Who We Are & What We Do
The Coalition of LGBTQ+ Youth Groups is a bilingual (FR/EN) organization that often works with different levels of government (local, provincial and federal) as a representative of the various LGBTQ+ and youth organizations. We are currently working on two youth-led initiatives: L’Astérisk - Youth Consultation/Leadership and Echo - A Home Like MeWe currently represent community groups that serve 2SLGBTIQA+ youth, collaborating with them through policy consultation, advocacy, and representation. Through this, we sustain comprehensive, inclusive youth-led initiatives across Quebec. With innovative solutions and partnerships, we can increase the well-being and visibility of 2SLGBTIQA+ youth within and outside of LGBTQ+ communities.
The Coalition's work is divided into three main parts:
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Awareness and advocacy
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Youth-led consultation and policy
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Partnerships and membership support
Mission
The mission is to raise awareness for the youth while providing them with favorable spaces that follow their rights.
Vision
To bring awareness and defense of the rights of LGBTQ+ youth
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Equip and train youth workers about sexual orientation, gender expression, and identity, as well as LGBTQ phobias;
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Raise public awareness of issues affecting LGBTQ+ youth;
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Make LGBTQ+ organizations aware of the specific realities of young people;
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Share and disseminate the expertise of member groups to contribute to the advancement of knowledge;
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Defend the rights of LGBTQ + youth.
Consultation and liaison
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Pool the strengths and expertise specific to each member organization for a better cohesion of youth actions against LGBTQ phobias;
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Act to promote issues relating to the needs of member groups.
Member Services
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Support and accompany member groups in achieving their mission;
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Promote creating and maintaining specific and safe(r) spaces for youth groups.
Objective
Values
Accessibility
Transparency,
Diversity
Respect
Colloboration
Meet the Team
Root
Director
dg@coalitionjeunesse.org
Shannon
Communications\Project manager
Board of Directors
The members of our board are Maxim-e(they) president, Jonathan (he,they)Tresoror, Kelly (she) admin, Emilie (she) admin,Gabriel-le (they) admin
To contact the board, email: conseiladministration@coalitionjeunesse.org>
Accessibility
The Coalition of LGBTQ+ Youth Groupsis located on unceded Tio’tia:ke in the language of the Kanien’keháka people. We recognize our organization’s history and present impact in perpetuating barriers for Two Spirit and LGBTQIA+ Indigenous (First Nations, Métis and Inuit) youth. This is the organization’s first official Land Acknowledgement and Accountability Engagement. Our current team is engaged in integrating a foundation of work and accountability to our mission’s solidarity with the respect of Indigenous rights and accessibility of Indigenous peoples and youth to their unceded lands.
Land Aknowledgement
The Coalition of LGBTQ+ Youth Groups is located on unceded Tio’tia:ke in the language of the Kanien’keháka people. We recognize our organization’s history and present impact in perpetuating barriers for Two Spirit and LGBTQIA+ Indigenous (First Nations, Métis and Inuit) youth. This is the organization’s first official Land Acknowledgement and Accountability Engagement. Our current team is engaged in integrating a foundation of work and accountability to our mission’s solidarity with the respect of Indigenous rights and accessibility of Indigenous peoples and youth to their unceded lands.
Acknowledgment of the spaces we occupy
The Coalition of LGBTQ+ Youth Group is located in the Gay Village (our youth services spaces with AlterHéros, Jeunesse Lambda, and FEMTL) on unceded Tio’tia:ke in the language of the Kanien’keháka people.
“Montreal” is known as Tio’tia:ke in the language of the Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk) people, one of the five founding Nations of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy and the traditional keepers of the land. It is also known as Mooniyang to the Anishinaabeg people. Historically and presently, Tio’tia:ke is an essential meeting place. Diversity and the negotiation of shared sacred (or safe(r)) spaces is not a present-day issue but an empowering reality advocated by past and present land and water defenders.
We are proud to coordinate, in collaboration with Jeunesse Lambda, AlterHéros, and FEMTL (previously with Project 10), an essential milestone in the Village since 2014. A youth space that also happens to be on a street of which the name was changed from Amherst to Atateken to honor Indigenous cultures and peoples.
We recognize that the Gay Village can be particularly inaccessible to Indigenous 2SLGBTQIA+ youth and other 2SLGBTQIA+ youth of color. As a touristic and commercial neighborhood, Indigenous 2SLGBTQIA+ youth face the double-edged sword of navigating establishments that promote diversity biased by commercial interest.
We recognize that the history of youth services is deeply tied to the history of Child Welfare Services separating and disenfranchising Indigenous, Inuit, and Métis families and youth. This is an ongoing issue. Indigenous advocacy groups are fighting against of, and we need to take responsibility for our participation in this violence and our resistance against it.