Women from across the Sunshine Coast gathered last Saturday at the seniors activity centre in Sechelt to talk, share knowledge, define areas that need change and bolster each other in their determination to continually work towards a better tomorrow for women, children and their communities.
More than 120 women came together for a full day of Women's Dialogue, the first of its kind on the Coast. Sponsored by Sunshine Coast Community Services and an eclectic group of supporters such as provincial, municipal and regional governments, media sponsors and community businesses, the day dealt with a range of questions on issues fundamental to the quality of women's lives. From political involvement to housing, employment and other issues of importance, one of the main things that shone through was the commitment of women from many different age groups, backgrounds and (her)stories to work with each other in making the Coast a better place to live.
The morning opened with music from the Paull Family Singers: Lee Dixon, Lori Dixon, Brenda Paull, Fran Paull and Louis Vader. Lori Dixon, who said she is an "Elder in training," graced the gathered woman with a Shishálh First Nations prayer of her own composition that gave depth and beauty to the start of the day. Ida Chong, Minister of Com-munity Services, was generous in her time, talking to the audience about her experiences getting into politics and the need for more women involved in the political process on all levels. "It takes women in leadership roles to create strong families and strong communities," Chong said.
She said sometimes when politicians sit in Victoria, they forget that it is often grassroots actions like the Women's Dialogue that come up with ideas, questions, problems and solutions to what's important at the community level. Chong said the women gathered for the dialogue shouldn't be afraid to bring their ideas and problems forward to the government, and she advised to also suggest the solutions.
Chong said over the past few years she's seen a disturbing trend of fewer rather than more women engaged in the political process. She said it isn't just a matter of fewer women running for election, but that even when women run, their communities are not electing them. She said it's a trend that has to stop, but to do that requires the work of women at all levels of a community.
Throughout the day, women gathered around tables in groups of seven or eight including the table's facilitator. With each change of activity, women moved from table to table so they were mixing and mingling with each other and forming new relationships and networks. One of the themes discussed was women's experiences of the local political process and the fact that many women felt it wasn't respectful. A number of women commented on the fact that during contentious issues at the municipal and regional level, the meetings can often be taken over by a vocal minority who, through disrespectful heckling, can commandeer the process and make others feel intimidated. A number of women said it was up to council chairs, mayors and council members to make sure this doesn't happen during public meetings. Certified professional facilitator Catherine Rockandel gave a very good synopsis of the focus and value of the day.
"The dialogue process brought together 120 women to individually reflect and brainstorm on what are issues of importance to women on the Sunshine Coast," she said. "The process accessed their individual knowledge and wisdom and collectively put it in front of them by each one writing down their ideas on cards, which were posted on the large wall." By discussing the different issues, commonalities were picked out and clustered together - an important part of involving "everyone in revealing the mind of the group rather than the opinions of any particular personalities in the group," said Rockandel.One discussion incorporated women's experiences and knowledge of supports across the Sunshine Coast. Through this dialogue, Rockandel said there was a "pivotal moment in the process the awareness that was generated when the women identified all the systems and structures that support the participation of women on the Sunshine Coast in the community, at work and at home." By identifying these supports, women "agreed they did not realize that there were so many in the community," said Rockandel.
