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In 2019 Pride Toronto received a $600,000 grant from the Department of Canadian Heritage as part of the Community Support, Multiculturalism, and Anti-Racism Initiatives program (CSMARI). This project was to create a travelling Two-Spirit art exhibit featuring seven new works by Cree artist Kent Monkman.
Pride Toronto never delivered this project. While obtaining the funds from Canadian Heritage, Pride Toronto submitted letters of support that used forged signatures and letterhead of various individuals and organizations.
Pride Toronto attempted to use this grant to exploit Indigenous artists by demanding the artists sign over legal ownership of their artwork.
1. $600,000 Grant application
The $600,000 CSMARI grant application proposed:
- Creation of seven paintings by Cree artist Kent Monkman, similar to the $250,000 Commemorate Canada grant and the $1,000,000 Fed Dev grant.
- Creation of a website dedicated to the Two Spirit and Indigenous community.
- A touring exhibition of 122 pride across Canada in 2019.
- Hiring of over 50 Indigenous people from reserve communities.
Pride Toronto did not use the funds toward these purposes.
2. Forgery of the assembly of first nations
The Department of Canadian Heritage asked Pride Toronto to submit letters of support for its $600,000 grant application.
Pride Toronto forged a letter of support from the Assembly of First Nations and submitted this to the Department of Canadian Heritage. In producing this forgery, Pride Toronto stole the signature of an employee of the Assembly of First Nations and used their letterhead.
On reviewing this letter, the Assembly of First Nations issued the following statement:
“The letter is not a document to the Assembly of First Nations, nor was it issued under the authority of any decision-maker of the Assembly of First Nations. The letter is attributed to a former staff member who left the Assembly of First Nations in July 2018.”
Assembly of First Nations, by email January 20, 2022.
3. Forgery of the 519
While applying for the $600,000 in November 2018, Pride Toronto forged a letter of support from The 519 and submitted this to the Department of Canadian Heritage. In producing this forgery, Pride Toronto stole the signature of an employee of The 519 and used their letterhead.
On reviewing this letter, The 519 issued the following statement:
“In terms of the copy of the November 2018 letter you provided to us, we (The 519 or any of our employees) did not author or send the letter to Pride Toronto.”
The 519, by email December 14, 2021.
4. Forgery of the Toronto District School Board
Pride Toronto forged a letter of support from the Toronto District School Board and submitted this to the Department of Canadian Heritage. In producing this forgery, Pride Toronto stole the signature of Dr. Kathy Witherow and TDSB letterhead.
This forged letter promised a partnership to develop a Two-Spirit toolkit to be distributed to 600 schools. Pride Toronto faked this partnership.
On reviewing this letter, the Toronto District School Board issued the following statement:
“I have confirmed with Kathy’s office, this letter was not signed by her office.”
The TDSB, by email February 9, 2022.
5. Forgery of Peel Region District School Board
Pride Toronto forged a letter of support from the Peel Region District School Board and submitted this to the Department of Canadian Heritage. In producing this forgery, Pride Toronto stole Peel DSB’s letterhead. The letterhead used was outdated, it lists Tony Pontes as the Director of Education. However, at the date of this letter, Peter Joshua was the Director.
This forged letter promised a partnership to develop a Two-Spirit toolkit to be distributed to 253 schools. Pride Toronto faked this partnership.
On reviewing this letter, the Peel Region District School Board issued the following statement:
“I have made inquiries and have been unable to locate a copy/original of the document that you have provided. Further, I made the following additional inquiries based on the content of the document itself, as there are several issues with the content of the document on its face.
From the signature that appears on the document, we cannot determine who actually signed the document. There is no printed name, nor title on the document you provided. At the time of the date on the document, Peter Joshua was the Director of Education.”
Peel Region District School Board, by email February 17, 2022.
6. Forgery of Waterloo Region District School Board
Pride Toronto forged a letter of support from the Waterloo Region District School Board and submitted this to the Department of Canadian Heritage. In producing this forgery, Pride Toronto stole the signature of Assistant Director Peter Rubenschuh and the Waterloo Region DSB letterhead.
This forged letter promised a partnership to develop a Two-Spirit toolkit to be distributed to 121 schools. Pride Toronto faked this partnership.
On reviewing this letter, the Waterloo Region District School Board issued the following statement:
“Former Superintendent Rubenschuh has confirmed that he did not sign or approve this letter.”
Waterloo Region District School Board, by email February 17, 2022.
7. Demanding ownership of indigenous art
The $600,000 CSMARI grant was supposed to be used to help support Indigenous artists, teachers, and communities. Instead, Pride Toronto demanded Indigenous artists sign over the ownership rights to their artwork. In other words, Pride Toronto attempted to use this grant to commission assets produced by Indigenous artists.
Using the $600,000 grant to commission an asset is prohibited under the conditions of the grant. In a statement, the Department of Canadian Heritage confirmed this:
“Under the CSMARI program, capital costs or expenditures other than for the development or maintenance of commemorative memorials are not eligible for funding support. While artist fees are eligible expenses, the program does not support projects where the primary purpose is to create art. For the Pride TO CSMARI project, the approved expenditures did not include the commissioning of art work.”
Department of Canadian Heritage, by email February 8, 2022.
Pride Toronto made this demand of Cree artist Kent Monkman, who rejected this and left the project. On March 30, 2019 Pride Toronto made the same demand of an Indigenous art group called Indigiqueer. A few days later, Pride Toronto lied to Indigiqueer and told them Pride was unsuccessful in obtaining the $600,000 grant.
8. KPMG Review
In response to questions raised from this research, Pride Toronto hired KPMG to conduct a review of three federal grants.
For the $600,000 CSMARI grant, KPMG found that Pride Toronto could provide evidence of only two (2) of the ten (12) activities reported in the grant reports.
“For the remaining 10, Pride Toronto was unable to provide documentation demonstrating that the activities reported had occurred.”
KPMG Review of Pride Toronto, March 16, 2022.
Despite serious questions related to forged support letters, stolen signatures / letterhead, the KPMG review did not investigate this issue.
“These allegations go beyond the scope of work KPMG was hired to perform.”
KPMG Review of Pride Toronto, March 16, 2022.
9. Documents
Grant documents were obtained through an access to information request with the Department of Canadian Heritage. The documents can be downloaded here:
GOVERNMENT RESPONSE (Coming Soon)