01/26/2026
THE BRUISERS ARE SINGING TOGETHER AGAIN!!!
CALLING OUT TO INDIVIDUALS WITH LIVED EXPERIENCE: JOIN US FOR MONDAY AFTERNOON SINGING SESSIONS. IT'S A REBOOT OF OUR SEMINAL START-YOUR-WEEK RIGHT ACTIVITY. Join us for 'Stage Two' of the Bruised Years Choir, Monday afternoons on the CAMH Campus beginning February 9, 2026. No Singing Experience Required.
Founded in 2015, The Bruised Years Choir began as a small group of artists with lived experience coming together to sing — and quickly grew into something powerful. Over the years, the choir earned fans city-wide for their heart-felt gigs about town, including turns at two consecutive Luminato Festival Toronto lineups, Invictus Games, Buddies In Bad Times Theatre Pride Festival lineups, City Hall Chambers at the Mayor's invite and was even profiled nationally on CBC Television just before the pandemic hit. Audiences came to love us as the 'Bad News Bears of Choirs': raw, honest, singing from the gut.
Now, with a new chapter beginning, we build things up once again and we are renaming the choir.
'THE BRUISERS' reflects what this has always been about — resilience, collective strength, and the fighting spirit that emerges when people with lived experience raise their voices together. After the long disruption of the pandemic, seeing it's safe to sing together once again, we are starting again with intention, with care.
This is a peer-led, artist-led, independently produced initiative, facilitated by founding director Jim LeFrancois, created especially for people with lived experience of mental health and/or addiction challenges. No auditions. No pressure. Just voices in a room, building something together.
Says Jim: 'the act of folks with lived experience coming together -- particularly in the dead of a Canadian winter -- to sing, is a an act of rebellion, a defiant one. There's power in it -- it's akin to us giving a collective middle finger to all the things that potentially ails us. It's a creative outlet with a good dash of fellowship. Singing in a choir has been proven to hold the greatest positive impact on one's mental health (when compared to other group activities), and that's the impetus behind The Bruisers. There were just six of us in a room when I launched the Bruised Years Choir with Workman Arts in 2015. I am looking to beginning this second leg simply, at a public piano on the CAMH Campus. I invite anyone looking to express themselves and/or to connect meaningfully with others to please join me on Monday afternoons. The only requirement is a desire to sing with others and an empathetic attitude towards fellow group members. Absolutely no singing experience is required to participate."
If you’ve been missing connection, creativity, or the simple act of singing alongside others — this is your invitation.
Mondays, 2:00–4:00 PM
BEGINS MONDAY FEB 9, 2026
Public Piano, Workman Arts lobby***
Queen & Ossington, Toronto
JIM WILL BE AT THE PIANO ON MONDAYS****.
COME WHEN YOU CAN, WE'LL SEE WHAT WE CAN DO, WHAT UNFOLDS. IT'LL HAPPEN ORGANICALLY IN AN OLD SCHOOL ROUND-THE-PIANO KINDA FASHION.
***Please note: The Bruisers is an independent initiative and is not an official Workman Arts program. For information or questions, please contact Jim directly rather than Workman Arts.
****In the event that the piano isn't avail, we will still meet outside the WA offices, unless otherwise noted at the GOODMEDZ page. Jim will have a 'Plan B' up his sleeve.
Contact for any and all queries:
📧 JDLEF@live.ca
🌐 facebook.com/goodmedz
STAGE ONE IN PHOTOGRAPHS: Jim has pulled pics from his files, browse the attached photographs, featuring highlights from the first 10 years ;)
CONTEXTUAL LINKS WORTH CHECKING OUT:
CBC TV PROFILE: https://www.cbc.ca/arts/exhibitionists/the-members-of-bruised-years-choir-sing-to-overcome-their-pasts-and-find-healing-together-1.5402527
THE BYC Performs YOU'RE NOT ALONE at CBC:
https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/video/1.5402633
THE BYC's SOUL SERIES: Episode One:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=156rm_GmxD0&list=PLMOM4s5FtKMSCAqU4tbygToXjJSJMNgGE&index=1
THE BYC's SOUL SERIES: Episode Two:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEyf7Bx9Ty4
THE BYC onstage at Buddies in Bad Times Pride:
https://www.facebook.com/goodmedz/videos/117549088112778
⸻
