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 Mascouche () is an off-island suburb of Montreal, in southern Quebec, Canada. The city is located on the Mascouche River within the Les Moulins Regional County Municipality and has a population of 51,183, ranking 20th among Quebec municipaliti ...

, a suburb just outside

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

. He studied at Pierre Laporte Secondary School, a musical academy in Montreal. He is a graduate of

Carleton University Carleton University is an English-language public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1942 as Carleton College, the institution originally operated as a private, non-denominational evening college to serve returning World ...

's journalism program, and in 2018, he completed a certificate in strategic perspectives in nonprofit management at

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA p ...

Career

Television

Chantelois was one of the original housemates on the Canadian

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...

series '' U8TV: The Lofters''."Reality bites: An oral history of The Lofters"
. ''

The Grid The Grid is an English electronic dance group, consisting of David Ball (formerly of Soft Cell) and Richard Norris, with guest contributions from other musicians. They are best known for the hits "Swamp Thing", "Texas Cowboys", "Crystal Cle ...

'', August 7, 2013. The first season's only openly

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

resident, Chantelois created the series ''

So Gay TV ''So Gay TV'' is a Canadian television talk show, which aired on PrideVision in the early 2000s."Reality bites: An oral history of The Lofters". ''The Grid'', August 7, 2013. Hosted in its first season by Mathieu Chantelois and in its second seas ...

'' for PrideVision. ''So Gay TV'' was nominated for Best Talk Series at the 2002 Gemini Awards. Wedding-chantelois-gomez

Following the end of his term on ''The Lofters'', Chantelois continued hosting programming for PrideVision and its successor channel

OUTtv OutTV (stylized OUTtv) is a Television in Canada, Canadian English language specialty channel that was launched in September 2001. It broadcasts general entertainment and lifestyle programming aimed at the LGBT community. The network is owned b ...

, including '' Read Out!'', featuring authors from the

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

community, and the reality series ''

COVERguy ''COVERguy'' is a six-part Canadian television series created and produced by Giant Productions, hosted by Mathieu Chantelois broadcast on OUTtv in 2005. Thirty aspiring male models compete for $1000 cash, a fashion photoshoot, a one-year membersh ...

''. Chantelois has also worked as a cultural reporter for

TFO TFO is a Canadian French language educational television channel and media organization serving the province of Ontario. It is owned by the Ontario French-language Educational Communications Authority (OTELFO), a Crown corporation owned by the ...

's ''

Panorama A panorama (formed from Greek πᾶν "all" + ὅραμα "view") is any wide-angle view or representation of a physical space, whether in painting, drawing, photography, film, seismic images, or 3D modeling. The word was originally coined in ...

''.

The 519

In 2006, Chantelois was named chair of the board at

The 519 Church St. Community Centre The 519, formerly known as The 519 Church Street Community Centre, is an agency of the City of Toronto. A Canadian charitable, non-profit organization, it operates a community centre in the Church and Wellesley neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario, ...

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

. He stepped down from the position in 2009, but is still involved with the organization in other capacities. In October 2020, he hosted the 16th 519 Annual Gala, which included guests

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...

k.d. lang Kathryn Dawn Lang (born November 2, 1961), known by her stage name k.d. lang, is a Canadian pop (music), pop and country music, country singer-songwriter and occasional actress. Lang has won Juno Awards and Grammy Awards for her musical perfor ...

, and

Kim Cattrall Kim Victoria Cattrall (; born 21 August 1956) is a British-Canadian actress. She is known for her role as Samantha Jones on HBO's ''Sex and the City'' (1998–2004), for which she received five Emmy Award nominations and four Golden Globe A ...

Green Space Festival

In 2007, Chantelois created the Green Space Festival, a fundraising event for a LGBT community centre in Canada. He was named one of eight local heroes by the ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...

''. The festival has raised over $2.5 million in the last 10 years.

Cineplex

In 2009, Chantelois became editor of the movie magazine ''Famous Quebec''. Under his leadership, in 2010 ''Famous Quebec'' became ''Le magazine Cineplex''.

Pride Toronto

In 2015, Chantelois was named the new executive director of

Pride Toronto Pride Toronto is an annual event held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, in June each year. A celebration of the diversity of the LGBT community in the Greater Toronto Area, it is one of the largest organized gay pride festivals in the world, fea ...

. In 2016, under his leadership, the first Pride Month in Canada was launched,

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Justin Trudeau Justin Pierre James Trudeau ( , ; born December 25, 1971) is a Canadian politician who is the 23rd and current prime minister of Canada. He has served as the prime minister of Canada since 2015 and as the leader of the Liberal Party since 2 ...

was the first sitting prime minister to march in the Pride parade, and for the first time ever the official Pride and Trans flags were raised at the same time to help kick off Pride Month. Guests at Pride Toronto during Chantelois's tenure included RuPaul, Pussy Riot, Cyndi Lauper, Chaz Bono, John Waters, George Takei, and Margaret Atwood. 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. He resigned the position on August 11, 2016 to take a position at Cineplex Media, approximately six weeks after both receiving praise and facing criticism over his handling of the

Black Lives Matter Black Lives Matter (abbreviated BLM) is a decentralized political and social movement that seeks to highlight racism, discrimination, and racial inequality experienced by black people. Its primary concerns are incidents of police bruta ...

demand that

Toronto Police The Toronto Police Service (TPS) is a municipal police force in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and the primary agency responsible for providing law enforcement and policing services in Toronto. Established in 1834, it was the first local police ser ...

officers be barred from participating in Pride events in uniform. His resignation was amidst staff allegations of racism, sexism, and sexual harassment; however, the allegations were never substantiated and he was never officially accused of any wrongdoing.

