Gather at 1 pm
Q Town is a new Queer and Trans dedicated space at the Victoria Pride Festival. We will be in a fenced off area at the East end of MacDonald Park between the vendors and the food trucks. Within our fenced off area we will have an event tent where most of our workshops will be held. Over the course of the day there will be some Speed Friending and maybe some other community building exercises – time permitting and we will be giving away some FABULOUS door prizes including a draw for two round trip car and passenger tickets on the COHO Ferry to Port Angeles.
1:15 pm Community Picnic
We encourage people to come into the space, have something to eat, meet some new friends, peruse the workshop schedule and pick up tickets for the workshops later in the afternoon. People are welcome to hang out in the “patio” areas on either side of the event tent. In these areas you will find the Show Us Your Pride – Flag Project a collective craft project to decorate our fence and some information from some of our community and non-profit organizations will be on display. You can sign up for the email list for Q Town and for future Queerposium events and be sure to fill out the Community Survey to help onmyplanet.ca develop their online workbook for reducing homophobia and transphobia, Work It Out.
The Workshops
All Workshops are free
Most Workshops last approximately 20-30 mins. The Cuddle Party is a 45 min workshop and time for cuddling is provided after the workshop.
You can pre-register for workshops at: www.victoriapridesociety.org/events (Click on the Q Town poster, Or pick up your tickets during the Community Picnic.
The remainder of the hour is left open for discussion with the workshop leader and among the participants.
If you have a ticket, please be in the event tent 15 mins prior to the beginning of the workshop. All vacant seats will be filled by rush seating at this time.
2:00 pm Before The U-Haul: – Top ten tips on co-habitating and co-parenting.
Family law for queers – Insghts on: legal rights and responsibilities, property/debt division and support, queers having kids, assisted reproduction and fertility law.
Workshop Leader: Michelle Kinney is a lawyer with Cassels Murray, practicing in the area of family and fertility law. As one of the architects of the BC Family Law Act, Michelle has in-depth knowledge of BC’s family law. Michelle is a member of Fertility Law BC, which specializes in helping people starting a family through assisted reproduction.
2:30 pm Cuddle Party – 45 Mins workshop – In the Cuddle Tent in the Back Patio
Cuddle party is a fun, playful workshop for adults (18+) where you learn to negotiate for healthy nurturing touch. By practicing asking, and through developing skillful boundary setting, you experience getting what you want; honoring yourself and others.
Cuddle Party begins with a forty-five minute workshop so you learn to ask for what you like, say ‘no’ to what you don’t want, and learn to give and receive touch comfortably. This is followed by freestyle, strictly non-sexual cuddling (think hand rubs, back massage, hugs, spooning…) so you can relax, meet new people and explore touch in a fun, safe environment.
Workshop Leader: Tina Dyck is a Certified Cuddle Party Facilitator and has been offering monthly cuddle parties since 2012. She is passionate about supporting people in the art of authentic communication with themselves and others. She finds it deeply liberating to ask for what her heart desires, knowing the receiver of her invitation can take care of themselves and can accept or decline based on their truth.
If you’d like more information please check out www.cuddleparty.com/victoria-bc/
If you have questions please contact Tina at VictoriaCuddleParty@gmail.com
Cuddle Party has a meetup group: Meetup-Victoria-Cuddle-Party and a Facebook page: FB-Victoria-Cuddle-Party
3:00 pm The Reluctant Activist
People often think that activism means protests or chaining yourself to something. But activism is much more. For those who want to make change, but are too tired, old, or non-political, this 20 minute workshop will give you ideas about what you can do to be more involved in your community and address issues that have meaning for you.
Workshop Leader: Michael Yoder: has been involved in the local LGBTQ community since 1981, primarily in HIV community services. Currently, he facilitates the POZitively Connected Program and is a peer navigator with the Vancouver Island Persons Living with HIV/AIDS Society.
4:00 pm Immigration for Queers – A quick introduction to claiming protection as a Convention refugee and the family sponsorship process – With more detailed definitions of a “Convention Refugee” and a “family member” as they relate to the LGBTQ Communities.
Workshop Leader: Darcy Golden of Golden and Golden Law, attended Law School at the University of Ottawa where she graduated with a Juris Doctor in Common Law. Ms. Golden’s legal education includes completing an internship at the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative in Accra, Ghana, a clinical fellowship at the Aboriginal Legal Services of Toronto in Toronto, ON and an internship at the Together Against Poverty Society in Victoria, BC.
5:00 pm Guided Meditation: A silent meditation, shamatha means ‘calm abiding’, a sitting and walking practice of paying attention to the breath. Combined with a grounding body-based practice, the meditation is a way to relax and learn the nature of mind.
Workshop Leader:Joyce Rankin, A member of the queer community for 35+ years, Joyce started practicing meditation in 2007. She is qualified to provide initial meditation instruction through the Victoria Shambhala Centre mindfulness training programs.