Every woman has an element of a hero in her as far as I'm concerned. Every woman is a champion of something in some way yet most women go through their lives not being singled out for such high praise as what comes during the first week of March every year. The United Nations' International Women's Day Awards, a program that's organized locally by the St. Albert Bahá'í, is one big way of offering such praise.
Abdu'l-Bahá, the son of the faith's founder Bahá'u'lláh, once said that humanity has two wings: one wing of women and one wing of men.
"Not until both wings are equally developed can the bird fly. Should one wing remain weak, flight is impossible. Not until the world of women becomes equal to the world of men in the acquisition of virtues and perfections, can success and prosperity be attained as they ought to be," he said.
International Women's Day always falls on March 8 but the ceremony to offer praise to five women will occur this year on Saturday. It's the 20th year that the awards are being handed out in this city and Bahá'í committee spokesperson Elaine Tahririha said that the recipients overwhelmingly prefer to think of themselves simply as people who contribute to the whole like cogs of a wheel.
"Not a single one of them thinks that they deserve an award because there are always, in their words, 'so many women out there who do more than they do.' But that's not the point," she began. Women tend to work co-operatively. Nobody wants to be put on a pedestal. It's the interconnectedness of women that makes these awards so special."
She added that the United Nations considers the development of women and women's rights integral to obtaining the peace and prosperity of the world.
The public is invited to attend the ceremony on March 5 at Cornerstone Hall on Taché Street. The doors will be open at 7 p.m. with the event starting at 7:30 p.m. More information can be found by calling 780-459-4060 or online at www.stalbertbahai.org.
The following is a brief profile of each of the 2016 International Women's Day Award recipients.
Susan Evans: Advocate, Unsung Heroine
This person is probably most recognizable as the division 2 councillor in Sturgeon County but Susan Evans is and has been so much more than that in her life. She has practically made it her mission to help others as an advocate for families and children.
It was during her time working with youths as a probation officer when she realized that the secret to lifelong success is an education, preferably one that starts early.
"It's always resonated throughout whatever I've done that literacy – both financial and the ABCs – is a huge component for people to become successful," she remarked
It was when her son was born premature, however, that she learned the value of taking action, especially as it pertains to health care. It prompted her to understand the importance of advocacy but always doing so respectfully, she clarified.
"Advocating means not only talking about what the challenge but trying to find solutions to bring forward. It's easy to say, 'This is wrong. You fix it.' Part of advocacy is working together to find those solutions so that everyone can move on successfully."
Evans didn't restrict her advocacy to benefit her son. She started to help other families with special needs children. When the Glenrose Hospital announced that it was cutting funding to a program that benefited her son and numerous other families' children, she took a lead role in forming a group that demonstrated the human side of the program, an effort that eventually helped to save the funding.
This remarkable woman then went on to serve with local school-parent councils, advocating for better education for others, a course that led her to serve on the provincial parent council. She became political and now works as a county councillor to directly help the lives of so many families throughout the community at large. Along with all of the committees and boards that she works on, she co-ordinated the Sturgeon Adult Learning Council and the Early Childhood Development Initiative for the Sturgeon Region.
"Helping people has always been part of me. Even in grade school, I remember standing up for people who were being bullied and not being afraid to step forward and say, 'that's not acceptable' and try to work out solutions. I will always advocate."
She said that she really appreciated that her nominator stepped up to put her name forward out of the many people in the world doing so many extraordinary things. She is humbled by the honour.
Hazel McKennitt: Aboriginal Initiatives, Education
This Manitoba Ojibwa woman also said that it was an honour to receive this award. Having overcome the hardships of her early life, she has continuously striven to make sure that her Aboriginal culture has a firm place in the national consciousness. She'd still do what she does even if she had never heard of this award, however.
"I work. I help people. That's just part of me," she explained. "It's nice to be recognized but it's just something you do."
McKennitt went through a decade of life and education at a residential school before her mother was able to transfer her to an academic girls' school in Winnipeg. Far behind academically, she steeled her determination to stifle her shyness and dedicate herself to her studies. Doing so earned her the place of graduating at the top of her class.
Yet she was never allowed to speak her own language. Her father prompted her to think in her own language, however, and knowing her language as a part of her soul has always helped her to preserve her culture. She eventually earned an education degree and her first day as a teacher was on her home reserve. This provided her the profound opportunity to reconnect other First Nations children and their families to their native language and cultural traditions.
She later moved to Alberta and worked for many years as the aboriginal liaison with both Catholic and public school boards in Edmonton, practically developing the entire aboriginal curriculum from scratch. Her involvement in helping children to get their educations went far beyond these bureaucracies. She helped Aboriginal families put food on their tables and obtain clothing and housing. They were able to better navigate the child welfare and judicial systems with her steady, loving support. She mentored parents, kept traditions alive and strengthened the circle of culture by devoting herself to children, education and culture. There are now seven schools in Edmonton where First Nations, Métis and Inuit children can easily connect with their roots.
