Persons Day conversation continues
On the 90th anniversary of Persons Day, when Canada first ruled that women were equal to men, the Star asked thought leaders from across the country how Canada has delivered on its 1929 promise and what a more equal future will look like. Here’s more of their replies.
Listen Chen is an organizer with Alliance Against Displacement, an anti-colonial activist group. Chen’s work centres around poor and homeless communities in Vancouver suburbs.
In terms of what I want to see that would make women’s lives better, particularly Indigenous women and poor and workingclass women, what I’d like to see is a movement of people who are excluded, exploited and oppressed by Canada, to rise up and end Canada and make something better out of its ashes. It would certainly look like Indigenous sovereignty. It would look like Indigenous nations practising their economies and their cultures on their lands — and people who are not Indigenous, working co-operatively and in tandem with Indigenous nations and Indigenous practices to organize our economy in a way that serves people’s needs rather than serves profit.
The thing that comes to mind in terms of organizing with poor and homeless activists (is that) the sites that we organize often have women leaders. Women were leaders of Anita Place tent city (in Maple Ridge, B.C.) for example.
Allison Gibson is a social enterprise strategist and event placemaker. She is the director of impact and operations at Paintbox Bistro in Toronto’s Regent Park community.
A simple yet important step that needs to be made is the realization of more women in leadership roles and the promotion of our ideas, collaboration and empowerment, especially in the workplace.
Archaic rules and untrue biases about women still exist, and I personally love dismantling these preconceived notions with bold and unapologetic leadership. Women have the ability to be creative, entrepreneurial and engineering, while being mothers, sisters, aunts and change-makers in our communities.
I particularly am interested in solutions that promote inclusion and I’d like to see more companies and organizations consulting and hiring those who are often overlooked or disregarded, as they bring fresh and unique perspectives and ideas to the table.