By Christopher DeMarcus (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: October 16, 2013
“October 11 shall be ever known as The Day of the Girl by British Columbia,” Abbotsford-Mission MLA Simon Gibson read from an official proclamation to the public at the Centre for Indo Canadian Studies (CICS) Every Girl Matters Day on October 11.
Before the declaration was made, BC Minister of Finance Mike de Jong addressed the room.
“We still have impediments to equality in society that prevents everyone from being on-task and moving in the same direction. The best vehicle by which we can change things for the better is education,” he said.
One foundation working to provide that education is GirlKind, a locally based non-profit that works for gender justice among men and women. Sharanjit Sandhra, coordinator for GirlKind and the CICS explained the reasons behind the day’s events.
“The United Nations has declared October 11 as the International Day of the Girl Child and our Every Girl Matters Day is in conjunction with that day. It is a day to raise more awareness of all that needs to be done to save females around the world, not just in third world countries,” she said.
The task of GirlKind is threefold: promoting equal gender values in societies, raising awareness about gender discrimination, and supporting orphaned girls around the world.
Sandhra’s need for a focus on both local and national gender issues was echoed by de Jong.
“I was at a girl’s orphanage in Punjab last September. For practical reasons, the orphans were given the same birthday because they didn’t know when they were born,” he explained. “We were able to assist these girls [in getting] proper government documents and passports. We helped 30 girls out of 30 million. But we have work to do in Canada as well.”
Several civil servants were in attendance for the declaration ceremony including Abbotsford school board trustee Jon Sutherland, Abbotsford city councillor Patricia Ross, and UFV president Mark Evered.
However, the day was about more than public announcements. Both the BC government and GirlKind want authentic advocacy. GirlKind is currently running a social media campaign through its website to raise awareness about gendercide and gender discrimination.
“It is not enough that people attend an event, and then simply leave feeling that they have done their part,” explained Sandhra. “It takes much more effort to become an active member of society and become aware of all these horrible events happening around the world against women, and these are not coincidences, but more like an epidemic.”
