City council is being asked by a Cold Lake man to form an opinion and overrule a Cold Lake FCSS grant money decision, along with MFRC,  to have a drag performer attend and speak at a Youth Conference in early April.

Leighton Grey, a lawyer and “concerned citizen”, presented to Cold Lake city council as a delegation at Tuesday’s regular meeting speaking against having Chelazon Leroux, a drag performer, from being a part of the Cold Lake Military Family Resource Centre’s Youth Conference on April 3-4. 

Grey showed a video of Leroux doing a risque show at the beginning of the delegation and questioned whether this aligned with the values of family and the values of Cold Lake. He said he wasn’t there to “preach” or criticize, but to question. 

“I’m not criticizing that artist. I’m not criticizing transgender people, I respect them. However, what I’m here to question is the allocation of public funds under the auspices of family – that’s what the F in FCSS stands for, unless I’m quite mistaken – that does not express family values. Transgender is antithetical to family. There’s no such thing as transgender families,” he said to council. 

“What we know about the transgender culture and how it affects youth, is very little. In fact, there are no long term studies, they do not exist, showing what the impacts of exposing young children like this, in this way to transgender culture.

“For that to be sponsored publicly, in Cold Lake for our children to see, given the data, and given what we know, about how this transgenderism affects young children, I think is irresponsible. And it’s dangerous, and it should not be supported publicly.”

City Hall quickly filled to standing room only on Tuesday night. The lobby was also full. Councillor Chris Vining appeared via video, and councillor Adele Richardson was not in attendance.

In front of almost 100 residents assembled to listen, some vocalized disapproval, some nodded their heads in support of Grey’s views. 

Mayor Craig Copeland officiated at times a contentious back and forth when Grey attempted to allude to personal politics of councillor Ryan Bailey and councillor Chris Vining. 

Historically, Cold Lake city council has never said no to delegations, Copeland told Lakeland Connect. When residents or organization come with concerns or initiatives, they are welcome to speak. 

Typically, the FCSS is given a lump sum from the city to select the programming they wish to pursue. 

He says the discussion on the delegation and whether the City will act on the delegation will happen at the next council meeting, likely on Tuesday, March 14. 

“What happens in the City of Cold Lake, is that the FCSS has a board made up of people from the community and councillors from the city and from the M.D., and we do give grant money out to various organizations. And so MFRC is putting on a lot of events, and a lot of events over the year. And they’re putting on this youth conference,” said Copeland. 

“Everybody’s got to realize Cold Lake, it’s a very multicultural, very diverse community. And so we’ve been supportive, like I said, of an all-inclusive community. And so the MFRC is bringing in a speaker that is certainly not going to resonate with everybody. And the bottom line is Canada’s a free country. And if you don’t want your child to attend this event, don’t let them attend.”

Youth Conference happening in April 

The MFRC is the lead on the Youth Conference, which is free and aimed at kids aged 12 to 17. 

Lakeland Connect has reached out to the executive director to gain more details about the event, which are expected soon. 

“I just want to speak clearly, the MFRC could very well go ahead with this type of programming with or without the support of any conversations with FCSS,” said CAO Kevin Nagoya during the meeting. 

On the event poster, there are also workshops focused around art, physical wellness, as well as food and door prizes. 

Image credit: Cold Lake MFRC.

“Develop a sense of mindfulness and explore elements of identity through a variety of activities including self-defense, beading, boundary setting, and entrepreneur skills,” the poster reads. 

Copeland said that parents had to sign a waiver in order for youth to attend. 

Whether Leroux was planning on speaking or performing is not certain, but the allusions in the council chambers seemed as if a drag show was not planned. 

Leroux responds on TikTok

Chelazon Leroux was featured on Season 3 of Canada’s Drag Race. The two-Spirit Dene First Nations has a large social media following, including over 500,000 TikTok followers.

They posted a TikTok video after the delegation to say that this represents subtleties in queerphobia, transphobia, and racism, and that they are frustrated. 

Leroux said in their years of doing drag and content creation, they’ve never encountered anything this demeaning. 

“You don’t think I can do a presentation or be audience appropriate as a professional? I’ve done it for years…it’s just disgusting that there are groups of people out there that would use fear and hatred to attack an Indigenous person, to attack a two-spirited person,” Leroux said in the video. 

“Now I have to appease them by signing a document that understands that I know what family-friendly means.

“I have been doing drag for a long time. I’ve done many family-friendly events. I have worked with organizations where I’ve had to do criminal background checks, which we are clear by the way. It frustrates me that this is only pointed towards me, not only because I’m Indigenous, but queer. And we know that there’s a narrative around what is friend-friendly, or being queer is family-friendly. I exist, I’m not going anywhere.” 

C stands for community, says councillor

During city council’s opportunity to ask questions and respond to Grey’s delegation, councillor Ryan Bailey said that FCSS stands not just for family. 

“You pointed out that the F in FCSS stands for family, but you didn’t point out that the C stands for community. So my point is LGBTQ2S+ people are part of our community,” he said. 

When told by Bailey that there wasn’t a drag performance planned, but that Leroux was going to be talking at the event, Grey said that there was a tangible difference, and he stood corrected. 

Left to right: Councillor Vicky Lefebvre, Mayor Craig Copeland, and Councillor Ryan Bailey.

When asked after the event by Lakeland Connect if that changed his impression of the Youth Conference, he said his concerns aren’t as strong. 

“I would do that in the same way as if they brought in somebody, for example, who is struggling with drug addiction, alcohol addiction, or some type of other problem to educate children. But I mean, we’ve been doing that forever, haven’t we? That is a good way for children to learn. But the problem is the way it’s packaged,” said Grey.  

Full council meeting

Those that want to watch the full delegation, it can be seen on the City of Cold Lake’s YouTube channel. Beginning at 1:04:50.

“This is part of the Woke Trinity, which is, gender theory, critical race theory, and of course, the climate agenda. This is not part of the politics of the north of northeastern Alberta. We don’t have liberal MPs, we don’t have NDP MLAs. And my concern, my deeper concern, that I see coming into our city council here is these NDP values,” said Grey afterward.  

City council will discuss more at the next meeting.