Parents and students of the Burnaby School District and general members of the public are invited to attend a panel event geared to build awareness about International Day of the Girl Child and all of its implications.

The free panel event will be held at Byrne Creek Community School at 7777 18^th Street in Burnaby, BC on Wednesday, October 11^th from 7pm until 9pm in the Centre for Dialogue. Pre-registration is recommended at globallearning@sd41.bc.ca in order to receive updates and reminders; please email the number of people in your party, with names and the school affiliation (if in Burnaby).

Confirmed panelists include Ariana Barer from WAVAW and Rosio Godomar from Educate Girls Network. Both are women with extensive experience and opinions on effective strategies to empower women and girls to not only become economically self-sufficient, but to be contributors to their community and challenge society to achieve gender equality for greater purpose. Other panelists will be announced soon.

The purpose of the special focus created for the International Day of the Girl Child by the United Nations is to recognize girls’ human rights and the unique challenges girls face around the world, and to change this reality. Young girls continue to be a disadvantaged group around the world, excluded from many opportunities in society and denied economic and social rights.

Why should adults and students attend this panel event?

1. Insights will be gained into the details of local, national and international scenarios for women and girls that you hadn’t realized before.
2. Knowledge from your attendance can be shared with friends and family in order to build the awareness and support needed for the UN to succeed in gender equality initiatives.
3. Gender equality is a basic human right; consider that discrimination ultimately leads to violation of a women’s other basic rights such as expression and education but empowerment leads to the reduction of poverty and hunger for families.
4. We want all of the boys and girls in our communities to benefit from economic development and to be able to participate freely in the labour force without obvious or invisible barriers.

Special thanks to the UBC students of Dr. R. Price’s Ethics and World Politics course whoh will be assisting with the organization and promotion of the event, in addition, kudos to all of the Burnaby secondary school students who will facilitate our guests.

Once again, the Vancouver Branch of the UN Association in Canada is partnering with the Burnaby School District in the hosting of the expert panelists. We note that the mission statement of the UN Association in Canada, “to educate and engage Canadians in the work of the UN and the critical international issues that affect us all” is highly complementary to the mission statement of the Burnaby School District which is, “to prepare and support an inclusive, caring community of learners for the challenges of a changing tomorrow.”

We hope to see you at our event on October 11^th!