April 3, 2017 – On April 23rd, The ArQuives, the world’s largest independent LGBTQ+ archives, will be celebrating the launch of the Nancy Nicol digital video collection. Over many years documentary film director, author and activist, Nancy Nicol, interviewed activists, community leaders, and human rights lawyers across Canada, and documented a rich resource of rarely seen events and demonstrations. The collection includes the original interviews filmed by Nicol, and showcases shorts and excerpts from Nicol’s award-winning documentary series From Criminality to Equality, that brings to life 40 years of lesbian and gay movement history in Canada. This acquisition is part of The ArQuives’s longer-term strategy to become a more active resource for the Canadian and LGBTQ+ communities and to help increase access to LGBTQ+ heritage. The collection includes many watershed moments: the birth of gay liberation in the 1970s; the Toronto bath raids in 1978 and 1981; the struggle for human rights protection provincially and nationally; opposition to gay rights from the 1970s to the 1990s; the growth and increasing diversity of LGBT organizing; the role of the labour movement in queer rights; the Campaign for Equal Families in Ontario; the Lesbian Mothers’ Association struggle to win queer parenting rights in Quebec; key charter litigation cases and advances for relationship recognition, same-sex parenting, same-sex pensions, and same-sex marriage. Filmmaker Nancy Nicol commented that, “in this body of work I focused on documenting a period of intense change in lesbian and gay rights in Canada between 1969-2009, tracing the histories of gay liberation and struggles for human rights protection, relationship recognition, same-sex parenting rights and same-sex marriage. It is a moving history, charged with optimism and resilience in the face of prejudice and ignorance. I hope the collection will contribute to remembering and celebrating this history, and provide fertile ground for queer history students and researchers; as well as inspiration for generations to come.” During the collection launch speakers will include Rachel Epstein, LGBTQ parenting activist, researcher and educator, Board member of The ArQuives; Mona Greenbaum, founder and Directrice générale Coalition des familles LGBT; Tom Warner, prominent queer activist and author of Never Going Back, A history of queer activism in Canada, and Nancy Nicol, project lead of Envisioning Global LGBT Human Rights. Community partners of the launch include the Centre for Feminist Research, Inside-Out LGBTQ+ Film Festival, and V-Tape. Please join us for the launch of the Nancy Nicol collection at The ArQuives, 34 Isabella Street, Toronto ON, at 4pm on Sunday April 23rd, 2017. For media accreditation, photos or interview requests, please contact: Jade Pichette | Volunteer and Community Outreach Coordinator The ArQuives p: 416.777.2755 | e: jpichette@arquives.ca Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1849806541956749/
