QPIRG CONCORDIA WORKING GROUPS 2023-24
WORKING GROUPS are the heart of QPIRG Concordia. They are groups, collectives, networks, projects, and campaigns that organize together in the Montreal community, and beyond, on a wide variety of issues directly related to social and environmental justice.
Together, QPIRG Concordia’s working groups share skills and knowledge, engage in popular education and art, organize events and protests, provide direct support and solidarity, publish alternative research and analysis, and, in general, contribute, encourage, and maintain resistance in diverse and creative ways. Read more about this year’s working groups below.
Our 2023-2024 Working Groups include:
(full descriptions and contact information included below)
1. Artemisia Mutual Aid Collective
The Artemisia Mutual Aid Collective is an alliance of community herbalists, medicine makers, gardeners, and activists living and working on the unceded lands of the Kanien’keha:ka and Omamiwininiwag Nations (Montréal and western Québec). Our goal is to provide support in the form of herbal medicine, knowledge sharing, and herbal consultations to communities and individuals made vulnerable by systemic oppression.
artemisia.mutualaid@gmail.com
www.instagram.com/artemisia.mutualaid/
2. Article 47
We aim to practice an alternative model of philanthropy that is anchored in justice, trust, and community. A core component of our ethos is to “fund the unfundable”. For example:
- Funding Non-Qualified Donees, who are often excluded from charitable giving
- Funding advocacy work that’s considered too “radical” or not “proven” enough for governments or foundations to support
- Proactively engaging with (and supporting) emerging community leaders who wouldn’t know how to ask for funding from mainstream institutions, or don’t have the time to fill in the heavy paperwork involved
- Providing survival funds to grassroots community members, based on the belief that there isn’t a truly meaningful distinction between “organizing” and “survival” for communities on the front lines of oppression and state violence
3. Black Healing Fund
Black Healing Fund is a growing, volunteer-run initiative that exists to provide low-income Black folks in the Tio’tia:ke / Montreal area with discretionary funding and resources that contribute to mental health and wellness.
blackhealingfund@gmail.com
https://linktr.ee/black.healing.fund
www.instagram.com/black_healing_fund
4. Black and Indigenous Harm Reduction Alliance (BIHRA)
BIHRA is a grassroots collective that organizes around issues of health & harm reduction for Indigenous & Black people in Tio’tia:ke, with a special focus on the needs and experiences of drug users, incarcerated people, sex workers, and 2SLGBTQIA. Through peer-to-peer outreach, advocacy, and mutual aid, we work to build kinship, empowerment, and holistic well-being in our communities.
bi.harmredux@gmail.com
blackindigenousharmredux.org
5. Building Community
Building Community is a citizens’ education project of the Milton-Parc Citizens’ Committee (CCMP). We seek to encourage community development through popular education and social action rooted in ecological and democratic principles. Throughout the year, we host workshops, guided tours, screenings, and lectures on the social economy, climate change, cooperative housing, and more, and support campaigns on a variety of community issues including protecting green spaces and building social housing.
514-561-4656
ccmp.miltonparc@gmail.com
ccmp-mpcc.com
https://www.facebook.com/ComiteCitoyenMP
6. C.O.B.P – Collectif Opposé à la Brutalité Policière
Le Collectif Opposé à la Brutalité Policière (COBP) est un collectif autonome qui regroupe des personnes victimes, témoins et/ou concernés par la brutalité policière et tout abus perpétré par la police. Le COBP a pour but non seulement de dénoncer les harcèlements, violences, intimidation, arrestations et abus de pouvoirs policiers et d’informer les gens sur leurs droits face à la police, mais aussi de soutenir les victimes en les aidant par exemple à porter plainte en déontologie et autres recours à faire face à des accusations abusives.
514-395-9691
cobp@riseup.net
www.cobp.resist.ca
7. Circles
Circles is a discussion group for black people to discuss among themselves about issues that they face inside of their communities but don’t find enough spaces to address these issues deeply. The conversations will be filmed in order to use it as an education tool. Conversations will be filmed and recorded with the consent of the participants. These discussions have the intent to build community outside of moments of reactions due to antiblackness incidents happening in Montreal and Quebec.
Elenastoodley@gmail.com
8. Convergence des luttes anticapitalistes (CLAC)
The Convergence des luttes anticapitalistes (CLAC) is a coordination space for the radical anticapitalist community in Montreal. The CLAC’s mandate is to distributed anticapitalist information through the organization of campaigns and protests, including the annual anticapitalist MayDay protest. The CLAC is explicitly an anticapitalist, antipatriarchal, anti authoritarian and anticolonialist space.
info@clac-montreal.net
www.clac-montreal.net
twitter.com/CLACMontreal
9. Centre Social Anarchiste l’Achoppe
The anarchist social center l’Achoppe is a self-managed political space that aims to disseminate a revolutionary culture, establish practices of mutual aid and solidarity, and support ongoing struggles. Among other things, it hosts workshops, screenings, trainings, reading circles, a library, a bicycle mechanics workshop and a collective kitchen. It’s a place of learning that’s open to anyone who’s sympathetic to anarchist ideas or wants to find out more about the subject.
