Category Archives: Uncategorized

Honour Our Ancestors

POSTPONED due to SNOW

Come join us in honouring our ancestors, and remembering the legacy of the 1973 Wounded Knee Liberation Day. This event woke up the public about the oppression Indigenous people face, and fired up the spirit of Indigenous people across North America. Please spread the word. Any contributions towards give-a-ways or financial contributions would be greatly appreciated! For more information contact: shane_tanya@hotmail.com.

The event starts at 9 am and goes to 4 pm on Sunday, February 26, 2023

General Agenda:

Drummers sing in the flags – Tobacco prayer ties will be made

Elder opening prayer

Chief Mark Point of Skowkale and Grand Chief Steven Point will be the keynote speakers

Sebastian Abbott hoop dance and James George and singers on big drum

Meal

Elders share their memories of the 1973 Wounded Knee event and outlook for our future

The floor will be open for others to share

Closing remarks, song and prayer

Climate + Challenge: Save the date: Indigenous Experts on Climate Crisis

In this keynote talk, Shay lynn Sampson will open SDG Week Canada at KPU by talking about the climate emergency. This hybrid event is hosted by the Climate+ Challenge and KPU’s UN Sustainable Development Goals project. In-person attendees will have the opportunity to mingle and eat a provided lunch.

Everyone welcome, including instructors bringing their classes! 
March 6, 11:00am-2:00pm, Surrey Conference Centre 

Shay lynn Sampson (she/they)Shay lynn Sampson is a Gitxsan Land Defender from the Lax Gibuu (Wolf Clan) and Wilp Spookw. She started organizing for climate justice and indigenous rights and sovereignty while living on Lekwungen territory, and was involved in the 2020 occupation of the BC legislature in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en. Since then they have moved back north to be on Wet’suwet’en Yintah, they have lived at the Gidimt’en Checkpoint alongside the Hereditary Chiefs opposing the Coastal GasLink Pipeline. She was one of the dozens people arrested during the 2021 militarized raids on Coyote Camp, following a 56 day reoccupation of the CGL drill pad site. 

TOMORROW: Orientalism and Environmental Justice with Dr.  Suja Sawafta

How was orientalism used as a tool to dispossess native people? How do we return to pre-colonial regenerative practices? Join us tomorrow at 12pm EST for a course connecting the dots between orientalism, colonialism, capitalism, and environmental disaster and a short introduction to the semester’s theme, Designing Systemic Change by artist Collis Browne, aka Slow Factory’s Chief Innovation Officer, Colin Vernon.
 
⏰ When: February 17, 2023 12:00 PM Eastern Time—US and Canada)
 
Please click the link below to join the webinar:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84382947370

Wake Up – Social Justice Music Festival

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2023 – 6:00PM TO 10:00PM

KPU Surrey

Spruce Atrium

DESCRIPTION:

Wake Up – Social Justice Music Festival 

To create awareness and hype for Faculty of Arts new Music Minor at KPU, this festival will showcase both local music artists in Surrey and emerging music artists at KPU.  Explore and celebrate social justice with music artists from the local South Asian, Black, Indigenous, and Queer communities. Indigenous Artist-in-Residence, Á’a:líya Warbus is one of the featured artist. 

February 23, 2023

Surrey, Spruce Atrium 

Doors Open at 6:00pm 

Full event schedule and details at Wake up Music Festival  

CALL FOR ARTIST AMBASSADORS!

✨Deadline: February 28 @11:59PM PST

Are you an emerging creative looking to grow your practice, connect with your community, and make an impact? BC Culture Days is accepting applications for our 2023 Ambassador Program. We’re partnering with Kickstart Disability Arts and Culture to support with this year’s program and ambassadors!

To read the full call, view an ASL translation, or find the link to apply, visit our website http://ow.ly/lZZC50Mynz8.

Interdisciplinary artists located in B.C. are invited to develop a community event for Culture Days 2023. Centred around the theme of Accessibility and Inclusion, the ambassadors’ events will apply accessible practices and create inclusive spaces for local communities, encouraging participation in arts and culture for all.

⭐Selected artists will receive artist fees and a production budget totalling $1,000 to present their free-to-attend, participatory activity to the public during Culture Days 2023 (Sept 22 – Oct 15, 2023).

⭐Successful applicants will also participate in a paid 6-month ($2,000 total for approx. 8hr/month) mentorship with an established artist starting in May, and act as a Culture Days media spokesperson for their community from July-September.

We invite artists who self-identify as Indigenous, Black, a Person of Colour, disabled, Deaf, hard of hearing, crip, chronically ill, mad, trauma-impacted, neurodivergent, 2SLGBTQQIA+, and/or those who are culturally invested in disability or related communities to apply. Given the provincial scope of our work, we also aim to prioritize applications from regional artists in rural or remote areas.

