A Canadian Issue?...with Miguel E by Jonathan Lemieux
- LIAM C.
- Jul 14, 2016
- 2 min read
A huge country thirty-six times the size of the UK but containing half the population; with great diversity not only from its French-English divide but from its multiculturalism (Canada invented the concept), Canada is has long fascinated me. I spent a summer in Montréal as part of a university exchange and it still ranks in my top five cities in the world. My partner on the other hand has Vancouver in his top five; our rivalry over this is the subject of many cheekily fierce conversations where I slag off Vancouver and he takes the piss out of Montréal. At least both cities have Tim Hortons, and we can share our guilty love of that!
There's also a lot of Elska love coming from Canada. Because of that I thought I should give the Canadian Elska fans an issue from their native land. But where? Montréal seemed the obvious first choice, because of my history and adoration for the city, but I also felt like I wanted to save it for the future. And Vancouver? It's undeniably a beautiful place. but it's also the most Asian city in North America, with 48% of inhabitants claiming Asian heritage... frankly with two Asian cities in one Elska year already, I need to watch my diversity balance. Oh, and *spoiler alert* there will be an African issue in the next year.
Of course I could go with the biggest city Toronto, with all its diversity and gay life. Or the gorgeous capital Ottawa? What about one of the maritime cities - Halifax or St John's perhaps? I do also have a curiosity about Gimli, aka Little Iceland, so why not do a Winnipeg issue including a small Gimli section? Oh and with the Taipei issue's Chris C now living in Calgary, an issue there would be a nice excuse to hang out with him again.
The list goes on and I want to do them all. For now however, thanks to Montréalais Jonathan Lemieux for his images of Miguel E, a piece of Montréal in the Istanbul issue's Elska Dehors feature. I'll let him tide me over until I get to Canada in person for a full issue. I can't say what city yet but will be this year.
Elska Boy: Miguel E
Photographer: Jonathan Lemieux
Location: Montréal, Québec, Canada
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