Fatin Ishraq (ফাতিন ইশরাক) 🌱🐛

Our BQL rumal রুমাল handkerchief fundraiser is tomorrow at Whippersnapper Gallery! BQL HOLIDAY FUNDRAISER! Drop by @whippersnappergallery this Sunday, Dec 17 from 11am- 2pm to pick up a ‘rumal’ (রুমাল) or handkerchief for yourself or a loved one. These handkerchiefs were block printed by trans women in Bangladesh working with Srabonti Srabon, a queer community activist and elder. Bangladeshi Queer Liberation (BQL) collective is working with Srabonti Apa to create a shelter for unhoused trans youth in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Meant as mementos or gifts for loved ones, they carry tender messages of affection. All proceeds from the fundraiser will go towards costs for building and maintaining a shelter for 10 trans youth in need for 1 year. We have currently raised $5,316 of our $31,300 goal and are counting on your support to launch the initiative in Spring, 2024. Our fundraiser is a mutual aid initiative and rests on grassroots support to realize our collective vision for this trans youth shelter. Here’s how to get your রুমাল/handkerchief : - Donate $30 or more (we suggest $50) to our GoFundMe (link in bio: bit.ly/BQLShelter) - Please send us a screenshot of your donation at [email protected] - If you are not in Toronto, please include a mailing address. We will mail your রুমাল/ handkerchief within a week of confirmation. - If you are in Toronto, swing by @whippersnappergallery (594 Dundas St W) on Sunday Dec 17 from 11am-2pm Please note: we are collecting funds through Helping Hands Intl. a registered charity in Canada helping women in marginalized communities. You will receive a charitable tax receipt for your donation. #bangladesh #supportlocal #transyouthshelter

BQL HOLIDAY FUNDRAISER! Drop by @whippersnappergallery this Sunday, Dec 17 from 11am- 2pm to pick up a ‘rumal’ (রুমাল) or handkerchief for yourself or a loved one. These handkerchiefs were block printed by trans women in Bangladesh working with Srabonti Srabon, a queer community activist and elder. Bangladeshi Queer Liberation (BQL) collective is working with Srabonti Apa to create a shelter for unhoused trans youth in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Meant as mementos or gifts for loved ones, they carry tender messages of affection. All proceeds from the fundraiser will go towards costs for building and maintaining a shelter for 10 trans youth in need for 1 year. We have currently raised $5,316 of our $31,300 goal and are counting on your support to launch the initiative in Spring, 2024. Our fundraiser is a mutual aid initiative and rests on grassroots support to realize our collective vision for this trans youth shelter. Here’s how to get your রুমাল/handkerchief : 🌱 Donate $30 or more (we suggest $50) to our GoFundMe (link in bio: bit.ly/BQLShelter) 🌱 Please send us a screenshot of your donation at [email protected] I 🌱 If you are not in Toronto, please include a mailing address. We will mail your রুমাল/ handkerchief within a week of confirmation. 🌱 If you are in Toronto, swing by @whippersnappergallery (594 Dundas St W) on Sunday Dec 17 from 11am-2pm Please note: we are collecting funds through Helping Hands Intl. a registered charity in Canada helping women in marginalized communities. You will receive a charitable tax receipt for your donation. #bangladesh #supportlocal #transyouthshelter

We’re a group of Bangladeshi diaspora queers working with a Hijra-led grassroots organization to raise $31,300 CAD for a youth trans shelter. Our pilot project will supports 10 Bangladeshi trans youth over a year by providing safer housing, health services and social support. We will be working with Sacheton Hijra Odhikar Jubo Sangha (SHOJS), a hijra-led grassroots organization working since the 1990s.” Help build a trans shelter in Bangladeshi! Follow us on @bangladeshiqueerliberation Gofundme link in bio. #bangladesh #LGBTQ #mutualaid #fundraiser #fundraising #donate

