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"The Basketball Game" is a graphic novel adaptation of the award-winning National Film Board of Canada animated short of the same name – intended for audiences aged 12 years and up. It's a poignant tale of the power of community as a means to rise above hatred and bigotry. In the end, as is recognized by the kids playing the basketball game, we're all in this together.

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Tag: National Council of Jewish Women

HIPPY fêtes trailblazer

HIPPY fêtes trailblazer

Carol Slater (photo from mothersmattercentre.ca)

Carol Slater, a former vice-president of National Council of Jewish Women of Canada, was presented with the first-ever Trailblazers Award for helping bring to Canada an innovative Israeli-founded education program that empowers mothers of preschool children.

The award, presented by the Mothers Matter Centre, was part of a virtual event May 5. (See jewishindependent.ca/mothers-importance.)

Slater was one of a small group of people who brought the program Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY) to Canada two decades ago. The initiative, which has taken off in countries worldwide, began out of the Britannia Community Centre and Britannia Community Secondary School, in East Vancouver. The national headquarters of the program remains in Vancouver, under the auspices of the Mothers Matter Centre. HIPPY Canada changed its name in 2017 to the Mothers Matter Centre to reflect the fact that they deliver a range of programs, although HIPPY remains the core of the organization.

Slater spoke with the Independent recently, along with Wazi Dlamini-Kapenda, a Vancouverite who was the first HIPPY director in Canada and remains head of the national program.

HIPPY was started in 1969 at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem by the late Dr. Avima Lombard.

“When the first wave of African immigrants came to Israel and spoke no Hebrew, [Lombard] realized the disconnect between the children and the parents,” Slater said. “The parents didn’t know what was expected of the children, or of the parents.”

Slater and Dlamini-Kapenda take pride in the relative simplicity of the HIPPY structure. A new program is developed when a community identifies HIPPY as a program that would be of benefit to mothers and children. The community then approaches the Mothers Matter Centre to help with starting it up. In other cases, MMC approaches the community to let them know about the program and support them in implementing it, providing seed funding to get it off the ground, said Dlamini-Kapenda. The community can start with a minimum of two to four home visitors, depending on the size of the community, then each visitor recruits 10 to 12 families. The home visitor drops in on each family every week for at least an hour during the school year, and teaches the mother the week’s activities using the HIPPY curriculum. The lessons are taught using role-play, in which the home visitor and the mother take turns being the teacher (mother) and the student (child), practising the lesson before the mother teaches the week’s lessons to their preschooler.

“The basis of this program is that all parents want the best for their children, all parents want their children to succeed and to enter school ready to learn,” said Dlamini-Kapenda. “The parents themselves can play a role in this in building capacity within the home. Instead of parents relying on sending their children to preschool, which some parents couldn’t afford, we could go into the home, which is actually important because the home is where success begins. We all know that.”

“One of the very critical things,” Slater said, “is giving the parent the confidence that she can go to [her child’s] school because what has very often happened in immigrant situations is that the mother may not speak the language very well and, if she doesn’t go to school, she doesn’t follow her child and if she doesn’t follow her child, her child can fall behind and she doesn’t know about it. One of the most important things is the empowerment of the parent to understand that she is the first teacher of her children. It’s a fantastic concept when you think of it. So simple.”

The program is offered free to mothers and all supplies are provided, although almost everything that the mother will need to do activities can be found in the home. The families targeted for the HIPPY program are those with low literacy or deemed “at risk.” Special emphasis is given to immigrant and refugee communities and Indigenous populations. HIPPY has separate streams for multicultural and Indigenous families, recognizing different approaches to learning. Home visitors will usually be recruited from within the linguistic communities they serve.

Slater’s award recognizes her work in getting HIPPY off the ground in 2001.

“Carol was very instrumental in getting the funding and knocking on doors and talking to every person in a position to be able to get us the first funding to run the first four or five years of the program here in Canada,” said Dlamini-Kapenda. “I don’t know, without Carol, how far we would have gone.”

