For almost 50 years, Nellie’s has been providing shelter and support to women and their children fleeing violence, trauma and homelessness as they take steps toward accomplishing the next chapter in their lives. While we will always be here to provide these crisis services, we are just as committed to creating social change through education and advocacy.

“It can’t just be about Band-Aid solutions anymore,” says Jyoti Singh, Executive Director. “If this pandemic has highlighted anything, it is that we have not moved the needle one bit when it comes to violence prevention. Gender-based violence is very much alive around the world and here in Canada.”

And so, last month several Nellie’s staff members attended a two-day PAVE Prevention (Proactive Anti-Violence Education) workshop. This trauma-informed program dedicated to creating safer workplaces and communities around the world provides training to individuals and organizations on proactively preventing, responding and healing from violent events. PAVE is associated with ESD Global, which is dedicated to making empowerment self defense accessible around the world.

“Prevention starts with empowering yourself to set boundaries,” says Jyoti, adding that boundaries vary from individual to individual. “The feedback [from those who attended] was overwhelmingly positive. It was quite healing because we are often so busy helping others that we don’t often take stock of where boundaries are being crossed in our own lives.”

The learnings from this workshop will be integrated into our support programs, empowering women to set their own boundaries. But the goal is greater; later this year, up to a dozen Nellie’s staff members will become trained facilitators of the program so that we can teach effective prevention tools to our community partners to help them manage violence before they become crisis situations.

“Rather than dealing with crisis all the time, we want to stem the flow of the issue by providing more women with the knowledge and skills to set those boundaries. Because it all starts with micro-aggressions in the workplace, at home, or in the community. It hardly ever starts with someone suddenly being violent,” says Jyoti. “When we don’t have the power and skills to combat micro-aggressions, they grow and grow and we get devastating consequences.”

The learnings from PAVE Prevention training goes hand-in-hand with another new program we recently introduced at the shelter—Rock and Water, an internationally-recognized anti-bullying program for children.

“Our approach to violence is full-spectrum prevention. We’re starting with children all the way up to adulthood. If we could have a critical mass of people empowered to set boundaries, and to speak up when someone else is experiencing bullying, harassment or violence, it could be life changing on a systemic level.”

Help us create social change by supporting PAVE Prevention training and the Rock and Water program at Nellie’s. Email Ingrid Graham, Director of Development, at Ingrid@nellies.org, call 416-645-1419or click here to donate now!

Across the city this year, Pride Month celebrations are back in-person in Toronto after two years of pandemic-related virtual festivities. Every event, performance, talk and march are about uplifting 2SLGBTQ+ voices, celebrating 2SLGBTQ+ culture and supporting 2SLGBTQ+ rights.

And it’s about inclusion for all.

Inclusion and diversity is about ensuring that our sense of belonging is respected regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation or physical/mental disability. At Nellie’s, we advocate for all women experiencing oppression, such as violence, poverty and homelessness, so it’s important to us to celebrate Pride alongside the 2SLGBTQ+ community; it’s one of the really important ways we take a stand together against gender-based violence.

Why is Pride Month celebrated in June?

At the heart of it, Pride Month is about recognizing and remembering the struggles that 2SLGBTQ+ individuals have faced throughout history. It is held in honour of the June 1969 Stonewall riots in New York City. At that time, police had been targeting the 2SLGBTQ+-friendly Stonewall Inn and the individuals there. This led to a series of protests and demands for equal rights and is credited with being a turning point in 2SLGBTQ+ history.

This month is the 52^nd anniversary of the first Pride parade in New York, which was in 1970, one year after the uprising. One year later, in 1971, the first meeting of what was to become the Toronto Pride Parade, was held at both Hanlan’s Point and Ward’s Island.

Why (and when) did the Pride flag change?

Since 1978, the Pride flag has adorned the skies with its six distinct colours — red, orange, yellow, green, blue and violet. Red is symbolic of life, orange is symbolic of healing, yellow is sunshine, green is nature, blue represents harmony and purple is spirit. Designed by artist Gilbert Baker, this rainbow flag came to reflect both the immense diversity and the unity of the 2SLGBTQ+ community.

In 2018, artist Daniel Quasar re-designed the existing rainbow flag to incorporate the baby pink, baby blue and white of the transgender flag, as well as black and brown stripes to represent 2SLGBTQ+ communities of colour. Brands and activists around the world have quickly adopted this new “Progress Flag” as a more inclusive symbol of Pride.

What’s at issue today?

Pride Month is about love, acceptance and being proud of who you are. Whether you identify as 2SLGBTQ+ or are an ally, it’s important to understand the impact on those in this community. Rights and laws may be progressive in Canada but they’re not in many other countries. The fight for equality and inclusion continues.

How can I celebrate?

See the 2022 Pride Toronto events calendar for events and activities throughout June, concluding with the annual Festival Weekend on June 24-26.

Don’t miss our Nellie’s bright and cheery booth at the street fair on Alexander Street all Festival Weekend long! We’ll be handing out information and flyers, accepting donations and taking the time to mingle and enjoy spending time together.