Team

Ever the avid learner, Lila has studied linguistic anthropology, Spanish and translation across two universities and three degrees. Their interest in making knowledge and educational materials accessible to a wider audience has always been at the heart of their passion for languages and informs their work as a translator today. Lila specializes in a diverse range of issue areas, including queer terminology, mental health, the social sciences, housing rights, slang and the arts. Lila joined the co-op in 2021 driven by their desire to work with experienced translators who share their anti-oppressive politics and who are (reluctantly) willing to listen to them talk about their beautiful cat. When they’re not working at Argot, Lila plays the banjo in a country folk band and organizes queer sports leagues.

Drawing from her social work experience and passion for languages, Marie brings her extensive knowledge of the community and international solidarity sectors to Argot. Over the years, her travels across the continent have formed the basis of her trilingual lexicon based in feminist, environmental and land struggles. True to her love of subtitling, Marie likes to find creative ways to communicate messages as directly and efficiently as possible. You might find her in a nearby forest following fox tracks, or peering into the canopy with her ears alert, looking for a bird whose song she recognizes!

With a bachelor’s degree in translation and a Master’s in translation studies from Concordia University, Ka Chagnon is currently pursuing a PhD in semiology at UQÀM, in which they examine the power dynamics at work in the colonialist context of translation in Canada. Ka’s specialties include the arts, humanities, Indigenous issues and 2SLGBTQ+ realities. They believe that translation plays an undeniable role in social justice movements and, in their free time, they enjoy translating poetry from under-represented voices in Quebec’s cultural landscape. Ka’s work can be found in Estuaire, Intermédialités, TTR, Circuit, Captures, Spirale and Trahir.

Amie has been working in cooperatives and in translation since 2014, so she jumped at the chance to join Argot’s founding committee in 2018. Her studies at Université de Montréal’s translation department and experience as Store Coordinator and member of the Board of Directors at the Coopérative la Maison Verte have both come in handy in her time with Argot. A self-avowed nerd of all trades, Amie has assimilated terminology from a wide range of fields, from the culinary arts to administration, agriculture, feminist movements and film. She can be found under a large pair of headphones subtitling a film, translating press releases or books of poetry, or popping on her Math Witch hat and delighting in a new Excel formula.

In addition to being a founding member of Argot, Amelia is a mother of two young children, a conference interpreter, translator and video subtitler with a specialization in Hispanic literature and FR<>SPA translation. She has over 10 years of experience in translation and interpretation, during which she has honed a robust expertise in the fields of sociopolitical issues, land defense and social struggles in contemporary Latin America. She has worked with dozens of organizations specialized in labour rights, international solidarity and the defense of human rights. Over the course of enriching collaborations, Amelia has fine-tuned her lexicons related to mining, oil and hydroelectric extractivism, free trade agreements, land protection and social justice. Following the call of her Chilean and Québécois roots, Amelia is an avid traveler. She loves being dazzled by nature on family hikes and will never hesitate to pick up a megaphone and defend the causes close to her heart.

Having worked for many years in tenant advocacy, human rights and community mobilization, Danielle is one of our ENG-FR conference interpreters. Originally from Alberta, she has lived in Montreal for over 15 years. During this time she has contributed to a number of tenant rights’ campaigns and has worked in solidarity with people with low incomes. Behind the mic, Danielle is comfortable working with specialized lexicons, including language pertaining to sociology and critical theory, and her sharp analysis of social issues greatly benefits her clientele. Danielle joined Argot in July 2021, ready to support the team with her extensive experience in horizontal work and community mobilization. In her free time, Danielle likes to spend time with friends, ride her bike and go to punk shows.

Fannie is a translator, conference interpreter and project manager for social economy projects. She also defines herself as feminist, queer and anarchist and sympathizes with all movements for the liberation of peoples, individuals and all other forms of life. In almost 10 years of experience in ENG-FR translation and simultaneous conference interpretation, Fannie has been able to combine her language training, political science studies and activist experience to translate the discourses and concepts of contemporary social justice struggles and movements. With a particular focus on gender-based violence and decolonial work, she has been working with numerous feminist, anti-colonial, labour and community organizations for several years. When she's not perusing dictionaries, you can find Fannie out exploring the natural environment of the Bas Saint-Laurent, where she's lived since 2020.

After years spent translating the Quebec student movement, Gene returned to Concordia University to complete a Graduate Diploma in Translation in 2017. He has since provided interpretation and translation services for an immense diversity of clients, ranging from grassroots community organizations to universities and international research chairs. Yet for each client, his approach remains rooted in the importance of faithfully conveying the intentions and context of each speaker and ensuring that their message is fully intelligible to its target audience. Gene has developed specializations in the fields of education, the social sciences, social justice and Indigenous realities. He currently lives outside Montréal, nestled in the woods of the Laurentians with his family and his bees.

Gwen is Argot’s right hand and first line of contact, here to answer your emails and project requests! Originally from France, our organizational wiz has adopted Quebec as her base, although she has travelled extensively—both geographically and professionally. Whether a bookseller, English teacher, kite consultant, relocation officer, entrepreneur or stay-at-home parent, her unconventional journey has given her all the skills she needs to effectively manage daily operations at Argot. Her knowledge also extends to the community sectors, where she was a support worker in harm reduction, CPE administrator, and co-founder of neighbourhood co-op bookstore, La Livrerie. Sensitive to feminist, social and environmental issues, as a woman with autism, she is particularly interested in questions around discrimination. When she’s not busy reading her fifteenth book of the week or propagating her plants, you can find her dreaming in a forest where she’ll (very soon) be building her own little cabin.