Dr. Debbie Bell, founding director of Simon Fraser University’s community education program, was working on developing strategies to create access to education for low-literacy communities. Slater and Bell connected after Slater happened upon a brochure about the nascent program. Slater, who has lived in Israel, Vancouver and, now, Montreal, saw it as an ideal fit for National Council of Jewish Women.

Seizing the moment, Slater beat the bushes for financing. Bell was emphatic that they should not launch HIPPY without a budget for several years of programming because that would be unfair to participating families. Slater went to Ottawa and, with the help of several key figures, obtained funding from the federal health ministry to get HIPPY up and running.

She credits Dr. Hedy Fry, member of Parliament for Vancouver-Centre, as an early supporter.

“She was so excited about the program,” Slater recalled. “She met Debbie and myself and we used to meet in her office. She sat me at a desk, she gave me a list of all the cabinet ministers and their secretaries and their private phone numbers. I just sat there and I phoned.”

An assistant to Allan Rock, who was then minister of health, was equally supportive. Slater left the meeting with a commitment for $250,000, which jumpstarted HIPPY Canada.

Slater also credits late Vancouver philanthropist Jack Diamond and the Diamond Foundation for crucial support that got the program started. The Vancouver Foundation also committed to four years of funding, something they had never done before, said Dlamini-Kapenda, who was then hired as the first HIPPY coordinator in Canada.

At the awards ceremony earlier this month, Canada’s chief public health officer, Dr. Theresa Tam, and Dr. Cindy Blackstock, a Gitxsan activist for child welfare and a professor in McGill University’s School of Social Work, received the Because Mothers Matter Award for their noteworthy professional accomplishments while giving back to their community. Two HIPPY mothers with extraordinary stories, Nusrat Awan and Jessica Seegerts, were also honoured.

Format ImagePosted on May 28, 2021May 27, 2021Author Pat JohnsonCategories NationalTags Canada, Carol Slater, education, family health, healthcare, HIPPY, Israel, Mothers Matter Centre, National Council of Jewish Women, NCJW, Pat Johnson, Trailblazers Award, Vancouver, Wazi Dlamini-Kapenda
Celebrating good deeds – JMABC @ 50

Celebrating good deeds – JMABC @ 50

Then-Vancouver mayor Mike Harcourt and members of National Council of Jewish Women in front of the first Mobile Hearing Clinic, outside Vancouver City Hall on June 11, 1984. After raising the funds to build and operate the clinic on a trial basis, NCJW sold it to the provincial health department for the nominal price of $1. They did the same with a second mobile clinic in 1986. (photo from JMABC L.16459)

Passover is one of the foundational stories of Jewish tradition. Around the seder table each year, we learn from our elders the guiding principles of Jewish life: how to be a good person, think of others and pursue justice in the face of persecution.

These same themes can be found in the history of our community locally. The families who laid the foundations of our community, and those who continue to build its future, arrived here from all corners of the world. Mutual aid societies like the Hebrew Free Loan Association (HFLA) and the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver (preceded by the Jewish Community Chest and the Jewish Fund and Council) have helped welcome and support new arrivals.

The HFLA was established in 1915 by Solomon Weaver and, while it folded in 1936, it was revived in 1979 by the Jewish Family Service Agency under the leadership of Shirley Barnett. Going at first by the name of the Hebrew Assistance Association, the organization was established to aid a new wave of Jewish immigrants arriving from Russia. With initial capital provided by Joe Segal, Jack Diamond, Morris Wosk and Leon Kahn, the association began issuing loans of up to $3,000. To date, the HFLA has granted more than 2,000 loans, giving people “a hand up, not a hand-out.”

Passover also teaches us that we should apply these principles beyond our own community. As it is written in Exodus: “You shall not oppress a stranger, for you know the feelings of a stranger, having yourselves been strangers in the land of Egypt.” This philosophy can be seen as a guiding principle for community groups such as the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre and National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW).

