WTC In Action

Board member, Serena Jackson was asked to speak on the connection between the feminist and labour movements. Serena's powerful speech motivated folks in attendance to consider inequities and demand better of our city. “Feminism means recognizing systemic inequities and doing something about it. And when you think about it, isn’t that what the labour movement does?”

Several of our board members released response to the DTES decampment, calling for creative systemic solutions that don't violate the human rights of our unhoused neighbours. "Addressing the housing crisis requires transformative action from all levels of government. The City of Vancouver can’t fix these systemic problems alone — but its leaders have the ability to contribute to long-term solutions if they choose to make it a priority. These solutions don’t require the forced removal of residents."  

Two of our volunteers facilitated a listening session to hear from our community their experiences and thoughts on ways to reduce poverty here in BC. The conversation ranged from newcomer experiences, university students, housing prices, the need for affordable transit and more. 

We collaborated with Living in Community, a non-profit that works to improve the health and safety of sex workers to provide a workshop on local government to their BC network of organizations who serve sex workers. The workshop focused on the bylaws, initiatives, and policies that can affect sex worker safety and wellbeing. 

Our second webinar What Local TRC Implementation Looks Like in Practice discussed takeaways from part one and our research with Ginger Gosnell-Myers beforeRob McCullough, Manager of Museums and Heritage Services for the City of New Westminster, and WTC Campaign Lead, Clara Prager tackled what implementing the Calls to Action looks like on the ground. This included tangible examples such as New Westminster's recent declaration of "A Year of Truth" led by their Indigenous Relations Manager, Christina Coolidge. 

We launched our Community Connector, an internal library for our members that displays people within the WTC community who want to connect with one another on specific skills and subject matter.

We hosted part one of our learning series for local government leaders about the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s (TRC) Calls to Action. We dove into our TRC report findings, learned from Ginger Gosnell-Myers where and how municipalities can start the critical work of reconciliation, and heard examples from from Gosnell-Myers's time at the City of Vancouver of what implementation of the Calls to Action can look like in action. 

Campaign Lead, Clara Prager and board member, Belinda Chen presented our TRC report and findings to a session that included elected officials and non profit groups and unions at the conference, High Ground.