Anyone who feels that the world is not hitting its full potential, or that it’s actually descending into an even deeper mess of discrimination, pollution, and corruption, will want to check out the Sierra Club BC’s upcoming event at Camosun College, When We Are Bold.
Four activist women will speak at the event: Casey Camp-Horinek, who was arrested while protesting at Standing Rock in North Dakota; Rachel Vincent, who is the editor of When We Are Bold: Women Who Turn Our Upsidedown World Right, a collection of 28 short profiles of women involved in activism; Helen Knott, who is involved in land-defence work to halt the Site C Dam project; and Sierra Club BC campaigns director Caitlyn Vernon.
The event will focus on stories, conversations, and plenty of inspiration all around, or at least that’s what the Sierra Club is hoping for, says Sierra Club BC communications specialist Kat Zimmer.
“We feel that there is a really big need right now for inspiration,” says Zimmer. “We see a lot of headlines right now that are getting people angry, making women angry in particular; we saw the massive women’s marches that happened all across the world. Time and time again we keep on hearing from women who are waking up to the idea of activism or getting involved for the first time.”
Zimmer and countless other women are severely dismayed by recent events happening in our own province, down in America, and all around the world, which led to the 2017 Women’s March worldwide protest, which was, in the US, the largest single-day protest ever. This exceptionally large turnout showcases the numbers that women have when showing solidarity with each other. Zimmer hopes women can come together and channel this energy into something positive.
“On one hand, it’s absolutely terrible, the message this sends to young women,” says Zimmer, referring to Trump’s successful campaign. “The message, I think, was that there is some level of being okay with sending a message to young girls that, yup, we’re okay with having a completely misogynistic, sexist person who has a history of assault being our president, and we are going to vote for him over what could have potentially been the first woman president in history. So, yes, I think that was a massive lost opportunity, but sometimes it takes these moments to really light that fire in people.”
When We Are Bold
6 pm Monday, March 13
Gibson Auditorium, Young Building,
Camosun Lansdowne campus
$20 advance, $25 door
sierraclub.bc.ca/boldwomen