For the first time, The Grande Prairie Friendship Centre will be hosting the Indigenous Females+ in Leadership Symposium.
Organizer Delaine Lambert-English says the main goal is to honour, highlight and introduce people to strong, resilient Indigenous women who are doing work in communities across the country.
“We want to have women there who work with Indigenous females, who have an aspiration to get involved in the topic of MMIWG, we want to empower women to lift each other up,” she says.
“Our goal is to change the stigma of indigenous women, that we are more than just a statistic. How we got to where we are, what works for us and what in turn people can do for young indigenous women in their lives.”
They will also for the first time, extend the age of those able to attend down to 16 years old, but feels it’s a needed step in the right direction.
“Any kind of symposium that has a professional development feel, which this does, would not be open to minors so, I think this is a little unique that we are opening it up to young women as well.”
The two-day event will take place on February 13th and 14th, with a number of high profile Indigenous keynote speakers as part of the first days semi-formal gala, including Icesis Rain, Beatrice Love, Carley Lizotte and Celeigh Cardinal.
For more information, or to register, people can head over to the events Facebook page.