🌟CALLING ALL THE ARTISTS, PERFORMERS, AND FILMMAKKERS🌟 we’re sooo back BQL is hosting a mela July 12th, 2026 at Dentonia Park this summer in Toronto and we are so excited to showcase the unreal talent in our communities, bringing our mela to life! if you are interested in sharing your talents with us this year, whether that be a song, story, dance, film, or art, swipe through for more details! Confirmed performers will receive an honorarium ($TBA). No table fee for vendors and we are prioritizing 2SLGBTQIA+ BIPOC folks for our vendor tables. Only accepting short films. If you want to submit multiple applications, please apply to each role separately. APPLY BY MAY 30TH, 2026 11:59 PM application link: https://bit.ly/3QU8PhV (LINK IN BIO) If you have any questions at all please DM us! EVENT DETAILS: when: Sunday July 12th, 2026 where: Dentonia Park, Toronto, ON cost: PWYC / free as a grassroots collective, your donation will support BQL in curating sustainable programming for Queer and Trans Bengali kin in the future! stay tuned for more event details ⭐️

A massive fire on Tuesday destroyed over 1,500 homes in Dhaka’s largest slum Korail. These crowded slums are homes to thousands of landless workers, and they urgently need aid to rebuild and feed their people during this devastating time. The second photo is an aerial shot of Korail - it’s harrowing. With my friend @efadulhuq I learned about the guerrilla farmers and urban planners of Nogor Abad, who have been leading land reclamation projects. They invited me to their homes and fed me, teaching me about the urban ecology of Korail, which is across from one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in Dhaka - Gulshan-Banani. These urban slums are the result of manufacturers from the global North and illegal land grabs by billionaires who are responsible for the unsafe living conditions of Korail residents. Many of them have lost all of their belongings, and the fires are exposing the most vulnerable to hazardous conditions including smoke, exposed electrical wires and gas cylinders. I’ll be in Dhaka to distribute the money directly to families through Nogor Abad, and ask that you all please share and donate to the GoFundMe. Please share: tinyurl.com/korailfires #dhaka #korailfires #bangladesh

ONER at Sun Fa Restaurant on #33. How many coin laundries are their in Parkdale ?

Our city councillors are beholden to capital. Their allegiance is to legislation that doesn’t serve the people!!! Fuck KingSett 🔥🔥🔥 Today members of the Parkdale Housing Justice Network (PHJN) attended the Toronto and East York Community Council (TEYCC) meeting to oppose KingSett Capital’s luxury condo development at 1304–1318 King Street West and 143–145 Cowan Avenue and to draw attention to the erosion of affordable housing in Parkdale and ongoing gentrification. For more than two years, the community has been raising clear, consistent opposition to this project. At the pre-application meeting, at community consultations, and in every forum since, Parkdale residents voiced grave concerns: the loss of affordable rental units, the displacement of neighbours, and the further invasion of billionaire developers investing for profit, not people. Despite this, KingSett and the Ontario Land Tribunal ignored every single concern. Today’s council meeting was treated as little more than a bureaucratic formality, yet another step in a process designed to exclude those most impacted. After PHJN member, Erin Wotherspoon, delivered a deputation to Council, PHJN members disrupted the proceedings with noisemakers, music, and chants. This disruption symbolized what the community has faced throughout this process: no matter how loudly we speak, City Hall refuses to listen. If our voices are shut out of official channels, we will find other ways to be heard. After the musical disruption, PHJN members were escorted off premises by security and police, moments later, council approved the project.

Join us for an artist talk with Anélia Victor and Fatin Ishraq this Wednesday, Sept 10 at Arcadia Art Gallery. 🌱 Address: 680 Queens Quay West Time: 6:30-8pm Friday, September 12 is also the last day to see Solidarity Seeds. Come see this incredible exhibition before it closes! Gallery hours are 1-5pm.

Join us for the opening reception of Solidarity Seeds on Thursday, August 21st at Arcadia Art Gallery! By Anélia Victor and Fatin Ishraq. Solidarity Seeds is an exhibition emerging from a day-long gathering and ongoing co-learning in urban agriculture and land liberation, shaped by the insights and generosity of our peers. Solidarity Seeds engages precarious urban agricultural workers across the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) — those growing food under conditions that rarely feed them back. Despite meeting urgent needs for local, healthy food access, these workers continue to navigate hostile environments: ongoing discrimination, exploitative workloads, and workplace retaliation, particularly for queer and trans growers. Artist Talk: Saturday, September 6, 4pm-6pm Arcadia Art Gallery: 680 Queens Quay W, Toronto, ON, M5V 2Y9 Exhibition Date(s): Thu, Aug 21 - Fri, Sep 12, 2025 Gallery Hours: Fridays - Sundays, 1-5pm. 🌞 @aneliavictor @fatinich ‎ Design by Noor Khan @bynoorkhan Logo by Kianna Mkhonza @spacingissues

