Tag Archives: Teen Program

Sisters in Spirit Day: Remembering and Reflecting

Poster for the Canadian Library Project

As many as 4,000 Indigenous women and girls are believed to have been killed or gone missing in Canada over the past 30 years. Since colonial times, Indigenous women have suffered severe gender-based violence and faced a higher risk of violent crimes due to hatred and racism. The homicide rate for Indigenous women and girls is roughly 4.5 times higher than that of all other women in Canada. The true number of victims is unlikely ever to be known.

On October 4, Sisters in Spirit Day honours the lives of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Gender Diverse People, supports grieving families, and creates opportunities for healing. Led by the Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC) and funded by Status of Women Canada, the Sister in Spirit initiative aims to research and document the statistics of violence against Indigenous women in Canada. Through heightened awareness and education the initiative aspires to influence policy.

What is The Canadian Library Project?

The Canadian Library (TCL) is a grassroots art installation and memorial to all Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls (MMIWG2S) and Children. The project aims to acknowledge the history and the wrongdoings that have occurred and are still occurring.

The goal is to cover 8,000 books in Indigenous fabric as a testament to the lives lost. Stories that have been gathered from all across Canada are published on the TCL website.

Vaughan Public Libraries is committed to building two Micro Galleries. These galleries will be featured prominently as a testament to MMIWG2S to spark awareness and dialogue. At a future date, Micro Galleries from across Canada will be combined into a massive art installation and placed in a major museum or gallery as a permanent art piece.

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Allan Stratton at VPL!

Allan StrattonVaughan Public Libraries is thrilled to host award-winning author Allan Stratton for an author visit October 14th at 3:00pm! In fact, we’re even more thrilled than just thrilled, because we’re going to be having Stratton visit us for two events!

  1. Author Visit at Woodbridge Library (for which information you’ll find above); and
  2. Unleash Your Story at Pierre Berton Resource Library, which is a teen event that happens the same October 14, in the evening hours from 7:00 – 11:30pm. Remember to pre-register! (You can find some more info on the Teen Vortex for this event also.)

Stratton has been nominated for a Governor General’s Literary Award under the Young People’s Literature – Text category for his new novel The Way Back Home, a teen-adult crossover title, of which he will be doing a fifteen-minute reading. Here is what the novel is about, as taken from Stratton’s site:

Zoe Bird is angry and lonely, bullied by her cousin and disbelieved by her parents. Her only true friend is her granny, whose Alzheimer’s is worsening. When her parents decide to put Granny in a home, Zoe hits the road with Granny to find her long-lost uncle. But there are hard home truths along the way.

Stratton also talks about why he wrote the book on his own site, so you can take a look at that and think about what you would like to talk to Stratton about or ask him in the Q&A session after the reading.

For more of Stratton’s works, take a look through our catalogue.

Vaughan Public Libraries appreciates the support of the Canada Council for the Arts for this reading series.