You can visit us every Tuesday afternoon from 1pm to 6pm during our permanences café to find out more about the space and how you can get involved !
IG : csa_lachoppe
FB : Centre Social l’Achoppe
general email : lachoppe@riseup.net
to book the space : reservation_csa@riseup.net
10. CEDAS – ASCED – Collectif d’éducation et de diffusion anarcho-syndicaliste / Anarcho-syndicalist collective for education and diffusion.
Our aim is to spread anarcho-syndicalist ideas to facilitate the application of revolutionary, egalitarian, anarchist strategies in the mean to fight against specific oppression and capitalist exploitation (in both it’s private and statist forms). Our approach was popular education and self-education. We wish that this process feeds debates in social movements (community groups, unions) and among oppressed and exploited social groups so that collectively we can radicalize our practices and social change perspectives.
www.cedasasced.wordpress.com
cedas-asced@riseup.net
11. Covid Action Now Montreal
12. Diasporic Plant Wisdom
13. École Sans Police
Ecole Sans Police (ESP) is one of the committees of the larger Defund the SPVM initiative, which was founded at the same time as movements worldwide began after the protests against the police murder of George Floyd in May 2020. ESP is a group made up of parents, researchers, educators, and activists.
14. Food Against Fascism
Food Against Fascism is a food security project run by a collective of antiracists and antifascists. We distribute home cooked, healthy meals to people in need, as well as offer solidarity servings to like-minded organizations and collectives. If you want to volunteer with us, or if you want us to cook for your event, contact foodagainstfascism@gmail.com.
15. Foulab
Foulab is Montreal’s hackerspace, a non-profit organization that aims to provide a collaborative and well-equipped environment that allows its users to explore new technologies while sharing knowledge and ideas.
We are currently open every Tuesdays and Thursdays after 6:30pm – 11pm for visitors.
- Our Address: Suite 33B, 999 du Collège, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, H4C 2S3
- Our Email: info at foulab.org
- Our IRC Channel: #foulab on irc.libera.chat (Web Chat)
- Our telephone number: 514-360-5696 / 1-844-4FOULAB (1-844-436-8522)
- Our Website: www.foulab.org
16. Game Workers Unite Montreal
GWU Montréal is the Montréal chapter of Game Workers Unite, an international grassroots movement and organization that seeks to connect pro-union activists, exploited workers, and allies in the name of building a unionized game industry. We aim to achieve better working conditions, recognition, and mutual support for Montréal’s game workers.
GWUMontreal@gmail.com
www.GWUMTL.com
www.twitter.com/GWU_Montreal
17. Independent Jewish Voices
The goal of IJV Concordia is to organize and mobilize the strong contingent of Jewish students on Concordia’s campus who support Palestinian human rights, oppose the occupation and genocide, and are calling for immediate ceasefire in Gaza, we say, not in our name, and furthermore, fight to negate the equation of antizionism being antisemitism. We also work to provide a safe space for the Jewish community because of their support for Palestine, and their criticism of the state of Israel.
IG: @ijvconu
ijvconu@gmail.com
18. La Grange Farm Collective
La Grange Farm Collective is a group of Montreal and Laval residents who like to play in the dirt. Working on, restoring, and maintaining a piece of land located near Terrebonne in Laval (accessible via STM), the group aims to create a space where people can come together to share DIY farming skills and the joys of beyond organic, local food and medicine.
lagrangefarmprojectmtl@gmail.com
www.facebook.com/La-Grange-Farm-1478465339056267/
19. La Mandragore, bibliothèque féministe queer
La Mandragore est une bibliothèque féministe queer située à
Hochelaga-Maisonneuve. Avec plus de 300 titres queer et féministes qui ne reproduisent pas les stéréotypes sexistes et qui proposent des alternatives aux constructions binaires du genre. Nous organisons des ateliers et des événements gratuits dans une perspective anticoloniale, antiraciste et anticapitaliste.