Have questions or need more info? Join the @BCCulturedays team on February 15 at 10:00AM PST via Zoom for an info session. Link to register: http://ow.ly/xa1450Mynz9.

If you need assistance throughout the application process, please contact us.

Climate Emergency Week

Climate Emergency week at UBC seeks to convene and energize communities of climate action at UBC. Join our events, workshops and activities, and take collective action for justice, people, and our planet. 

We are in a climate emergency. Greenhouse‑gas emissions from fossil-fuel burning and deforestation are choking our planet and putting billions of people at immediate risk 1. We need to dramatically reduce emissions and hold big polluters accountable now. 

UBC declared a Climate Emergency in 2019 and produced a report in 2021 that focuses on climate justice, which goes hand-in-hand with climate action to address the disproportionate impacts of climate change on those communities least responsible 2. 

Climate Emergency Week is your chance to join collective action for justice, people, and our planet. 

Take part in events, workshops and activities, and share your thoughts, experiences, and ideas on social media to show your support for climate action at UBC. UBCclimatelove

Gratitude to all UBC Climate Emergency Week partners. ❤️

For more info visit https://sustain.ubc.ca/climate-emergency-week

GROUNDSWELL COMMUNITY JUSTICE TRUST FUND: GROWING CHANGE 2023 GRANTS AVAILABLE!!

Spread the word!! Groundswell Growing Change grant application process now open!!

Groundswell works to fund social movements, while also building a longer term Growing Change fund. We encourage people with extra money who believe in grassroots social change to get serious about funding movements. The problems facing our communities and our lives are profound, but Groundswell has deep faith in the ability of people, when supported, to solve the problems they face in their lives and in the knowledge to achieve justice and equality already within us.

This year, Groundswell is making our third round of Growing Change funding available in one-time grants of $10,000 to $100,000 for brave, audacious, courageous projects led by Indigenous and Black communities. 

Is there something you’ve always wanted to do but didn’t have the funding or support? What is your most exciting idea? We are interested in initiatives that build community infrastructure, increase capacity, and are multi-generational. We are looking for projects that will grow and survive into the future with support, focusing on building long-term community capacity.

To see if your organization fits the criteria and to apply for a one-time Growing Change grant, click here: https://groundswellfund.ca/growingchange/

Application Deadline: Sunday, March 12, 2023.

Grants will go out to projects/organizations in early Summer 2023.

Please note: This year, we are not distributing our smaller, annual grants.

Applications for legal defence costs are not eligible for funding. If you’d like to request an exception for legal defence costs as part of an impactful project, please write to us in advance at info@groundswellfund.ca to determine if your legal defence costs may be considered. 

Organizations funded by settler government agencies, extractive industries, or energy corporations will not be funded. We may consider funding projects housed by such organizations. Applications on behalf of individuals will not be considered.

In solidarity,

Groundswell Community Justice Trust Fund

GROUNDSWELL COMMUNITY JUSTICE TRUST FUND: GROWING CHANGE 2023 GRANTS AVAILABLE!!

Spread the word!! Groundswell Growing Change grant application process now open!!

Groundswell works to fund social movements, while also building a longer term Growing Change fund. We encourage people with extra money who believe in grassroots social change to get serious about funding movements. The problems facing our communities and our lives are profound, but Groundswell has deep faith in the ability of people, when supported, to solve the problems they face in their lives and in the knowledge to achieve justice and equality already within us.

This year, Groundswell is making our third round of Growing Change funding available in one-time grants of $10,000 to $100,000 for brave, audacious, courageous projects led by Indigenous and Black communities. 

Is there something you’ve always wanted to do but didn’t have the funding or support? What is your most exciting idea? We are interested in initiatives that build community infrastructure, increase capacity, and are multi-generational. We are looking for projects that will grow and survive into the future with support, focusing on building long-term community capacity.

To see if your organization fits the criteria and to apply for a one-time Growing Change grant, click here: https://groundswellfund.ca/growingchange/

Application Deadline: Sunday, March 12, 2023.

Grants will go out to projects/organizations in early Summer 2023.

Please note: This year, we are not distributing our smaller, annual grants.

Applications for legal defence costs are not eligible for funding. If you’d like to request an exception for legal defence costs as part of an impactful project, please write to us in advance at info@groundswellfund.ca to determine if your legal defence costs may be considered. 

Organizations funded by settler government agencies, extractive industries, or energy corporations will not be funded. We may consider funding projects housed by such organizations. Applications on behalf of individuals will not be considered.

In solidarity,

Groundswell Community Justice Trust Fund