Jo-Anne Gauthier is the President of the BC People First Society and she will lead a panel of adult and youth self-advocates who will talk about the importance of self-advocacy. We hope to have children and youth as well as adults participating in this important conversation so bring your kids, and if you are a self-advocate we want your voice, here and at all the conference sessions! Come see the panel at AdvoCon2021, our 7th annual education advocacy conference held September 22nd to 26th online!
Tickets on Eventbrite now – Facebook group members receive a good discounted rate and the first 100 purchased receive a care package delivered to their house!
Jo-Anne Gauthier has been advocating for inclusion and accessibility rights for people in BC for over 20 years. She is the current President of BC People First, a provincial organization run BY self-advocates FOR self-advocates. As President, Jo-Anne is an integral part of the BCPF Advocacy, Fundraising, and Plain Language Committees – she is a tireless volunteer who leads by example and always prioritizes kindness. She has also worked on community projects for PosAbilities, Inclusion BC, and the UBC Centre for Inclusion & Citizenship. Jo-Anne spends her free time enjoying life on the south coast with her husband, getting outdoors to enjoy nature, and travelling as much as possible.
Panel:
This panel will include youth and adult self-advocates sharing their experiences in the education system and outside of it
You will learn:
-self-advocacy skills
-advocacy work advice
-how to make space for your child/youth/adult’s self-advocacy as a parent
This will be Wiyé.nox/Luke Dandurand’s fifth time presenting at our conference! We always learn so much from his workshop and we hope you will be able to make it to see him speak at AdvoCon2021, our 7th annual conference held September 22 to 26 online, with recordings available if you’re a ticket holder and can’t make all ‘live’ sessions.
Tickets on Eventbrite now – members of the BCEdAccess Facebook groups receive a significant discount, and the first 100 tickets purchased receive a care package delivered to their house!
“Part of my goal and what I currently do for work full time is let people know about the success, pride and passion of my Kwantlen family and what has been accomplished through our community.”
Wiyé.nox/Luke Dandurand
Wiyé.nox ‐ the man of sound. A name earned and gifted from the Elders of Kwantlen First Nation and his hereditary chief Marilyn Gabriel, for his extensive background in music and capabilities of public speaking. Part of my goal and what I currently do for work full time is let people know about the success, pride and passion of my Kwantlen family and what has been accomplished through our community.
Workshop: The Kwantlen 7 Laws
You will learn:
Strength, resiliency, and working together.
In the largest middle school in the province of British Columbia, Yorkson Creek Middle School has found a way by working together through goals through the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ language in finding one heart and one mind. Connecting community, the outdoors, oral traditions and finding our allies and advocates. Students strive to find moments of silence during their week even when distractions, sounds and noise are easy to come across with over 1,200 people in the building on a daily basis. With the understanding that Aboriginal teachings outdoors in a circle by the water and the trees is just as valuable and equal from the books or technology that helps shapes their lives. This idea is one that is simple, but the most profound when they take the moment to sit down and listen to what mother nature and the First Nations teachings have to say. Participants will also take part in an activity that involves the power of silence and resiliency.
Connect with Luke on social media:
@LukeNative
Read all the details about our conference here, and remember to share!
Andree Gacoin is the Director of Research for the BC Teachers Federation. She’ll be sharing information on how classroom teachers make use of different kinds of assessments to support students. We hope you will be able to make it to see her speak at AdvoCon2021, our 7th annual education advocacy conference held September 22nd to 26th online!
Tickets on Eventbrite now – Facebook group members receive a good discounted rate and the first 100 purchased receive a care package delivered to their house!
Director of Research, BC Teachers Federation – She/Her
Dr. Andrée Gacoin is Director of the Division of Information, Research and International Solidarity at the British Columbia Teachers’ Federation. Her research focuses on developing a unique, in-depth and contextualized exploration of education in BC from the perspective of teachers. She has a wide range of experience leading educational research and program activities in diverse communities, including work in Gabon and South Africa. Her work foregrounds research as advocacy to uphold and strengthen an inclusive public education system.
Workshop: A classroom perspective on assessment
You’ll learn:
Understand the purpose of classroom assessment
Understand the different forms of classroom assessment that teachers use
Understand how teachers use assessment to better understand student needs
Understand the purpose of “large scale assessments” and the context of these texts in BC
Will have Q and A
You can follow the BC Teachers Federation on Twitter and Facebook @BCTF
Karla Verschoor is the Executive Director of Inclusion BC, an organization of which BCEdAccess is proud to be a member. She will be discussing and sharing the film series they created with the Canadian Institute for Inclusion and Citizenship to raise awareness about the exclusion of students with developmental disabilities and to offer key information and possible pathways to success for students, families, and schools. We hope you will be able to make it to see her speak at AdvoCon2021, our 7th annual education advocacy conference held September 22nd to 26th online!
