To our loving and supportive community,

You know that feeling when you read something, and know it’s insincere? It’s not often you get to do something about it. 

At WAVAW we’re always ready to use our platform to advocate for survivors. That’s exactly what we did when we saw former BC Premier Christy Clark’s recent op-ed about #MeToo. We published a reaction to her piece in the Huffington Post.

WAVAW supports survivors of sexualized violence. But provincial funding gaps mean we have long waits for our services: our counselling waitlist is currently 18 months long. 

Christy Clark and the BC Liberals are responsible for creating these funding gaps. Seeing declare that “tangible shifts” would come with more women in politics felt insincere. 

Her words rang hollow given the BC Liberals’ funding cuts targeting women-serving organizations 14 years ago. 

We agree that women need to be hired into positions of power. But this is only part of the conversation. And who is left out of this conversation? How are we elevating our trans*, Two-Spirit and non-binary community? How are we elevating Indigenous communities?

Christy Clark’s idea of a “tangible shift” in the wake of #MeToo only supports wealthy, white, educated, straight, cisgender and able-bodied women.

This is not feminism. This is neoliberalism with a pink bow on it. 

But it’s not just Clark: this is an issue that transcends political party. We need the current BC government to show some feminist leadership.

You know how to show feminist leadership. You have supported us financially. You have emailed, tweeted, and talked about your support of survivors. You have filled a gap that every government has failed to fill.

You are incredible.

With you, our generous community, and the survivors we serve in mind, we will continue to advocate for core funding to be reinstated for social service organizations.

If you’ve ever doubted your impact – don’t. We wouldn’t be here without you. 

With gratitude, respect, and optimism,

Sambriddhi Nepal
Manager of Fund Development
WAVAW Rape Crisis Centre