May 5th is the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.
It is also known as red dress day
Missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls in Canada (MMIWG) refers to a human rights crisis that has only recently become a topic of discussion within national media. Indigenous
women and communities, women’s groups and international organizations have long called for action into the high and disproportionate rates of violence and the appalling numbers of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls in Canada. (Canadian encyclopedia, 2020)
Important facts:
- Indigenous women make up 16% of all female homicide victims, and 11% of missing women, even though Indigenous people make up 4.9 % of the population of Canada.
- Violence against Indigenous women and girls is a systemic and national crisis that requires urgent, informed and collaborative action.
- Indigenous women are three times more likely than non-Indigenous women to be victims of violence.
- Current public data on MMIWG oversimplifies and underrepresents the scale of the issue, yet still demonstrates a complex and pervasive pattern of violence against Indigenous women and girls who are often targeted because of their gender and Indigenous identity.
- There have been approximately 4,000 or more Indigenous murdered or missing women and girls in the last 30 years. That works out to about 133 a year, or three a week.
- The average rate of homicides involving Indigenous female victims is four times higher than that of homicides involving non-Indigenous female victims.
- Most of the cases occurred in the Western provinces. More than a quarter (28%) of all cases occurred in British Columbia, followed by Alberta with 16% of cases.
(Access the National Inquiry’s Final Report here The entire report can be accessed here.).
Stand in solidarity with our indigenous community members during this season of remembrance and wear a red clothing item on Wednesday May 5.
Resources:
Unsolved Cases of Indigenous Women and Girls
Five ways you can put the calls to justice from the MMIWG into action
National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
Wikipedia page on MMIWG
March 8 - 12 is International Women’s Week
By Council Proclamation, March 8 - 12 is International Women’s Week in Chestermere. The City welcomes all community members to share in this event, celebrating the achievements of women.
This year's theme for International Women's Day is 'choose to challenge.'
A challenged world is an alert world. Individually, we're all responsible for our own thoughts and actions - all day, every day.
We can all choose to challenge and call out gender bias and inequality. We can all choose to seek out and celebrate women's achievements. Collectively, we can all help create an inclusive world.
From challenge comes change, so let's all choose to challenge.
Raise your hand high to show you're in, and that you commit to choose to challenge and call out inequality. Be involved in the movement and share a picture of you choosing to challenge by raising your hand up high, and create awareness in your community by using the hashtag #choosetochallenge
Read the Council Proclamation here
Learn more:
www.internationalwomensday.com
February 2021 - Black History Month
Black History Month is an opportunity for all Canadians to learn about the many contributions that Black Canadians and their communities have made to this country.
This year’s theme for Black History Month is “The Future is Now”, a call to action for us all to build on the legacy of those who came before us, and to recognize the transformative work that Black Canadians and their communities are doing now.
Read the Council Proclamation here: chestermere.ca/BHM.
To view some additional resources and to download & colour your own version of the 2021 official poster, visit canada.ca/black-history-month.
Community members are welcome to colour the page and tag us on social media using #BHM2021 or share with us via email at diversity@chestermere.ca
Orange Shirt Day Awareness Campaign
On Wednesday, September 30, Canadians across the nation commemorated Orange Shirt Day.
Thank you to everyone who participated in our Orange Shirt Day Awareness Campaign by submitting your photos and thoughts!
The following participants who will receive a special thank you gift are:
- Marla Forth
- Grace, Thea and Finn McKenna
- Shivani Lal
Click the images below to enlarge
The ‘orange shirt’ in Orange Shirt Day refers to the new shirt that Phyllis Webstad was given by her grandmother for her first day of school at St. Joseph’s Mission residential school in British Columbia.
When Phyllis got to school, they took away her clothes, including her new shirt. It was never returned.
To Phyllis, the colour orange has always reminded her of her experiences at residential school and, as she has said, “how my feelings didn’t matter, how no one cared and I felt like I was worth nothing. All of us little children were crying and no one cared.”
Chestermere residents were encouraged to wear an orange item of clothing on September 30 in the spirit of reconciliation, and to stand in solidarity with survivors and all those impacted by residential schools.
The project is sponsored by the Alberta Human Rights grant for Multicultural Education.
September 20 to 26, 2020 - Gender Equality Week!
This year’s theme, #BecauseOfYou, celebrated the many trailblazers, activists and advocates who are working to advance gender equality in their communities.
Residents were asked to tell us about the inspiring advocates and activists in their own family, workplace, and community who are strengthening the women’s and equality-seeking movement using #BecauseOfYou
The City of Chestermere’s office of Diversity and Inclusion is committed to furthering the message of equity and equality. The City was 1 of 2 recipients in Alberta, and 1 of 20 in Canada to receive the Federation of Canadian Municipalities grant (Toward Parity for Women). This grant has been used to engage women in our community on crucial topics such as leadership, mental health, diversity and inclusion, body image and resiliency.
We will continue to elevate women’s voices and acknowledge the various intersections that exist within our community. Learn more about Gender Equality Week here:
https://cfc-swc.gc.ca/commemoration/gew-ses/about-apropos-en.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cnl_p09YF8&feature=youtu.be
September 12
Women, Leadership & Mental Health 
Take a moment with host Megan K Hunter as part of a web series that takes us on a journey through the important insights on women, leadership and mental health.
