Foundations of Change: Oral History Interview 02 — André Cyr
40 Years of Lambda: André Cyr on Building Community Beyond the Bar Scene
Lambda Scholarship Foundation Canada’s 40th-anniversary oral history series continues with another influential voice from the organization’s early years.
These interviews document the people and decisions that shaped Lambda Foundation’s mission to expand access to education and strengthen support for 2SLGBTQIA+ communities nationwide. Each story adds dimension to a legacy built through grassroots organizing, volunteer leadership, and community persistence.
The second interview features André Cyr, a pivotal figure in Ottawa’s LGBTQ+ community life during a period of rapid change. Through his involvement with both the Lambda Foundation and Club Moustache—a gay men’s social club where he served as president—Cyr helped create spaces of connection and mutual support outside of traditional nightlife, particularly at the height of the HIV crisis.
Introduced to Lambda by founder Gary Sealey, Cyr contributed to defining the organization’s charitable direction. He was instrumental in establishing the Lambda Foundation for Excellence Scholarship Award in Gay and Lesbian Studies and advancing the organization’s transition to official non-profit status. His contributions laid the groundwork for Lambda’s enduring commitment to academic equity, even as he eventually stepped back in the mid-1990s to focus on family life.
Cyr’s reflections offer insight into a moment when community-building required both courage and creativity—revealing how advocacy, social connection, and the pursuit of educational opportunity became intertwined in Lambda’s early evolution.
This interview is part of a seven-episode series. Five more voices from Lambda’s history will be shared in the coming weeks, each adding new detail to the Foundation’s 40-year journey.
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About the Interviewer: Christopher DiRaddo
Christopher DiRaddo is the author of the novels The Family Way (2021), shortlisted for the F.G. Bressani Literary Prize, and The Geography of Pluto (2014). His essays and short stories have appeared in First Person Queer: Who We Are (So Far), Here & Now: An Anthology of Queer Italian-Canadian Writing, and The Globe and Mail. He has also written for several publications, including Elle Canada, XTRA magazine, and enRoute magazine, for which he won a National Magazine Award. In 2014, he created the Violet Hour Reading Series & Book Club, which has to date provided a platform for more than 300 LGBTQ writers in Canada to connect with new audiences. He lives in Montreal. Check out his website and subscribe to The Violet Letter: Your guide to LGBTQ+ lit in Montreal (and beyond).
