Announcement

National Post: Vancouver memorial recognizes sex-trade workers and ‘golden age of prostitution’

It was an era of “unrelenting hooker-bashing,” UBC sociology professor Becki Ross wrote in a 2010 academic paper. A group of “disaffected citizens … launched a crackdown on ‘sex deviance’ with the most exercised throwing eggs, tomatoes and beer bottles at community meetings and during public altercations.”

Vancouver Sun: West End sex workers honoured with memorial

“The early 1980s marked the full-fledged anti-prostitution crusade to purge sex workers from the West End,” said Becki Ross, a University of B.C. sociology professor who has specialized in the sex trade. “Davie sex workers built the foundation of what would become this city’s first Gay-bourhood, and yet hookers on Davie have never been honoured […]

Geogia Straight: City of Vancouver unveils West End Sex Workers Memorial

The West End sex worker community will not be forgotten, thanks to the efforts of Vancouver activists. A memorial located at the corner of Jervis and Pendrell streets, in front of St. Paul’s Anglican Church, was unveiled on September 16.

Sexual Assault at the University of British Columbia: Prevention, Response, and Accountability

June 2016, Recommendations for President Martha Piper, President and Vice Chancellor of the University of British Columbia. Prepared by: UBC Sexual Assault Panel

First in Canada: West End Memorial To Honour Sex Workers

September 12, 2016 MEDIA RELEASE- First in Canada:  West End Memorial To Honour Sex Workers In 2008, the West End Sex Workers Memorial Committee was co-founded by Indigenous trans sex work activist Jamie Lee Hamilton and UBC professor Becki Ross. Our mandate is commemoration of the once vibrant, diverse, pimp-free community of sex workers whose […]

Vancouver will commemorate sex workers’ ouster from West End

A Vancouver memorial will be unveiled on September 16 to honour sex workers expelled from the West End during the 1980s. Jamie Lee Hamilton initiated the project eight years ago; she says the commemorative work recognizing the lives of sex workers is the first of its kind in Canada.

Blessing Olukemi Falayi is making the Women’s Centre the most accessible it has ever been

Blessing Olukemi Falayi is the president of the Women’s Centre, involved in UBC’s chapter of Black Lives Matter (BLM) and a Pokemon Go aficionado. Falayi, who is entering her fourth year at UBC with a double major in Political Science and Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice, has been involved with the Women’s Centre since her […]

A message from Dr. Denise Ferreira da Silva

Our Institute’s location in the unceded land of the Musqueam people, and the aspirations of UBC’s Place and Promise plan, remind us that social justice is our duty and commitment and not solely an object of study. Towards meeting this commitment to social justice, my focus in the coming five years will be to fashion the Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice (The Social Justice Institute) as a leading global hub of excellent collaborative, creative, and transformative interdisciplinary research, teaching, and outreach on social justice

TREMORS 2016: SPEAKER SERIES

Wed, Aug 17 @ 8:45pm — Becki Ross presents “Navigating Dry Land: The Queer Penalty, Sexual Shaming, and the Transformative Promise of Sport”. Becki Ross teaches at the University of British Columbia at the Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Social Justice, and in the Department of Sociology.  A life-long competitive athlete and avid sports fan, she […]

Vancouver Filipino Canadian youth create community through mentorship

Kababayan Academic Mentorship Program (KAMP) has received an Antipode Scholar-Activist research grant, and will be partnering with Filipino Canadian professor John Paul Catungal on a one-year project that will re-engage alumni mentors and mentees.