Picture credit: Melanie Mark
Statement on MLA Melanie Mark’s Resignation from the BC Legislature
Feminists Deliver is extremely saddened to know that Melanie Mark, the first First Nations woman to serve in the British Columbia Legislature and as a cabinet minister, has resigned.
Feminists Deliver stands with Melanie Mark in solidarity and celebrates her speaking truth to power. She, and other Indigenous women politicians, are paving the way for more powerful and courageous Indigenous women to run for office.
Member organizations’ highlights
Coalition calls on BC government for pay equity legislation
In an open letter addressed to Premier David Eby and key cabinet ministers, the coalition – led by our member organization, West Coast LEAF – reminded the government that a system of pay equity — not pay transparency — is what will close the gender pay gap in BC.
Women and people who are marginalized because of their gender, race, and ability are being systematically underpaid for work of equal value.
Lack of BC Budget Action on Gender-Based Violence
Our member organization, Battered Women’s Support Services, is reacting to the BC Budget 2023 announcement.
For five consecutive years, rates of reported family violence and intimate partner violence have been increasing across Canada, with 8 in 10 victims of IPV being women and girls.
But the BC Budget makes no mention of this crisis, and zero funding is allocated to anti-violence services.
Upcoming Events
Prison Reform + Picturing Abolition
Co-hosted by Mercedes Eng and Cecily Nicholson, this event features Cassandra Blanchard, Magín Payet, jaye simpson, and Harsha Walia. Together, they will talk and think through radical reform, transformative justice, the expansion of the carceral state, and the possibility of abolition.
Date: Sat, Mar 25 2023
Time: 1:00 – 3:00pm PDT
Location: NEC Native Education College 285 East 5th Avenue Vancouver
Peer-Led Intervention Work to Promote Dignity
UBC’s Transformative Health and Justice Cluster (THJRC) is hosting a public dialogue event centered around the importance of peer-led work.
This event will bring together persons with lived experience of incarceration and allies who are working towards peer-led intervention work for people incarcerated and post-incarceration through peer-led in-depth personal support, health mentorship and systems navigation.
Date: Thu, Mar 30 2023
Time: 7:00 – 9:00pm PDT
Location: Robson Square- Theatre Room 800 Robson Street Vancouver
Speaking the Unspeakable: Black Migration, Living Transformations
Join Massy Arts Society, Massy Books and the Beaumont Studios for Speaking the Unspeakable: Black Migration, Living Transformations, an evening of conversation in celebration of Suzette Mayr’s new award-winning book The Sleeping Car Porter.
In conversation with Wayde Compton, author of The Blue Road, the two will speak on the topic of unspeakable histories – unspeakable in how racism in the razing of Hogan’s Alley was guised under “urban renewal” and in the ways Black queerness was untold and hidden from our past.
Date: Wed, Apr 19 2023
Time: 7.00 PDT
Location: The Beaumont Studios 326 West 5th Avenue Vancouver
Special Focus
March 15th marks International Day Against Police Brutality.
This month, there will be events and programming in solidarity with #JusticeForJared and all families impacted by police violence and murder.
#JusticeForJared is a campaign led by Laura Holland (Wet’suwet’en, Laksilyu Clan) and her family, who have been calling for ongoing attention and systemic change since Jared Lowndes was killed by the Campbell River RCMP 20 months ago.
On this day, Honour Their Names Volume II will open at Gallery Gachet. Pivot Legal Society is supporting this show and the work of #JusticeForJared.
Honour Their Names pays tribute to over 100 Indigenous people shot and killed by police across Canada, including several people killed by local police forces. Several families impacted by police violence and murder will also be travelling to Vancouver to participate in the show.
Honour Their Names – Opens on the International Day Against Police Brutality
Date: Wednesday March 15, 2023
Time: 11:00 AM
Location: Gallery Gachet, 9 W Hastings St, Vancouver
Exhibit closes on Friday March 24
Learning Centre
Picture credit: Pixabay
Education and the carceral state
An increased police presence in educational settings does not necessarily equate to a greater sense of security, especially for those students who are Indigenous, Black, or poor.
Picture credit: Pixabay
Why it Matters that Bedford is Black: Misogynoir and Sex Work in Canada
Colloquially known as the “Bedford case”, this iconic lawsuit overturned Canada’s backward sex work laws in 2013.
Jobs
Accountant – Aunt Leah’s Place
Multiple Positions – Atira Women’s Resource Society
Manager, Partnerships and Community Engagement – Hogan’s Alley Society
Women’s Support Worker – Ishtar Women’s Resource Society
Articling Student – Kamloops E Fry
Financial Manager – Options for Sexual Health
Childcare worker – Pacific Association of First Nations Women
Indigenous Women’s Project Coordinator – Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre
Multiple Positions – Pacific Immigrant Resources Society
Casual Relief Cook – RainCity Housing
Program Coordinator – Vancouver Women’s Health Collective
Multiple Positions – Victoria Women’s Transition House Society
Sexual Assault Counsellor – WAVAW Rape Crisis Centre
Case Manager – YWCA Metro Vancouver
