Connection Across Communities event celebrates the resilience of women

Three outstanding women who have navigated through different life journeys will speak about their experiences at a special event organized for International Women’s Day on March 8.  

The panellists, Meggie Cywink, Nneka Macgregor and Zahra Nader will discuss how the power of resilience has served them as they have worked to make lasting change. The panel discussion, Connection Across Communities, has been organized by The Centre for Sexual Violence Response, Support & Education (The Centre) at York University.  It will take place on March 8 from 1 to 2 p.m. through a virtual format. All community members are welcome to attend and can indicate their interest by email to thecentre@yorku.ca. An event link will be provided by email to interested participants.

Cywink, was the special adviser to the Ministry of the Attorney General and from 2016-19, she provided support to families of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG). She was appointed special adviser following the disappearance and murder of her younger sister, Sonya Nadine Mae, in 1994.  A member of the Whitefish River First Nation, Cywink is currently researching and authoring a book, First Nations and All Our Relations, that traces the collective ancestry of the Anishnaabe people back to 1673, including the exodus from Michigan into Manitoulin Island.

MacGregor, is a lawyer, co-founder, and executive director of the Women’s Centre for Social Justice, known as WomenatthecentrE, a non-profit organization created by and for women survivors of gender-based violence globally that ensures policies and practice are responsive to survivors’ needs through social justice and activism. In 2006, she was selected by the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario as one of 13 experts tasked to review the range of services provided to women and children in the province, identify gaps and make recommendations. In June, 2016, she was appointed by the Canadian government to the Advisory Council on the Federal Strategy Against Gender-Based Violence.

Nader is a former reporter for The New York Times in Afghanistan. She is a contributing reporter for the Fuller Project, a non-profit newsroom dedicated to women’s stories. Nader has worked as a journalist for almost seven years in Kabul, working for local and international media. She has been published in the Times magazine, The Guardian, the Foreign Policy Magazine, ABC News, Deutsche Welle, Huffington Post, BBC Persian and Open Canada. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Gender, Feminist & Women’s Studies at York University.