Upcoming Events
Lots of Upcoming Events! Panty Drive, Memorial March for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Film Screenings, Thirdspace 2012 seeking submissions, etc!
4th Annual Memorial March for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women:
February 12th, 2012
11am - Gather for tea and coffee in front of Our Place (919 Pandora)
12pm - March to Thunderbird Park
1pm - Speeches and Refreshments
Lekwungen and WSANEC unceded Territories, VICTORIA, BC. –
The 4th Annual Memorial March for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women will be held on Sunday, February 12th, 2012. We will gather at 11:00 outside Our Place at 919 Pandora for coffee and tea. At noon we will march down Pandora towards Government and head over to Thunderbird park, stopping along the way to remember women whose spirits are still with us.
People are invited to gather at Thunderbird Park at 1pm for an open memorial event with speeches, songs, food and prayers. This is a family event and people of all ages are welcome. There will be two vans for Elders or for those requiring assistance along the way. Food and refreshments will be available at the Thunderbird Park as well as bus tickets.
The memorial march originated in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside to call attention to the disproportionately high numbers of reported missing and murdered Indigenous women in the area and has since come to represent a day for people to gather to remember, honor, and grieve for Indigenous women from local communities and across Canada who have been murdered or are still missing.
In keeping with the past few years, this march is being organized as a memorial, not a protest. Out of respect for women being remembered and their families, people are asked to come together to grieve and remember in an honorable way. Please do not bring banners, flags, or leaflets other than those focused on missing and murdered Indigenous women. People are invited to wear red or regalia and bring drums to the march; we request that you please not wear facemasks to this memorial.
email feb.14.memorialmarch@gmail .com for more information
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Film Screening of FINDING DAWN:
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Panty Drive:
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Soliciting submissions for the 2012 issue of Thirdspace!
Coat Drive
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE : GREATER VICTORIA RESIDENTS DO NOT RECEIVE LARGE COAT DRIVE THIS YEAR
Last year in Victoria a charitable program called, ”Coats for Kids”, collected and distributed 3500 coats to children and families in our community. This year, due to unforeseen circumstances, this program is unable to do so this year.
This has left a gap in access to a warm coat for many families, particularly children, who would normally get up to 120 coats donated through their school, or a Community Centre.
Beyond the many generous giving at this time of year, a coat is one of the basic needs for people and without this program it will increase the need on the existing community services, like the Food Bank.
So a group of concerned community members, unaffiliated with any charity or non-profit organization, are taking it upon themselves to fill this gap. Please help us by making a donation of coats, gloves, hats, shoes, socks or any winter or waterproof gear. Our target for this campaign to is to exceed the 3500 coats donated last year and bring awareness of this much needed program to continue no matter what happens!
Coats can be dropped off at the following places:
- Hip Baby in Market Square at Johnson Street entrance side
- Blanshard Courts Community Centre at Kings and Dallaire
- 222 Langford Street for people living in Vic West
- AVP in the basement of the Student Union Building at the University of Victoria
- VIPIRG in the Student Union Building at the University of Victoria
In urgent need of blankets, coats, hats, socks, and mitts. Accepting both adults and kids winter apparel.
Please contact for inquiries.
Email : 3500COATS@groups.facebook.com
RED UMBRELLA RALLY!:
Join sex workers and their allies in a march to say violence against sex workers must stop now! December 17th is the International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers, also known as the Red Umbrella Day. On this day, we are calling for an end to laws and unjust policing that prevent sex workers from reporting violence. These laws intersect with sexism, racism, and classism to perpetuate social stigma and create a cultural environment in which the violence perpetrated upon sex workers is seen as different from the violence perpetuated against others.
Together, we will stand for autonomy, dignity, and the freedom to work in safety with equal access to justice. The event will be co-organized PEERS Victoria Resource Society and the UVSS Women's Centre, and will start at the corner of Government St. @ Discovery St. At 12:00 pm on December 17. From there we will march to the Legislature where there will be speeches and refreshments.
Wear red and bring a red umbrella if you have one!
Visit the facebook event HERE and spread the word!
Garden Collective
This year, the Women's Centre was once again allotted space over in the UVic Campus Community Garden. Now that we've got everything planted, we'll be getting together regularly throughout the summer to weed, tend the plot, and eventually harvest the fruits of our labour. With tons of seedlings sprouting up and all the sunshine we've been having, it's sure to be a good year!
We're hoping to use this garden as a way of connecting with people in a site of fun and engaged action. If you're interested in being a part of the WC's Garden Collective, send us an email at wcentre@uvss.ca to sign up for updates and work party notices, stop by the Women's Centre to chat, or show up to a work party and share some of your gardening skills with us! If you'd like to get involved but can't make it to collective work parties, you're more than welcome to head over to the garden anytime on your own. Hope to see you soon!
Thirdspace Digitization
The UVSS Women's Centre is in the final stages of digitizing the Thirdspace collection. What is now called Thirdspace (formerly The Emily and Ain't I A Woman) is the publication that the Women's Centre produces each year and is the longest running, university funded, feminist publication in Canada, turning 30 this year! Digitizing the Thirdspace collection opens up the possibilities for broader access, interest, reading and referencing. The digitization of Thirdspace (and perhaps later Ain't I A Woman and The Emily) not only preserves the ideas and work that lie within their pages, it makes the publication more readily accessible and promotes greater use. Although the publication certainly cannot represent all voices, the project aims to make accessible and known the Thirdspace collection as valid and historical texts. All digitized editions will be accessible through an online database hosted through the Thirdspace website. The Thirdspace collection that will be digitized runs from the years 1999 to 2010. If you have contributed a piece to Thirdspace in the past and would like your contribution made un-available through the database or your name erased, please let us know. If you have any ideas, concerns, or would like to be a part of the process, please send us an email at thirdspace.zine@gmail.com.