Hot Tubbin' For Justice

The Power of Integration and Scale: Driving Big Global Social Change This plenary was opened by remarks from the President of the Republic of Kenya His Excellency Hon. Uhuru Kenyatta. Kenya is focusing their policies and legislation on women's rights. He said that good leadership is drawn from the aspirations of the population and it must include all in its population. There is an economic, political and moral imperative to centre women and girls in government policy. He ran through the list of things Kenya is doing: enact the first policy to that is focused on pre and post-natal care $480 million USD investment in maternity services and child immunizations reserve 30% of all government procurement for women, youth and the disabled (in the form of credit and training) moving towards the elimination of gender-based violence and female genital mutilation "gender mainstreaming" - to lift women out of poverty, improve illiteracy levels and cure diseases to st...

The Power of Agency: Changemakers on Surviving and preventing gender-based violence Ok it was pretty cool to walk back into a plenary session at a conference to see a special video message from Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern. She's so earnest. I became aware of her when she became the first woman in New Zealand to give birth in office and then like the rest of the world, was captivated by her leadership after the Christchurch massacre.  The thing that stuck with me the most (I was starving and wolfing down a burrito while she was talking) was her statement that women have the right to be themselves in politics. That we don't have to change who we are or how we play the game. That resonated with me and how I navigate union politics in all of the roles I have in the labour movement. Now it's time for the plenary to start. This time it's not a panel discussion but a series of speakers. I really am aware how intersectional and global the sessions at ...

The Power of Now: Taking stock of where we stand and what opportunities and challenges lie ahead  The morning started off with the Honourable Maryam Monsef, our Minister of International Development and Minister for Women and Gender Equality. She's the first Afghan-Canadian elected to parliament and the first Muslim to serve in the federal cabinet. She's relatively young too. I just wish as a speaker she was as interesting as her life story. That being said, she's new, and has time to grow. I will give her props for being accessible - every time I saw her around the conference she would stop and talk to people, danced with them at culture night and at no time did I ever see her not make the time for the people who wanted to talk to her. She had a very awkward intro for the PM - she said "achieving accelerated progress in for gender equity in the moment is because we have more men with us." Uh ok, yeah sure there are lots of male allies but it's ...

The three host nations open the Women Deliver Conference - thank you to the matriarchs of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil Waututh nations. The Power of Us: Opening Plenary Katja Iversen - Women Deliver After a moving and energetic welcome by the host nations - Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil Waututh, the President and CEO of Women Deliver, Katja Iversen, welcomed everyone to Vancouver at the opening of Women Deliver 2019. She told us that there were 8000 delegates (4000+ in the room) from 165 countries. The conference delegation included 1400 young leaders from around the world and an estimated 100k people participating in satellite events around the world!  She implored us to take advantage of all of the programming options - from plenary sessions, workshops, social events, 150 exhibitor booths, power talks, digital poster sessions, virtual reality films, short films and culture night! The program was bold and intense, with the goal of creating, fostering, and sustai...

with Sarah and Shelley at the Memorial March As I continue on this incredibly unpredictable path in the labour movement, looking back on 2018 gives me some time to reflect on the past year. It was also the year of a lot of "firsts" without my dad, which is still weird. Last year, I committed to write more about the things I attend, mostly for me so I can look back and remember what happened over the course of the year. So without further ado - here was my 2018! January With members of the first AUCE 1 bargaining committee Italian Film Festival  - I saw 6 films at the IFF. It was a great way to connect me to my dad as I was getting used to life without him. I was pleasantly surprised how good the movies were. I will be attending this year's festival starting this weekend - I have 6 tickets booked this time as well. Forza Italia! City on Edge Exhibit at the Museum of Vancouver - this was an exhibit about the history of protest in the city of Vancouver. The...