Recently, the hit Channel 4 series It’s a Sin poignantly and groundbreakingly thrust into the spotlight the lives of friends trying to survive the AIDS crisis in 1980s London.
The AIDS crisis was indeed a global one; the effects of HIV were (and continue to be) felt in Canada, coast to coast. In 2014, Canada-UK Foundation funding supported Andrew Bailey in his PhD research, ‘The representations of HIV/AIDS in Québec cinema, 1986-1996’ at the University of Leeds.

Andrew spent two months in Montréal doing primary research at the celebrated Bibliothèque des lettres et sciences humaines at the University of Montréal and the Archives Gaies du Québec (AGQ). Both hold a vast range of Québécois reactions to and press coverage of the AIDS crisis, including newspaper and magazine articles, films and film reviews, TV reports, books, government policies and activist material.

Speaking with Andrew this week, he shared with us, “The unique threats posed by HIV to the physical and moral integrity of individuals and societies incites potentially divisive reactions that perpetuate harmful understandings of HIV and those it touches. In contrast, the creative medium of film offers a flexible framework for meditation in which the significations of HIV can be explored and confronted constructively and inclusively. Québec, owing to its historical situation, its distinctive and vibrant cinematic heritage and status as a hub for HIV/AIDS-related activity and solidarity, represents a rich microcosm of the different social, political and creative dynamics at play within the AIDS crisis."

"Visiting Montréal allowed me to work with the AGQ to gain access to a huge and unique source of concrete evidence that proved invaluable to my study. Without the support of the Foundation, this deeply enriching experience would simply not have been possible, thank you!”
Today, we are delighted to report that Andrew's connections with Quebec continue, as he is now Cultural Attaché at the Québec Government Office in London.

Pop meets Acadia. "I used to be afraid to speak French, even ashamed sometimes," Trevor Murphy admits. "Even though I spoke the language every day, we grew up with an understanding that the Acadian dialect just wasn't 'good enough' or 'proper French.' It wasn’t until years after I moved away that I finally started to reconnect with those roots, to take pride in the place where I’m from and the way we speak, and to want to tell stories with this voice.”

To celebrate La Semaine de la langue française et de la Francophonie running from 13 to 21 March, this week we spotlight Trevor Murphy's Acadian powerpop project, Sluice, releasing as an album at the end of April called Le succès par le travail (preview available tracks over on its Bandcamp page).

Murphy, who wrote, composed, and produced all the songs (as well as performed guitar, bass, vocals, and keys) leads the project, while bringing in select collaborators. Sluice is rooted in hyper-local history and a nostalgia for the past. The name itself shared with the dikes built by the French settlers of north-eastern North America and also to Sluice Point where Murphy’s grandparents lived. The songs incorporate dialect as well as drawing on the history of the Par-en-Bas region of Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia where Murphy grew up.

What is sure is that Murphy is infusing new creativity as he revisits the past. With three songs already released from the album to be launched with Halifax-based independent label Acadian Embassy, excitement and buzz is already in the air and we are eager to hear more.

Dr. Murray McKenzie on musicians, responsibility, and Canadian values

Last week, the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences published the nominations for the 50th Juno Awards. Having lived for several years in the UK, I find comfort in reading of such quintessentially Canadian affairs. Where else could the Weeknd vie with Céline Dion and Justin Bieber for the honour of being 2020’s Artist of the Year?

What most grabbed my attention was the most quintessentially Canadian detail of it all. Our beloved Tragically Hip will receive the Juno’s 2021 Humanitarian Award, over three years after the tragic passing of Hip frontman Gord Downie.

The award is certainly well-deserved. The media release cites the band’s fundraising on behalf of various social and environmental causes, including Camp Trillium, the Canadian Cancer Society, the Special Olympics, and the Sunnybrook Foundation. Downie’s efforts to bring attention to the tragic legacies of Canada’s residential schools for its Indigenous peoples were also commendable. Most recently, the band caught the philanthropic zeitgeist with the sale of a branded protective face mask to benefit the Unison Benevolent Fund.

There is something worth noticing here, which is the insight that this award provides into Canada’s relationship with itself and with its arts. There is a distinctive conferral of responsibility that is alluded to in the award’s stated purpose of recognising ‘outstanding Canadian artists or industry leaders whose humanitarian contributions have positively enhanced the social fabric of Canada and beyond.’ It is not enough that our artists merely keep on rockin’ in the free world, as Neil Young once sang; we expect them to tighten and reknit the bonds between us. Indeed, it seems that Young is already aware of this: he received the Humanitarian Award in 2011.

There is something worth noticing here, which is the insight that this award provides into Canada’s relationship with itself and with its arts. There is a distinctive conferral of responsibility that is alluded to in the award’s stated purpose of recognising ‘outstanding Canadian artists or industry leaders whose humanitarian contributions have positively enhanced the social fabric of Canada and beyond.’

There are two ways of looking at this. One is that musicians like Young or Bruce Cockburn worked to create an esteemed path that bands like the Hip or Arcade Fire now follow, in which popular music is enlisted to serve a greater cause because it provides “a way for people to get in touch with the best parts of themselves,” as Downie once said.

The other is that it has less to do with being a musician and more to do with being a Canadian, and with living out the vision we have long held of ourselves as a uniquely generous and socially conscientious people. Fittingly, the National Hockey League has a humanitarian award as well – the King Clancy Memorial Trophy – which has been bestowed on the cherished likes of Trevor Linden and Lanny McDonald.

The best and most heart-warming conclusion, of course, is that each of these views provides half of the answer; the best Canadian musicians recognise that they bear a doubled responsibility to be the best version of what each of us believes that we are.

“I love this country, I love my idea of this country,” Downie told the CBC in 2012. “It’s political… Underlying everything seems to be that commitment to finding the common good”.

In the spotlight today is Geoff Green, educator, environmentalist, social entrepreneur founder of Students on Ice (SOI), and an important partner of the Canada-UK Foundation.

SOI is an internationally renowned program that has taken more than 3,000 youth, educators, elders, experts, scientists, leaders and artists from around the world on educational journeys to the Arctic and Antarctic. The Globe & Mail called Geoff “the man who revolutionized polar and environmental education”. He was bestowed the Inuktitut name “Pitsiulak” by the Commissioner of Nunavut in 2009 for his work with Inuit youth. In 2007, Geoff was awarded the Citation of Merit for outstanding feats of exploration and service by the prestigious Explorers Club in New York City was appointed to the Order of Québec in 2019.

Geoff has led over 135 expeditions to the Polar Regions and in 2017 led his most ambitious project to date – the historic Canada C3 expedition - a 150-day, 25,000km maritime journey around Canada’s coastline to help celebrate Canada’s 150th Anniversary of Confederation, with the themes of youth, environment, truth & reconciliation, diversity and inclusion.

In November 2019 at Canada House, we launched our partnership with Geoff and Students on Ice, committing to work together to offer young people hands-on teaching from world leaders in climate change, the Arctic, and the wellbeing of its indigenous culture. Our powerful partnership delivers impactful, experiential education and it wouldn’t happen without Geoff and an incredible team. Have a look at their website and ours, and share our passion and support for young people!

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