About Us

Welcome to What The Fur, Quebec's only full furry convention. What is What The Fur? Why the name? those are all excellent questions.

What The Fur was started as an idea following the end of the C-ACE conventions in Ottawa. Some of the staff of the convention, and some of the long-time attending folks didn't want the good times to end. So the thought came that a new convention should be formed. A convention that focussed more on the Furry side of things than C-ACE had. And thus was born WTF?. It has taken a few years, and quite a lot of work, but here we are.

With the hard work of a very dedicated volunteer staff, we try and give the best convention experience to our attendees. From educational workshops on costume building, writing, and art styles, to fun and games.

What is "Furry"?

Anthropomorphic or “humanized” animals have been with us since the dawn of civilization. From the gods of ancient Egypt to the advertising icons of the modern day, people of every culture have created fanciful creatures simply by imbuing animals with human traits. Only within the last two decades has anthropomorphic or “Furry” fandom been recognized as a distinct fan-base in its own right. Fans are found in all corners of the world, and come from all races and ages and creeds. We are bound together across the most daunting barriers by our mutual admiration for these beasts of myth and legend who, by simple reflection, give us a better window into ourselves.

A large number of anthropomorphics fans are employed in scientific or technical fields. A significant percentage have college and university degrees. This, perhaps, is what leads many casual observers to raise an eyebrow. “Why would someone like this be into cartoon animals? Isn’t that unusual?” If we look at the world around us, however, we will see that anthropomorphized animals are an integral part of our culture. We use them to represent our political parties. We talk to our dogs (and some even imagine they talk back, though in their own way). We put a tiger in our tank. We cheer for mascots—anthropomorphic animals dressed in team uniforms—at our favorite sporting events. Our casual observer may simply be unaware that it is only in the last forty years that cartoons and cartoon animals have been relegated to the world of children. Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and their ilk were once targeted primarily to an adult audience, their productions filled with innuendo and biting political satire. Fans of anthropomorphics today simply have not forgotten those roots. The average Furry fan is cast from the same mold as the science fiction or sword-and-sorcery fan; all of us imagine strange and thrilling worlds and try to picture ourselves living in those worlds.

Today, Furry fandom is instead an artistic and literary genre that is practiced and enjoyed by tens of thousands worldwide. We count among our ranks professional sports mascots, animators, cartoonists, puppeteers, artists, illustrators, and writers, as well as those who simply think that it would be a wonderful thing if animals could walk or talk like we do. If you as an adult still occasionally like to flip to the old cartoons, or have a stuffed animal sitting on the dashboard of your car, or buy cereal because it has a cool tiger on the box, you may well enjoy what our fandom has to offer. We invite you to visit any one of our many gatherings worldwide to see for yourself what Furry fandom is really all about.

What the fur offers not only a dealers area, where both amateur and professional artists sell and show their artwork, but we also offer an Art Show Gallery, showcasing the best of the artwork from our artists and guests.

What The Fur provides for a smaller, more cozy convention experience. Where some convention attendance levels range in the thousands, we differentiate ourselves by having a smaller gathering. This is a place where you can attend and talk with friends, make new friends, go and see the sights, or just hang out and play some games.

In 2010, WTF? had an attendance of 228, with roughly 21 fursuiters. 2011 saw 221 people, 32 of which participated in our outdoor parade. In 2012, 282 people attended, in 2013 292, and in 2014 303 came to WTF making it our largest so far.

What The Fur also supports a charity, the Ecomuseum located in the western part of the island of Montreal. This is another place in which our attendees prove that they are generous, having raised thousands of dollars for the Ecomuseum. To learn a little more, visit our Charity page.

So what exactly is What The Fur? We're possibly the best furry convention in North America. We're not too busy, not too relaxed. We have a little bit of something for everyone.

All Images used with permission of their respective owners