Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter and Instagram (to name a few) are social media sites that have become the voice of our generation. These Internet platforms are tools used to discover who we are, to connect with each other and think globally, but these can also become spaces that perpetuate toxic norms and violence.

The problem of cyber violence and online abuse is the greatest challenge the Internet faces today. While social media sites do not cause cyber violence they do impact the ways in which this violence occurs and they can impact the ways in which this violence is prevented. Learn what cyber violence is and isn’t, how young women are becoming change-makers and why social media companies have a responsibility to intervene. Today’s topic is in conjunction with 16 days of activism against gender based violence.

Speaker: Erin Leigh and Dillon Black

Erin Leigh has a long-standing commitment to feminism and to anti-racist and anti-oppression principles and ways of working. She is the Executive Director of the Ottawa Coalition to End Violence Against Women (OCTEVAW). She has experience in international, Canadian and UK women’s rights. She has a graduate degree in gender and development from the Institute of Development Studies (UK), and has worked for the Association for Women’s Rights in Development, Oxfam GB, the UK Women’s Budget Group, Canadians for Choice and Status of Women Canada.

Dillon Black is a gender-nonconforming anti-violence advocate; feminist media maker meets social worker. Dillon is passionate about youth centered initiatives and building capacity for community as a tool to educate and transform. Dillon is active in anti-violence work locally, and sees anti-racist, anti-oppression, and resiliency frameworks as central to the work they do. In the past Dillon was on the National Youth Advisory Board for Sexual Health and HIV, partnered with the Native Youth Sexual Health Network, and currently is a project coordinator at the Ottawa Coalition to End Violence Against Women, a board member of the Queer Mafia, and studied Social Work with a double minor in Indigenous and Sexuality Studies at Carleton University.

Moderator: Jeff Coffman Date: Thursday, Nov 26, 2015 Time: Noon - 1:30 PM (30 minutes each for presentation, lunch and Q & A)
Location: Country Kitchen Catering (lower level of the Keg) 1715 Mayor Magrath Dr. S
Cost: $11.00 (includes lunch) or $2.00 (includes coffee/tea at the presentation)

Join SACPA on YouTube

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