Founded in 1983 by local survivors of the Holocaust, the Vancouver Holocaust Centre Society for Education and Remembrance was formed with the goal of establishing an anti-racism education centre. This goal was realized in 1994 in the form of the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre (VHEC). Education is central to the mandate of the VHEC and, each year, the centre reaches more than 25,000 students and teachers through exhibits, school programs, teaching materials and professional development initiatives for educators.

Since 1924, the Vancouver section of the NCJW of Canada has been dedicated to social action and human rights. For close to a century, its social justice efforts have taken diverse forms, from pioneering a provincial mobile hearing screening program for preschoolers to championing the cause of Nasrin Sotoudeh – illegally imprisoned in Iran – to recent fundraising and awareness initiatives against human trafficking.

These are just a few of the many organizations and individuals who make real the lessons of Passover each day. It has been inspiring to learn more about these and other people and groups as we at the Jewish Museum and Archives of British Columbia collect stories for our upcoming celebration book marking our 50th anniversary.

We invite you to share your story with us and be a part of this milestone publication. Share your family story, recognize someone notable, or sponsor this project. Full information is available at jewishmuseum.ca/fifty-years.

Format ImagePosted on March 19, 2021March 18, 2021Author Jewish Museum and Archives of British ColumbiaCategories LocalTags Hebrew Free Loan Association, HFLA, history, Jewish Federation, National Council of Jewish Women, NCJW, Solomon Weaver, tikkun olam, Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre, VHEC, women
Community milestones … NCJW, JFS, Digby-Klein, Peretz, Federation, VHEC

Community milestones … NCJW, JFS, Digby-Klein, Peretz, Federation, VHEC

Newcomer to Vancouver and longtime National Council of Jewish Women of Canada member Rachel Ornoy, left, cheers the Purse Project volunteer gang on.

Members of National Council of Jewish Women of Canada, Vancouver section, under the guidance of Cate and Jane Stoller, stuffed purses with cosmetics, toiletries, comfort candles, chocolates, gift cards, pyjamas and other useful items on the morning of Sept. 27 for partner agency Atira Women’s Resource Society, a not-for-profit organization committed to the work of ending violence against women.

Thank you to everyone who dropped off purses, helped fill the bags and collect their contents – more than 100 purses were delivered to Atira. Also thank you to Jane Stoller for putting together the hostess table with coffee and Timbits. It was a lovely pre-Kol Nidre morning mitzvah and it was great to have a socially distant visit with our NCJWC Vancouver friends.

* * *

This year’s Project Isaiah campaign required Jewish Family Services (JFS) to change the way it looked at the traditional food drive. From Sept. 8 to Sept. 29, JFS ran its very first virtual community food drive, ending with a COVID-19-safe drive-thru drop off.

Despite the needs being greater than ever – more than double compared to last year – this year’s Project Isaiah campaign has been the most successful food drive in the past 10 years. Thanks to donors, the Jewish Food Bank will be able to feed 700 clients (up from 450 last year) over the next four to six months; recipients include 175 children and 118 elders within our community.

* * *

photo - Aaron Klein and Carolyn Digby
Aaron Klein and Carolyn Digby

Carolyn Digby and Aaron Klein were wed in a romantic ceremony, surrounded by family and friends, Nov. 9, 2019, at VanDusen Botanical Garden in Vancouver. The couple resides in Toronto, where both are pursuing studies, Carolyn in a clinical psychology counseling master’s program, and Aaron in aerospace engineering, doctorate program.

* * *

The Peretz Centre has appointed Liana Glass to lead the centre’s pnei mitzvah program. The Peretz pnei mitzvah – pnei (faces) rather than b’nei (“sons of”), to reflect a gender-neutral descriptor – is a two-year program in which students meet once every second week for two hours, culminating in a group ceremony. The next intake period is this fall.

photo - Liana Glass
Liana Glass

Glass, who has earned a master’s of community and regional planning at the University of British Columbia, has considerable experience in teaching and facilitating groups from diverse backgrounds, most recently as a research intern with Vancouver’s Social Purpose Real Estate Collaborative.

