We last spoke with Christepher Wee in February, shortly after he won Mr. Gay Canada.

Since, then Christepher has continued to focus on his activism, using his new title as a platform to reach a larger audience.

And reach he has! Christepher has been involved in Pride events across the country, from World Pride in Toronto to Jasper, and was a keynote speaker at Surrey’s Pride in July.

But it’s not all parties and parades: Christepher now serves as an ambassador for Rainbow Refugee Canada and the Men’s Heath Initiative. He’s also a resource for the Gay Straight Alliance and has been officially adopted by the Two Spirit First Nations community who have named him Sage Niis Miou.

Christepher sat down to chat with Sad Mag about the upcoming Mr. Gay World competition in Rome, Italy where he will be competing on the world stage.

Sad Mag: How was your Pride?

Mr. Gay Canada, Christepher Wee: It was excellent. I’ve been going to Pride since the end of March! Vancouver Pride was at the beginning of August and prior to that I was at Surrey Pride. I got back from World Pride in Toronto just the night before. It’s always great to be home.

SM: What’s your favourite thing about Pride events?

CW: All the community events. The family picnics and the seniors’ days—in Vancouver, we had Aging with Pride, the Pride Picnic at Brockton Oval, and the Pride Run and Walk. I don’t go to the party events at night so much. I may drop in for an hour or so, but I really love the community events. That’s when you get to talk to people, interact with people.

SM: What do you think is still important about Pride? It’s been around a long time—what is it that makes it relevant to us now?

CW: I think they’re still very relevant and important for a few reasons. There’s still a long ways to go in terms of equality so we need to keep at it and be visible and vocal.

Pride events are also a time to remember our ancestors, what they did and what they went through to get where we are today. There’s an element of remembrance.

It’s also a celebration of all the victories we’ve achieved this year. In Vancouver, we had the Parks Board initiative to provide gender-neutral bathrooms and the School Board’s revision of its LGBTQ policy. These things need to be celebrated with the whole community, not just the LGBTQ population but with our allies as well, who come together and join with us to show that we’re united in building a better tomorrow.

This year, Surrey City Hall refused to fly the rainbow flag so there’s a lot of work that still needs to be done. We’re not at the day where Pride Week or Pride celebration doesn’t need to happen because equality…we’re not there yet.

There’s still a long ways to go. Until everyone, everywhere can be free, I think we need to keep celebrating Pride and pushing for change.

SM: You’re headed to Mr. Gay World in Rome, Italy. What are you most excited about, heading into that competition?

CW: I think I’m most excited about meeting all of the delegates to see what kind of activism and community service actions they’re working on. I’d like to see if we can get something going globally. Imagine dozens of us from all parts of the world doing something at the same time – that could create a phenomenon!

SM: What kind of events will be happening in Rome? What will you be doing there?

CW: It’s a regular pageant so we have a lot of pageantry elements: the photoshoots, the Q&A session, the panel judging, and the talent portion. There’s also a city tour and a look at the LGBTQ services offered in the city. On the Mr. Gay World website, you can see our itinerary—it’s very detailed!

The other thing about the competition is that it gives competitors a worldwide platform to talk about what we’re doing and to bring our issues to the world press. One of the new components at the competition is a pop-speech. You’ll be given a word or topic and you’ll have a minute to talk about it. This is to see how articulate you are and how you can think on your feet.

We also write an exam when we arrive. You need to know your LGBTQ current affairs and history, and Pride history. It’s not just about your looks or how you strut your stuff on the runway.

There’s a sports element too. Last year they went to a police training camp and completed the course there. I’m quite interested to see what we’re doing this year.

We’ve already started our competition with a set of online challenges. Our first challenges was to pick an iconic place where we live and do a 60 second video, unedited and uncut, introducing our city and ourselves. I went to Stanley Park and stood where you could see Canada Place and the Vancouver skyline. We also have online quizzes and handbooks that we need to read. Our current challenge is to present a short documentary of our gay life in our city. This is great for me because I can use all of the video clips I’ve been shooting across Canada.

SM: How many countries compete at Mr. Gay World?

It’s different every year. This year there are 32, last year there were 25 so the numbers are definitely increasing. This year is the largest yet!

SM: What are you hoping for out of this competition?

