Mathieu Chantelois (born July 4, 1973) is a Canadian television personality, journalist, magazine editor, and marketing executive.
Early life and education
Mathieu Chantelois was born and raised in
Mascouche, a suburb just outside
Montreal,
Quebec. He studied at Pierre Laporte Secondary School, a musical academy in Montreal. He is a graduate of
Carleton University's journalism program, and in 2018, he completed a certificate in strategic perspectives in nonprofit management at
Harvard Business School.
Following the end of his term on The Lofters, Chantelois continued hosting programming for PrideVision and its successor channel
OUTtv, including Read Out!, featuring authors from the
LGBT community, and the reality series COVERguy. Chantelois has also worked as a cultural reporter for
TFO's Panorama.
In 2007, Chantelois created the Green Space Festival, a fundraising event for an LGBT community centre in Canada. He was named one of eight local heroes by the Toronto Star.[7] The festival has raised over $2.5 million in the last 10 years.[8]
Cineplex
In 2009, Chantelois became editor of the movie magazine Famous Quebec. Under his leadership, in 2010 Famous Quebec became Le magazine Cineplex.[9][10]
Pride Toronto
In 2015, Chantelois was named the new executive director of
Pride Toronto.[11]
In 2016, under his leadership, the first Pride Month in Canada was launched,[12]Prime MinisterJustin Trudeau was the first sitting prime minister to march in the Pride parade,[13] and for the first time ever the official Pride and Trans flags were raised at the same time to help kick off Pride Month.[14]
Guests at Pride Toronto during Chantelois's tenure included RuPaul,[15] Pussy Riot, Cyndi Lauper, Chaz Bono, John Waters,[16] George Takei, and Margaret Atwood.[17] The event also got Guinness World Record recognition for the world's largest stage show of drag artists, with 73 drag queens and kings taking to the stage.[18]
He resigned the position on August 11, 2016, to take a position at Cineplex Media,[19] approximately six weeks after both receiving praise[20] and facing criticism over his handling of the
Black Lives Matter demand that
Toronto Police officers be barred from participating in Pride events in uniform. His resignation was amidst staff allegations of racism, sexism, and sexual harassment;[21][22][23] however, the allegations were never substantiated and he was never officially accused of any wrongdoing.[24][25][26]
Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada
In 2016, Chantelois was hired as vice-president of marketing and development at
Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada ,[27] where he had previously worked as director of marketing and communications.[28]
He was responsible for the launch of the PSAs "Great Futures Start Here" in 2014[29] and "Kid of Privilege" in 2018.[30][31] He served as vice president of development and external affairs for the organization until June 2019.
Canada Media Fund
Chantelois currently serves as vice president, communications and promotion at the
Canada Media Fund, a position he has held since June 2019.[26][32]
He has been a spokesperson for
Made / Nous, promoting Canadian content in the entertainment industry. In April 2020, during the
COVID-19 pandemic, he launched a virtual Canadian road trip where actors
Jay Baruchel and
Marc-Andre Grondin tweeted their recommended Canadian TV shows or movies every day for a month.[33] He also partnered with actors
Simu Liu and
Maitreyi Ramakrishnan to highlight notable Asian Canadians as part of Asian and
South Asian Heritage month.[34] He has been a vocal advocate for more inclusivity in Canadian children's content.[35][36]
Chantelois was also responsible for the launch of the
Made | Nous #SeekMore campaign,[39] which encourages Canadians to seek out Canadian film, television, and video games created by underrepresented and marginalized voices.[40] The campaign was promoted by Prime Minister
Justin Trudeau to his 5.6 million Twitter followers.[41]
Awards
1999: Prix Molson de journalisme en loisir, Conseil québécois du loisir, premier prix, catégorie hebdos locaux et régionaux.[42]
2014: Ragan's PR Daily Corporate Social Responsibility Award, Best Social Media Campaign[43]
Chantelois married Marcelo Gomez in 2003 in
Toronto,
Ontario.[47] They were one of the first gay couples to be married in Canada following the
legalization of same-sex marriage in Ontario, so soon after the court decision that the city of Toronto had not yet produced gender-neutral marriage licence forms.[48]
In March 2019, he wrote an op-ed piece, published by several media outlets, about his own evolution from seeing himself as a
Québécois who lived in Toronto to seeing himself as a true
Franco-Ontarian.[49]
In March 2020, with the help of a surrogate, Chantelois and Gomez became the fathers of Oscar-James, a baby boy.[50]