Glass’s path to secular Judaism was not a straight one. After studying Yiddish at the Vilnius Yiddish Institute’s summer program in 2017, she found that “Yiddish opened up a secular avenue for me to explore my Judaism and connect with it on a different level. It allowed me to reexamine Judaism in the larger context of my life and as part of my cultural identity. The prospect of helping pnei mitzvah students find that sense of connection through the various subjects we’ll explore in class is extremely exciting.”

“In our search, we indicated that we were looking for a candidate who is dynamic, enthusiastic and firmly committed to secular Jewish ideals and learning. Liana brings all that and so much more. We’re looking forward to working with her and seeing where she’ll be taking the program next,” said David Skulski, Peretz Centre general manager.

* * *

Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver elected its 2020-2021 volunteer board of directors at its annual general meeting Sept. 30. New directors, elected for a two-year term, are Hodie Kahn, Shay Keil, Kyra Morris, Lisa Pullan and Stan Shaw. Each of them brings a background of community leadership and past contributions to Jewish Federation.

Kahn is currently chair of Jewish Federation’s Jewish Day School Council, whose work addresses the ongoing enrolment and financial stability needs facing the day schools; she is also a member of the Community Recovery Task Force. Keil is chair of major gifts for the Federation annual campaign and a member of the Jewish Day School Council; he is a past co-chair of men’s philanthropy. Morris is the new chair of the Axis steering committee, which oversees Federation’s programs for young adults. Pullan has lent her fundraising and leadership expertise to Federation for many years, including chairing women’s philanthropy and serving on the board in that capacity. And Shaw has held several leadership roles with Federation; he co-chaired the Food Security Task Force and is now bringing his cybersecurity expertise to the new cybersecurity and information protection subcommittee.

Returning directors elected for a two-year term are David Albert, Bruce Cohen (secretary), Alex Cristall (chair), Jessica Forman, Rick Kohn (treasurer) and Lianna Philipp. They join the following directors who are in the middle of a two-year term, and will be continuing their service on the board: Jim Crooks, Catherine Epstein, Marnie Goldberg, Candace Kwinter (vice-chair), Melanie Samuels and Pam Wolfman.

Joining or continuing to serve on the board are Sue Hector (women’s philanthropy co-chair), Karen James (immediate past chair), Jonathon Leipsic (campaign chair), Shawna Merkur (women’s philanthropy co-chair) and Diane Switzer (Jewish Community Foundation chair).

For more information, visit jewishvancouver.com.

* * *

At its Oct. 14 annual general meeting, the Vancouver Holocaust Centre Society confirmed the society’s board of directors: Rita Akselrod, Marcus Brandt, Jeremy Costin, Michelle Guez, Belinda Gutman, Helen Heacock-Rivers, Philip Levinson, Michael Lipton, Shoshana Krell Lewis, Jack Micner, Talya Nemetz-Sinchein, Ken Sanders, Joshua Sorin, Al Szajman, Robbie Waisman and Corinne Zimmerman. For more information, visit vhec.org/who-we-are/#board.

Format ImagePosted on October 30, 2020October 29, 2020Author Community members/organizationsCategories LocalTags Aaron Klein, AGM, Carolyn Digby, Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver, Jewish Food Bank, JFS, Liana Glass, National Council of Jewish Women, NCJW, Peretz Centre, philanthropy, Project Isaiah, Purse Project, tikkun olam, Vancouver Holocaust Centre Society
NCJWC Vancouver plans, learns, noshes and welcomes newcomers

NCJWC Vancouver plans, learns, noshes and welcomes newcomers

Books for Kids volunteers at NCJWC Vancouver’s 96th AGM, left to right: Jodi Seidelman, Rhea Lazar, Gail Gumprich and Tanya Hebron. (photo from NCJWC Vancouver)

On International Women’s Day, March 8, National Council of Jewish Women of Canada, Vancouver section, planned, learned, noshed and welcomed newcomers.