Tickets on Eventbrite now – members of the BCEdAccess Facebook groups receive a significant discount, and the first 100 tickets purchased receive a care package delivered to their house!
Karla Verschoor has been with Inclusion BC since 2006, when she joined the organization as a volunteer coordinator. Over the years, Karla has worked in various leadership roles as an advocate, strategic planner and now as Executive Director. Karla has a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Alberta where she studied Political Science and Government and a Certificate in Dialogue and Civic Engagement from Simon Fraser University. Karla lives in Vancouver with her husband and daughter. When she’s not working Karla enjoys volunteering at her daughter’s school and with her local neighbourhood house.
Presentation: Sunday Keynote – Film Series Disrupting Misconceptions and Forging Pathways for Students with Developmental Disabilities
Inclusion BC and the Canadian Institute for Inclusion and Citizenship are proud to share a series of four films on inclusive education. Centred on the voices of students, educators and families, the films explore how we can make our schools inclusive and welcoming of all learners.
Brittany Mathews is the Research and Reconciliation Coordinator for the First Nations Caring Society and will share information on how the FNCS has advocated for legal rights in education for First Nations children and youth. We hope you will be able to make it to see her speak at AdvoCon2021, our 7th annual education advocacy conference held September 22nd to 26th online!
Tickets on Eventbrite now – Facebook group members receive a good discounted rate and the first 100 purchased receive a care package delivered to their house!
Brittany (she/her) is Michif and a member of the Métis Nation of Alberta. Her family more recently comes from St. Paul, Alberta with ancestry from St. Francois Xavier, Manitoba. She grew up in the Bow Valley of Alberta and moved to Ottawa to pursue an undergraduate degree at the University of Ottawa. Brittany is passionate about the role kinship and family plays in the empowerment of Indigenous women and communities. She is dedicated to elevating the stories and contemporary realities of Indigenous peoples through community organizing and creative outlets.
Presentation: Jordan’s Principle: Putting Children First
Learn about the past in the spirit of reconciliation.
Link Jordan’s Principle to substantive equality and child rights.
Learn about the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal orders and their impact on Jordan’s Principle.
Will have Q and A
You can follow the First Nations Caring Society on Twitter @CaringSociety
Suzanne Perreault has delivered this popular presentation at every one of our conferences so far. Her IEP presentation is a can’t-miss opportunity with much needed information! We hope you will be able to make it to see her speak at AdvoCon2021, our 7th annual education advocacy conference held September 22nd to 26th online!
Tickets on Eventbrite now – Facebook group members receive a good discounted rate and the first 100 purchased receive a care package delivered to their house!
Suzanne is a mother of 3 and a Langley School District Trustee. She is also the former Administrator of a Private Vocational School, and has worked as an SEA and a TEDx Talk speaker. She currently works as a Youth & Woman’s Counsellor in Langley, British Columbia, is a public speaker and the recent President of the Langley DPAC for 3 consecutive years. She has been attending to various committee’s such as SD35’s Inclusive Education working committee, Emergency Preparedness and has been nominated for both the Fraser Valley Diversity Award & BC Excellence in Autism Awards. She has successfully worked alongside educators & parents creating positive changes in school climate as well as parent engagement based on focusing on the communication process as it interfaces with the journey having a child with needs. She has advised and worked on committees with the BCCPAC, the BCEdAcess Task Force and other agencies to help promote educational change in areas of Inclusion, wellness, leadership, motivation and parent engagement. Her primary focus is the success of the student by virtue of bridging educators and parents.
Workshop: IEPS – What You Need To Know
You will learn:
-The IEP Planning Cycle
-The importance of language
-Advocacy and IEPs
Suzanne is on Twitter @DecisionTree007
Read all the details about our conference here, more information is being added every day!
The schedule is out and the content is amazing! Fully online again this year, we’ll have casual coffee connections in the morning and end of day hangouts. Workshops, presentations, panels, a film screening, and brainstorming discussions on educational transformation are happening over the course of the 5 day event. If you can’t make it ‘live’, as long as you have a ticket you’ll be able to access the recordings after. All sessions will have sign language interpreters and Communication Access Real Time Translation (CART) subtitles.
Throughout the past year BCEdAccess has been hosting free virtual social groups sessions that are accessible for kids and young adults with disabilities and complex learning needs with the support of the Canadian Red Cross and the Government of Canada.
The pandemic has been extremely isolating, with some children not being able to interact in-person with their peers for over a year. There are very few extracurricular activities for children and youth with disabilities that are accessible in terms of location, cost, and support, and we felt that due to feelings of disconnect during the COVID-19 pandemic it was especially important to provide youth with the chance to get together and have fun.
Our previous social group sessions have included art projects, music bingo, dance and movement, LGBTQ+ teen socials, Minecraft and Animal Crossing and even Pop-Up Author readings!
