November 2023
September 2023
The 519 Board of Management Candidates 2023/24
July 2023
Notice of Annual General Meeting 2023
Call for Nominations – The 519 Annual General Meeting 2023
May 2023
Pride 2023 at The 519: Upcoming Programs and Events
Green Space Festival 2023: Neighbourhood Information
March 2023
Trans Day of Visibility: How can we commit to being visible allies?
[Press Release] The 519 to Honour Esteemed Author John Irving with Ally Award
International Women's Day 2023: Women, Life, Freedom
February 2023
Re: Sentencing of Colin Harnack in murder of Julie Berman
December 2022
In Solidarity with Ontario's Drag Performers
November 2022
In Solidarity; A Community Vigil Honouring Colorado Victims and Survivors
Public Statement on Trans Day of Remembrance (TDoR) 2022
September 2022
National Day for Truth and Reconciliation
The 519 Board of Management Candidates 2022/23
August 2022
Notice of The 519 Annual General Meeting 2022-23
June 2022
Call for Nominations – The 519 Annual General Meeting 2022-23
World Refugee Day: Support LGBTQ+ Refugees Every Day
Green Space Festival 2022: Neighbourhood Information
Green Space Festival announces 2022 lineup: a Pride-weekend party in support of 2SLGBTQ+ communities
Pride 2022 at The 519: Upcoming Programs and Events
April 2022
The 519 joins the community in grief today. The news of Alloura Wells’ disappearance and the recent confirmation of her death has left our community and neighbourhood terribly shaken.
There has been some discussion as well as some misinformation circulating on social media around the role and responsibility of The 519 in the aftermath of Alloura’s disappearance. In the interest of transparency, I would like to take this opportunity to provide additional clarity.
I can confirm that we received information from a community member about the discovery of a body in early August 2017 sent through our general email box. This message was received and shared with a small group of staff within the organization who followed up directly with the community member to get additional information and made some effort to verify the information with the police. Unfortunately, this information was not elevated to a senior leadership level which is expected in any situation where a death has been reported.
I was not aware of this information until November 8, 2017 (when the news of Alloura Wells’ disappearance was made public) and then I immediately took the following actions:
The 519 has clear policies about how we share information publically as we want to ensure we protect an individual’s right to privacy. While it would not have been responsible for The 519 to share the information we received in August without some verification from the police, we absolutely could have done more to stress the need for confirmation from the police that a body had been found and worked sensitively with the community to proactively offer support.
We understand the profound vulnerabilities of trans communities and recognize the systemic barriers they continue to face. We will continue to work at various levels to impact the kind of change that is much needed and long overdue. We have initiated a conversation with a number of community partner agencies to develop a more effective missing person’s protocol to respond to incidents of this nature in future.
I offer my heartfelt condolences to all who knew and loved Alloura and to those impacted by this loss.
Sincerely,
Maura Lawless Executive Director, The 519As the community copes with the confirmation of Alloura’s passing, The 519 has opened walk-in grief counselling hours on the following days:
Friday, December 1: 9:30pm-12:00pm / 2:00pm-5:30pm
Saturday, December 2: 1:00 – 3:00pm
Sunday, December 3: 11:00am – 5:00pm
Monday, December 4: 6:00 – 9:00pm
Please come to our Front Desk and request for drop-in grief counselling during the hours above.
For any additional support needs, please contact :
Lisa Gore Duplessis LGDuplessis@The519.org