This event is held on unceded lands belonging to the sḵwx̱wú7mesh, sel̓íl̓witulh, and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm nations.
The Solidarity & Social Justice Committee of the Teaching Support Staff Union (TSSU) is honoured to be facilitating a reading group centred around the Red Women Rising report about Indigenous Women Survivors in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. The report was produced by the Downtown Eastside Women's Centre (DEWC) and authored by Carol Muree Martin & Harsha Walia, with 128 collaborators including Indigenous women survivors, DEWC members, and other community members.
"Red Women Rising: Indigenous Women Survivors in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside is an extraordinary report with Indigenous women survivors at the center; rather than as a secondary reference. Indigenous women in the Downtown Eastside (DTES)—a neighbourhood known as ground zero for violence against Indigenous women—are not silent victims, statistics, or stereotypes. This unprecedented work shares their powerful first-hand realities of violence, residential schools, colonization, land, resource extraction, family trauma, poverty, labour, housing, child welfare, being two-spirit, police, prisons, legal system, opioid crisis, healthcare, and more."
The reading group will be held every second Monday starting on May 27, and will cover 2 sections of the report per session (about 30-45 pages). The format will be driven by the group itself, but will be generally focused on learning from first-hand Indigenous leadership, experience, and knowledge and apply them to our own lives, studies, and activism.
This group is open to TSSU members but no one will be turned away. Please email ssjc@tssu.ca if you're interested in attending! For more information about the report, DEWC and the authors/collaborators, go to http://dewc.ca/resources/redwomenrising
Session One (May 27 – 45pp.)
- Executive Summary (pp. 6-29)
- Violence and Safety (pp. 30-51)
Session Two (June 10 – 35pp.)
- Displacement From Land (pp. 52-69)
- Poverty and Economic Security (pp. 70-87)
Session Three (June 24 – 35pp.)
- Housing (pp. 88-103)
- Child Welfare (pp. 104-123)
Session Four (July 8 – 29pp.)
- Policing, Prisons & Justice System (pp. 124-139)
- Health and Wellness (pp. 140-153)
Session Five (July 22 – 33pp.)
- Thirty-five Key Recommendations (pp. 154-159)
- Full List of 200 Recommendations (pp. 160-187)
Accessibility Information:
Location: SFU Harbour Centre, Room 3100
Accessible washrooms available in the building (1st and 2nd floors). Gender-neutral washrooms are also available on campus (1st floor).
We aim to have a scent-free environment. Please refrain from wearing perfumes or any scents to the event due to sensitivities.
This is a nut-free environment due to allergies and sensitivities. Please do not wear and carry any nut products.
Please don't hesitate to let us know if you have any specific needs by emailing tssu@tssu.ca
To enquire, please email Seamus at ssjc@tssu.ca
