Currently 3 active open calls open to applicants in Canada, across AI, arts, film, journalism, research, tech and cross-disciplinary practice. Hand-curated and updated weekly. Almost every entry is funded; a few notable unpaid open calls and festival submissions are included as clearly flagged exceptions. Browse the list below, or use the interactive desk for filtering and shortlisting.
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image+nation, Canada's oldest LGBTQ+ film festival, accepts international submissions for its 39th edition in Montreal. Deadline 15 September 2026 via FilmFreeway.
Briarpatch, the Canadian magazine of grassroots politics, dedicates its Winter 2027 issue to AI Resistance and is paying for articles, investigative reporting, historical analysis, photo essays, timelines, profiles, reading lists and art. SUGGESTED ANGLES include Indigenous-led and local resistance to data centres, exploitation and outsourcing of labour in LLM training, AI's impact on work and union resistance, data mining and data sovereignty, environmental and climate impacts, artists and AI (crisis of creativity and ownership), the language and inevitability narratives of AI, policing and the surveillance state, AI and disinformation, and investigations into Big Tech lobbying and media influence in Canada. PITCH: outline what ground your contribution covers, estimated word count, and your relevant experience; first-time Briarpatch writers should add a brief writing sample. Send to pitch [at] briarpatchmagazine.com. Accepted first drafts are due 14 October 2026 with collaborative editing until late November; publication is not guaranteed. No pitch fee. Deadline 18 September 2026.
Sheer Spite Press, a Montreal-based independent press running since 2024, is open for submissions of zines to be distributed digitally as PDFs through its new digital distro (no print at this time). PRIORITIZING work that is long, text-centric, passionate, personal, anti-authoritarian and accessible (probably not poetry), on topics like community care, friendship, history, food, sex and kink, memoir, DIY and adventures. TERMS: the press sells your PDFs, you choose your own pricing and keep up to 80 percent of sales, paid quarterly (very modest sums expected); distribution is non-exclusive, so you can keep selling your zines anywhere else. Note this is a revenue-share distribution arrangement, not a grant or stipend. Submit via the CryptPad form linked from the call; questions to lee@sheerspite.ca. No submission fee. Open until 31 December 2026.