AGQ-F0077
Fonds Douglas Buckley-Couvrette. – [1975], 1985-[2000]. – 69 cm of textual records and other records.
Biographical sketch:
Born in 1961, Douglas Buckley-Couvrette was a leading figure in the fight against HIV/AIDS in Montreal in the 1990s. He was a director and spokesperson for ACT-UP Montréal, as well as a member of the NAMES Project Foundation, an international organization founded in 1987 with the aim of maintaining, disseminating and integrating panels into a quilt erected in memory of AIDS victims (https://www.aidsmemorial.org/). In 1993, he was hired as Executive Director of the Comité des personnes atteintes du VIH du Québec (CPAVIH) until 1995. He then became project director for the 11th International Conference on HIV in Vancouver. In 1997, he was hired in Montreal for the XVIIth International Congress of the Transplantation Society, and in 1998 as coordinator for the 2nd International Congress on Strategies for the Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV.
He was a founding member of several organizations and projects. These include the Table de concertation des lesbiennes et gais du grand Montréal and their committee on violence, the Dire enfin la violence project created in 1993 with Roger LeClerc and Claudine Metcalfe at the initiative of the Table de concertation, the Parc de l’Espoir committee for the creation of the Parc de l’Espoir erected in memory of AIDS victims in Montreal, and the Groupe d’aide et d’accompagnement aux usagers du système de la santé et des services sociaux (GAP), founded in 1994. He was also a member of the Comité multipartite de la Ville de Montréal sur la violence exercée envers les gais et lesbiennes, an initiative that began in 1993.
With a strong interest in municipal politics, he ran as an independent candidate for the Montreal City Council in 1992, 1994 and 1998. He was also a community representative on the Quebec Human Rights Commission from 1993 to 1998, and in 1994 participated in the publication of the report entitled “From Illegality to Equality” on violence and discrimination against gays and lesbians.
In the summer of 1990, he was arrested during the raid on the Sex Garage afterhours party. He subsequently collected numerous testimonies from people who had also been arrested and from people who had witnessed the events. He worked to improve relations (which had deteriorated further as a result of the Sex Garage events) between the gay and lesbian community and the Montreal police.
Douglas Buckley-Couvrette died of AIDS at the age of 41 on 13 November 2002.
Scope and content:
The fonds documents Douglas Buckley-Couvrette’s life, in particular his involvement in various organizations and events to combat and prevent HIV/AIDS, such as ACT-UP Montréal and World AIDS Day, his fight against violence against LGBT communities and for LGBT rights, and his candidacy in the 1992 municipal elections. It bears witness to the events at Sex Garage through the many testimonies that Douglas Buckley-Couvrette gathered and the formation of the group Lesbiennes et gais contre la violence/Lesbians and Gays Against Violence (LGV). It also describes Douglas Buckley-Couvrette’s activities with the Table de concertation des lesbiennes et gais du grand Montréal, the Comité multipartite sur la violence exercée à l’égard des gais et lesbiennes and Dire enfin la violence.
The fonds contains minutes, agendas, statutes and regulations, the terms of reference of the Comité multipartite sur la violence, agreements, correspondence, reports, questionnaires, a financial report and documents on income and expenditure, press reviews, lists of members and volunteers, press releases, action and communication plans, leaflets, brochures and flyers, and a distribution list. There are also handwritten notes and curricula vitae of Douglas Buckley-Couvrette. The fonds also contains written testimonials, photographs and contact sheets from the Sex Garage demonstration and a torn piece of clothing. In addition, the fonds includes transcripts of Phil Donahue’s broadcasts on ACT-UP and AIDS and a parliamentary debate with Roseanne Skoke and Svend Robinson. The collection also contains numerous press cuttings on HIV/AIDS, Sex Garage and other subjects relating to LGBT communities, as well as many texts on various subjects and AIDS. The collection contains audio documents (recordings of the Douglas Buckley Show) and audiovisual documents (FARHA interviews in 2005 paying tribute to Mr Buckley-Couvrette and a document entitled Welcome to AIDS 2001: A Global Update).
The fonds contains the following series:
- AGQ-F0077/S1. Implication communautaire
- AGQ-F0077/S2. Parcours professionnel
- AGQ-F0077/S3. Ressources informationnelles
- AGQ-F0077/S4. Coupures de presse
- AGQ-F0077/S5. Correspondance produite et reçue
- AGQ-F0077/S6. Photographies
- AGQ-F0077/S7. Document sonore
- AGQ-F0077/S8. Documents audiovisuels
- AGQ-F0077/S9. Objet
Notes:
Source of title proper: Title based on the contents of the fonds.