Sunshine was all around the room at NCJWC Vancouver’s 96th annual general meeting, which took place at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver in the Snider Senior Lounge.

Members were welcomed by president Catherine (Cate) Stoller and the new board was installed by Shirley Hyman, Limmud Vancouver program chair and longtime volunteer for NCJWC.

The new executive board is Stoller (president), Fran Ritch (treasurer), Jackie Krystal (co-treasurer), Linda Arato (recording secretary), Anne Lerner (vice-president, social action), Ricki Mintz (vice-president, engagement), Marnie Weinstein (vice-president, marketing and administration) and Rochelle Garfinkel (member-at-large). Appointed board members are Rhea Lazar (chair, Books for Kids program) and Sandy Hazan, Sarah Morel Shaffer and Jane Stoller (co-chairs, Operation Dressup).

After the AGM, Anna-Mae Wiesenthal, a Jewish history teacher at King David High School and a PhD student in Holocaust studies, gave a presentation on the “othering” of indigenous peoples in Canada during the settler colonial period and of Jews in Germany during the Holocaust.

Stressing the strong connection between NCJWC’s social action in the Jewish and non-Jewish communities in British Columbia, council’s advocacy nationally against antisemitism, its support for family services in Israel and its international role supporting human rights, Cate Stoller cheered the passing of the baton between generations. For more information about the Vancouver section of NCJWC, visit ncjwvancouver.org.

Format ImagePosted on March 27, 2020March 26, 2020Author NCJWC VancouverCategories LocalTags AGM, National Council of Jewish Women, NCJW, tikkun olam
NCJW hosts Govender

NCJW hosts Govender

Left to right: Debby Altow, NCJW Vancouver past president; Cate Stoller, NCJW Vancouver president; Shelley Rivkin, vice-president, Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver; Kasari Govender, B.C. human rights commissioner; Ezra Shanken, Jewish Federation executive director; and Etti Goldman, Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs. (photo by Rochelle Garfinkel)

Newly installed B.C. Commissioner of Human Rights Kasari Govender spoke to members and guests of the National Council of Jewish Women of Canada on Nov. 21 at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver. Govender discussed a wide range of topics, including the connections her office will be making with similar bodies across Canada, her focus on the systemic issues affecting human rights in our province, and her welcoming of ideas for implementing forward-thinking and creative approaches to human rights issues. Govender’s presentation echoed the values and focus of NCJWC Vancouver section, which has a long tradition of innovation and creativity in the sphere of social action. For more information about upcoming events and programs, visit ncjwvancouver.org.

Format ImagePosted on December 13, 2019December 12, 2019Author NCJW VancouverCategories LocalTags British Columbia, human rights, Kasari Govender, National Council of Jewish Women, NCJW
NCJWC Vancouver’s new board

NCJWC Vancouver’s new board

Left to right, National Council of Jewish Women of Canada Vancouver section’s 2018/19 board of directors Catherine Stoller (president), Linda Arato (secretary), Anne Lerner (social action chair), Rochelle Garfinkel (administration) and Debby Altow (past president) were installed by Shelagh Stoller, who gave a brief bio of each member and presented the traditional red rose. The 94th annual general meeting, which took place Oct. 14, confirmed members’ support of NCJWC’s advocacy at the United Nations, on Canada’s citizenship issues and against antisemitism here and abroad. Catherine Stoller reported on the programming for disadvantaged schools in Vancouver, which receives help from the B.C. Gaming Commission.

