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 municipali ...

, a suburb just outside

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

. 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 university, 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 se ...

'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 school, graduate business school of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university. Located in Allston, Massachusetts, HBS owns Harvard Business Publishing, which 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 ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...

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

The Grid The Grid are 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 C ...

'', 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 ...

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 se ...

'' for PrideVision. ''So Gay TV'' was nominated for Best Talk Series at the

2002 Gemini Awards The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television's 17th Gemini Awards were held on November 4, 2002, to honour achievements in Canadian television. The awards show, which was hosted by Seán Cullen, took place at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre an ...

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

OUTtv OUTtv is a Canadian English language specialty channel and streaming network that was launched in September 2001. The brand focuses on general entertainment and lifestyle programming serving Canadian and international LGBT+ communities. The ...

, including ''

Read Out! ''Read Out!'' was a Canadian English language talk show. ''Read Out!'' premiered on April 18, 2003 at 7:30 pm EST on Canadian digital cable specialty channel, PrideVision, now known as OUTtv. Premise ''Read Out!'' is a talk show where host Mathi ...

'', featuring authors from the

LGBT LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The gro ...

community, and the reality series '' COVERguy''. 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 operated by the Ontario French-language Educational Communications Authority (OTELFO), a Crown corporation owned by t ...

's ''

Panorama A panorama (formed from Greek language, Greek πᾶν "all" + ὅραμα "view") is any Obtuse angle, wide-angle view or representation of a physical space, whether in painting, drawing, photography (panoramic photography), film, seismic image ...

''.

The 519

In 2006, Chantelois was named chair of the board at The 519 Church St. Community Centre in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

. 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, songwriter and pianist. His music and showmanship have had a significant, lasting impact on the music industry, and his songwriting partnership with l ...

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

, and

Kim Cattrall Kim Victoria Cattrall (; born 21 August 1956) is a British, Canadian, and American actress. She is known for her portrayal of Samantha Jones on HBO's ''Sex and the City'' (1998–2004), for which she received five Primetime Emmy Award nominati ...

Green Space Festival

In 2007, Chantelois created the Green Space Festival, a fundraising event for an 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. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part of Torstar's Daily News Brands (Torstar), Daily News Brands division. ...

''. 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 to celebrate the LGBTQ community in the Greater Toronto Area. The centre of the festival is the city's Church and Wellesley village, while the parade and m ...

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

Prime Minister A prime minister 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. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Justin Trudeau Justin Pierre James Trudeau (born December 25, 1971) is a Canadian politician who served as the 23rd prime minister of Canada from 2015 to 2025. He led the Liberal Party from 2013 until his resignation in 2025 and was the member of Parliament ...

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 (BLM) is a Decentralization, decentralized political and social movement that aims to highlight racism, discrimination and Racial inequality in the United States, racial inequality experienced by black people, and to pro ...

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 se ...

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, ) 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 Canadian content and support the Canadi ...

, 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 and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, he launched a virtual Canadian road trip where actors

Jay Baruchel Jonathan Adam Saunders Baruchel (; born April 9, 1982) is a Canadian actor and director. He is best known for his voice role as Hiccup Haddock in the ''How to Train Your Dragon'' franchise (2010–2019), and for his lead roles in the comedies ' ...

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 rose to prominence by starring as Shang-Chi in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film ''Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings'' (2021). Liu was born in Harbin and raised in Ontario. ...

and

Maitreyi Ramakrishnan Maitreyi Ramakrishnan ( ; born 29 December 2001) is a Canadian actress. She rose to prominence for her leading role as high school student Devi Vishwakumar in the Netflix teen comedy series ''Never Have I Ever'' (2020–2023). She played voice ...

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, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Nepal, Bh ...

. 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 Indigenous group of First Nations who inhabit the northern boreal, subarctic and Arctic regions of Canada. The Dene speak Northern Athabaskan languages and it is the common Athabaskan word for "people". The term ...

, 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. Their homelan ...

Maliseet The Wolastoqiyik, (, also known as the Maliseet or 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 terri ...

Mi’kmaq The Mi'kmaq (also ''Mi'gmaq'', ''Lnu'', ''Mi'kmaw'' or ''Mi'gmaw''; ; , and formerly Micmac) are an Indigenous group of people of the Northeastern Woodlands, native to the areas of Canada's Atlantic Provinces, primarily Nova Scotia, New Bru ...

, 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, Alberta, Canada. Formed in 1982 by Randy Wood, with brothers Charlie and Earl Wood of the Saddle Lake Cree Nation, t ...

Ojibway The Ojibwe (; Ojibwe writing systems#Ojibwe syllabics, syll.: ᐅᒋᐺ; plural: ''Ojibweg'' ᐅᒋᐺᒃ) are an Anishinaabe people whose homeland (''Ojibwewaki'' ᐅᒋᐺᐘᑭ) covers much of the Great Lakes region and the Great Plains, n ...

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

, Plains Cree, Sḵwxw̱ú7mesh sníchim (Squamish), and

Woodland Cree The ''Sakāwithiniwak'' 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, ...

. 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 ( 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 2021, according to the Government of Ontario, ther ...

. 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 Mass media people from Montreal Living people Canadian LGBTQ journalists Gay journalists 1973 births Canadian magazine editors Franco-Ontarian people Mass media people from Toronto Canadian gay writers 21st-century Canadian LGBTQ people