The Office of Regional and International Community Engagement invites you to attend a series of events that showcase the work that different community groups are doing to resist systemic oppression and challenges faced in the areas of migration, gender, sustainability.
Speaker Series #3 Sustainability and Resistance
This speaker series showcases the work that different community members are doing to resist systemic oppression and the challenges faced in the areas of sustainability, social justice and resistance. The goal of this series is to have each speaker talk about their own work with the multiple communities they are a part of and examine their own resistance.
The format of this session includes a panel discussion followed by small break-out groups where audience members can engage in more meaningful dialogue with the panelists.
Coffee and light refreshments will be served.
Wednesday March 28, 2018, 5:00 pm-7:00 pm
Location: #302 – Dodson Room 1961 East Mall Irving K. Barber Learning Centre UBC Library, Vancouver Campus.
Presenters:
Francisco Gómez-López is a PhD student in the Interdisciplinary Studies Graduate Program and a member of the Liu Institute for Global Issues at UBC. He has taught the Land, Food and Community course series here at UBC and has worked extensively with peasant and indigenous communities in Colombia. He is currently supporting agroecological initiatives with indigenous peasant cooperatives in Chiapas (Mexico), Guatemala, Cuba and Nicaragua through the non-profit organization Codevelopment Canada.
Temitope Onifade is from Nigeria and has lived and practiced law in the notorious “Niger Delta Area” where oil corporations have been accused of gross environmental violation. Influenced by his Niger Delta experience, Temi’s legal practice has largely centred around energy and environmental law and policy as well as corporate regulation and governance. Before moving to Canada, he co-founded a sustainability law firm in Nigeria, Lex Luminaire LLP.
Temi is currently a doctoral student and a Liu scholar at UBC and works part-time for Social Impact Firm, a Canadian transnational corporate social responsibility law firm with clients across North America. He has also taught as a lecturer at Memorial University, Canada. His research outputs have been in the form of policy documents such as a cabinet paper draft and a position paper prepared for the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, corporate documents prepared for businesses such as American Chamber of Commerce Haiti and Biofuel Development Farmers Association in Nigeria, and refereed articles in international periodicals such as Energy Policy, Journal of Energy and Natural Resources Law, Global Journal of Comparative Law, Human Rights Review, Nigerian Yearbook of International Law, and Renewable Energy Law and Policy Review, as well as university journals, academic books and professional newsletters.
Sol Lewites is a civil engineering student in the faculty of applied science. He is passionate about green infrastructure, innovation and the environment. He is currently taking online classes from Green School Bali to further develop a sustainable mindset. He is co-founder of Casa Congo, an international conservation movement. Their mission is to protect the environment and empower communities by turning natural resources into sustainable assets. Casa Congo is a registered non-profit in Canada and has opened a school of conservation in Nicaragua to create a knowledge centre where different cultures can come together to learn skills, share ideas and have an active hand in sustainable development. For more information on Casa Congo visit www.casacongo.org
Registration & Location
Register Here for any of the Speaker Series.
Dodson Room 1961 East Mall Irving K. Barber Learning Centre UBC Library, Vancouver Campus – Map and Accessibility information
Questions? Email us at ubc.isl@ubc.ca
Speaker Series #2 Gender and Resistance
This speaker series showcases the work that different community members are doing to resist systemic oppression and the challenges faced in the areas of sexual violence, gender, and resistance. The goal of this series is to have each speaker talk about their own work with the multiple communities they are a part of and examine their own resistance and organizing efforts to systemic oppression.
The format of this session includes a panel discussion followed by small break-out groups where audience members can engage in more meaningful dialogue with the panelists.
Coffee and light refreshments will be served.
Thursday March 1, 2018, 5:00 pm-7:00 pm
Location: Room 301 – Lillooet Room 1961 East Mall Irving K. Barber Learning Centre UBC Library, Vancouver Campus.
