Last Thursday I had the pleasure to speak at Concordia University about the issues surrounding Rehtaeh’s life and death. I was asked to come as a keynote speaker by the Centre for Gender Advocacy as part of a larger event series: Another Word for Gender: an intro to feminist organizing & action.
These are some truly an amazing group of people who work tirelessly to bring services and resources to the Concordia and Montreal community in the form of Peer Support and Advocacy, safer sex resources and trans health resources as well as “campaigns to demand justice for the many indigenous women who are murdered or go missing each year in Canada, to advocate for improved access to reproductive health services, trans health resources, and A Safer Concordia.”
The talk happened at McGill due to some construction. Journalist Jordan Venton-Rublee has a good write up about my talk: Rehtaeh Parsons’ father speaks at McGill and Julia Nadeau recorded and uploaded a video.
Thank you for letting me speak about Rehtaeh. Gabrielle, Bianca, Maya, Julia, Olivia, Julie, – you are all an inspiration.
Centre for Gender Advocacy
Telephone: 514-848-2424 x7431
Peer Support Line: 514-848-2424 x7880
@GenderAdvocacy
Hi Glen,
Thanks for the great talk at Concordia. It was so powerful and such an eye-opener.
I was there with the Early Childhood and Elementary Education class. I’m really glad the prof brought us, because teachers don’t get much training for this kind of issue. The talk made me realize two things:
1. We need to systematically teach kids about bullying and healthy sexual attitudes from a young age, long before it gets to be a problem.
2. I have no idea how to do that.
Definitely something for me to keep thinking about.
It’s really great what you’re doing in Retaeh’s memory. What a fabulous legacy. I’m sure it’s exactly what she would have wanted.
I hope you’ll consider doing more talks like it, especially to groups of teachers.
Thank you,
Casey
It was honour to have you in Montreal Glen. Thanks so much for sharing Rehtaeh’s story with us.
Julie
Considering the RCMP had some of the same culture in their force it is not surprising. It has to change first there.