Shocking. Ripped open. Raw. Emerging and established Indigenous writers from around the world present their latest works. Care to dance?

February 4-7 2009 Theatre Passe Muraille Mainspace.

Weesageechak Festival has been the starting point for numerous renowned writers including Dora Award-winning Tara Beagan and new playwright-in-residence, Spy Dénommé-Welsh. Featuring performances in dance, theatre, music and multi-media, Weesageechak has launched over 114 new works by such artists as Drew Hayden Taylor, Alanis King, Darrell Dennis, Marie Clements, Turtle Gals, and the Tonto’s Nephews.

Of those 114 works, 47 have gone on to mainstage productions including Dreary and Izzy, Girl Who Loved Her Horses, and this season’s A Very Polite Genocide.

For info or to purchase tickets/passes, call 416.531.1402.

An Open Letter to Ron Bruinooge, Conservative MP for the Manitoba riding of Winnipeg South

By Tanna Pirie-Wilson and Jessica Yee

We write to you as two young Aboriginal women who are unafraid to speak up, with concern in regards to the anti-choice statements you made in December 2008 about your recent election as the new chair of the Parliamentary Pro-Life Caucus.

And we quote (as reported in the Western Standard):

As an Aboriginal MP, Bruinooge says his roots play a role in his pro-life view. “Respect for life is paramount to my Aboriginal culture,” he explains. “Respect for the unborn was passed on to me by my Aboriginal elders and I believe in keeping that tradition alive.”

We realize the “pro-life” vs “pro-choice” debate will be an issue so long as we live in patriarchal societies, however we would be remiss if we did not state that this is the direct affect of generations of colonization and oppression we are still suffering through. Much of the values, practices, and traditions once held strong in our Aboriginal communities are now lost, and this most definitely includes the rightful place of our women to govern their own bodies.

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ACTION ALERT: PRO CHOICE COUNTER-PROTEST TODAY IN TORONTO!

COME SUPPORT A WOMAN’S RIGHT TO CHOOSE

The Genocide Awareness Project (GAP), an anti-choice organization, is
holding a “silent protest” today. They will be putting up offensive
displays at Harbord & St. George TODAY (Wednesday January 28) comparing abortion to genocide and lynchings.

Pro-choicers on and off UFT campus will be holding a counter protest to
support women’s right to their bodies and CHOICE!

The counter-protest is at Harbord and St. George from 1-2PM.

Want to join us?
Meet us at the Centre for Women and Trans People at 12:15PM (563 Spadina Ave, Room 100, North Borden Building)
OR
Meet us at the Graduate Students Union (16 Bancroft Ave.) at 12:30PM to
collect buttons and posters, and we will go as a pro-choice contingent.

Bring your own posters and noisemakers if you can!

Women Who Have Sex with Women (WSW) need pap tests too!

In 2007, Planned Parenthood Toronto and Sherbourne Health Centre conducted a community consultation on the sexual and reproductive health needs of WSW. Pap tests emerged as an important issue; many women who have sex with women (WSW) aren’t clear if they need them and neither are their healthcare providers.

So we’re creating a campaign to make sure we all know we need paps and we need your help. Please come to a focus group and tell us what a pap campaign for WSW should look like.

FOCUS GROUPS
-All groups have food at 5:30pm, group runs from 6-8pm
-Food, TTC tokens and a $20 honorarium provided
-Childcare subsidies, interpretation and attendant services available if requested in advance
-Trans women welcome
-All locations are accessible
-Registration required

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Now in its 16th year, the Bowlathon has become one of the Toronto Rape Crisis Centre/Multicultural Women Against Rape success stories. Since 1993 when we raised over $3,000, this event has grown into a key source of support for the women of Toronto. In 2008, we raised a total of $144,000!

The Bowlathon is a fun day for bowlers of all ages and abilities. The amount of money you raise doesn’t depend on your bowling experience – just your ability to collect pledges from your family, friends, co-workers and neighbours.

At Bowlarama West you can choose from cosmic 5 or 10 pin bowling.

Support your community and come out for a day of bowling fun!
Join us in celebrating the TRCC/MWAR 35th Anniversary at our annual Bowlathon.

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From our lovely friends over at Power Camp (now Girls Action Foundation!):

Bloggers Wanted!

Kickaction.ca is looking for guest bloggers for our annual Blogging Carnival!

What’s a Blogging Carnival, you ask?

A blogging carnival is when a bunch of bloggers are brought together on one site to write about a given topic, allowing readers to read a variety of outlooks on that issue.

To celebrate the Girls Action Foundation National Day of Action on February 14th, kickaction.ca will be hosting a blogging carnival! The carnival will be four weeks long, between the Day of Action and International Women’s Day, with a theme each week. The themes, based on discussions that came out of the National Retreat in October, will be:

Feb 9-14: Let’s Talk About Sex(ual health)
Feb 16-20: We need to talk!: Race & Gender
Feb 23-27: Indigenous Feminism: Remembering the past, reclaiming the present & celebrating the future
March 2-8: ‘Hypersexualization’, Pop Culture & Media: Who do they think we are?

We would like to have 2-3 guest bloggers each in French & English.

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Our beloved Thea Lim over here at Shameless has not yet departed to the United States and will grace us once more before she goes with her intelligence, brilliance, and general feminist awesomeness this Sunday at the Toronto Rape Crisis Centre/Multicultural Women Against Rape for their monthly Feminist Activist Herstory Forum!

If I weren’t in the US myself, I’d be there! So I hope you can be!

Here are the deets:

Date: Sunday, January 4th
Time: 2-3:30pm
Where: 17 Phoebe St, The TRCC/MWAR Centre (Just northeast of Queen and Spadina)

This is a FREE event open to all and includes snacks

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Big Foot Memorial Ride arriving in Porcupine, South Dakota 2007

Amidst all the holiday hub-bub nonsense what with all the rampant shopping, grotesque overspending, power eating, and under-the-weather feelings many of us encounter, I cast my eyes to my brothers and sisters who use the holiday season to do something remarkably different.

Two rides take place in the United States every December to commemorate some of the largest massacres in Native American history, where communities, families, Elders, and youth alike gather from all across Turtle Island to ride in the footsteps of our ancestors who put their lives down so our peoples could carry on the very culture that sustains us today.

On December 10th, the Dakota 38 Ride started on the Lower Brule reservation in South Dakota, and will end up in Mankato, Minnesota on December 26th. It commemorates the result of a federal policy and a newly formed state to remove the Dakota people from their lands and led to the largest mass hanging in US history on December 26, 1862.

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You can always count on LifeSite News to make you laugh:

“This holiday season, Durex(R) wants lovers to really feel the Love,” says the (press) release. “Helping Canadians get in the mood to wrap their packages, Durex and Santa will start celebrating the holidays by handing out Love condoms this Tuesday, December 16, 2008 in downtown Toronto. Giving never felt so good!”

“It’s deeply saddening to me that at one of the most sacred times of the year, Durex would do such a thing,” said Suresh Dominic of Campaign Life Catholic in response to the publicity stunt.

“Santa Claus is simply another name for St. Nicholas, a Catholic bishop and saint from the early Church known for generosity to the poor. He is also a symbol of the beauty and mystery of Christmas, particularly for children. To use the figure of Santa to promote an ideology of casual sex on busy public streets is offensive in the extreme.”