Blog
  • Posted January 15, 2016

Embracing Anger

Post by Rebecca, WAVAW Relief Staff Let me know if you’ve heard this before: “Anger is toxic.” “You’d be prettier if you smiled.” “It’s not ladylike to be cross.” “Don’t be a bitch.” From the time we’re young, women and girls are told not to be angry, to be nice, to smile. But we have […]
  • Posted December 14, 2015

This is what you can make possible:

  When WAVAW was founded over 30 years ago, the work started with one woman and one crisis line. She responded with, “I believe you.” Three simple words that re-connect survivors to humanity after such brutality. Many women encounter victim blaming, shaming and doubt that their experience really happened. At WAVAW, we believe in women […]
  • Posted November 25, 2015

Acknowledging Violence Against Women: Honouring Women as a Daily Practice

Post by WAVAW Relief Staff, Jane “Laugh and cry and tell stories. Sad stories about bodies stolen, bodies no longer here. Enraging stories about the false images, devastating lies, untold violence. Bold, brash stories about reclaiming our bodies and changing the world.” ― Eli Clare, Exile and Pride: Disability, Queerness, and Liberation On the International Day […]
  • Posted October 30, 2015

Dressing Up

Post by WAVAW Relief Staff, Jane Halloween has always been one of my favourite holidays. The carnivalesque, liberatory nature of becoming someone else for an evening surpasses in excitement and anticipation all other festivities. What’s not to love about excessive amounts of candy and face paint? Seeing friends and family become more flamboyant, sparkly, and […]
  • Posted October 14, 2015

A Look Into Decolonizing Praxis

Written by Charlene Hellson, WAVAW Aboriginal Women’s Counsellor WAVAW was invited to Alberta to share our Decolonizing Praxis at the Knowledge Exchange on Supporting Families of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women at the conference panel hosted by the Policy Centre for Victims Issues.  We were also invited to deliver a 90 minute session the following day at the […]
  • Posted October 6, 2015

Are you kidding me?!

As the election nears, it is clear that blaming women for injustice we experience continues to be a problem among politicians and parties. In 2015, we still see headlines like this: That’s right. Women can and should *choose* to make as much money as men. In the same vein, conservatives want women to stop *choosing* […]
  • Posted August 21, 2015

Feminism – there’s more to it than equality

Guest Post by WAVAW Volunteer, Natti Schmid ‘Feminism is about equality’, say the Tumblr memes, and the Instagram captions, and all the hippest pop icons. ‘Feminism is about equality’ is also the slogan that is most often used in attempts to discredit feminists. Questions such as… if feminists believe in equality then why don’t they […]
  • Posted July 30, 2015

We love our Volunteers

WAVAW Volunteers are feminists. WAVAW Volunteers get up in the middle of the night to tell strangers they are not alone. WAVAW Volunteers get up in front of dozens of strangers and call out patriarchy, colonization, police brutality, and rape culture. WAVAW Volunteers educate one person at a time about WAVAW and about ending violence. […]
  • Posted July 8, 2015

National Aboriginal Day @ Trout Lake: Bannock Tent

Post by WAVAW Counselor, Rebecca Brass On June 21, 2015 I volunteered my time at the Bannock Tent for National Aboriginal Day at Trout Lake, it was hot on Sunday morning when our first bannock maker arrived to the tent ready to make bannock. We started prepping the dough and heating the oil at 11am […]