Quilting the Progression of Queer Rights in Canada

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• A project to create textile-based, interactive, multimedia, wall art; quilts that will advance quilt making, while recording queer history, told by elders, and organized by Supreme Court decisions and legislative acts of Parliament. 

As a gay man born in 1950, I have lived Canadian Queer history. Growing up during a time when homosexuality was both criminalized and socially condemned, I have seen remarkable progress. Yet, I remain acutely aware of the fragility of these advancements. Hate and fear still simmer just beneath the surface. 

Queer history lives in stories and telling these stories is vital to many audiences. For Queer folk, they remind us of both our progress and the work still ahead. For young people, they fill the gaps left by the absence of Queer history in schools. For heterosexual audiences, they provide insight into lives lived on their periphery. For new Canadians, they reinforce national values of inclusion and equity. 

Queer elders have lived this history and are the ones to share these stories. This project will collect their experiences, organize them within historical legal decisions and legislative acts, and present them through twelve innovative quilts that challenge definitions of what a quilt can be. 

In 2025, I plan to travel Canada to interview 34 Queer elders, from all provinces and territories if possible, focusing on the years when legal rights for Queers were developing. I’ll record these interviews in settings familiar and comfortable for the elders. Participants will represent the full spectrum of the 2SLGBTQ+ community. Confidentiality agreements will be tailored to individual needs. 

As a 70-something gay man, I share a lived history with these elders, facilitating more candid and meaningful conversations. Participants will have the opportunity to review and approve their transcripts before finalization. 

Acknowledging the emotional challenges of recounting these stories, I will collaborate with Susan Armstrong, a Queer trauma therapist and critical incident debriefer, to develop skills ensuring a supportive process for participants. Ongoing access to this specialist will be available as needed. 

Throughout the project, I will document the process on Instagram, YouTube, and my website to engage audiences and build interest among the focus audiences. 

Queer history is frequently recorded through stories about riots, raids, and protests. This project will record our history using innovative quilts that highlight eleven Supreme Court decisions and legislative acts of Parliament that advanced queer rights. A twelfth quilt will focus on the 1980s, when our community organized to look after each other, and advance our own rights. 

During this project, I will work with David Rendall, a local filmmaker, to include film as an integral part of the exhibit. QR codes in the quilts will link to audio-video segments of the storytelling and a short film based on the audio-visual in the quilts will be created as part of the exhibit. 

While rooted in quilting traditions, the pieces I will create for this project will push boundaries. They will be textile-based, immersive, multimedia quilted wall hangings incorporating 3D elements, QR codes linking to audiovisual material, and innovative techniques including fabric ‘sticky notes’ and printed newspaper clippings and more. Inspired by the Progress Pride Flag, these quilts will resemble living message boards that tell the stories collected from Queer elder interviews. 

During my travels, I will visit quilt guilds, shops, and queer groups in at least twelve communities to give lectures and host workshops. These sessions will highlight this project and my recent quilts while promoting quilt-making as an innovative art form. Workshops will teach basic and advanced quilting techniques using patterns from the Canadian Quilters’ Association’s 2025 queer-themed Quilt Along, ‘True Colours’. The quilts created will be donated to support 2SLGBTQ+ individuals and organizations. 

To date I have enthusiastic ‘expressions of interest’ from folks in Vancouver, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Sudbury, Ottawa, Kitchener/Waterloo, Montreal, Moncton, Charlottetown, Halifax and St. John’s. Since I am less well-known among Queer organizations, that would be an attribute to seek out when hiring my Program Administrator. 

An Advisory Council will be in place to offer direction throughout my process. To date it includes a Queer trauma therapist and critical incident debriefer (BC), a gallery curator (ON), an editor (NB) and a Naturopath / restaurateur (NS). Most involved with this project identify as 2SLGBTQI+. 

The realization part of this project will begin in July 2026 with a multimedia exhibit in Prince Edward County, Ontario. Applications/requests for additional exhibits have been submitted and will follow. 

Other locations being considered in order to reach target audiences include commercial art galleries, major public art galleries, 2SLGBTQ+ events, seniors events, major quilt shows across North America, university and college campuses, professional training events, shopping malls, churches, and government buildings. My goal is to exhibit throughout the remainder of 2026 and 2027. 

Potential future projects using the data collected in 2025, could include:  

• a book based on the stories, the information about the Supreme Court decisions and the legislative Acts of Parliament that advanced our rights, and photos of the quilts and the storytellers, to be completed, June 2027. 

• a play based on the stories and the information about the advancement of Queer rights in Canada, to debut, June 2028.