CW: One, I’m hoping that the delegates can collaborate and do something globally. Even if I don’t win, that’s something I want to do. I’ve already started with my contacts in Asia, being a support for local groups. I definitely want to do something with the Mr. Gay World delegates, if possible.

I’m hoping to do really well in the compeition because of the platform the title provides. I’ve noticed that since I won the title of Mr. Gay Canada, it’s made a huge difference in terms of media coverage and profile. If you’re just Christepher Wee, well, you’re just Christepher Wee. But if you have a title behind your name, it gives you the opportunity to be a visible voice

SM: You mentioned that being Mr. Gay Canada has given you a platform, a higher profile and more media access. We talked a bit about that in the last interview. Have you found you’ve been able to more your various goals forward?

CW: Definitely! I mentioned working with Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) last time and, before I became Mr. Gay Canada, there wasn’t a lot of interest. But now that I’m Mr. Gay Canada, I’ve become a national resource on the GSA Canada website. People from all over Canada can contact me and ask me to come to their school and speak, to write something or give advice. I don’t think that would have happened if I were just Christepher Wee. Mr. Gay Canada opened the doors to that.

I’ve also been approached by organizations to act as an ambassador. I’m an ambassador for the Rainbow Refugee society. I’m proud to speak out to help our brothers and sisters who live in countries that have anti-gay laws. I try to bring attention to the plight of these refugees who flee their home countries to avoid persecution.

I’m also an ambassador for Men’s Health Initiative. They’re a Vancouver-based organization that not only focuses on HIV awareness and education but also generally on men’s health – social health, physical health, mental health. We started a campaign together to raise the visibility of minorities. When you see a lot of MHI advertisements and education materials, you only see Caucasian men. I felt that we needed to increase the visibility of other demographics. So we just started a new campaign, Vancouver Fabulous, where I’m on the poster and the post card and there’s a second version coming out in the fall. We’re also launching a Chinese website – a replica of the MHI website but in Chinese with Chinese individuals pictured on the website. Moving on from that, we’re going to look at other demographic groups that need visibility.

SM: Aside from the networking and realizing how much of a platform you have as Mr. Gay Canada, What would you say you’ve learned in this role?

CW: I don’t think I realized the magnitude of impact that I can have with this title. Originally, I wanted to use the title to do good for my community, to have a voice and be visible. I didn’t realize the impact it would have on so many people. The Facebook messages I get, the emails I get, the thank yous from people that I meet at events—it just blows me away. I didn’t anticipate having that much of an impact. I’m really grateful for that.

I’ve also learned a lot about Canada and how wonderful everyone is. I sometimes sound like a broken record on my videos because I always say how proud I am to be Canadian and how proud I am of the community here. But it’s the truth. Everywhere I’ve gone, from Jasper to Toronto, it’s amazing the response you get from people. And the way you see people treat each other is amazing too.

At the Trans Pride event this year, I met three guys from Edmonton who had come out just to be allies, to be visible allies. They’d made up a bunch of T-shirts to hand out to people. I’m planning on working with them to help them develop their business so that their T-shirts with positive slogans can become more than that. Can become an educational medium. We’re going to do something that has an educational element with the message. Hopefully, we’ll be able to get something ready for the Mr. Gay World competition.

SM: What advice would you offer to those looking to be activists?

CW: I just want to say that everyone, everywhere should pitch in where they can. It doesn’t matter what community you belong to or how you identify yourself, it’s all about the entire community working together as one community. Working together so that our children and our nieces and nephews can have a better life than ours. So if everyone can pitch in and help out wherever they can and be a voice on a daily basis for activism – you know, activism is not just about Pride once a year. It’s about daily activism work, educating your friends and parents. For every person you educate, they can turn around and educate someone else. It’s a great way to give back to your and to move forward. It can totally change what our society will look like, 5 years from now, 10 years from now, 20 years from now.

You can fol­low Chris­tepher Wee on Twit­ter (@ChristepherWee) and on Face­book. He also holds the Twit­ter han­dle @WeeChristepher as a plat­form for his hi5Diversity program.

Mr. Gay World will be crowned on August 31, 2014. You can check out the pageant’s program here. You can also vote for Christepher here – you can vote every day until August 31!