RAEGAN SWANSON (she/her)
Executive Director
Raegan has been the Executive Director since 2016. She holds a BA from Collège universitaire de Saint-Boniface and a Masters of Information from the University of Toronto iSchool. She has worked as an archivist at Library and Archives Canada, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, Aanischaaukamikw Cree Cultural Institute and as the Archival Advisor for the Council of Archives New Brunswick. She is currently working on her PhD focusing on the role of community archives in Indigenous communities. She is a member of the Steering Committee on Canada’s Archives Taskforce to respond to the “Calls to Action” Report from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and co-chair of the ACA’s Indigenous Matters Working Group.
LUCIE HANDLEY-GIRARD (she/her)
Senior Archivist
Lucie has worked at The ArQuives as an Archivist since 2017. She holds a BA and a Masters of Information both from the University of Toronto. In the summer of 2016 she was the Archives Assistant at The ArQuives, and has previously worked in records management. She currently sits on the Association for Canadian Archivists’ Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Taskforce. Her research interests include community archives, archival performativity, and archives as spaces for activism, resistance, and identity formation.
JORDAN SAROYA (he/him)
Administrative Assistant
Jordan has served as the Administrative Assistant since January 2020. He holds a BA (Hons) from the University of Toronto, where he studied Human Geography and Women & Gender Studies. He has worked in various administrative capacities and LGBTQ2+ community spaces. He is very proud to be part of The ArQuives team and a community that actively works to preserve QTBIPOC history and storytelling.
HELEN CHAZAN (she/her)
Trans Digitization Assistant
Helen is a Masters of Information student at the University of Toronto iSchool. She has worked as an archival assistant at the Centre For Renaissance and Reformation Studies, The Bonham Centre Sexual Representation Collection, and the Victoria University E.J. Pratt Library. She holds a BA in Classics from Cornell University and an MA in Medieval Studies from University of Toronto. She is also a freelance writer for publications such as The Comics Journal, SOLRAD and Cleaver Magazine. Her interests include digital humanities, rare books, queer and trans ephemera, and social justice in archival practice.
STEFANIE MARTIN (she/her)
Project Archivist
Stefanie has been involved at The ArQuives since 2018. She holds a BA in Sociology from Toronto Metropolitan University and a Masters of Information from the University of Toronto. Stefanie was the Archives Assistant in 2018 and later on became a collections volunteer. In 2019, Stefanie was an intern at the Hamilton Public Library where she developed their 2SLGBTQ+ community archives. She has also worked in non-profit and grassroots organizations serving Filipino youth, newcomers, and migrant workers in the Greater Toronto Area and Manitoba.
Her research interests include community archives, activism and political record-keeping and migration and labour.
JADE NELSON (they/them)
Volunteer Coordinator
Jade is a Masters of Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies student at York University, exploring Queer digital futurity and the translation and creation of identities, knowledge, and publics across digital platforms. They also hold a BA (Hons) from the University of Toronto, studying History and Sexual Diversity Studies. They have recently worked as a research fellow with the Queer and Trans Research Lab (QTRL), part of the Mark S. Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies. They currently volunteer with the Robertson Davies Rare Book Library and the adjoining Private Printing Room, where they work on cataloguing private print books and preserving and restoring historical and rare printing type. In addition, Jade has worked in various not-for-profit organizations and volunteer coordinator positions since 2018.
DEANNA BICKFORD (she/her/they/them)
Senior Development Officer
Deanna serves as the Development Officer. She worked exclusively in the social profit sector for the past two decades as a communications and fundraising professional. Most recently, Deanna served as the Development Director at Inside Out. There, she helped grow community partnerships and expand resources for innovative programs such as the RE: Focus Fund to support women, trans, and non-binary filmmakers. She has also helped build capacity of several community organizations and advocacy groups including, YWCA, United Way, Leadnow, Friends of the Greenbelt, and Ecojustice.
TONYA SUTHERLAND-STEWART (she/her)
Collection Specialist
An emerging heritage professional with a background in English and History, Tonya is a recent graduate of the Master of Museum Studies program at the University of Toronto and has worked on archival projects at the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre, Bruce County Museum and Cultural Centre, and the Metropolitan Community Church of Toronto. For her Master’s capstone project, Tonya conducted a feasibility study for developing a digital archive for the Jackson Park Project and continues exploring strategies for developing this archive. In addition to the Jackson Park Project, Tonya has volunteered with the Multicultural History Society of Ontario and the Art Gallery of Ontario. Her academic interests include LGBTQ2+ and Black history, poetry, digital heritage, community-based heritage, and collection management.
DANIEL PAYNE (he/him)
Reference Archivist
Daniel holds a Masters of Library and Information Sciences and a Masters of Arts in Musicology from Western University, as well as a Bachelor of Education from the University of Windsor. He has recently served as part time Social Sciences & Humanities Librarian at York University and a Sessional Lecturer at the University of Toronto’s iSchool, where he teaches a graduate-level course he developed in Art Librarianship. Between 2002 and 2021, he was Head of Reference and Instructional Services at the OCAD University Library, where he used studio-based pedagogy to activate library services. His research interests include exploring the history of art and design education, using art exhibitions as information literacy, and understanding how the Mi’kmaq teaching of Etuaptmumk (Two-Eyed Seeing) can activate research models using Indigenous Knowledge Systems. Daniel is also principal cellist with Counterpoint Community Orchestra, the world’s longest standing 2SLGBTQ+ orchestra.
Email Daniel at queeries@arquives.ca for information about visiting The ArQuives’ collection for research. Email him at referencearchivist@arquives.ca for any other inquiries.
