Category: Action Evenings

IBPOC is back – Fall plans are underway

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The IBPOC Caucus is back! (IBPOC = Indigenous, Black, People of Colour)

After taking a break for the summer months, the IBPOC (aka BIPOC) caucus is meeting again, feeling rejuvenated and ready for the Fall.

We are continuing to share our lived experiences of being IBPOC in a White society, which is the main focus of our group. We are also discussing what else we would like to do. Ideas include inviting in refugees, IBPOC artists, or social justice organizations as guest speakers, and working with our “IBPOC+Allies” group to put on congregation-wide events such as Heritage celebrations, film nights, and FUNdraisers.  (All in-person plans subject to the latest pandemic regulations of course).

October is Latin American Heritage Month.

Currently we have IBPOC members from UCV, Beacon, and North Shore congregations. We also have inquiries from Unitarians as far away as Victoria and Calgary. Some of our members have connected with the BIPOC caucus in Ontario and DRUUMM, the UUA People of Color Ministry and anti-racist collective in the US.  Zoom has been one of the bright spots in the Pandemic as it gave us the ability to bring individuals and small groups together despite the distance!

Get involved!

If you are a UU IBPOC and would like to join us, please contact Tamiko at [email protected]

If you are not IBPOC but would like to support IBPOC events and initiatives, contact Derrick at [email protected] and we’ll add your name to the IBPOC+Allies email group to be alerted when help is needed.

 

 

 

Gender and Theatre – Join an Interactive Panel Discussion

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Watch Mairy Beam’s provocative and enlightening play What Difference Does it Make?  available now on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQU6WT6Igs8  and join us for a Play Discussion moderated by our own Rev Lara Cowtan on Saturday June 12 at 7:00 pm. ucv.im/gsa

What Difference Does It Make?  Minutes before Carmelle’s best friend arrives for a visit from Toronto, Lucy comes out as non-binary. A day later they’re all trapped together isolating from Covid 19. In this hotbed of needs and limitations the characters play out their destinies against the backdrop of a city in virtual lockdown. A sensitive and illuminating portrayal of a person in transition, a partner struggling to adjust and a broken-hearted houseguest inadvertently making things worse.

From the audience: 

  • “Up until I saw this play I didn’t get how significant and important and fundamental the journey to non-binary is.”
  • “captivating, touching, challenging, humorous, sad and informative”
  • “this play is a gem”
  • “true and raw”
  • “I have some thinking to do  . . . “

What Difference Does It Make? was originally produced by Toronto’s Haven Theatre, in February 2021.

This event is coordinated by UCV’s Genders and Sexualities Alliance as part of UCV’s recertification as a Welcoming Congregation.

Registration appreciated but not required:

https://ucv-gender-theatre.eventbrite.ca

Search the website for “gsa” for other information and events.

Our GSA meets on the 3rd Tuesday of each month at 7:30pm.

All genders and sexualities welcome, even cis-straight.  Email [email protected] for the zoom link and agenda.

 

Sandpiper SOS

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Shorebirds and Port Expansion. Don’t miss this video on the Western Sandpiper.
Learn to love river slime.

Western Sandpiper | Photo Credit: Alan D. Wilson CC BY-SA 3.0

The Vancouver Port Authority plans to build a second container ship terminal in the Fraser River estuary, right on top of a major stopover for birds migrating along the Pacific flyway from Central and South America to their breeding grounds in the western Arctic.

The loss of the mud flats in the Fraser River estuary could lead to the extinction of the Western Sandpiper and other migratory birds that depend on nutrient rich biofilm — also known as river slime — an essential food source on their journey north.

(For more info see: Slime, Shorebirds, and a Scientific Mystery by Daniel Wood)

Don’t miss this video. Learn to love river slime!