Format ImagePosted on October 26, 2018October 25, 2018Author NCJW VancouverCategories LocalTags National Council of Jewish Women, NCJW, tikkun olam, women
Mystery photo … June 24/16

Mystery photo … June 24/16

National Council of Jewish Women, 1965. (photo from JWB fonds, JMABC L.13971)

If you know someone in this photo, please help the JI fill the gaps of its predecessor’s (the Jewish Western Bulletin’s) collection at the Jewish Museum and Archives of B.C. by contacting [email protected] or 604-257-5199. To find out who has been identified in the photos, visit jewishmuseum.ca/blog.

Format ImagePosted on June 24, 2016June 22, 2016Author JI and JMABCCategories Mystery PhotoTags archives, JMABC, National Council of Jewish Women, NCJW
Mystery photo … Nov. 27/15

Mystery photo … Nov. 27/15

Women gathered around a table with a candled cake, National Council of Jewish Women, circa 1955. Leonore Freiman is in the middle. (photo from JWB fonds, JMABC L.13952)

If you know someone in this photo, please help the JI fill the gaps of its predecessor’s (the Jewish Western Bulletin’s) collection at the Jewish Museum and Archives of B.C. by contacting [email protected] or 604-257-5199. To find out who has been identified in the photos, visit jewishmuseum.ca/blog.

Format ImagePosted on November 27, 2015December 16, 2015Author JI and JMABCCategories Mystery PhotoTags JMABC, Leonore Freiman, National Council of Jewish Women, NCJW
Mystery photo … Aug. 28/15

Mystery photo … Aug. 28/15

Children singing, Camp Miriam, Gabriola Island, B.C., 1979. (photo from JWB fonds; JMABC L.09623)

If you know someone in these photos, please help the JI fill the gaps of its predecessor’s (the Jewish Western Bulletin’s) collection at the Jewish Museum and Archives of B.C. by contacting [email protected] or 604-257-5199. To find out who has been identified in the photos, visit jewishmuseum.ca/blog.

photo - Group with a drawing of Camp Hatikvah, 1988
Group with a drawing of Camp Hatikvah, 1988. (photo from JWB fonds; JMABC L.09611)
photo - Women using typewriters, National Council of Jewish Women, circa 1955
Women using typewriters, National Council of Jewish Women, circa 1955. (photo from JWB fonds; JMABC L.13953)
photo - Two unidentified men at the Vancouver Jewish Community Centre, circa 1962
Two unidentified men at the Vancouver Jewish Community Centre, circa 1962. (photo from JWB fonds; JMABC L.11516)
Format ImagePosted on August 28, 2015August 27, 2015Author JI and JMABCCategories Mystery PhotoTags Camp Hatikvah, Camp Miriam, Jewish Community Centre, National Council of Jewish Women, NCJW
We Care believes in change

We Care believes in change

Leah Gazan (photo by Rebeca Kuropatwa)

Human traffickers target those who are most vulnerable – women and children, and people from impoverished and marginalized cultures and communities. Anti-trafficking organizations estimate that between 12 and 30 million people are held in forced labor (including sexual servitude) and that two to four million people are trafficked across borders each year.

On March 12, Manitoba marked its second Human Trafficking Awareness Day. To observe the day, National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW) of Canada, Winnipeg section, held the event United We Care, An Evening in Support of the We Care Campaign for Education about Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.

The program took place at Graffiti Art Programming and included an art exhibit, as well as an address from Leah Gazan, an advocate for MMIW issues in Manitoba and the rest of Canada. Indigenous artist Jessica Canard created a painting during the event that was auctioned off at the end of the night.

Gazan introduced herself as a member of the bear clan. “The bear clan has roles and responsibilities,” she said. “One is to be a protector. My mother was a child welfare survivor, a Lakota woman, a street kid. She overcame great obstacles, obtained a master’s degree, and changed legislation.

“My father was a Holocaust survivor from Holland and, like my mother and in spite of historical trauma he experienced, he went on to receive two master’s degrees, a teaching degree, raise a family and spend his life trying for social justice with a special focus on fighting for children.”

