2023 Speakers Lineup & Biographies:
The IWD March was held at at the šxʷƛ̓ənəq Xwtl'e7énḵ Square (Vancouver Art Gallery, North Plaza) on March 5th, 2023. The event garnered great community support as participants listened to the following panel of speakers. After these speeches, we joined together to march around the Vancouver Art Gallery.
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Elder Shane Pointe, Cultural Advisor and Elder in Residence
Shane Pointe, Hopokeltun, is a proud Knowledge Keeper who belongs to the land of Musqueam. As an artist, teacher, cultural mentor and a proud community member he shares his culture with a generous heart and deep wisdom. Uncle Shane brings warmth, gentleness and generosity to all his interactions. Jaylene Tyme, Artiste/Performer/Advocate Jaylene McRae is a proud Two-Spirit, sober Indigenous Trans woman and leader within the LGBTQ2S+ and recovery community. A Sixties Scoop survivor- Jaylene was raised by settlers, but her Indigenous family roots are in Treaty 4 - Zagime Anishinabek First Nation, Kawacatoose First Nation and Métis Nation, Green Lake Saskatchewan. Jaylene holds the title of Elder Princess 27 of the Greater Vancouver Native Cultural Society, Empress 35 of Vancouver BC and is presently a Canadian representative as a Chairperson of the International Court Council. Jaylene also contributes weekly to Indigenous healing ceremony for the Two-Spirit population of Federal Justice System Corrections and is an invited voice for Canadian Government trainings on diversity, inclusion and reconciliation. She believes that it is important to celebrate the power of community by contributing to the energy of our world with passion, integrity and positivity. Together with each other, we have the opportunity to inspire and educate. Our identities, beautifully diverse and wonderfully unique. Dr. Lauryn Oates, CW4WA Lauryn Oates works to achieve social change and empowerment through equitable access to high quality education, focusing on those to whom the right to education is denied. She is currently Executive Director of Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan, which was founded in 1998 to advance the human right to education and make educational opportunities accessible to women and girls in Afghanistan. Their award-winning programs include Afghanistan's first and only open educational resource (OER) initiative, the Darakht-e Danesh Library, winner of a presidential citation from the American Library Association and the successful adult literacy education program Afghanistan Lowalee (Afghanistan Reads), recognized as a Literacy Best Practice honouree by the United States Library of Congress, among many others. She is also an Adjunct Professor at UBC, and teaches graduate students in the School of Humanitarian Studies at Royal Roads University. She has also worked as a consultant with UNICEF, the World University Service of Canada, Global Rights, the Nike Foundation, Action Aid, USAID, and Womankind Worldwide, among others. She holds a BA Honours in International Development Studies from McGill University, a MA in Human Security and Peace building from Royal Roads University, and a PhD in Language and Literacy Education from the University of British Columbia. She’s the recipient of a Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal awarded by the province of BC. Lauryn will make the case for the necessity and value of solidarity with women and girls in Afghanistan at this time, and sound a call to action for students, educators and Canadians at large to be part of practical measures to restore the human right to education for the women and girls of Afghanistan. Sahar Maqsoodi, Human Rights Activist & Writer Sahar Maqsoodi is a human rights activist, writer, and an American University of Afghanistan student. She is also a storytelling award winner from Girl Up, a global movement that works to advance gender equality and empower girls. She is currently working with Girls Toward leadership, a nonprofit organization in Afghanistan that promotes women's empowerment through educational and mental health programs. With a deep-rooted belief in the power of education to empower marginalized communities, she is involved in several human rights initiatives focused on increasing access to education for girls and women Humira Saqib, Journalist & Director of the Afghan Women’s News Agency Humaira Saqib is a journalist and prominent human rights activist with a strong commitment to social justice, gender equality, peace, and freedom of speech. With over a decade of experience in the field, Humaira is widely recognized for her exceptional work in advocating for women's rights and raising awareness on critical social issues. She is the Director of the Afghan Women's News Agency, which she established in 2009 as the first women's news agency in Afghanistan. Her agency focuses on publishing women's news, advocacy, capacity-building, and awareness-raising. Throughout her career, Humaira has held several leadership positions in the civil society sector, including Chairperson of the Afghan Women Network in Urban Governance, Founder of the International Monitoring Network for Human Rights, and Chairperson of the Afghan Civil Society Joint Working Group. She has also conducted essential research, including a study on the role of women in parliamentary and presidential elections with the Women's Regional Network (WRN). Ms. Saqib holds a Prehension of honorary certificates in Finance and Business from Northwood University in America and graduated from Kabul University. In 2011, she was chosen as one of the twenty-five visionaries who change the world by UTNE Reader. She has received numerous awards for her exceptional performance regarding human and women's rights, including the Successful Women Festival and the Influential Lady of the Society by the White Movement. Ms. Saqib is highly motivated to effect policy change and has participated in numerous national and international conferences to further this goal. Nazanin Moghadami, Hiwa collective Nazanin Moghadami is a Kurdish, Iranian-Canadian activist, community organizer and clinical counsellor working in Vancouver, BC. Her passion involves labour rights, queer rights, women's rights, Indigenous sovereignty and creating police-free societies. Most recently, she has been organizing and collaborating with local and international groups in support of the revolution in Iran. Leslie Kemp, Socialist Alternative Leslie Kemp is the women's organizer for Socialist Alternative Canada. She has been a lifelong activist. She was the key organizer of an activist school in BC in the 1990s: the Community Development Institute. From 2012-2015 she coordinated a program for Inuit school community councillors working in schools across Nunavut. She has also worked on the board of the Community Arts Council, who was engaged in community arts in the downtown Eastside. Dr. Jen Marchbank, SFU Professor Jen has taught at eight universities in four countries and has been at SFU since 2005. She has always been active in her communities and this is reflected in her research projects. She started working with girls from areas of deprivation whilst completing her PhD and still continues to do volunteer youth work with the LGBTQ2SIA+ youth activist and education group Youth for A Change. Based at SFU Surrey she is also involved in a number of community organisations in Surrey and beyond. She is the holder of a University Excellence in Teaching Award. Her current research is queer elder abuse. Joyce Arthur, ARCC Joyce Arthur is the founder and Executive Director of Canada's national pro-choice group, the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada (ARCC), which protects the legal right to abortion on request. Joyce is going to tell you about the state of abortion rights and access in Canada and how you can help defend reproductive rights. Kelly Go, SWAN Go is a Chinese settler currently working and living on the stolen, ancestral lands of the Musqueam, Squamish & Tsleil-Waututh Nations. I am working as the Program manager at SWAN. SWAN is an organization that promotes the rights, health and safety of immigrant women engaged in sex work. Solidarity Notes Solidarity Notes Labour Choir is a group of activists who know that music is more than pleasurable sound. It’s a powerful language to educate and connect us and remind us of our strength and history. We find consistently that when we sing, people's sense of hope is reinforced, and their resolve is strengthened. Everyone is welcome, there's no audition, and no obligation to pay (though we do accept voluntary dues). We are ordinary people who like to sing and contribute to social change. Event Photography: Colin Marshall, Your Story Agency |
Elder Shane
Jaylene Tyme
Lauryn Oates and Sahar Maqsoodi
Crowd Pictured
Children Making Signs
2023 March
March 2023
IWD 2023 Commitee
March 2023
March Attendee
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