Category: Social Justice

News from the Social Justice Committee or related to social justice and posted by another group

64 Red Dresses — Art Installation by Doreen Manuel

July 22, 2019 • admin

Above: Red Dresses to honour missing and murdered Indigenous women

Honour the Women Project

At the Stop Trans Mountain Pipeline rally at Creekside Park on June 9, 2019, Doreen Manuel, Secwepemc Nation film maker, and sister of the late Chief Arthur Manuel, announced that she is collecting red dresses (the symbol of missing and murdered Indigenous women) for her “Honour the Women project”. She will hang red dresses along the route of the pipeline in Secwepemc Territory both as an art installation and as a reminder to all who the victims are.

Thank you to all who contributed red dresses and cash! A total of 64 red dresses were collected from UCV members or purchased from thrift stores using donations by UCV members.

These dresses were delivered to the BC Union of Indian Chiefs and will be hung along the Trans Mountain pipeline route in Secwepemc territory.

This red dress collection drive at UCV was sponsored by the Social Justice Committee and supported by the Environment Team and other individuals.

The recently released report on the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls states that there is a correlation between resource extraction and violence against Indigenous women and girls. Work camps/man camps built for resource extraction projects are implicated in higher rates of violence against Indigenous women at the camps and neighbouring communities.

For more information about this project, please contact Doreen Manuel at: honourthewomen@gmail.com

A Green New Deal for All – Cross Canada Tour in Vancouver

June 25, 2019 • Rob Dainow

At least ten Vancouver Unitarians were among the 350 person sell-out crowd on June 21 at the Canadian Memorial Church to participate in the Vancouver stop of the Green New Deal for All cross-Canada tour.

All the presenters were passionate, well informed, and inspiring. It was a great event, part of the grass roots movement that started with over 150 town hall meetings across Canada – including a full house event with about 100 people at UCV on May 24.

Support for the Green New Deal (GND) is rising up across this country with the intention to become a powerful voice in the coming federal election.

The entire Green New Deal for All event was video taped and posted online, or you can watch it below. The table shows the time for each presentation to help you navigate through this nearly 3 hour long video.

  00:00 -- 07:15      Intro Slides
  07:15 -- 09:00      MC Anjali Appadurai
  09:00 -- 18:40      Chief Reuben George, Tsleil-Waututh Nation
  18:40 -- 21:00      Green New Deal
  21:00 -- 26:40      Remarks by Anjali
  26:40 -- 41:20      Youth-led Chant
  41:20 -- 1:04:30    David Suzuki
1:04:30 -- 1:24:00    Kanahus Manuel, Indigenous Activist
1:24:00 -- 1:45:10    Harsha Walia, Activist and Writer
1:45:10 -- 1:47:30    Youth-led Chant
1:47:30 -- 2:10:10.   Kim Mortel, Poet and Singer
2:10:10 -- 2:42:35.   Avi Lewis, The LEAP
2:42:35 -- 2:44:00.   Presenters' Tributes

Vancouver Unitarians protest NEB approval of TMX

March 3, 2019 • Rob Dainow

Vancouver Unitarians Carry the Flame
Rally to Protest NEB Approval of TMX
Feb 22, 2019

At least 10 Vancouver Unitarians rallied around our Vancouver Unitarians banner and joined hundreds of others on Friday, February 22, to raise our voices in protest to the National Energy Board report that recommended going ahead with the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion project.

We marched down Burrard Street and then along Georgia Street to the final rally on Georgia Street between the CBC and the Queen Elizabeth Theatre.

We were proud to be among the voices speaking out.