Elaine Briere is a Vancouver documentary-maker, photographer, journalist and social justice activist. Her documentary, Bitter Paradise: The Sell-Out of East Timor, won the best political documentary award at the Hot Docs Festival, North America’s preeminent documentary film showcase, in 1997. In addition to her work on East Timor, which includes a published collection of photographs (Testimony: Photographs of East Timor, Between the Lines, 2004), Briere has directed a documentary on Canadian merchant seamen, Betrayed: The Story of Canadian Merchant Seamen (1997), and has produced photo-journalism and print articles for "The Tyee", "Briarpatch", "Our Times", and other publications dedicated to labour and social justice issues. Briere’s photographs have appeared in many publications including, Carte Blanche Photography 1 (2004); The Other Mexico: The North American Triangle Completed (1996), South East Asia Tribal Groups and Ethnic Minorities (1987) and The Family of Women (1979). Her photographs have been featured in exhibits in Canada, Japan, Sweden and the United States.
The Querney family first came to Sudbury, Ontario in 1937 from Toronto, Ontario due to Ernest T. Querney's new position as Manager of the Northern Electric Company Limited. Ernest & Marjorie Querney's son Alan Querney was born November 3, 1929 in Toronto.
In 1972, Bill Muirhead, a family friend, sold his family's business (Muirhead Stationers Limited) to Alan Querney. After Alan Querney's sons graduated university, they became co-owners of the business as well. Tom Querney (trained in economics, Chartered Accountant) became the general manager, Bill Querney (McMaster, Commerce Degree) the furniture warehouse manager, and John Querney (Laurentian, Commerce Degree) the sales manager of the office furniture section. Alan Querney retired around 2002 and Tom Querney became President of Muirheads.
In May 2005, the Querney family sold Muirheads to Grand & Toy, an OfficeMax company. They became the largest commercial office products company in Northern Ontario.
In 2009, John and Bill Querney decided to leave Grand & Toy and start their own office supply business. Querney's Office Plus opened to the public at 67 Elm Street (right beside the former location of Muirheads), Sudbury, Ontario on July 19, 2010 with the grand opening celebration on October 21, 2010.