As you read through this week’s Northern View, take note of all the women named throughout.
For International Women’s Day on March 8, we spoke to Rosa Miller, who’s putting together a list of all the women who are on the directors’ boards and in senior management in Rupert. She’s not done yet, but the number is lower than Miller expected. So where are the women in Rupert? They’re not hard to find contributing to our community in many ways.
There’s Teri Forester, the northwest region chair for the BC Nurses’ Union, who is advocating for better quality of life and working conditions for our nurses.
Morgan Foisy and Jessie Gibson have been fundraising and organizing Rupert’s first TrailRider, an adaptable wheelchair that will help Rupertites of all mobilities see more of our beautiful coast and trails. Sixteen-year-old Amber Ly will go further than her sea cadet peers have in 20 years, as she sails a tall ship across the English Channel.
READ MORE: Pressing for progress on boards and council
There’s Katherine Punnett who climbed her way to the top of the women’s division in the bouldering competition in Smithers, representing Rupert on her way up. Rupert’s gymnastics team made up of 26 girls brought back not one, but 14 gold medals from their first competition.
Many women, Miller included, helped sell cupcakes for B.C. animals in need on National Cupcake Day, making sure there was more than enough to go around and raising almost $3,000 in the process.
At the beginning of the month, the many women behind the Prince Rupert Special Events Society pulled off the 27th annual Children’s Festival. Hundreds of kids flooded the Jim Ciccone Civic Centre for a day of fun activities, which were set up, led and taken down by volunteers. Bev Killbery and Joy Sundin have both been honoured in past issues of the Northern View as the Heart of Our City for their tireless, year-round efforts to brighten up each and every season in this rainy city.
WATCH MORE: Podcast special for International Women’s Day
This women’s day, we ask: What would Rupert be without the women hosting fundraisers and festivals, bringing us all together to enjoy the place and community we call home? Who would we be without the women who represent Rupert here and — via Amber Ly’s upcoming voyage — around the world?
As Rosa Miller said, it’s great that women have one day a year to be recognized and recognize each other. But let’s use every day to #PressforProgress, as all of us — women, men and children — do our best to keep pushing Prince Rupert forward.
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