Les Chouettes is a group founded in Montreal in 2005. We organize social, cultural, and outdoor activities for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and queer women. Our mission? To provide LGBTQ+ women of all ages with opportunities to meet and expand their network in a friendly context. We offer activities in the regions of Montreal, Lanaudière, Laurentides, and Ottawa-Gatineau.
If you have a question about the Chouettes, write to us at info@leschouettes.ca or fill out the form here.
Our team
The Chouettes team consists of a coordination committee of five members. About ten generous organizers also support the coordination committee in organizing activities.
Coordination committee
Maryse
Co-founder, co-coordinator, organizer, and webmaster.
Maryse co-founded Les Chouettes in 2005 and has offered a variety of activities over the years. Since 2023, she has been organizing activities in the Ottawa-Gatineau region
maryse@leschouettes.ca
Caroline
Co-coordinator and organizer
A member of the committee since 2010, Caroline organizes a range of activities each year. Country tours are her specialty!
caroline@leschouettes.ca
Claire
Co-coordinator, organizer, 18-35 age committee
Claire joined the Chouettes team at the end of 2017. She organizes monthly happy hours, proposes gaming activities, and is responsible for the 18-35 age committee.
claire@leschouettes.ca
Isabelle
Co-coordinator, organizer and webmaster
Urban hiker and Sunday ballerina. Passionate about baroque music and history, Isabelle organizes a variety of activities. Isabelle joined our team in 2018.
isabelle@leschouettes.ca
Camille
Co-coordinator, organizer, 18-35 age committee
Camille joined Les Chouettes in 2019 and the committee in 2021. A hard-core Montrealer, she will help you discover all that the city has to offer!
camille@leschouettes.ca
The little story of Les Chouettes…
The Chouettes group was established in July 2005 by Maryse and M-C with the aim of offering social activities for lesbian and bisexual women. Initially, the group offered happy hours every Thursday and was geared towards 18-35 year olds, as there were few activities for women in this age group at the time.
Coordination committee
In 2006, after a little over a year as co-organizer of the group, M-C stepped down to focus on other projects. The adventure continued with Maryse, Bich, Isabelle L., and Nawel. It was then that a greater variety of activities could be offered on the Chouettes’ calendar and a coordination committee took shape.
Over the years, other women have joined the coordinating committee and contributed to our calendar, including Natacha, Caroline, Anne, Astrid, Ginny, Geneviève, and Maryline.
Organizers and other volunteers
Others, not part of the coordination committee, have contributed to the activity calendar as organizers: Kristina, Mireille, Noemi, Valérie, Cynthia, Nadine, Sandra, Paola, Sophie, Fannie, Marie-France, Élise, Élaine, Line, and Lucie. Other volunteers have helped us in other ways, that is to say, from their computer screens. This is the case for Olivier, Geneviève, Anick, and Martine! Currently, in addition to the coordination committee, the organizing team includes: Ginny, Anne-Sophie, Julie, Adèle, Manon, Nadège, and Noemi.
Age groups
For several years, the Chouettes group has been catering to LGBTQ+ women of all age groups.
In 2017, however, we noticed a significant underrepresentation of young LGBTQ+ women in the group’s activities. To address this issue and ensure future leadership, we held a reflection meeting by and for women aged 18-35 in December 2017. Two years later, an 18-35 committee was born. This committee aims to increase participation from this age group by organizing targeted events and fostering a sense of community among younger members.
Montréal and beyond
Since the very beginning, the Chouettes group has brought together women from Montreal and the surrounding areas, as well as travelers passing through Montreal and newly arrived women in Canada seeking a new network. Since 2023 and 2024, activities have also been offered in the Ottawa-Gatineau and Laurentides regions, respectively.
Today, Les Chouettes consists of a team of about ten organizers offering around sixty activities per year and bringing together more than 1,000 women annually!
