UFV will be hosting their first Pride Culture Conference and Fair this weekend, featuring keynote speaker Jack Saddleback, in an event they hope will become an annual conference celebrating pride in the Valley. The focus topic for the event will be Progress: Celebrating Our History and Envisioning the Future.
The event will start off the evening of Friday, Sept. 6 with keynote speaker Jack Saddleback in his talk titled “Embracing Our Authenticity.” The evening will run from 7 – 9 p.m. and include the presentation by Saddleback, dessert, and discussion.
Saddleback is a Cree, two-spirited, transgender, gay man from Alberta who is a strong advocate for gender and sexual diversity issues, Indigenous engagement, two-spirited issues, and mental health awareness. He is the former president of the University of Saskatchewan Students’ Union and recipient of the Red Cross 2018 SK Young Humanitarian of the Year award in recognition of his advocacy for human rights causes.
“It’s going to be a really amazing day; we’re really excited to have Jack with us. He’s very powerful and I think the impact is going to be really incredible,” Sheila Mackay, operations coordinator of student engagement at Student Life and one of the organizers of the conference, said.
The conference will be held the next day, Saturday, Sept. 7, in Evered Hall. Saddleback will start the conference off at 9 a.m. with an interactive workshop on the ways the two-spirit community is working to advance decolinization and reconcilliation efforts titled “Queerlonial: Addressing Decolonization Efforts in the Queer Community.” A variety of other panels and workshops will follow until 4 p.m., with a break at noon for the Pride on the Green.
According to the event page, topics covered at the conference will range from “decolonization and reconciliation efforts in the Queer community to creating dependable allies to dating in the transgender world to sexual health.”
“We’re working to [bring] the community an inclusive and diverse event that will have some good impact and will bring some great insight,” Mackay said.
“We hope that the students will come out and learn a little bit about inclusivity, build community, and start to develop a greater, broader conversation around the LGBTQ world here at UFV.”
The fair portion of the event, “Pride on the Green,” will start at noon and run until around 5 p.m. There will be local vendors, artisans, organizations, and community groups, as well as food trucks available on the Green for attendees to purchase lunch at.
The event is free for all UFV students, $15 for UFV faculty and staff, and $25 for community members. All advocates, allies, and members of the LGBTQ+ community are welcome and invited to attend.
