Podcast: Aziliz Peaudecerf, On the Bus

On May 20th 2026, the class of the Summer Institute in Oral History at Concordia University’s Centre for Oral History and Digital Storytelling (COHDS) went on a yellow school bus, to visit current and forgotten queer and social justice spaces in Montreal. This podcast is the story of what we learned along the way. 

In addition to the podcast you can find an online map of our tour.

Narrators : 

– Richard Bugs Burnett, journalist reporting on queer issues in Montreal, Simone Beaudry-Pilotte from Archives gaies du Québec, Lourdenie Jean from L’euguélionne.

– Students from the second annual Summer Institute in Oral History at Concordia University’s Centre for Oral History and Digital Storytelling (COHDS): Fabiana Amodeo, Autumn Beals, Rosanna Cyr, Fatiha Dia Hantchi, Delphine Duplain, Ceta Gabriel, Emma Garon, Marlihan Lopez Gerena, James Lourie, Isabela Markus Nafarrate, Leo Moss, Morgane Pearson Babin, Aziliz Peaudecerf, Emily Sirota, Caitlin Lee Tizzard, Emilio Wawati, Evan Wolfe, Yu Yang, Rebecca Yates, Christina Yevtushenko

– Professor : VK Preston / Teaching assistant : Gabryelle Iaconetti

Recording and editing : Aziliz Peaudecerf.

Editorial feedback : Ceta Gabriel, Rosanna Cyr, Morgan Pearson Babin.

Podcast cover : Annie Thao Vy Nguyen.

This year the Summer Institute “Storytelling and Social Justice,” celebrated COHDS’s 20th anniversary and the 40th anniversary of the Centre des arts actuels SKOL.

We’d like to thank Florent To Lay, SKOL’s artistic director, Dustin Ariel Segura-Suarez, Coordinateur de la librairie et des activités publiques, Martine Fidèle, Public Development & Engagement Coordinator, and Victoria Carrasco, SKOL’s team and the artists of the ESSAIMER INSIDE OUT exhibition. The launch of this podcast in Montreal’s Gay Village was made possible through SKOL’s Community Cycle and the Fonds d’initiatives locales (FIL) Village.

The team would like to thank Montreal journalist Richard “Bugs” Burnett for joining this year’s seminar. For more of Richard’s reporting and research, please see Richard’s “Historic Montréal LGBT Milestones” and “Queer Walking Tour of Montreal“.

Our bus tour of Montreal’s queer public history was made possible with the support of Concordia’s Faculty of Arts and Science & funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, SSHRC-CRSH.

Thanks too to Concordia’s Department of History, Hexagram, the Milieux Institute for Arts, Culture & Technology and LePARC, Concordia’s Performing Arts Research Cluster.