Blog

  • Posted March 15, 2019

Who We Are: Getting To Know Sonmin, Volunteer and Educational Outreach Coordinator

As a member of our community, you may have heard us describe the work we do as ‘Supporting Survivors and Shifting Society’. We often talk about how we support survivors through our direct services, like counselling, our 24-hour Crisis Line, and police and hospital accompaniment programs. But what about the Shifting Society part? How we […]
  • Posted March 13, 2019
  • In Inclusion Project

‘Recognition: Trans & Queer Writing on Sexual Harm’

WAVAW Rape Crisis Center is seeking submissions of poetry, prose, and art for our upcoming zine ‘Recognition: Trans & Queer Writing on Sexual Harm’. We are looking for diverse voices to talk about how consent does and doesn’t show up in our community: with partners, with friends, at sweaty dance parties, and more. We’re particularly […]
  • Posted February 22, 2019
  • In Inclusion Project

Executive Director Announcement

WAVAW Rape Crisis Centre Appointment of New Executive Director For Immediate Release  Vancouver. February 22, 2019.               WAVAW Rape Crisis Centre is pleased to announce that Dalya Israel has been appointed the new Executive Director, continuing WAVAW’s 37-year mandate of supporting survivors and shifting society to create a future […]
  • Posted January 16, 2019
  • In Inclusion Project

What do we mean by ‘people of marginalized genders’?

We have grappled a lot with language in our trans inclusion work at WAVAW. The term ‘people of marginalized genders’ was created in order to describe our mandate – the longer version of it might read: trans and cis women, as well as all trans, Two Spirit, and nonbinary people. It’s used to describe the […]
  • Posted November 29, 2018
  • In Inclusion Project

WAVAW Stands Behind the Proposed Changes to Bill C-51

During the 16 Days of Activism against Gender Based Violence I always take pause to think about how we are enacting activism in our work at WAVAW. This year’s global theme is #hearmetoo, it’s an important theme as we continue our journey towards accountability as an organization and encourage systems to do the same. Today […]
  • Posted October 31, 2018
  • In Justice Project

WAVAW’s Stance on Sex Work

 In July 2018, we published an apology to sex workers. After this, we put out a survey seeking feedback about the sexual assault service needs of the sex worker community. We saw a clear distinction in the responses between people who have lived experience in sex work and those who do not. We choose to […]
  • Posted October 31, 2018
  • In Inclusion Project

Kimberly Nixon is a Hero

Kimberly Nixon has a passion for women’s rights, and for ensuring all women can access support following the trauma of violence. Having lived through a two and a half year long abusive relationship, she had turned to anti-violence organizations for support with her own healing. “I wanted to give back for the support I had […]
  • Posted September 13, 2018
  • In Inclusion Project

How do we refuse complicity with transphobia when it’s conflated with feminism?

It’s amazing how much a space can change overnight. That was my first thought and I walked into this year’s Dyke March. I knew that TERFs – trans exclusionary radical feminists – would be showing up any minute. Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminism has been on the rise in recent years. Vancouver has been home to […]
  • Posted July 27, 2018
  • In Inclusion Project

Sex Work Community Feedback Survey

Last week we published an Accountability Letter titled “To the Sex Worker Community – We Owe You An Apology.” This generated a lot of dialogue. We heard what you had to say on Twitter, Facebook, and via email. We want to hear more. We want to be certain that we are meaningfully including the community’s […]