Physical description: The fonds also contains 54 colour photographs, 9 contact sheets, 1 audio cassette, three CD-ROMs and one object (a torn piece of clothing).
Immediate source of acquisition: The fonds was transferred to the AGQ on 21 November 2002 by Alex Schnubb (acquisition 2002-010).
Arrangement: The initial arrangement has generally been respected, but changes have been made to bring together documents from the various organizations represented in the archive (ACT-UP Montréal, the Table de concertation des lesbiennes et gais du Grand Montréal, the Comité multipartite sur la violence exercée à l’égard des gais et lesbiennes and Dire enfin la violence).
Language: The files are in French and English. One file is in Spanish.
Restrictions on access, use, reproduction, and publication: No restrictions on consultation were specified when the fonds was acquired. However, the consultation and distribution of testimonies relating to Sex Garage (S1/SS2/D1) must be checked with the archivist responsible.
Associated material: The ArQuives (Canada’s LGBTQ2+ Archives) holds documents from Douglas Buckley-Couvrette of ACT-UP Montréal about the events at Sex Garage, the Committee on Violence, Dire enfin la violence, the Quebec Human Rights Commission and the report ‘From Illegality to Equality’. The documents date from 1989 to 2004.
Groupes de documents reliés à l’extérieur de l’unité archivistique à décrire :
The AGQ-F0107 Michael Hendricks/René LeBoeuf fonds contains documents on ACT UP Montréal (S5), Lesbiennes et gais contre la violence/Lesbians and Gays Against Violence (LGV) (S4), the Table de concertation des lesbiennes et des gais du Grand Montréal (S7), Dire enfin la violence (S9), and the Comité multipartite sur la violence exercée envers les gais et lesbiennes (S10). Documents date from 1989 to 2001.
The AGQ-F0146 Claudine Metcalfe fonds contains documents on the Comité sur la violence and Dire enfin la violence. The documents date from 1993 to 2003.
The AGQ-F0217 Luc Desaulniers fonds contains documents relating to ACT UP Montreal’s World Ball for Unity events. The documents date from 1990 to 1993.
The AGQ-F0162 Irène Demczuk fonds contains documents on the Comité sur la violence, the Comité multipartite, the Caucus lesbien de la Table de concertation des lesbiennes et des gais du Grand Montréal during the public inquiry of the Commission des droits de la personne du Québec. The documents date from 1993 to 1995.
Fonds AGQ-F0225 Earl Pinchuk contains a documentary, news clips and video footage about ACT UP Montreal and Sex Garage. The documents date from 1990 to 1993.
Finding aids: Digital inventory of the fonds in Excel format. Classification plan is available in PDF format.
Bibliography:
Arsenault, J. et Shotwell, A. (2016, 8 février). Aids Activist History Project [Interview Transcript]. https://aidsactivisthistory.files.wordpress.com/2018/04/roger-leclerc-final-en.pdf
Boulanger, L. (2002, 21 novembre). Douglas Buckley-Couvrette n’est plus. Parcours d’un combattant. Association des lesbiennes et des gais sur Internet. http://www.algi.qc.ca/forum/jardin/messages/181.html
Burnett, R. (2014, 15 mars). The Forgotten Murder. The Gazette, https://www.pressreader.com/canada/montreal-gazette/20140315/281788512001662
CBC News. (2002, 2 décembre). Aids Still Surrounded by Stigma Say Activists,
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/aids-still-surrounded-by-stigma-say-activists-1.306285
Lamoureux, Michelle. (2003, 14 février). Dire enfin la violence – Communiqué. Association des lesbiennes et des gais sur Internet. https://www.algi.qc.ca/forum/service/msg2003/2329.htm
Noakes, T. C. (2020, 26 novembre). Sex Garage Raid. Dans The Canadian Encyclopedia, https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/sex-garage-raid
Parlement du Canada. (1995). Annexe A. Liste des témoins. Chambre des communes.
RICE Woodson Research Center. (s.d.). History of the NAMES Project Foundation. Houston LGBTQ Exhibits. https://digitalprojects.rice.edu/wrc/Houston-LGBTQ/exhibits/show/names-project/names-project-foundation
Dernière modification : 2025-07-22