Presenters:
Lorelei Williams is an Indigenous activist who is fighting for the rights of Indigenous women throughout Canada. Williams is the founder of the dance group, Butterflies in Spirit, which she began in order to empower Indigenous women in her community. It was also a way for her to raise awareness about her Aunt Belinda Williams, who went missing in 1978, and her cousin Tanya Holyk, who was murdered by serial killer Robert Pickton in 1996. Beyond managing Butterflies in Spirit, Lorelei Williams is the Women’s Coordinator at the Vancouver Aboriginal Community Policing Centre. This non-for- profit organization addresses Indigenous social justice issues, and works to build stronger relationships between the Vancouver Police Department (VPD) and Indigenous communities through promoting education, awareness and open dialogue. Williams also volunteers for the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Collation in Vancouver, which is a diverse group of more than twenty-five urban community and political advocacy groups and family members of the missing and murdered.
Rosa Elena Arteaga has been working in the anti-violence field for twenty years. She has been delivering workshops on the spectrum of violence against girls and women, crisis intervention, and counselling approaches to service providers. For the last fourteen years she has worked as the Manager of Direct Services and Clinical Practice at Battered Women Support Services. She is also a faculty member with the Vancouver School for Narrative Therapy. Rosa Elena is wildly passionate about her work which is framed in a feminist, intersectionality, and decolonizing perspective. She is an active agent of change towards eliminating violence against women and girls. Rosa Elena and her team are a true gift to our Vancouver community.
Qiqi Xiao is a Chinese feminist activist. She was the first person to put the #Metoo在中国 （meaning #MetooInChina) and #米兔在中国 （meaning #RicebunnyInChina) on Weibo, Chinese Twitter and the host of the two topic pages. She is one of the key organizers of the anti-sexual harassment movement among Chinese universities. She is interested in how technology can be used to mobilize social movement and promote changes, while being dedicated to creating a community for the overseas Chinese feminist diaspora (for example, in Vancouver) and helping the mainland activists.
Speaker Series #1 Migration and Resistance
Thursday January 25, 2018, 5:00 pm-7:00 pm
Location: Lillooet Room 1961 East Mall Irving K. Barber Learning Centre UBC Library, Vancouver Campus.
Presenters:
Golsa Golestaneh is a twenty year old refugee from Iran. She came to Canada in 2014 and has been involved in multiple youth initiatives as a facilitator, advisory team/ board member and youth participant. Her focus is mostly on policy advocacy for racialized refugees and women of colour. She is currently studying Political Science and plans to continue her education in Constitutional Law. She organized the rallies supporting protesters in Iran; is a former member of Fresh Voices from Long Journeys at the Vancouver Foundation; co-organized the No Ban, No Wall rally and is currently the Program facilitator and BEATS Magazine Creative Director at Leave Out Violence.
Lama Al Olabi is a hardcore feminist, social activist, a language geek, an aspiring writer and a cat lady! Lama is a current MA student in the department of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies, a Research Assistant and a volunteer interpreter for Rainbow Refugee, an organisation providing support for LGBTQ+ refugee claimants in Vancouver. She also does work with Immigrant Services Society of BC supporting the development of an orientation curriculum project for settlement services geared towards LGBTQ+ refugees and newcomers.
Alexandra Henao-Castrillon is originally from Colombia. She has worked supporting and advocating for migrant farm workers in the Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley for the last 6 years. She is a founding member of the Migrant Workers’ Dignity Association.
Ariam Yetbarek is a member of Black Lives Matter Vancouver. Her activism for the black community came from personal experience, such as living in a town full of anti-black people, which drove her to seek safe spaces to live, work and strive for the liberation of black folks around the world. She joined Black Lives Matter Vancouver about a year and half ago because of her concerns about police brutality, the modern slavery of black refugees, and other black bodies around the world being treated as less than equal. Ariam’s experience working with organizations like ISS of BC and RCSM, which help immigrants and refugees adjust to life in Canadian society sparked her interest in how these refugees deal with PTSD and trauma from war and the perilous journey to seek a better life. Ariam’s studies in clinical psychology focus on adapting Western psychology to better assist people from other parts of the world. As a person with different intersectional identities, including being a black woman, Ariam’s life experiences motivate her to continue the work of making sure that people are treated with equity and equality