bibliofeministequeer@riseup.net
www.lamandragore.xyz
www.facebook.com/bibliothequelamandragore
www.instagram.com/bibliotheque_mandragore
20. Lichen Project
Research, advocacy and support for queer & trans survivors of CSA (childhood sexual abuse)
Recherche, sensibilisation et soutien pour survivant.es queer & trans d’ASE (abus sexuels dans l’enfance)
4383908169
projet.lichen.project@gmail.com
www.facebook.com/projetlichenproject
21. Montreal Anarchist Bookfair Collective
The Montreal Anarchist Bookfair, brings together anarchist ideas and practice, through words, images, music, theatre, and day-to-day struggles for justice, dignity, and collective liberation. The Bookfair is as much for people who don’t necessarily consider themselves anarchists, but are curious about anarchism, as they are spaces for anarchists to meet, network, and share in a spirit of respect and solidarity. All are welcome!
info@salonanarchiste.ca
www.anarchistbookfair.ca
www.facebook.com/SalonduLivreAnarchisteMontrealAnarchistBookfair
www.twitter.com/AnarchyBookfair
22. Open Door Books
Open Door Books (ODB) is part of an informal network of Books to Prisoners programs throughout North America. ODB seeks to support and work in solidarity with imprisoned people. We believe that prisons and the (in)justice system act as institutions of social control and oppression, further targeting marginalized people as a result of patriarchy, racism, homophobia, transphobia, classism, ableism, and colonialism.
514 848 7585
bookstoprisoners@gmail.com
opendoorbooks.wordpress.com
www.facebook.com/odbmontreal
23. Pan Asian Collective
Pan Asian Collective
PAC began as a group to aim to fill a gap in the Tio’tia:ke/Montreal community by creating an intersectional space meant for Pan-Asian support, education and solidarity. We have a mandate that is anti-patriarchial and intersectionally feminist, anti-racist, anti-colourist, anti-colonial, anti-ableist, anti-classist, body-positive, queer-positive and trans-positive. We are not bound by a national identity, rather a common experience that comes with being racialized as Asian. We aim to continue building and growing a community space for Pan-Asian people who have otherwise not found their space in predominant Asian spaces in North America.
panasiancollectivemontreal@gmail.com
24. Prisoner Correspondence Project
The Prisoner Correspondence Project is a solidarity project for gay, lesbian, transsexual, transgender, gendervariant, two-spirit, intersex, bisexual and queer prisoners in Canada and the United States, linking them with people a part of these same communities outside of prison.
info@prisonercorrespondenceproject.com
www.prisonercorrespondenceproject.com
www.facebook.com/prisonercorrespondenceproject
25. Queer Survival Project / Projet de survie queer
Le Queer Survival Project offre des sorties de survie en forêt destinées aux personnes non-hommes cis qui n’ont pas d’accès à la nature. À travers des ateliers d’interprétation, de reconnaissance géographique, de mécanique, de cueillette et plus, les participant‧e‧s sont invité‧e‧s à explorer leurs liens intimes et collectifs avec la nature dans une perspective anticapitaliste, décoloniale et horizontale.
queersurvivalproject@gmail.com
26. Re-Con
Re-Con is a prisoner-initiated re-integration program created in 1999. The group is made up of people serving a life sentence at one of two federal prisons in Laval, formerly incarcerated members now serving
their sentence on parole, and outside volunteers. It is Re-Con’s main goal to establish links between prisoners and the community after a long period of incarceration and isolation. We aim to diminish the effects of institutionalization through personal development workshops and by introducing our incarcerated members to community resources which may help re-integration into society upon release from prison.
recon.ftc@gmail.com
27. Resource Movement
Resource Movement is a community of young people with wealth and/or class privilege working toward the redistribution of wealth, land, and power. We educate ourselves about the roots of inequality, encourage each other to take bold action in solidarity with social justice movements, and open space for critical voices within philanthropy, business, and public policy sectors.
28. Sidetracks Screenprinting Collective
Sidetracks is a collective of activists and artists working within an anti-oppression framework toward social and economic transformation. We share skills and resources to create art in the spirit of self-representation and revolution while making screenprinting accessible to groups working towards social change and transformation – namely those working within an anti-racist & 2sLGBTQIA+ inclusive framework – and offering an affordable space for emerging artists to develop their artistic practice.
sidetrackscollective@gmail.com
www.sidetrackscollective.com
www.facebook.com/sidetrackscollective
29. Solidarity Across Borders
Solidarity Across Borders is a migrant justice network based in Montreal, active since 2003. We are comprised of migrants and supporters, and we organize together to support individuals and families who are confronting an unjust immigration and refugee system. We engage in popular education, support work, as well as political mobilizations, including demonstrations, pickets, delegations, and direct actions.
Our main demands are an end to deportations, detentions and double
punishment, and support for a full, comprehensive and ongoing regularization program (ie. Status for All!). We also actively campaign to build a Solidarity City, the creation of a community that rejects a system that engenders poverty and anguish, not solely for immigrants and refugees, but also for other Montrealers confronting these same realities.