Even though she is now retired, she is still active as a volunteer for the causes that will always remain close to her own heart.
"It looks like I'm busier now than everybody says," the mirthful McKennitt laughed. "We will never finish our work."
She hopes that this award will help other young girls to see her as a role model for their own growth as leaders in their own lives and the lives of others.
Joanna Pearse: Youth Empowerment, Education and Unsung Heroine
Don't let her age fool you. This exceptional young woman first started fighting to make the world a better place when she was still an elementary school student. She started a petition to save a grove of trees and, while the effort was ultimately unsuccessful, it did result in her firmly establishing her motivation to become a social activist.
Doing so has made her a vital agent of change in the world, even if few people know about it. It was up to her brother, Liam, to sign her nomination papers.
"Although my sister is both younger and smaller than me, I have looked up to her for many years now," he wrote.
When she learned about a family that was in a dire financial situation, she made and sold crafts and collected household supplies to help them out, but she did it all anonymously. She also collected sporting goods to send to indigent children in Mexico.
In junior high, she volunteered as a math tutor and served on the student leadership team. Later, she was a founding member of the Young Edmonton Grants committee, a group that she is still actively involved with. Then in high school, she joined BAM for Youth where she still volunteers twice a week, mentoring at an elementary school, helping out at a seniors' care facility, hosting youth retreats, and helping to plan and facilitate regular community events for children, youth, and families.
Through her school's leadership program, she regularly visits Hope Mission to cook and serve meals to the homeless, but also volunteers at Boyle Street Community Services on her own, helping others with their own challenges with homelessness and poverty.
"Everyone Joanna works with, speaks to, or has any sort of relationship with is influenced for the better. It seems that, almost every week, she is doing something new and exciting that is bettering our world," Liam continued in his written submission.
Elaine Caron: Community Involvement, Senior
Elaine Caron is known as a humble, caring and hardworking volunteer at the St. Albert Food Bank and Community Village, a city agency that has benefited from her devotion for more than 25 years.
Of course, it's not just the food bank that benefits. When she stocks the shelves or compiles food hampers, she is offering her generosity and compassion to the hundreds if not thousands of clients that have been touched by her grace over the last quarter century.
She has also served on the institution's board of directors, a position that she used to help establish the Community Village concept so that even more people could benefit from social services and perhaps in a more effective manner.
Furthermore, she has found other ways to help others through the food bank. She has planned and catered special events at the food bank, even developing many budget-conscious recipes for clients to use so that their grocery dollars could be stretched as far as possible to provide more nutritious meals to their families.
Caron even helps to train new volunteers at the food bank and has been a public advocate by committing to public speaking engagements at school assemblies and other events, all despite a personal aversion to such endeavours. She cares that much.
Diana Goldie: Personal Philanthropy and Humanitarian
There are many jokes about the heartlessness of lawyers but there's at least one grand story about one of the most caring people in the community, and she happens to be a lawyer.
Naturally, she's a Legal Aid lawyer. Diana Goldie has been dedicated to the pursuit of humanitarianism and fighting for the benefits of people for her entire life. She has spent so much time speaking – and yes, arguing – for others that she found it difficult to offer any words about herself.
"It is enormously lovely to have been selected for this award. I actually don't know what to say about it," she began, suggesting that she's being rewarded for simply being herself. "It makes me grin from ear to ear. It's an award for being kind to people. I try to be kind to people. It's what I do."
With an easy laugh and a smile that's somehow audible even over the phone, Goldie admitted that offering love to the world is something that was instilled in her as a child through her parents' teachings and actions, and their parents in turn. Giving of oneself was always second nature.
Just as with the other celebrants of this year's awards, there are too many instances of her kindness to summarize in one brief synopsis. Needless to say that these all culminated in her graduating from law school to focus on working for disadvantaged clients. She did so through much pro bono and Legal Aid work, work which doesn't make one wealthy. Goldie even had to drive a transport truck during her off hours, a job that she said was to support "her Legal Aid habit." She's not in it to make millions. She's in it to fix what's broken.
She said that her legal training and expertise helps to solve problems for people. She's been a barrister for more than three decades, she said, so her job is to communicate on the behalf of others. She does so with much enthusiasm to the point of getting carried away, she admitted with a vivacious laugh.
Through her career, she has been a marvelous advocate for her clients, including many residential school survivors. Her passion and compassion has extended outside of her office and the courtroom and right into her own home. She has personally looked after 35 children and youth for extended periods of time. Some of them are still in contact with her, describing her as "a mother who truly cares."
"I'm not very good at boundaries!" she exclaimed.
She is currently collecting materials and organizing volunteers for a personal project to provide housing for a young family that needs help.
I suspect that, upon reading this, many people will wish that there were more Diana Goldies in the world, and likewise for more Elaine Carons, Susan Evanses, Hazel McKennitts, and Joanna Pearses.
