Reason to celebrate
Ann Hansen comes to U of M for International Women’s Week
Aviva Cipilinski and Meredith Mitchell
International Women’s Day (Wednesday, March 8) is the internationally-recognized day to celebrate women’s economic, social, cultural and political contributions to the world.
Celebrating Women’s Day was initiated in 1911 by groups of women in Germany, Austria and Denmark as a part of the efforts to get more votes for women in elections. Women in the Soviet Union took up the project at the same time as part of the growing feminist working class movement.
On campus and in the community, women’s groups extend this celebration to the week that surrounds International Women’s Day (March 8), so this year the week runs from March 6 to 10. This year on campus the University of Manitoba Womyn’s Centre has programming throughout International Women’s Week, including a visit from Ann Hansen, an acclaimed prison abolitionist and activist in Canada.
Ann Hansen was part of a direct action activist group in the 1970s and ’80s that became known in the popular media as the “Squamish 5” after the group bombed the Litton Systems plant in Rexdale, Ontario, where missile parts were being produced. Her participation in this group earned her a life sentence in a women’s prison in Kingston, Ontario, of which she served seven years.
Currently, Hansen is a freelance writer in Kingston. She recently published her first book, Direct Action: Memoirs of an Urban Guerilla, about her years of experience and growth as a woman activist.
Hansen is now involved with ‘Women for Justice,’ a group whose goal is to establish support systems for women who are exiting the prison system in Kingston. This group is currently working towards opening a worker co-op café and bookstore called “The Sleepless Goat,” which will also provide subsidized living spaces for “high risk” women, ex-prisoners who are in the process of transitioning back into the community.
Ann Hansen focuses her work on the prison abolition movement, with a major emphasis on working toward a greater partnership with Aboriginal communities in a unified struggle for justice. In Manitoba, 95 per cent of women prisoners are Aboriginal, whereas Aboriginal women make up only 6 per cent of the overall female population.
On International Women’s Day, the Womyn’s Centre will host a panel discussion on “Justice” in the Multi-Purpose Room at 12:30 p.m., where Ann Hansen will be featured alongside community activists and academics to talk about women and the justice system.
Events will continue into the evening, when Hansen will join the Manitoba Aboriginal Justice and Equality Coalition in a public panel discussion, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Manitoba Indian Education Association (third floor, 305-352 Donald Street).
At 8:30 p.m. at Mondragon (91 Albert Street), Hansen and her friend Fay Brass will present a workshop entitled, “You Can’t Stop a Runaway Car by Smashing the Headlights.” Fay Brass is a Cree activist and ex-prisoner who spent many years in prison at the same time as Hansen. Together they will show a short film made by the Women For Justice group called Eyes in the Back of Your Head. The workshop will focus on the paradoxes faced by prison abolitionists trying to dismantle the prison system without becoming mired in reform.
There are many events planned both on and off campus as part of International Women’s Week celebrations. They are all free and everyone is welcome. For more information check out the events section in this issue of the Manitoban or call 474 – 6897.
Happy International Women’s Week!
