Vancouver foundation, fundraiser aim to support Indigenous women

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – A foundation in the name of a prominent B.C. Indigenous women’s advocate who passed away a few months ago is hosting an event this weekend with the goal of raising funds to further her cause.

Sarah Robinson was a leader in the province’s Indigenous community, who urged everyone to see the importance of reconciliation and pushed to create safe spaces for people to learn these histories.

In late May, she lost her battle with cancer at the age of 35. Since then, the Sarah Robinson Foundation was established, with the goal of continuing her work.

“Our goal, essentially, is to follow Sarah’s footsteps, by uniting our communities — both business and social — to raise awareness and protection for Indigenous women,” said Rebekah Hoggard, one of the founders of the foundation.

She says the long-term goal is to build a safe house for Indigenous women, “which would allow women to come and be protected [and] further any sort of education that was delayed due to any sort of impact in their life, and help establish a life that was taken from them.”

RELATED: Sarah Robinson remembered as tireless B.C. Indigenous women’s advocate, friend

A fundraiser taking place Saturday, on what would have been Sarah’s 36th birthday, aims to raise money to help the foundation get off the ground.

“All the money is going towards us incorporating and becoming a registered charity and then move forward so we can start to get to work and start figuring out what the community needs now,” said Peter Robinson, Sarah’s brother and another founder of the foundation.

The event, which is now sold out, includes an auction for local Indigenous art and live music.

With Indigenous issues in the forefront of many Canadians’ minds, Robinson says the foundation is one way people can get involved and make a difference.

“There are so many issues that are affecting Indigenous peoples today — clean water, protecting the old-growth forests, missing and murdered Indigenous women, the fentanyl crisis — there are people that we just want to help and say, ‘We’re here for you and we’re here to help you, whatever it may be.’ Now is the time for us to get involved and for our communities to get involved.”

Sarah Robinson was an advocate specifically for Indigenous women, once noting women are “doubly discriminated against,” on the basis of race and gender.

Speaking at The Walrus Talks National Tour: We Desire a Better Country (2017), she cited the 1876 Indian Act, saying federal law, rooted in Euro-Christian ideals, devalued Indigenous women “by treating us as accessories to men, at the will of men.”

“[The Act] defined a person as anyone other than an Indian and created Indian status which could only be handed down through Indigenous men. This meant that if a native woman married a non-native man – she and her children, legally and in the eyes of our young Canadian government – were no longer native. And if there are ‘fewer native people’ in the eyes of the government, it helps justify the takeover of land because nobody’s using it anyway.”

When she passed, many people, including Premier John Horgan and Jobs Minister Ravi Kahlon, posted messages describing the impact she made in B.C. and Canada.

BC is a better place today because of Sarah Robinson’s passionate work to dismantle the systemic discrimination that is still a reality for far too many people in our province. I’m sad to learn of her passing and extend my deepest condolences to her family and friends. https://t.co/LCSRoF7hbZ

— John Horgan (@jjhorgan) May 27, 2021