Friends,
This Thursday October 30, I will host the third annual Women’s Forum des femmes in Ottawa (WFDF14).
The past two years have set the foundation, leading us collectively to begin ‘Building the Feminist Agenda’. This year’s Forum theme is about fighting for a feminist vision of our lives, our communities, our country and our world.
We’ll start the day with our panel on ‘Building the Feminist Agenda’. We are honoured to host feminist leaders who will explore diverse experiences of gender inequality and provide ideas on how to move forward.
Here are this year’s panelists:
Marcelle Perron — Vice President, Women’s Committee of the Quebec Federation of Labour PSAC
Erica Violet Lee — Activist, Idle No More
Sharon Gregson — Spokeswoman for the Coalition of Childcare Advocates of BC, $10/day Child Care Plan
Sonia Lawrence — Director of the Institute for Feminist Legal Studies at Osgoode Hall
We’ll also be joined by Official Opposition leader Tom Mulcair for a special address. To see the full day’s events click here.
This year, WFDF14 will also feature MP Roundtables, an opportunity for WFDF participants to meet with Members of Parliament. The topic of your fast paced briefing session should be focused on policy issues that relate to you, your community and/or your work. Some examples of these topics are, but are not limited to: child care, violence against women, reproductive justice, missing and murdered Indigenous women, sex work legislation, immigration and refugee laws and other policy related subjects that MPs encounter.
Please consider this an opportunity for MPs to listen while you speak to your own areas of expertise and experience. To register, click here.
If you are unable to be there in person, rabble.ca will be live blogging and we will be streaming the blog and the twitter feed under #wfdf14. We encourage you to join us online throughout the day!
As part of the digital presence of Women’s Forum des femmes 2014, I will also be participating in a live Q&A hosted by rabble.ca as part of rabble.ca‘s live blog coverage of WFDF14!
Join me online from 2:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. EST to engage in a discussion on the status of gender equality in Canada and what we are doing to build a feminist agenda. rabble.ca will be hosting the live Q&A and I will be there to answer questions, and to listen to your priorities for a feminist agenda.
Follow live online here and join me live October 30.
Women’s Forum will also set the stage for the debut of our Digital Platform. This year we will be showcasing a new platform that extends WFDF beyond Parliament Hill, 365 days a year. The platform will share experiences and examples of feminist activism happening in communities from coast to coast to coast — and we need your help to do it!
The format is simple. We are asking people to submit their stories in the way that best expresses your own activism in your community. Photos, video (under two minutes), written stories or a digital piece of art are all welcomed.
In order to be included for the day of the forum, we will need your submission as soon as possible. It’s a tight deadline, but we would love to include your voice!
Please send a link to a post with the art work and a short artist statement (50 words or less), or please send a scanned image and your artist statement (50 words or less) to us at [email protected].
I can’t wait to come together at Women’s Forum 2014. If you haven’t yet, please register.
See you on October 30!
In Solidarity,
Niki Ashton
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