Welcome to pridegrants.ca
Pride Toronto engaged in unethical conduct to obtain $2.85 million in federal government grants. This includes fraud, forgery, and misappropriation of funds from Indigenous artists and communities. This is a betrayal.
This has been covered up. The various federal agencies who failed to prevent this have been unwilling to hold Pride Toronto accountable.
Pridegrants.ca is dedicated to unearthing the truth of Pride Toronto’s federal grants. The purpose of this site is to bring community accountability to Pride Toronto. This will be updated as the investigation unfolds.
Pride Toronto exploited Indigenous artists and communities in these four federal grants. The funding from these grants covered the period 2018-2022:
- $600,000 CSMARI Grant
- $250,000 Commemorate Canada Grant
- $1,000,000 Public Safety Grant
- $1,000,000 Fed Dev Grant
Tom Hooper
Historian and Pride Toronto member
Contact: Email
Investigation Summary
- Proposed a travelling Two-Spirit art exhibit featuring 7 new works by Cree artist Kent Monkman
- Submitted to the Department of Canadian Heritage grant support letters that used forged signatures and letterhead, including from:
- Assembly of First Nations
- 519 Community Centre
- Toronto District School Board
- Peel District School Board
- Waterloo Region District School Board
- Demanded Indigenous artists sign over legal ownership of their artwork to Pride Toronto, contrary to the regulations of the grant
- Proposed a celebration of “decriminalization” in 1969, police services, and a travelling Two-Spirit art exhibit
- Falsely claimed a “fully executed” contract with Cree artist Kent Monkman, no such contract existed
- Falsely claimed a “fund matching” agreement with the Art Gallery of Ontario, no such agreement existed
- Funds that were meant for Indigenous artists and communities were redirected to cover expenses from before the timeline of the grant, including VIP party passes for members of Fierté Canada Pride
- Proposed a national project with the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police even after Pride Toronto members had voted against police participation the festival
- Proposed as an ultimate outcome to hold consultations with Indigenous communities in order to “develop more effective policing practice in LGBTQ2+ Indigenous community”
- Both the national project and the Indigenous consultations were scrapped, citing lack of support of the community. The funds were redirected to a “safer spaces incubator”
- Proposed a Two-Spirit art exhibit featuring 7 new works by Cree artist Kent Monkman
- Submitted forged signatures of Pride Toronto board members to the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario in support of a $1 million grant
- Instead of the proposed project, used the grant funds to pay staff salaries and other operating costs, including rent
GOVERNMENT RESPONSE (Coming Soon)