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March 08, 2021 - 7:00 AM Today is International Women’s Day, designed to bring awareness to women’s equality so no better time to introduce or reintroduce you to some awesome and largely unsung women we have met. These badass Thompson-Okanagan women are making a difference in their communities, leading community efforts and supporting other women and their communities. We know there are many more out there, so be sure to let us know in the comments below who inspires you.
FILE PHOTO - Muriel Sasakamoose at her home near Paul Lake.
(KAREN EDWARDS / iNFOnews.ca)
Muriel Sasakamoose Sasakamoose is well-known around the Kamloops and Secwepemc territory for breaking through several barriers as an Indigenous person. She helped form the B.C. Native Women’s Association was the first Indigenous woman to attend public school and was successful in advocating for the change to a discriminatory section of the Indian Act.
Aging out of foster care, substance use, mental health, cultural supports, LGBTQ2S+ experiences, education and employment were up for discussion via Zoom meetings. “If even this only plants the seed for change, that’s incredible because there’s still more to come,” said Kira Cheeseborough said, peer navigator for A Way Home Kamloops. A two-day summit with provincial representatives as originally planned prior to the pandemic is still expected to take place sometime in the near future, when COVID-19 restrictions ease. At the virtual event, A Way Home Kamloops youth advisors stressed the need to ensure no youth ages out of foster care before safe, appropriate housing and after-care supports are available as a key solution to ending youth homelessness. Another recommendation was to create a provincial plan.
In a statement, the A Way Home board said the organization conducted an extensive search for an executive director who would be able to expand the work of the agency and carry forward the vision of McParland, that all youth in Kamloops have a safe place to call home and the supports to maintain wellness. The board said Hunter, with degrees in journalism and science and a diverse professional and personal background, brings valuable perspective to the society. “She has experience in both the not-for-profit and for-profit world, including operating her own communications business,” the board said in its release. “The variety of skills and talents Sadie brings to the society include communication, fundraising, risk management and values-based leadership.”
But being kind amid the pandemic really has prevailed, despite the cynics among us who scoffed at the good doctor’s seemingly naive, aw-shucks appeal to be good in these bad times. Consider the caller from Lac Le Jeune who picked up a copy of Kamloops This Week in early December and read a letter to the editor from a feisty senior named Grace Guevin. It seems some miscreant stole the 88-year-old’s charger for her scooter, thereby also absconding with her mode of transport. Gavin’s missive was a lament for the paucity of punishment these days. As she wrote in her letter: “I was raised by two wonderful parents, who always warned if you steal, you pay, at the woodshed.”