ElderBerries

The ElderBerries of Atlantic Canada

pic The Elderberries is the social and activism group for 2SLGBT Elders in Atlantic Canada and our families, friends and allies. We have four main activities:

Social Activities
We usually meet • once a month, all year 'round • usually in Halifax • usually on the afternoon of the second Sunday of the month, for fellowship including a pot luck meal. But there are lots of exceptions. Get on our mailing list (below) for the particulars. All events are potlucks, so get out your recipes!
Education
Our social events often include an educational topic relating to some element of LGBT elder life.
Public Speaking
We have a Speaker's Bureau which can provide informed and witty speakers who have been out and proud for decades, for media and other engagements. We appear at high school Gay Straight Alliance meetings around the province each year as a liaison between elders and high school students
Activism
We lobby various levels of government on a variety of LGBT & elders issues

This group was an initiative of the Nova Scotia Rainbow Action Project's Elders Committee.

We need a small amount of money each month to operate, and we also do small projects which work way better with some support. If you have a few spare dollars, please donate using a card or paypal, here!

Questions? email us!

If you would like to be notified of events:

Newsletters

2010
December
2011
April 7, May, June, July, August, & Supplement, September & Supplement, October (Supplement only), November &, Supplement, December 1
2012
January 12, February 18, March 21, April 15, May 14, June 20, July 8, July 27, September 17, October 26, December 5
2013
January 13, February 20, March 13, April 22, May 9, May 21, June 18, July 17, August 16, September 1, October 7, November 6, November 28
2014
January 8, January 31, February 5, March 4, April 6, May 4, June 1, July 14, August 15, October 6, November 7, December 6
2015
April 1, May 3, June 1, July 8, August 26, October 1, November 18, December 12
2016
January 8, February 9, March 5, April 6, May 7, April 6, July 9, September 8, October 1, November 4, December 13.
2017
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2018
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2019
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2020
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December.
2021
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2022
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2023
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2024
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October

Bylaws

The bylaws of the Society are here.

History

2009 - 2010
Need notes on who was the champion of the NSRAP LGBT Elders project, and why.
2009 - 2010
NSRAP gets a $10,000 grant from the Department of Seniors, to work on issues affecting LGBT Elders, especially those in long-term care.1
2009 - 2010
Need details on whatever came out of that project - the report?
April 18, 2010
NSRAP Gathering Of LGBT Elders at the CompanyHouse attended by 34 people.2
Here is the report: 2010-04-18 Elders Gathering
Here is a photo album of the event here
August 15, 2010
Public meeting -- HistoryProjectTodoList: who called it? -- at Spencer House. Inaugural Board: LynnMurphy, HalWalsh?, HeatherBurke?, AnitaMartinez, DanielMacKay, NickHonig?, HugoDann (ex officio from NSRAP), Rick. Heather resigned shortly after, and we have no record of which Rick that was. A small article appeared in the September 2010 issue of WayvesMagazine.3
November 29, 2010
one of the first Newsletters indicates that the "Committee" consists of LynnMurphy, AnitaMartinez, HalWalsh?, DanielMacKay and NickHonig?
April, 2011
April 2011 Report to NSRAP
April, 2011
September Annual Report
November, 2011
Publish the 2012 ElderBerries Cookbook
2012 ??
[Date uncertain] The Elderberries win the ISCANS Rainbow Community "Candle" Award. A couple of years later the physical award, a big piece of glass, was dropped accidentally and destroyed.
December, 2013
Intergenerational storytelling event as part of the 2013-12 Queer Gestures art show4
October, 2015
Annual General Meeting: the new Board is AllisonBrewer, HugoDann (ex officio from NSRAP), LanceLockwood?, DanielMacKay, AnitaMartinez, KenSaunders? & JackWaller?. Lance, Ken & Jack resign a couple of weeks later.
May 27, 2016
LynnMurphy, AllisonBrewer, BarendKamperman, and NormanMoulton? went to Halifax West High School to do an Ask Me Anything with students
2016-05-27 Halifax West GSA
2016-05-27 Halifax West GSA
January 15, 2017
New Bylaws Drafted
April 9, 2017
LynnMurphy describes the May program .m4a audio
June, 2017
We get mugs printed! The back side says, We are old. We are tired. We can get away with things. So… don't piss us off!
June, 2018
Board is AllisonBrewer, RichardCrooks?, BarendKamperman, DanielMacKay, ScottMacNeil, AnitaMartinez, LynnMurphy, MikeSangster & LauraShepherd?
July 22, 2018
We host the first Elderberries Salon a transgenerational story telling event.
July, 2019
there was one in 2019 too.
January 28, 2020
DanielMacKay, AnitaMartinez, TrishSpark? and JJLyon went to John Martin Junior High for an Ask Me Anything with the Grade 9 Civics class
2020-01-28 John Martin Jr High Civics Class
2020-01-28 John Martin Jr High Civics Class
July 18, 2020
Since there was to be no Pride Parade due to COVID-19 precautions, organized the 2020-07-18 Elderberries March. We got our first marching banner for it.
December 27, 2020
ElderBerries participates in the tuning of the Canadian Virtual Hospice documents for end-of-life and difficult diagnoses. The results are four documents, online here.
February 28, 2021
We create the 2021 Elderberries Study Requirements outlining the rules of engagement for study of our population.
June 13, 2021
Annual general meeting: Board: AllisonBrewer, StephanieBrown?, KevinDadouses?, PaulineFedrick? (our first international member) BarendKamperman, DanielMacKay, AnitaMartinez, LynnMurphy, and MikeSangster.
January 22, 2023
Probably the first Q Used Book Sale in Halifax, about six hundred books, at RadStorm. Here's LynnMurphy talking on CBC Mainstreet about it.
April 16, 2023
The Turret storytelling: round table story telling; we recorded the audio.
July 30, 2023
Storytelling Salon; Audio recording & photo by Claudia Chender here
January 14, 2024
RobertWright's talk about healing the Q community. The audio is available; email us to request it.
June 13, 2024
Speakers Bureau Member AllisonBrewer is interviewed by Global News, about how things have changed positively for the q community over the years.
July 5, 2024
Letter to Halifax Pride re: their position on Palestine.
July 13, 2024
Storytelling Salon with MacPheeCentre: Audio recording & table of contents here
August, 2024
The Nova Scotia Office of Equity And Anti-Racism engaged the Elderberries to do a series of focus groups about barriers to access to government services. 24 people participated; DanielMacKay organized and did the transcripts; RenéeClark? was moderator. On file we have the budget and transcripts.
August 10, 2024
birthday party for KaitlinDrury?. On file we have photos by KirbyGeddes? of PaulPitre?, DanielMacKay, BarendKamperman, Kaitlin and her partner Bob, LynnMurphy and CecilPublicover
August 10, 2024
Picnic in PointPleasantPark?. On file we have photos by BarendKamperman of GregSweetman?, RegGiles, SandraNimmo, DaveLeblanc?, CecilPublicover, KirbyGeddes?, VanceMaxwell

Footnotes:

1. 2009-2010 NSRAP Year In Review and AGM, written by chair MattNumer?
2. Dan's notes from the event list the people. The notes are available on the background history wiki.
3. DanielMacKay has fairly interesting minutes from this meeting