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Two UNBC graduate students have developed a new online resource called 'Claiming Spaces,' which is a hub designed to provide members of underrepresented groups access to leadership tools.
The suite of online resources results from a new project partnership between the City of Prince George and Inspiring Women Among Us (IWAU), with funding from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM).
Penina Harding and Annie Pumphrey put together a suite of 16 videos mean to encourage members of underrepresented groups to encourage people – particularly youth to engage with leadership.
The videos also showcase inspirational leaders and some of their unconventional trajectories.
Claiming Spaces videos are also complemented by information about IWAU and FCM’s additional resources and programs, as well as links to podcasts, books, organizations or articles that might inspire or foster leadership.
In 2018, the FCM announced the Toward Parity in Municipal Politics initiative—a program created with the goal of involving more women in local politics through pilot projects among municipalities throughout Canada
Claiming Spaces is one of those pilot projects, however, before the pandemic, the concept for the project was much different.
“Originally, our exciting plan was to host 5-6 youth-directed in-person workshops,” states IWAU’s Zoe Meletis in a news release.
“We were preparing to collaborate with UNBC recruitment and School District 57 (SD57) to recruit for the program when we experienced a ‘year of interruptions’ via job action prompted by the lack of a fair faculty agreement at UNBC, followed by COVID-19 restrictions and impacts.”
Meletis says with understanding from the FCM, project collaborators Coun. Garth Frizzell and Dyra Pridham, they shifted gears and re-conceptualized the project as an accessible, unique, online resource designed with members of underrepresented groups in mind.
Claiming Spaces resource page features candid interviews with known local political figures like Prince George City Councillors Susan Scott and Cori Ramsay, as well as Fort St. John Mayor Lori Ackerman.
It also amplifies voices of key Indigenous youth leaders in various sectors, including Dallas George and Sarah Dixon who are Esk’etmc student and community leaders, and Taya Jardine who is an Indigenous, female, Queer student leader at UBC Okanagan, among others.
Well-known local activists Tess Healy, who is an Adjunct Professor at UNBC, and Wendy Young, a speech-language pathologist and artist, also contributed video interviews about leadership and the LGBTQ+ community. They were among the initial advocates who successfully fought for LGBTQ+ rights to marry in B.C. and Canada.
The new Claiming Spaces resource is free and accessible to all with an Internet connection and access to a computer. You can find the Claiming Spaces videos and resource links on the IWAU website.
IWAU will also host a viewing party of Claiming Spaces videos and featuring contributing participants during IWAU 2020, which is Tuesday, Nov. 24 at 5:30 p.m.
IWAU 2020 will be an all-online/remote series of events this year, and will run from Nov. 18 to 25.
The guiding theme this year is 'Sharing Power Now! Diversifying Leadership.'