Growers! Friends! We are launching the registration of our urban farmer half day gathering! Are you a queer and trans urban farm worker, work on a farm outside the city or have worked on a farm previously? On Saturday, June 21, we’ll be hosting a half-day gathering for urban farm workers to learn about their labour rights, and have open conversations about the labour issues they have faced. The day will begin with a speaker panel on farm labour rights, organizing, and more. In the second half, participants will break into small groups to connect with others, and learn about worker solidarity, discuss grievances, and creating a more just future in farming. Insights from this half-day gathering focused on co-learning urban agricultural and land liberation practices will be transformed into a collective zine and a series of ceramic seedling pods — vessels that carry both story and seed — to be shared with the public through an exhibition at Arcadia Gallery from August 21 - September 13, 2025. Led by Toronto based artist Anélia Victor and Fatin Ishraq. Anélia Victor is a mixed media textile artist. Their work rely on the act of re/membering; talking and feeling the body in the present about the past and the connections to self and others. Fatin is a community organizer, photojournalist and writer exploring the intersections of climate and racial justice. Through documentary photography, they tell stories examining social issues through a critical lens and nuanced understanding of the subjects. Participant Criteria 🌱Interested in exploring and co-learning urban agricultural and land liberation practices 🌱Based out of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) 🌱Identify as queer/trans racialized farm worker 🌱All levels of agricultural experience are encouraged. If you are no longer in the field, you are still welcome to apply. Senior leadership is ineligible to apply ✂️Poster designed by Kianna Mkhonza 🗓️ Apply by June 6, 2025: www.whippersnapper.ca/peers or at the link in our bio! 🙏🏽 With gratitude to @CanadaCouncil for supporting this work.

Our BQL পহেলা বৈশাখ উৎসব Pohela Boisakh festival is fully powered by our community! We are inviting individuals, collectives, and organizations to contribute $50-$150 to support our festival. These funds will be immediately used to pay performers, caterers, and animate our space. To donate, please e-transfer to [[email protected]] with the following note : “BQL festival, [your email address]” By including your email address, we will keep you update on our festival after it takes place. We are also fundraising by selling wooden linocut prints of the tiger and owl prints handmade by our collective members! Order your prints by completing the form here : https://forms.gle/uVkzDBAQrPT5U1Wk7 (link in bio) Any questions, DM/email us! Thanks for your solidarity and supporting our capacity to curate sustainable programming for Queer and Trans Bangali kin in the future! Have you RSVP’d for our festival yet ? Don’t miss out — phenomenal performers and vendors lined up! (link in bio) When : Sunday, May 4, 12 pm - 4 pm Where : Children’s Peace Theatre, 305 Dawes Road (parking available) Cost : PWYC / free Open to 2SLGBTQ+ folks and allies! For allies unable to join us on Sunday, we strongly encourage you to make a donation! #pohelaboishakh #pohelafalgun

[NOTE TIME CHANGE : 7 pm- 9 pm] [share] Fight for housing justice with us! We invite you to our community strategy meeting at Parkdale Housing Justice Network (PHJN) to explore how we can organize around the financialization of housing underway in Parkdale. During our last convening, we learned about the step-by-step fundamentals from organizing and we are ready to start applying our learnings in Parkdale. Building on the momentum from the workshop, we are excited to announce our upcoming meeting: Date: Wednesday, February 26 Time: 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM Location: Capital Espresso, 1349 Queen St W In this meeting, we will continue our efforts to establish a comprehensive housing justice network, aiming for deeply affordable housing solutions for all Parkdale residents. We are in the process of refining our “basis of unity” and would greatly value your continued involvement and perspectives as we shape our mission and strategies especially as we unite against KingSett Capital. Your dedication is instrumental in driving meaningful change in our community. We warmly invite you to join us on February 26th to further our shared vision for an equitable housing landscape in Parkdale.