Our hope in running these groups was to provide something that fosters connection and positive mental wellness for children and youth, as well as their families. Our regularly scheduled sessions are currently on pause for the summer and we were hosting select reunions throughout the summer, but even those are quickly coming to an end with the last session happening this Monday!
You can still register for Bobbi’s Adventure’s Social Group on August 23 at 4:00 pmhere.
We are extremely grateful to the facilitators who continued with us over the summer, volunteering their time and energy. Our goal is to return in the fall with no fee for our attendees, and while we are seeking grant funding there are also some things you can do:
If you know of an organization who may be interested in sponsoring these events please reach out to them and share. You never know who may be interested in supporting!
If you are able to donate, a little can go a long way.
All funds will help us cover specialized facilitators, pop-up author readings, ASL Interpretation, and more! To learn more please visit our events page here.
AdvoCon is volunteer driven and is for everyone—self advocates, parents/guardians, educators, administrators and supporters of inclusion. BCEdAccess is proud to be providing captioning, ASL interpretation and Active Listeners during every presentation and workshop.
From September 22nd to 26th, 2021, over 150 attendees from around BC will gather virtually for our seventh annual, and second fully virtual education advocacy conference. The conference will feature BC speakers with a passion for activism and educational equity, including presentations by the First Nations Caring Society on Jordan’s Principle and Lindsay Waddell on human rights for children and youth in education. In addition to accessing the livestream, during which attendees can engage with presenters in real time, ticket holders will also be able to view recordings of the conference after the live streams have ended.
AdvoCon is always well-attended by parents and guardians, self-advocates, teachers, school trustees, educational assistants, psychologists, principals, inclusion agency representatives, and other professionals. Why? AdvoCon provides attendees with opportunities to learn practical information, earn professional development credits, and interact and network with peers, mentors, and sponsors.
As a non-profit organization led by volunteers, we look to the community to support our annual advocacy conference. AdvoCon is a great opportunity for businesses and organizations to reach our audience and let them know that you share their values. Our membership and follower base has grown significantly over the past few years, we’re reaching more people now than ever:
The private BCEdAccess Facebook group has over 3,700 members and is very active with upwards of 10 posts per day, all of which receive significant engagement
We have a significant amount of followers on social media with over 4,000 followers on Facebook and 2,500 followers on Twitter
Our mailing list reaches over 1,000 subscribers
On average, our blog posts have 3,000 visitors within 24 hours of being published
Last year’s virtual AdvoCon had 170 attendees and we are expecting higher numbers at our 2021 conference due to our increased remote events throughout this past year
We welcome financial and in-kind contributions from like-minded and supportive organizations.This year we have expanded our sponsorship options to include a Supporter tier beginning at $100.00 and Program Sponsor tiers for sponsoring specific accessibility services including Captioning and ASL Interpretation. Additionally, the benefits included in each tier have been updated from the previous years’ sponsorship packages. Check out our 2021 Sponsorship Package here and learn more about the benefits of each opportunity, or reach out to us at development@bcedaccess.com to ask questions and discuss your options.
If you are an individual interested in supporting AdvoCon, here are some additional ways to show your support:
Do you know a local organization or have connections with a business in your community that may be interested in supporting AdvoCon? Have them take a look at our sponsorship information here or contact us at development@bcedaccess.com for more information.
We are always thrilled to accept donations from individuals. If you are interested in supporting this event, you can donate here and please be sure to select AdvoCon on the form to direct your donation towards the event.
2021 has been a pivotal year for our organization as we have recently been granted Charitable Status by the CRA. Charitable tax receipts will be issued to the name and email provided in the sponsorship agreement or at the donation link. BCEdAccess is proud to be a registered charity.
We are just days away from our next free pop-up reading event! Kim Block will be sharing her series Adventures of a Stuttering Superhero on Saturday, July 24 at 10:00 am.
These empowering stories talk about stuttering in a matter of fact tone with the goal of fostering empathy and acceptance for children who stutter. With art that intentionally reflects all different examples of diverse abilities, nationality and cultural practices.
These books are for everyone. We all have challenges and children can relate and connect to these books even if they do not stutter.
While this event will be streamed to our Facebook as a webinar we have also released 25 tickets. If you register on our Eventbrite, all you have to do is attend via the Zoom link and you will be entered into a draw for a copy of the book on us. We really cannot wait to see you there!
All of our reading events are both live and recorded. All attendees will be provided with the option when you log in to the event to be a part of the recording and interact with the author, or to remain completely anonymous. This option is available to ensure consent from any children and adults attending, so that we are protecting our minors, and so that we can privately share the recording link to any of our attendees who are unable to make it to the date and time of the event.
Please get a hold of us at info@bcedaccess.com if you have any questions. You can learn more about the author and the Stuttering Adventures series here.
