Salah Bachir

Salah Bachir is an extraordinarily flamboyant Canadian media trailblazer, corporate executive, world-class art patron, and internationally celebrated philanthropist whose flamboyant personal style and monumental fundraising have shaped the cultural fabric of modern Canada. Born in Lebanon and immigrating to Canada in 1965, Bachir launched his entrepreneurial trajectory in publishing, establishing Canada's pioneer consumer home video magazine, Videomania, and the dominant trade publication Premiere. He orchestrated immense corporate influence during his sixteen-year tenure as President of Cineplex Media, overseeing Cineplex Magazine—which grew into the nation's most-read publication with over four million readers per issue—while co-founding the massively successful Scene loyalty rewards program and negotiating major naming rights with Scotiabank. A passionate standard-bearer for Canadian creativity and LGBTQ+ advocacy, Bachir was inducted into the Canadian Film and Television Hall of Fame and served as the fourth Chancellor of OCAD University from 2017 to 2021. Affectionately known as "Gala Salah" within elite charitable sectors, he has chaired or co-chaired over 100 high-profile benefit galas, raising hundreds of millions of dollars for healthcare, human rights, and the arts, resulting in his appointments to both the Order of Canada and the Order of Ontario. He fused his storied corporate legacy and high-society connections into his critically acclaimed, national bestselling memoir co-authored with Jami Bernard, First to Leave the Party: My Life with Ordinary People... Who Happen to be Famous, a vivid work notable for being the first major book to proudly print personal pronouns directly on its front cover. Moving through 2025 and 2026, Bachir has expanded his cultural dominion via his multimedia production house, Phamous Characters. Throughout 2026, he remains at the vanguard of public arts curation and activist lecturing, deploying selections from his legendary 2,000-piece contemporary Canadian art collection to orchestrate high-stakes fundraising exhibitions for the LGBTQ+ rights division at Human Rights Watch and critical care hospitals across Toronto.