2024 - INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY MARCH VANCOUVER

2024 Speakers Lineup & Biographies:

The IWD March was held at at the šxʷƛ̓ənəq Xwtl'e7énḵ Square (Vancouver Art Gallery, North Plaza) on March 3rd, 2024. 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. Our theme for this year was Inspire Inclusion.

SOLIDARITY NOTES
Formed in the year 2000, Solidarity Notes 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. Throughout history, struggles for labour and human rights have produced music that inspires and reconnects us to hope and possibility.

Our repertoire consists of songs of social justice and solidarity, dating from past centuries to the present. The songs balance a sense of history with a desire to sing and inspire the movements of today. We look around the world for inspiration – usually singing in English but a variety of other languages too. We perform on picket lines, at rallies, conventions, conferences, memorials, and benefits – wherever our music can contribute to social progress. Our choir is open to everyone, does not have auditions, and survives on voluntary dues.

VOICES FOR HOPE
The Voices for Hope Foundation is a local non-profit guided by award-winning mental health activists Rabiah Dhaliwal and Gunreet Sethi. The organization aims to elevate the voices of BIPOC, 2SLGBTQI+, and other marginalised communities while challenging the stigma surrounding mental health through advocacy and educational initiatives, such as campaigns, workshops, and community projects, in an effort to foster hope and mental wellbeing.

EVELYN HUNTJENS, DAWN CANADA
Evelyn Huntjens joined DAWN Canada as their Director of Indigenous Initiatives to lead the organization with amplifying the voices of Indigenous women, girls and gender-diver people living with disabilities. She also continues to work as the Program Coordinator for Indigenous Disability Canada (IDC/BCANDS), where she has worked since 2016. Evelyn brings over seven years of leadership experience within the Indigenous disability sector, with a focus on coordinating and developing peer support navigation services for Indigenous persons living with disabilities.

Evelyn is First Nations and resides on Vancouver Island, BC. Since 2003, she has lived within the ancestral territory of the Quw’utsun First Nation. Evelyn Huntjens is a member of the Xeni Gwet’in –Tsilhqot’in People of the Nemiah Nation located in the heart of B.C., and she has ancestry from the Montreal Lake Cree First Nation in Saskatchewan.

BUTTERFLIES IN SPIRIT
Butterflies in Spirit is a dance group made up of Indigenous women, girls and 2S who dance hip hop, contemporary and decolonial Indigenous dance for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Girls and Two-Spirit people. Lorelei Williams the founder of Butterflies in Spirit, dances to raise awareness of her Aunt Belinda Williams who went missing in 1978 and has never been found, and for her cousin Tanya Holyk who was murdered in 1996 by Robert Pickton, and for women and girls who have suffered abuse and violence.

The members of Butterflies in Spirit are survivors and family members of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. Our dancers, choreographers and musicians are Indigenous artists who work diligently and tirelessly through community advocacy, dance, music, and art to highlight the injustices Indigenous communities face daily.

Butterflies in Spirit’s first performance was on April 30, 2012, during the Missing Women’s Commission Inquiry, and as part of this performance, with the community, they shut down a major Vancouver intersection to bring awareness to the issue of MMIWG2S. Our performance consists of all original decolonial compositions specifically created to bring awareness of MMIWG2S, empowering Indigenous women to stand up and speak their truth – violence needs to end for women and girls around the world.

DIANA DAY, INDIGENOUS WOMEN RISE SOCIETY
Diana Day is an Indigenous knowledge keeper from the Oneida of the Thames; a member of the Wolf Clan she has lived in Vancouver since the 80’s. Passionate about social
justice issues that impact the health and welfare of the most vulnerable, Diana has an honours degree in Psychology and is the founder of Indigenous Women Rise Drum Group and the Indigenous Women Rise Society.

Her experience includes assignments at the local, regional, provincial, and national levels ranging from program development to management. Diana worked with the Pacific Association of First Nations Women (PAFNW) and established the Cree and Ojibway language program serving over 400 students among many other programs and services. Prior to her work with PAFNW she was Leader of Indigenous community development and engagement with Vancouver Coastal Health. She helped build capacity in the region for over 10 years. Earlier in her career she worked with the BC Association of Aboriginal Friendship Centres and the National Association of Friendship Centres.

Diana has provided personal and professional development training for Indigenous people in Canada and the USA since the 90’s. She is also member of the Sister Watch Committee of the Vancouver Police Department, a member of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women’s Coalition and a member of the Women’s Memorial March Committee. Diana provides training and cultural advice to many organizations. As Co-chair of KasloCAN, she provides Truth and Allyship Training for community members.

Diana is currently employed as Reconciliation Planner II with Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation. Her most important role is mothering her two young adult children
Alexander and Angeline.
Folks can follow her on Twitter @dianadaydream

INDIGENOUS WOMEN RISE DRUM GROUP
The Indigenous Women Rise Drum Group is proud to represent Indigenous women from across Turtle Island and we are honoured to share good medicine with community through the drum and song. Our group has been meeting together since the summer of 2018 in Vancouver. We start with a sharing circle and sharing of songs and ends with a prayer. In 2019 we started performing at various events including the Surrey Children’s Festival, Fusion Festival, National Indigenous Peoples Day, Anvil Centre and more! The women who attend our circle have expressed that the drumming and singing is very healing and good medicine. Some have found their voice and attribute that to the drum circle medicine.

The Indigenous nations represented are: Stolo, Mohawk, Lenape, Saulteaux, Ojibway Peguis, Sagkeeng, Snuneymuxw, Wetsiwiten, Metis, Anishinaabe, Nadleh Whut’en, Squamish, Tla’amin and Oneida to name a few. Members reside across Turtle Island from Arizona to Ontario meeting online Zoom the 2nd Wednesday of each month. Members residing in the Lower Mainland of Vancouver join us in person the last Wednesday of each. We welcome First Nations, Metis, and Inuit women to join us on our healing journey lifting one another up and sharing our medicine with each other.

JAYLENE TYME
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.

DANIA, YOUTH FOR PALESTINE
Dania is an executive from Youth for Palestine Vancouver and is a Palestinian women and scientist who spends her free time advocating for social justice. Youth for Palestine Vancouver is a social youth group who are dedicated to connecting youth and supporting marginalized Indigenous communities in Canada and Palestine.

Event Photography: Colin Marshall, Your Story Agency