Lyla Miklos 2025 Hamilton Arts Award Nominee Credit: Banko Creative Studio
Lyla Miklos is a multiple award-winning queer feminist labour activist, broadcast journalist, community organizer, education worker, publicist, vocalist and writer.
She has been named Hamilton’s Woman of the Year in Communications (2003), Mohawk College Alumni of Distinction – Creative Arts & Design (2003), Hamilton’s Pride Citizen of the Year (2007) and Hamilton’s Independent Media Arts & Culture Journalist (2016).
A Mohawk College media studies graduate, Lyla has been the host and producer of the radio show, Centre Stage, for over 25 years. She is the owner of Lyla — The Publicist and her wealth of media experience include roles with 101.5 FM, 933 CFMU, Alliance Atlantis, CHUM Television, Vision TV, The Aboriginal Peoples Television Network, Y95, CHML, Cable 14, and The Hamilton Spectator.
Lyla was President of Mohawk Pride, Mohawk College’s first official club for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer students. Lyla continued her Two Spirit and LGBTQIA+ activism as the Chair of the City of Hamilton’s LGBTQ Advisory Committee, Chair of Hamilton Pride, Staff Advisor for Parkside High School’s GSA Club, Staff Advisor for Westdale Secondary School’s Positive Space Club, Member of Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board’s Positive Space Committee and Ontario Secondary School Teacher’s Federation representative for the Ontario Federation of Labour’s Solidarity and Pride Committee. She was also a support group facilitator for the Toronto Bisexual Network, Bisexual Women of Toronto, and the Hamilton Bisexual Network and was a volunteer for the Toronto Women’s Bathhouse Committee.
An accomplished vocalist, Lyla has belted out O Canada at sporting events, recorded in studio with local area musicians, performed numerous musical theatre roles, added her voice to several choirs, and has showcased her unique vocal talents as a soloist in countless venues throughout Southern Ontario.
Lyla has been a board, committee or elected member of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation, Hamilton Status of Women Committee, Elect More Women, Strengthening Hamilton’s Community Initiative, Arts Hamilton, Communication Energy and Paperworkers Union, Hamilton Independent Media Awards, Hamilton Theatre Inc., NDP Riding Associations, The First Unitarian Church of Hamilton, Mohawk Students’ Association and the Mohawk College Alumni Association.
Lyla Miklos in front of the Frobisher Inn in Iqaluit, Nunavut Credit: Lyla Miklos
We begin our conversation in Frobisher Bay, Baffin Island, Northwest Territories – now known as Iqaluit, Nunavut – where Lyla was born and spent her formative years before moving to the artists’ haven of Southern Ontario affectionately known as the Hammer. In 2024, Lyla returned to Iqaluit after more than 30 years and shares with Small Change listeners if it’s true that you really can go home again. To find out how the trip went, check out Lyla’s article for the Nunatsiaq News.
2016 Hamilton Independent Media Awards/Maggie recipients. L to R: Two representatives for Sherman Hub (Best Media Outlet), Don McLean (Lifetime Achievement), Joey Coleman (Best Journalist-Politics), Lyla Miklos (Best Journalist-Arts & Culture), Doreen Nicoll (Best Journalist-Social Justice & Human Rights), Dakota Lanktree & Zena Hagerty (Best Journalist(s)-Environment). Credit: Marty Edwards @DMCMarty.
I met Lyla in November 2016 when she won a coveted Hamilton Independent Media Award – affectionately known as a Maggie – for Best Journalist-Arts & Culture and I won a Maggie for Best Journalist-Social Justice & Human Rights. After that, I was seeing, and hearing, Lyla everywhere!
Lyla Miklos host of Centre Stage at 101.5 FM The Hawk radio station Credit: Lyla Miklos
Lyla shares some of her most memorable interviews beginning with her radio show Centre Stage on 101.5 FM The Hawk which, to quote Lyla’s acceptance speech from the Maggie’s, “Has afforded me the opportunity to pursue two of my deepest passions: Broadway Musicals and listening to the sound of my own voice.”
