Breaking the Silence - University of Saskatchewan, March 21, 2015

                                                                                                            March 12, 2015

Dear Breakers of the Silence,

In a little more than a week on Saturday, March 21, Breaking the Silence (Year 18!) will be underway. Our theme is “Vision without action in simply dreaming.” When you review the summary of our program, we think you will agree that we have honoured our theme.

Some important basic information:

(1)  Easy online registration is available at http://www.usask.ca/education/breaking-the-silence/>.

(2)  Registration for high school students is free, but they must register so that we can make an accurate lunch and refreshments count.

(3)  The deadline for registration is midnight on Wednesday, March 18 (simply because we have to make an accurate food order on Thursday morning).

(4)  Free parking on campus is available in Parking Lot F adjacent to the Education Building. For a map, click on http://www.usask.ca/education/breaking-the-silence/bts-map.pdf.

(5)  Our program begins at 9am. Refreshments will be available from 8:30am.

A summary of our program

In the morning,

·       Seven Vancouver high-school activists will share with us their experience in influencing the Vancouver School Board to update their LGBTQ school policies;

·       We’ll honour the seventh recipient of the Peter Corren Award for Outstanding Achievement;

·       Helen Smith-McIntyre and Bill Rafoss (Amnesty International) will survey the persecution of LGBT people around the world.

In the afternoon, we’ll have breakout sessions on 

·       Trans families and their challenges,

·       Turning the tide in churches,

·       Thinking beyond LGB: Understanding asexuality,

·       How to be an activist,

·       Picture books: Our community, our children,

·       Intersex identities,

·       An LGBT 101 discussion of school washroom issues

·       Hidden histories: Gender & sexual diversity in Saskatchewan, and

·       You’ll have an opportunity to meet some of our Vancouver guests up close.

We’ll close with

·       A spoken word poetry event (a smash last year!), and

·       A visit from four very important mystery guests (no hints!).

At 5:00 p.m.  High school students will be invited to the University Pride Centre for pizza.

And at 7:30 p.m. The Avenue Community Centre for Gender & Sexual Diversity will host an informal social.

            We look forward to meeting you again soon!

                                                                                                Sincerely,

                                                                                                Don Cochrane

                                                                                                Chief Organizer

                                                                                                Breaking the Silence