We support open borders and the free movement of people seeking justice and dignity, meaning freedom to move, freedom to return, and the freedom to stay.
438-933-7654
solidaritesansfrontieres@gmail.com
www.solidarityacrossborders.org
www.facebook.com/CiteSansFrontieres
30. South Asian Diaspora Action Collective (SADAC)
SADAC (South Asian Diaspora Action Collective) is a grassroots group based in Tio’tia:ke (Montreal) who act in solidarity with the struggles of various oppressed groups, activists, movements and peoples in the sub-continent and here in our communities. Our work is rooted in the fight for a secular South Asia, free of poverty, casteism, the suppression of indigenous people’s rights, and other social injustices. We also aim to combat the spread and rise of far-right, fascist ideology in South-Asia and here in Canada, and connect the fight against Hindutva ideology with the fight against fascism in Canada and globally. We are engaged with the South-Asian diasporic community in Montreal on various issues including housing, labour, migrant and other related issues.
IG: @sadac_mtl
sadac_info@riseup.net
www.facebook.com/sadacmtl
twitter: sadacmtl
31. Sweet Like Honey
Sweet Like Honey started in June 2021. The first event was a protest due to the frustration of the lack of spaces and representation for BIPOC lesbians/sapphics especially black individuals in Montreal. The feedback from the community encourages us to start creating events for individuals to connect, make intentional moments and share joy while highlighting local BIPOC artists and small businesses.
IG: @sweetlikehoneymtl
sweetlikehoneymtl@gmail.com
32. Politics & Care
Politics & Care is a space to weave links between collective well-being, care and politics. All that with a little bit of magic! We are a collective of artists-community organizers dedicated to integrating care in our politics. We hold collective discussions and facilitate workshops for collectives, community organisations and more.
You can write to us at : www.politicsandcare.wordpress.com politics.and.therapy.are.one@gmail.com
33. Pride Therapy Network
The Pride Therapy Network of Montreal is a collective of independent mental health practitioners who strive to offer culturally informed and accessible services to LGBTQ2IA+ communities. Members of our network are committed to working from anti-oppressive, holistic and intersectional approaches that affirm LGBTQ2IA+ lived experiences, relationships and identities.
info@montrealpridetherapynetwork.com
www.pridetherapynetworkmontreal.com
www.facebook.com/PrideTherapyNetworkMontreal
www.instagram.com/pride_therapy_network_montreal
34. The Certain Days Political Prisoner Calendar Committee
The Certain Days Political Prisoner Calendar Committee works to support, educate about and fundraise for political prisoners through the production of a yearly calendar. The calendar is a project produced by organizers in Montreal,Toronto and New York City, with the support of 3 political prisoners in New York State. We work with an anti-imperialist, anti-racist, feminist, queer- and trans-liberationist perspective to help free our movement’s political prisoners.
514-848-7585
info@certaindays.org
www.certaindays.org
https://www.facebook.com/certaindays
35. The Food Forest Project
Food forests are gardens of edible and medicinal plant-life nurtured to mimic the natural growing patterns of forests. It is a type of food production that is grounded in concepts like food sovereignty, regenerative agriculture, and agroecology, an alternative to industrial agriculture which has decimated food systems across the world. Our goal is to create a community rooted in mutual aid, reciprocity, land-based experiential learning and post-capitalist futurities. Learning about food production is part of reclaiming one’s food sovereignty as well as taking climate action, and we hope that our project will serve as a space for those seeking knowledge, empowerment, skill-building, and some good, free food.
Reach us through our instagram page (@the_food_forest_project_) or our email (info.thefoodforestproject@gmail.com).
36. Transformative Justice Collective
Our mission is to spread the values and practices of transformative justice and conflict healing by sharing resources, knowledge, tools and skills.
rc.adele.95@hotmail.com
37. The Montreal Autonomous Tenant’s Union (SLAM/MATU)
A union of tenants situated in Tiohtià:ke (Montréal) using direct action to fight landlords. Our tenants’ union is built on principles of individual
autonomy and initiative. We are a direct democracy of
tenants looking to organize within their own buildings,
or to help others to do the same.
IG: slam.matu
38. TRAPS Collective
TRAPS is a separatist collective by and for trans*, transsexual, transvestite trans fem and trans women from 2022. Our organization calls to resist and take action against transmisogyny, transphobia, capitalism, colonialism, racism, ableism and this society that wants us dead, or in the closet. We are convinced that organizing autonomously is a necessity and a warning to a revolutionary left who silences us in the name of a unity, which reflects nothing but its transmisogyny.