Gazan said her parents taught her that change is possible, “with the goal of realizing a good world for all peoples, animal life, plant life, our women and our girls. We are all sacred. We all have to take responsibility for the collective well-being of all creation.”

The We Care campaign came from a conversation between Gazan and artist and singer Raine Hamilton. Upset about what was happening to indigenous women and girls in Canada, Hamilton wanted to do something. Gazan encouraged her, saying, “If you want to do something, Raine, you do something, and I will support you.”

In 2013, James Anaya, former special rapporteur on indigenous issues for the United Nations, called the state of violence and the number of murdered and missing indigenous women in Canada a national crisis. According to the RCMP’s 2014 National Operational Review on Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women, “Police-recorded incidents of aboriginal female homicides and unresolved missing aboriginal females in this review total 1,181 – 164 missing and 1,017 homicide victims.” There were 225 unsolved cases: 105 missing for more than 30 days as of Nov. 4, 2013, “whose cause of disappearance was categorized at the time as ‘unknown’ or ‘foul play suspected’ and 120 unsolved homicides between 1980 and 2012.”

“We represent 4.3 percent of the Canadian population, yet we represented 16 percent of all reported homicides,” said Gazan. “Indigenous women and girls are not safe in this country and this is related to a number of factors, including high rates of poverty among indigenous women.”

According to the UN and the platform action committee in Manitoba, Gazan said, “The current rate for poverty for indigenous women living off reserve is at 42.7 percent. That is twice the rate for non-indigenous women and exceeds rates of indigenous men, with an average income of $13,300. That’s $6,060 lower than non-indigenous women and approximately $5,000 lower than indigenous men.”

Gazan stressed, “This is not an indigenous issue. This is an issue for all Canadians who want to protect the fundamental rights of all persons. It will take all of us in solidarity to address these issues.

“One cannot begin to understand the complexity of this issue without the focus on the colonization of indigenous women,” she continued. “Prior to colonization, our women and, in particular, our grandmothers were the main decision makers within our nations. Women were seen as powerful. This was very much related to our ability to bring life into the world.

“Through the eyes of colonialists, indigenous women were seen as property of men, much like women in Europe at that time. The exclusion of indigenous women in decision making eventually led to the cultural, social and economical dispossession of indigenous women that was eventually stipulated in policies that were enforced in the Indian Act.

“In 2006, the International Indigenous Women’s Forum noted that the systemic violation of their collective rights as indigenous people is the single greatest risk factor for gender-based violence, including violence perpetrated within their communities.”

The situation can be changed, however, “and that’s exactly what the purpose of the We Care campaign is,” said Gazan. “It’s to educate and engage fellow Canadians so that we can change that story … so we can end what has resulted in unacceptable levels of violence that’s perpetrated against indigenous women and girls in this country.

“It’s a place where we can come together to demonstrate and send a clear message that we will not stop until indigenous women and girls are afforded the same rights and safety as are afforded to other Canadians.”

The group hopes that this campaign will become one of the main issues in the upcoming federal election.

“We need Canadians to join with us in unity, to say that we care,” said Gazan. “It seems so overwhelming that people don’t know what to do because it’s so bad, but I don’t think it’s because people don’t care. I believe people care.

“What if we start to join together to recreate a new story that results in a safer city, province and country for indigenous women and girls as an act of humanity?”

NCJW across Canada and its international body, the International Council of Jewish Women, has established advocacy against human trafficking as a priority issue. All proceeds from the March program’s ticket sales and the auction went to the We Care campaign.

To participate, snap a photo of yourself holding a sign that says #WeCare and #MMIW, then post it on Twitter and Facebook, showing it’s an issue that matters to you. More information is available at facebook.com/wecaremmiw.

Rebeca Kuropatwa is a Winnipeg freelance writer.

Format ImagePosted on April 24, 2015April 23, 2015Author Rebeca KuropatwaCategories NationalTags Leah Gazan, MMIW, National Council of Jewish Women, NCJW, trafficking, WeCare

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