Upcoming Events

Practicing Anti-Racism: Approaching Difficult Conversations with Friends & Family (Free Workshop)

We're organizing a free workshop at Vines Den — 825 E Hastings Street on Saturday, September 27th, 1pm - 4pm. (Accessibility information)

Have someone in your network who’s not engaging with anti-oppression and is challenging to talk to about the issues you care about? This workshop aims to provide a space for community support on how to approach challenging conversations with those folks!

Who is this workshop for? This workshop is geared towards white folks familiar with anti-racism work, who want to go beyond performative allyship, and deepen their practice of anti-oppression.

Themes that might come up: setting intentions and boundaries for these conversations; navigating uncertainty; self-compassion, self-regulation, and our own capacity; learning and making mistakes; setting ourselves up for “success” - timing and resourcing these conversations; beliefs and identity dynamics; and skills like active listening, calling in, non-violent communication, de-escalation.

Click here to register.

FACILITATOR BIOS:

Emily Gorham
Workshop Facilitator
she/her

Emily is a SURJ Metro Vancouver member and an enthusiastic educator, who is curious about how we facilitate transformative learning spaces to inspire meaningful change. She can be found asking: How do we move towards collective liberation and create a more just, equitable, inclusive, sustainable, and loving future? She strives to embody her anti-oppressive values and her approach emphasizes critical inquiry into the root causes of complex issues, empowerment, and her ongoing learnings about applying the lenses of intersectional feminism and decolonization.

Born as a white settler of Eastern European ancestry (mostly from Poland and Russia), on the stolen homelands of the xwməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ílwətaʔɬ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Peoples, Emily is committed to being in solidarity with Indigenous folks on their own terms. She has many years of experience developing and managing social justice education programs, as well as her MA in Peace Education, which shapes her work. Recently she has been facilitating workshops with Bakau Consulting and working on her anti-capitalist children’s book.

Emily Loves:
Sharing food and laughter with loved ones
Board games
Collaborative storytelling
Musicals

Ciaran Irwin
Media & Communications Researcher
he/him

Ciaran’s research focus is polarization, misinformation and extremism. He has worked in community safety and de-escalation across a range of contexts in Ireland and Canada, including for climate activist, labour, 2SLGBTQIA+ and Palestinian communities.