OK, kiddo! Here are all the fantastically amazing posts tagged with Canadian Heritage Department
Tories Cut Funding For Gay Festival
The Conservative government has denied funding for the world’s largest charity gay dance festival, Black & Blue, for the third consecutive year. The annual Montréal festival, which contains over 60 events and raises money for HIV/AIDS research and gay community groups, used to receive up to $50,000 annually from Canadian Heritage until the Conservatives took power. Since then, their funding has been consistently denied.
Robert Vezina, president of the non-profit group that organizes the festival, said he was frustrated by the unprofessional behaviour from the government since the Conservatives took power:
Ever since the Harper government was in power, we’ve got zero. The reasons are really nebulous—they’re really sneaky. They give us answers that contradict themselves from year to year, and then verbally, they tell us on the phone we’re not “family oriented enough,” and then of course when we ask them to put this in writing they don’t.
Mauril Bélanger, the former deputy chair of Canadian Heritage, said that he wasn’t surprised by the cuts, considering the government in power:
I think we’ve seen that time and again from this government—ideology trumps objectivity, trumps respect, trumps treating all of us equally. [This is] a government that makes decisions by ideology that is basically targetting some segments of our population unfairly, and that is not the country I know.
To compensate for their lost funding, Black & Blue will reportedly alter this year’s event schedule to contain fewer all-night dance parties and more family puppet square dancing afternoons.
Government to Gays: Go Fund Yourself!
Goodness knows why, but anti-gay lobbyists and the new conservative government are now trying their hardest to scrap The Court Challenge program. The program, run by the oft-attacked Heritage department, was set up to help fund groups that wish to challenge potentially unconstitutional laws. It has been awarded in the past to several minority representation groups, such as EGALE (Equality for Gays and Lesbians Everywhere), aboriginal groups, groups for persons with disabilities, and LEAF (The Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund).
Gwen Landolt, representative for the anti-gay group REAL Women of Canada was practically foaming at the mouth that anyone would dare challenge the fairness of a law:
[The Court Challenge program] is a boondoggle for special-interest groups with a certain ideological perspective. Only one side of the argument gets the money.
Uh, no, Gwen. Any group can get the money, but it has to be used to challenge unconstitutional laws. You know, the kind that you’re always pushing for? Why, even you’d be able to use it, if there were a law against hysterical right-wing social conservative groups using the word “boondoggle.” Which there isn’t.
Gwen, along with (anti) Justice Minister Extraordinare, Vic Toews, also said the program should be reviewed because it’s shrouded in secrecy (ooooo). In reality, the details of how much funding is allocated to which group is not disclosed because of a law protecting solicitor-client confidentiality.
Thankfully, the Canadian Bar Association (who actually studies law for a living) defended the program, saying it plays “a vital role in increasing access to justice for marginalized and vulnerable groups.” Good stuff.
Lobby Group Explodes Over Gay Film Festival
The Vancouver Queer Film Festival, a prominent LGBT arts media event, was met with great success last month, thanks very much to a standard grant from the Department of Canadian Heritage.
Strangely, the success and funding somehow isn’t sitting well with the anti-gay lobby group, REAL Women of Canada. Spokeswoman Gwen Landolt (who scoured the film listings to publicize such gems as: “Deconstructing Crack Ho” and “Toilet Sex in Canadian Cinema”) had these kind words:
The films [in the festival] are simply degenerate and degrading to humanity. There is no artistry there, the films are used as a political statement against established social mores, a way of showing contempt, of saying “we don’t have to be held to normal standards of behaviour.”
Wow, I know exactly what you mean. When I was at the festival, instead of watching “Pride and Prejudice: LGBT Struggles for Human Rights” I must’ve accidentally walked into “Horrifyingly Gratuitous Debauchery” back-to-back with “Look At Me; I’m Going Potty On Your Family’s Lawn!” It was so awful; both were being force-fed to unwilling parishioners and impressionable children by drug addicts and activist judges. Why did you fund this film festival, Department of Canadian Heritage? Why?
Ahem… Landolt then attacked the Heritage department for having promoted tolerance in the past.
The Heritage department is filled with problems. The department has got to be examined; it’s a disgrace. In the public accounts of 2004-2005, the department issued $112,800 in funding to EGALE [Equality for Gays and Lesbians Everywhere], for the purpose of “furthering participation in Canadian society.” Was that really necessary?
Oh; that was a question. Let’s see, was the funding for equality organizations really necessary? Well, as long as groups like yours, Gwen, spend every waking minute pressuring our lawmakers to ensure that gays and lesbians are devoid of rights, culture, and their constitutional freedom as a citizen to make whatever freakin’ arts films they want—yes! It is really necessary.
Thankfully, the Department of Canadian Heritage has a good sense of reality. Spokeswoman Dominique Collin, had this to say:
Through their Festival, the [Vancouver Out On Screen Film Society] presents a wide range of culturally diverse media arts and attempts to bring the issues and experiences of the LGBT communities into the mainstream, fostering acceptance and understanding.
Right on. Do you think it’s working?
