Our Voices Now: Youth Roundtable on Gender-Based Violence

Save the date!

Action Now Atlantic (ANA), Respect Educate Empower Survivors (REES), and Students for Consent Culture Canada (SFCC) are hosting “Our Voices Now” on Thursday, April 28th at 12 PM EDT.

Our 1.5-hour youth-led event will include a speaker panel, audience Q&As, and breakout rooms for collaborative problem-solving.

Meet the speakers!

Alannah Mckay (She/Her/Kwe/Elle)

Alannah Mckay (She/Her/Kwe/Elle) is an Anishininew-kwe based in Treaty 1 Territory in Winnipeg, MB with roots from Berens River, MB and Muskrat Dam, ON. She is currently pursuing an undergraduate degree focusing on Indigenous Studies at the University of Manitoba. Alannah is the Chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students representing over 530,000 post-secondary students across the country.

Alannah’s passion revolves around community building and advocacy work that focuses on cultural and spatial reclamation for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color at the grassroots and national levels.

Levi Clarkson (They)

Levi Clarkson is a white, queer, non-binary, mad, and disabled survivor. They have been living in Mi’kma’ki for over five years and began their work as an active listener with the Dalhousie Student Union Survivor Support Phone Line. They are a former student rep on the King’s Sexualized Violence Policy Committee and President of the King’s Students’ Union from 2019-21, and have worked with several national organizations. They are currently working as the DSU’s Policy & Governance Coordinator while finishing their degree in Contemporary Studies as well as Gender and Women’s Studies. Their work is grounded in advocacy and community organizing (without which, policy and culture change would not happen). In their free time, they enjoy cat cuddles and music!

Micah Kalisch (She/They)

Micah Kalisch is an undergraduate student at The University of Toronto studying Gender Studies and Sociology. They are the founder and director of The PEARS Project, is an activist, educator, student, author, and artist living in and attending university in Tkaronto. Micahs work on gender equality has been highlighted in several publications. Through her work, she has partnered with Reddoor Woman and Family Shelter, The Dandelion Initiative, SFCC, SRHR, and other prominent reproductive justice organizations.

Rebecca Mesay (She)

Rebecca Mesay is a graduate of St. Francis Xavier University with a degree in Political Science and Development Studies. During her studies, she was part of various advocacy groups focusing on equity for underrepresented students on campus and also helped to create a formalized tutoring program for student athletes. She worked in the StFX Students’ Union as the Vice President of Residence Affairs in 2017 and was later elected Students’ Union President for the 2018-2019 year. She has previously worked with the Antigonish Women’s Resource Centre and the Maple League of Universities. She is currently employed with the Government of Canada in PMO Correspondence and is also a Master’s student at Malmö University.

Savannah Szocs (She)

Savannah Szocs is a 5th year student from the University of Manitoba (U of M) studying Biological Sciences and majoring in Evolution and Biodiversity. She’s originally from a small town in northern Manitoba called Thompson and moved to Winnipeg to pursue post-secondary studies.

Savannah spent three years working with Justice for Women Manitoba, a feminist group dedicated to facilitating consent culture workshops for university students and advocating for women’s rights. She is currently working on publishing a book with contributions from sexual violence survivors all over Canada and plans to donate all proceeds from book sales to non-profit survivor-centred organizations. She has just begun her second term with the U of M Students’ Union as the Vice President Student Life and plans to continue to use her voice through the union to create a safer campus for all students at the U of M.

Meet the facilitator!

Kate Mullin (She/Her)

Kate Mullin is a proud activist working with different organizations ranging in topics of gender-based violence, diversity and mental health support. This translates into her academic life, being a third year University of Alberta student pursuing psychology. As well as her career life, working within a psychology clinic.

Her dedication to advocacy comes from a personal place of her own healing from sexual violence, where she learned this issue cannot be ignored. She holds multiple certifications to support survivors in their process of healing through disclosures, coming from a trauma informed and suicide prevention lens.

Along with volunteering within organizations such as Students for Consent Culture, Mental Health Co-Pilots, REES, It’s On Us, and PAVE; she started a project called RH&T whose goal is to bring resources and organizations together to help fight sexual violence (@r.healing.t). On their social media you can find information and activities about the vast topic of gender-based violence. They provide this information in a consolidated, easy to read format so survivors and their communities can learn, advocate and heal from this systemic issue. You can also find her written work in the upcoming anthology from Writing Activism!