Over the years, there has been a repeated stated need in the LGBTQ2SI+ communities in Victoria and elsewhere for a place to go where it is safe to just be. This has been recognized by needs assessments conducted through Qmunity (in Vancouver), research at Royal Roads University, and others. The idea behind this project is to create a community centre in Victoria is not new and it has been attempted multiple times before.

This project aims to: access grant funding to ensure success in getting off the ground; engage with community stakeholders at all levels of the queer community in the greater Victoria area and the rest of Vancouver Island; engage with community members who have already made strides in this direction to find out what went wrong and how to fix it; and to work with existing community organizations to establish healthy partnerships. The end goal is to create a community centre that meets the needs of the local queer communities, is a place where all the queer community groups and members can feel safe and welcome without needing to jump through hoops or pass through a space that feels unsafe, and to build the capacity of the community to be able to continue to connect, engage, and grow, by providing support, education, and, wherever possible, paid work.

If we want this to be a success, we need to work together as a community, as a whole. There are differences, issues, and divides that keep us separate. These are the politics of community, any community. However, there’s only a limited amount of funding available and a limited amount of mental and physical resources that our community can provide. By working as one, as a single group, a community centre is more likely to succeed and see its doors not only open, but stay open.

Staying Updated

We will be using the blogs to keep updated on the meetings. These are listed in the sidebar. —>
Each blog will go through what the plan for the meeting was, a description of who was there (not by name unless that individual specifically asked for it), a description of what was covered, and an invitation to the next meeting if one is scheduled.

Blog posts will announce on the VIQRC website when the next meeting is. The “official” event information for the meeting will be posted as a Facebook event post. These are public, and anyone can invite who they feel should know about or attend the meeting, however the guest list will remain private for the safety of members. All the meetings will remain open to anyone in the community who can make it and we will be trying to hold them on various days of the week at various times to ensure that community members with different schedules will be more likely to be able to attend. Complete minutes will be sent to the people who attended the meeting (with only a summary posted online).