Lyla has perform as the half-time entertainment for Six-Minute Memoirs; at Noon Hour Concerts at Hamilton Public Library; at too many holiday concerts to list here; and performed one-woman shows for both her fortieth and fiftieth birthdays. Her musical canon covers everyone from Lorenna McKennitt, Annie Lennox, Beyonce, Mavis Staples and Nina Simone to Tracey Chapman, U2 and Coldplay.
Lyla Miklos as Marilla Cuthbert (green skirt) in Hamilton Theatre Inc’s 2026 production, Anne of Green Gables Credit: Kasey Bridges Photography
Theatre critic, Gary Smith said, “She sings with the power and pain of Judy Garland, the sophistication of Barbra Streisand and the humour and warmth of Judy Holliday.“
More recently, in a review of Hamilton Theatre Inc’s production of Anne of Green Gables: The Musical, Amanda Costy-Nesbitt from Steel City Reviews said, “Lyla Miklos is divine as no-nonsense Marilla Cuthbert . . . Miklos’ powerful soprano is truly something to behold.”
We deconstruct when Lyla realized that she wanted to be a singer and what drives her to perform.
Lyla Miklos, Black Lives Matter Credit: Don Bragg
Lyla is also extremely active in Hamilton’s political arena. In her 2003 Hamilton West Provincial NDP nomination speech, Lyla stated:
“I have lived most of my adult life in fierce defiance of those who tell me that I can’t do this, can’t say that, can’t think this, can’t feel that or simply can’t be. I have protested as an individual and with groups against those in power who would try to suppress or oppress those who have been continually stripped of their rights. I am not afraid of going where angels fear to tread.”
Lyla also ran for Ward 1 City Councilor in 2018 and has a long history of championing 2SLGBTQIA+ rights in a city where some in the community are not always welcoming and where the police can be less than helpful.
Last August, Lyla’s op-ed in the Spectator titled, Pride has always been a protest, united her Hungarian heritage and Pride advocacy work. She wrote about the over 200,000 Hungarians who took to the streets to push back against then Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s legislation banning Pride celebrations.
Moving closer to home, we discuss whether Canadians have forgotten the lessons of the past and the hard won freedoms that are being undermined and threatened. As Lyla observes, “Freedom only comes when you fight, fight for it every day.” And, in this case, the freedom we’re discussing is freedom of expression of sexual orientation.
Lyla Miklos forth row center protesting at Hamilton Police Services Board meeting Credit: Samantha Craggs
In 2019, Pride celebrations being hosted in Gage Park were marred when white supremacists, yellow vesters, and anti-2SLGBTQIA+ protestors turned violent. The police chose not to intervene. That led to an independent review of the police response, which found: “On June 15, 2019, homophobes, white supremacists and organized agitators disrupted Hamilton Pride 2019. Their activities could reasonably have been anticipated by police, but they weren’t. As a result, the police response was inadequate — before, during and after the event. This added to the distrust of police in some circles.”
We consider whether the 2SLGBTQIA+ community of Hamilton has regained a sense of safety since that incident and if the community feels they can rely on the Hamilton police force to protect their human rights as well as their bodies.
Lyla Miklos on OSSTF float Credit: Ontario Federation of Labour
Lyla is very active in the union movement and discusses the role unions and community organizations like the Hamilton Anti-Racism Resource Centre (HARRC) can play in ensuring 2SLGBTQIA+ rights and safety as well gender equity while working to end the growing number of intersecting discriminations.
Lyla Miklos hosting The 2026 Westdale’s Oscar Party Credit: Luke Fillion
We end our conversation on a musical note with Lyla sharing with listeners where she’s performing this summer before discussing why robustly funded public education matters.
Find Lyla Miklos’ official website here.
Catch Lyla Miklos accompanied on piano by Juanita Maldonado at the Central Branch of Hamilton Public Library, 55 York Blvd. on August 14 from noon to 1 pm. They will be sharing queer anthems throughout the decades that celebrate our Rainbow Community and stories from our collective queer history.
Find a listing of Pride events happening across the province from May through September on the Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) site.
Pride Hamilton 2026, happening August 21 to 23 at Pier 4, celebrates the theme, We Belong.
Thanks to everyone who read today’s article and listened to my podcast. With your financial support, a little Nicoll can make a lot of change.
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Music: Real Estate by UNIVERSFIELD is licensed under a Attribution 4.0 International License. freemusicarchive.org.
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