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 , where he had previously worked as director of marketing and communications. He was responsible for the launch of the PSAs "Great Futures Start Here" in 2014 and "Kid of Privilege" in 2018. 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 The Canada Media Fund (CMF, french: Fonds des médias du Canada - FMC) is a public-private partnership founded on April 1, 2010 by the Department of Canadian Heritage and the Canadian cable industry. It is used to fund the creation of original ...

, a position he has held since June 2019. He has been a spokesperson for Made / Nous, promoting Canadian content in the entertainment industry. In April 2020, during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, he launched a virtual Canadian road trip where actors

Jay Baruchel Jonathan Adam Saunders Baruchel (; born April 9, 1982) is a Canadian actor, comedian, director and screenwriter. He is known for his voice role as Hiccup Haddock in the ''How to Train Your Dragon'' franchise, and for his roles in comedy movies ...

and Marc-Andre Grondin tweeted their recommended Canadian TV shows or movies every day for a month. He also partnered with actors

Simu Liu Simu Liu ( ; ; born 19 April 1989) is a Canadian actor. He is known for portraying Shang-Chi in the 2021 Marvel Cinematic Universe film ''Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings''. He also played Jung Kim in the CBC Television sitcom ''Kim's ...

and

Maitreyi Ramakrishnan Maitreyi Ramakrishnan ( ; born 28 December 2001) is a Canadian actress. She is known for her leading role as Devi Vishwakumar in the Netflix teen comedy series ''Never Have I Ever'' (2020–present) and as Priya Mangal in the Pixar film ''Turni ...

to highlight notable Asian Canadians as part of Asian and

South Asian Heritage month South Asian Heritage Month is the name given to the month-long celebration in the South Asian diaspora to celebrate the heritage of people with roots in the South Asian countries of India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhut ...

. He has been a vocal advocate for more inclusivity in Canadian children's content. In 2021, Chantelois led the rebranding of Canada Media Fund, with a focus on equity, inclusion, and decolonization, including representation of 12+ Indigenous languages, such as

Dene The Dene people () are an Aboriginal peoples in Canada, indigenous group of First Nations in Canada, First Nations who inhabit the northern Boreal forest of Canada, boreal and Arctic regions of Canada. The Dene speak Northern Athabaskan languag ...

, Gwich'in,

Inuvialuit The Inuvialuit (sing. Inuvialuk; ''the real people'') or Western Canadian Inuit are Inuit who live in the western Canadian Arctic region. They, like all other Inuit, are descendants of the Thule who migrated eastward from Alaska Alask ...

Maliseet The Wəlastəkwewiyik, or Maliseet (, also spelled Malecite), are an Algonquian-speaking First Nation of the Wabanaki Confederacy. They are the indigenous people of the Wolastoq ( Saint John River) valley and its tributaries. Their territory ...

Mi’kmaq The Mi'kmaq (also ''Mi'gmaq'', ''Lnu'', ''Miꞌkmaw'' or ''Miꞌgmaw''; ; ) are a First Nations people of the Northeastern Woodlands, indigenous to the areas of Canada's Atlantic Provinces and the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec as well as the northe ...

, Mitchif,

Northern Cree Northern Cree, also known as the Northern Cree Singers, is a powwow and Round Dance drum and singing group, based in Maskwacis, Bouchard, David (2006). ''Nokum Is My Teacher'', Postface. Illustrated by Allen Sapp. Music by Northern Cree. Red D ...

Ojibway The Ojibwe, Ojibwa, Chippewa, or Saulteaux are an Anishinaabe people in what is currently southern Canada, the northern Midwestern United States, and Northern Plains. According to the U.S. census, in the United States Ojibwe people are one of ...

Oji-Cree The Oji-Cree are a First Nation in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Manitoba, residing in a narrow band extending from the Missinaibi River region in Northeastern Ontario at the east to Lake Winnipeg at the west. The Oji-Cree people are des ...

, Plains Cree, Sḵwxw̱ú7mesh sníchim (Squamish), and

Woodland Cree The ''Saāwithiniwak'' or Woodland Cree, are a Cree people, calling themselves Nîhithaw in their own dialect of the language. They are the largest indigenous group in northern Alberta and are an Algonquian people. Prior to the 18th century, th ...

. Chantelois was also responsible for the launch of the Made , Nous #SeekMore campaign, which encourages Canadians to seek out Canadian film, television, and video games created by underrepresented and marginalized voices. The campaign was promoted by Prime Minister

to his 5.6 million Twitter followers.

Awards

* 1999: Prix Molson de journalisme en loisir, Conseil québécois du loisir, premier prix, catégorie hebdos locaux et régionaux. *2014: Ragan's PR Daily Corporate Social Responsibility Award, Best Social Media Campaign * 2015: Toronto's 50 Most Influential * 2016: Fantastic Community Volunteer of the Year *2021: Strategy Awards, Bronze, Multicultural Strategy

Personal life

Chantelois married Marcelo Gomez in 2003 in

. 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. 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 Franco-Ontarians (french: Franco-Ontariens or if female, sometimes known as ''Ontarois'' and ''Ontaroises'') are Francophone Canadians that reside in the province of Ontario. Most are French Canadians from Ontario. In 2016, the Government of On ...

. In March 2020, with the help of a surrogate, Chantelois and Gomez became the fathers of Oscar-James, a baby boy.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chantelois, Mathieu Carleton University alumni Participants in Canadian reality television series People from Montreal French Quebecers Living people LGBT journalists from Canada Gay men 1973 births Canadian magazine editors Franco-Ontarian people People from Toronto