Pause. Take a moment to connect with our incredible community as we move through components of mental health for women in leadership. Taking care of you is one of the most incredible important roles we have in life, one with some of the least guidance or information on "how."
We welcome you whether this is your first or 5th webinar with us. Expect to walk away with the beginning of an informed carefully crafted self-care plan.
About Megan K Hunter
With almost two decades in the field of promoting health in a variety of settings and pursuing her Masters of Science in the field, Megan decided it was time to merge her skillset of science loving application and real world experience and offer it up to workplaces, organizations and communities.
Megan noticed the work of "wellness" was largely unregulated and tended to not practice what it preaches behind the scenes. Which brought her to think "How we are well is as important as being well." It's about a mindset of healing, not harm while we share messages about health that are founded in evidence. Enter Peak + Prairie Co. Health Promotion. If your organization or community are interested in amping up psychological protection in your environments and cultures or you would like to collaborate, reach out. We can't wait to connect with you!
Visit her website: www.peakandprairieco.com
June is #PrideMonth in Chestermere and June 22-28 is #PrideWeek! 
Read the Council Proclamation here
Since we can’t gather for large events this year, Chestermere’s Pride Committee is looking to celebrate #prideweek with #chestermereprideontheporch! Join in by decorating your porch, sidewalks or windows with some rainbows, submit your photos to the committee at:
Facebook: @chestermere pride
Insta:@ chestermere_pride
Twitter: @ChestermereP
July 2
Resilience, Women, and Leadership:
Helping Strengthen Your Commitment, Stamina and Skills to Lead
Join us on July 2 from 3:30 - 5 p.m. for a free workshop seminar on resilience and women in leadership with Patricia Morgan.
Accepting the role of leadership requires commitment to the cause, stamina to face the challenges, and skills to stay steady and move forward. Too many women wait until they feel confident to say yes. You will be reminded that you are a resilient woman and can choose to feel the fear and step up to lead or lead more in your own way.
Patricia Morgan is often referred to as a Spunky Seniorpreneur. Her ability to provide bite-sized knowledge nuggets for resilience has helped many people emerge stronger after facing unthinkable challenge. With a MA in Clinical Psychology, she has authored several books on resilience, stress management, and women’s issues including From Woe to WOW: How Resilient Women Succeed at Work and Frantic Free: 167 Ways to Calm Down and Lighten Up.
Her leadership roles have included leading herself out of poverty and self-criticism, mother, college instructor, agency director, member of the steering committee of a feminist organization, therapy group facilitator, workshop leader, keynote presenter, president of Canadian Association of Professional Speakers, Calgary, and mentor to hundreds of emerging speakers.
She is a recipient of Global TV’s Woman of Vision award and the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers’ Spirit of CAPS award for her contribution to the Canadian speaking industry.
She is described as a therapeutic counsellor, speaker, author, mentor, mother to three, grandmother to five, and happily married most days.
Women, Body Image and Leadership - How are these related?
In this webinar, Cinder Smith, a Registered Psychologist in Calgary talked about the power and influence body image has on women in society these days, as well as women in politics and/or leadership positions.
Style for Leadership - Women, Wardrobes and Winning
As part of the Toward Parity project, Julie Murrell, certified image consultant, joined us on June 4 for an online webinar about Style for Leadership.
Celebrating Black History and Culture in Chestermere
Black History Month is observed across Canada every February. Black History Month in Canada provides an opportunity to share and learn about the experiences, contributions and achievements of peoples of African ancestry.
More than 70 Chestermere residents and special guests joined us to celebrate in this colourful, fun filled evening with performances, music and food!
Daring Leadership Workshop
Attendees joined facilitator, Nicole Owen in part two of our conversation about empowering women to engage in municipal politics.
Conversation Café: Engaging women in municipal politics
A conversation about empowering women to engage in municipal politics. Attendees were encouraged to share their perspectives and any current barriers they are experiencing.
Dialogues for Diversity Series 3
A FREE Paint Night with the theme of ’Belonging’
Dialogues for Diversity Series 2
The Dialogues for Diversity series presented: “But where are you REALLY from?” an exploration in to unconscious bias and microagressions. For more information visit the following links:
CNN.com - Where are you really from? article and VIDEO
Fall Feast
The City of Chestermere, in partnership with Rocky View Immigrant Services, the Chestermere Foodbank and the Latinas en Chestermere group invited the community to participate in a potluck style Fall Feast.
Dialogues for Diversity Workshop
The first Dialogues for Diversity workshop was hosted on August 9 and featured a deep dive into the exploration of colonization with guest speaker Ryan "Gitz Crazyboy" Derangé
Pride in Chestermere
June was Pride Month & and June 24-30 was Pride Week in Chestermere!
Our Pride Committee worked hard on some really cool community events including a film screening, discussion group and the Pride in
the Park event! They also recruited a bunch of volunteers to paint the crosswalks at City Hall with a couple’a rainbows!
Faces of Chestermere
Most often we do not understand what diversity means, or the discriminations that people in our community might be experiencing. Faces of Chestermere aims to bring awareness to Chestermere’s diversity by photographing residents faces, and displaying those photographs with statistics throughout the City.
Photo booths will displayed at special events like Canada Day and Water Festival. We invite residents to join together in publicly proclaiming their personal choices, characteristics, or beliefs and showcase that differences are not to be feared.