Board of Directors
Co-President
Kelly Small
(they/them)
Kelly is an award-winning creative director, designer, educator, and author of bestselling The Conscious Creative: Practical Ethics for Purposeful Work. Kelly’s career is driven by the pursuit of practical action toward ethical, inclusive, and sustainable futures.
Founder of creative agency Intents & Purposes, professor of design ethics, and affiliated design researcher with Emily Carr University, Kelly holds an interdisciplinary master’s in design and received the Governor General’s Gold Medal for their research into social impact, social innovation, sustainability, and the ethics of commercial creative practice.
Kelly is currently authoring a book about practical ethics for a youth audience.
Co-President
Courtnay McFarlane
(he/him)
Courtnay McFarlane is a Jamaican-born visual artist, curator and poet. His poetry has been published in several African Canadian and Queer anthologies including: Fiery Spirits, and Voices: Writers of African Canadian Descent, Word-up, and Plush. A long-time activist in Toronto’s Black LGBTQ communities, he was a founding member of groups from the 80’s and 90’s such as Zami, AYA Men, The Black Coalition for AIDS Prevention and Blackness Yes, the organizing committee for Blockorama at Toronto Pride. These groups and organizations were forerunners providing voice and visibility to Black LGBTQ issues, and laying the foundation for events, organizations and movements addressing those issues today.
He created Legacies in Motion: Black Queer Archival Projects in 2019 and curated its first exhibition in April of that year: See We Yah! The exhibition unearthed and celebrated the political and cultural activism of Black LGBTQ communities in Toronto.
In his other life Courtnay works in the community health sector. He is currently Director of Child, Youth and Family Services at Regent Park Community Health Centre.
Treasurer
David DesLauriers
(he/him)
David is retired from a 30-year career in investment banking in Toronto and New York and is focused on personal pursuits in volunteering, consulting and mentoring. As a seasoned financial executive, David brings considerable expertise in client relationship management, finance and risk management, and as a trusted advisor on strategic and governance matters. David is currently volunteering on several community boards in a variety of capacities. David lives in Toronto with his husband, Nicolas Burbano Diaz.
Secretary
Michelle Schwartz
(she/her)
Michelle has a BA in Art History from New York University and received her MLIS from Long Island University, where she specialized in Archives and Records Management. She is the co-director of Lesbian and Gay Liberation in Canada (LGLC), a SSHRC-funded digital humanities research project that is building an interactive digital resource for the study of LGBTQ2+ history in Canada. The goal of the LGLC project is to increase the amount of existing and publicly accessible historical information around the lesbian and gay liberation movement in Canada, and to capture for posterity the contributions that many individuals in Canada made to this movement.
Michelle works as an educational developer at the Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching at Toronto Metropolitan University, where she supports inclusive and accessible teaching and learning.
Director
Lauren Pragg
(they/them)
Lauren is a second-generation Indo-Trinidadian settler who lives on Williams Treaty territory in Scarborough, Ontario – the traditional territory of many nations including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat peoples. They are personally and professionally committed to principles of equity, justice and accountability.
Lauren has worked on community engagement, research, and communications for over 15 years with a diverse array of organizations, such as Planned Parenthood Toronto, LGBT YouthLine, and Youth and Philanthropy Initiative Canada. Lauren holds an MA degree in Social and Political Thought from York University. They are currently an MSW student at Wilfrid Laurier University.
Director
Kelvin Kung
(he/him)
Kelvin works as an architect with 10 years of experience with MJMA—a local Toronto Governor General’s Award-winning firm that specializes in community centers. He’s currently working on the East Gwillimbury Health and Active Living Plaza, King Township Recreation Complex, and Western North York Community Center—awarded the Canadian Architect Award of Excellence 2021.
Kelvin completed his B.Sc. (Arch), M.Arch (Professional), and M.Arch Post-Professional History and Theory of Architecture at McGill University—where he handled 13th century 1st edition architectural treatises at McGill’s Rare Books library.
He sits on the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committee of the Society of Architectural Historians (North America), the DEI group at MJMA and is also a long-time volunteer with the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre in Toronto.
Director
Lucas Wilson
(he/him)
Lucas is the Justice, Equity, and Transformation Postdoctoral Fellow at University of Calgary. He holds graduate degrees from McMaster University, Vanderbilt University, and Florida Atlantic University. His academic work has appeared or will appear in Modern Language Studies, Canadian Jewish Studies, Flannery O’Connor Review, The Journal of Jewish Identities, and Studies in Jewish American Literature and in edited collections published by The MLA, SUNY Press, The University of Alabama Press, and DIO Press. He is currently working on a book about the children of Holocaust survivors (under contract with Rutgers University Press); an edited collection about the grandchildren of Holocaust survivors (under contract with Lexington Books); and an edited collection of stories of conversion therapy survivors (Jessica Kinsley Publishers). His public-facing work has appeared in The Advocate, Queerty, LGBTQ Nation, and Religion Dispatches, among other venues.
Director
Heather Riley
(they/them)
Heather Riley is an artist, zinester, and arts professional of settler decent, currently residing on Williams Treaty territory in Toronto. They received a Post-Graduate certificate in Museum and Gallery Studies at Georgian College and completed a joint program in Art and Art History at the University of Toronto Mississauga and Sheridan College.
Heather is currently the Project Coordinator for Digital Collections at the Robert McLaughlin Gallery in Oshawa, focused on creating an engaging online portal for visitors to access the art collection. Heather is dedicated to accessibility and is interested in examining the queer histories hidden within art collections, and the ways in which queer bodies have existed throughout history.
Originally from a farming community on Treaty 16 Territory, Heather can often be found on the farm baling hay, feeding horses, and making maple syrup.