugh's Romance of Transgression in Canada: Queering Sexualities, Nations, Cinemas speaks extensively about the LGBT context of her work, yet falls short of a clear and unambiguous statement as to whether she identifies herself as lesbian or bisexual.
  • Édith Butler has a profile on the Mark S. Bonham Centre's "QueerBio" database
  • Frank Oliver Call
  • Afua Cooper
  • Kayla Czaga
  • Mazo de la Roche spent much of her life in a Boston marriage with another woman, Caroline Clement, leading to unresolved debate about whether their relationship could be characterized as lesbian in the modern sense
  • Sara Diamond has a profile on the Mark S. Bonham Centre's "QueerBio" database
  • Cherie Dimaline is loosely associated with queer culture by several sources, but I have not yet found a source to confirm her own self-identification
  • Farzana Doctor was labelled by most sources as a lesbian when she first began getting notice for her writing, and was a winner of the LGBTQ-specific Dayne Ogilvie Prize; however, she had a husband when she appeared on a 2020 episode of HGTV's Backyard Builds to get her yard redone. Bisexual? Queer? Pan? Green card marriage?
  • Robert Finch is included in John Barton and Billeh Nickerson's anthology Seminal: The Anthology of Canada's Gay Male Poets, but I cannot find an actual biographical source for his sexuality besides the fact that John Sutherland once called him a "dandified versifier" in a review.
  • Bill Graham was once sued by a man who claimed to have had a sexual relationship with Graham; while unacceptably biased POV sources have seized on and continue to promulgate the incident as prima facie proof that Graham is LGBT, in reality the case never actually made it to trial due to the plaintiff's unreliability as a witness — and reliable source coverage of the matter is virtually nonexistent (even that which existed at the time has since been excised from virtually all publicly accessible databases), meaning that under WP:BLP rules it's impossible for us to say anything about it at all. However, people do still occasionally attempt to add it to the article on the basis of the unacceptable sources — so the article requires monitoring for this.
  • Hiromi Goto
  • Reg Hartt is implied as gay in some sources
  • Luis Jacob
  • Julie Joosten's book Light Light was nominated for two lesbian-specific literary awards (Lambda Literary Award, Golden Crown Literary Society), but an editor claiming to be Joosten herself removed LGBT-related categories from the article without explanation
  • Daniel Heath Justice
  • Miodrag Kojadinović
  • Robert Lalonde - writer
  • Augusta La Paix
  • Dorothy Livesay wrote some lesbian-themed poetry later in her life, although I have not yet located a source which clarifies whether she was writing from personal experience or whether this is another "sometimes blurry line between lesbian and feminist literature" situation.
  • Guy Ménard
  • Tanzeel Merchant serves on the advisory board of Proud Politics, an organization for LGBT people in politics; however, this does not in and of itself prove that he's specifically LGBT, rather than just a supporter of diversity initiatives. Further clarification needed if possible.
  • Peter Milliken appears in the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund's directory of "Out LGBT Officeholders", and Frank certainly implied it a few times — however, to date no satisfactory sources have been found to clarify that he actually identifies as gay and is not just the subject of an inaccurate rumour (or confusion with someone else.)
  • Merwin Mondesir has been described as "openly gay" in unreliable sources, particularly in gossip blogs claiming that he attempted to out American actor Khalil Kain on social media a decade ago, but no reliable sources can be found to verify whether any of this is accurate.
  • John Moore is claimed as gay in some unreliable sources
  • Téa Mutonji
  • Jack Nichols has a profile on the Mark S. Bonham Centre's "QueerBio" database
  • David Oliver has a profile on the Mark S. Bonham Centre's "QueerBio" database
  • Ann Peel has a profile on the Mark S. Bonham Centre's "QueerBio" database, but the closest I can find to a source for it is an article in which she calls herself an ally of LGBT athletes and says nothing about being one herself
  • Pol Pelletier has been linked with "the lesbian presence" in Quebec theatre by a journal article, but the article does not actually clarify whether she self-identifies as lesbian, or whether this is the sometimes blurry line between lesbian and feminist literature blurring lines again
  • Pierre Pettigrew was, like Milliken, occasionally claimed as an "avid pianist" in Frank, but to date no reliable sources have ever addressed his sexuality one way or the other.
  • Meredith Quartermain is associated with lesbian poetry in The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics: Fourth Edition
  • Donna-Michelle St. Bernard is linked with queer theatre culture an awful lot, but I cannot find a source for her own self-identification
  • Emanuel Sandhu is included in The Queerstory Files' list of out LGBT Olympians
  • Leanne Betasamosake Simpson is loosely associated with queer culture by several sources, but I have not yet found a source to confirm her own self-identification
  • George Stanley
  • Playwright Olivier Sylvestre frequently writes about LGBT themes, but I cannot find a clear and unambiguous statement about his own sexuality.
  • Sharon Thesen is associated with lesbian poetry in The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics: Fourth Edition
  • Max Valiquette has a profile on the Mark S. Bonham Centre's "QueerBio" database
  • Yolande Villemaire
  • Bronwen Wallace is associated with lesbian poetry in The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics: Fourth Edition
  • Wayne Wapeemukwa is identified as an emerging queer director by John Greyson in this interview with Peter Knegt for CBC Arts; however, I cannot find a source to confirm whether Wapeemukwa identifies as gay, bisexual, queer or two-spirited or whether Greyson was just mistaken
  • Phyllis Webb
  • Cathleen With
  • Cajjmere Wray

Sources

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A list of sources that may be of use to this workgroup:

  • Aldrich, Robert F., and Garry Wotherspoon. Who’s Who in Contemporary Gay and Lesbian History from World War II to the Present Day. London: Routledge, 2000. ISBN 041522974X
  • Jennex, Craig, and Nisha Ewaran. Out North: An Archive of Queer Activism and Kinship in Canada. Figure 1 Publishing, 2020. ISBN 978-1-77327-100-2
  • Knegt, Peter. About Canada: Queer Rights. Fernwood Publishing, 2011. ISBN 978-1-55266-456-8.
  • Korinek, Valerie. Prairie Fairies: A History of Queer Communities and People in Western Canada, 1930-1985. University of Toronto Press, 2018. ISBN 978-0802095312
  • New, W. H., Encyclopedia of Literature in Canada. University of Toronto Press, 2002. ISBN 0802007619. Chapter "Gay and Lesbian Writing", pp. 418-422; entry "Frank Oliver Call", p. 438; entry "André Roy", p. 991.
  • McLeod, Donald W. Lesbian and Gay Liberation in Canada: a Selected Annotated Chronology, 1964-1975. Toronto: ECW Press/Homewood Books, 1996. ISBN 1550222732
  • Ross, Becki. The House That Jill Built: A Lesbian Nation in Formation. University of Toronto Press, 1995. ISBN 0802004601
  • Smith, Miriam Catherine. Lesbian and Gay Rights in Canada: Social Movements and Equality-Seeking, 1971-1995. University of Toronto Press, 1999. ISBN 978-0802081971.
  • Warner, Tom. Never Going Back: A History of Queer Activism in Canada. University of Toronto Press, 2002. ISBN 0802036082
  • Waugh, Thomas, Romance of Transgression in Canada: Queering Sexualities, Nations, Cinemas. Carleton University Press, 2006. ISBN 978-0773530690.
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