Questioning Power: Anti-Racist, Decolonial, and Feminist Pathways to Safer Spaces

This webinar will explore how anti-racist, decolonial, and feminist lenses help us question power in ways that move us toward truly safe and inclusive spaces. Rather than focusing only on individual behavior, we will reflect on how power shapes our organizations, policies, and international cooperation work, influencing who is heard, who leads, and who feels safe and included. Together, we will consider how examining and shifting power dynamics is essential to creating environments grounded in dignity, equity, and shared responsibility.

Speakers:

Bahar Haghighat (she/her) works with international students and newcomer communities and brings both lived and professional experience to conversations about equity in education. Her work is grounded in social justice and focuses on how structures and inequalities shape the experiences of international students and immigrants within institutional spaces. She is interested in helping organizations and communities reflect on these realities and create more inclusive, accountable, and supportive environments.

Stacey Gomez is co-founder and Executive Director of the Centre for Migrant Worker Rights Nova Scotia, which has supported over 8,000 migrant workers since 2021. Under her leadership, the Centre has worked alongside migrant workers to achieve successful outcomes in groundbreaking cases involving healthcare access, labour rights, and workers’ compensation. Stacey brings more than 15 years of experience advancing migrant rights, gender justice, and international solidarity in Canada. She holds an MA in Development Studies from York University.

Fae Johnstone (she/they) is the executive director and founder of Queer Momentum, Canada's only national organization fully focused on 2SLGBTQIA+ advocacy and movement-building. She is a movement girl, shaped in grassroots organizing and committed to building a more free, equal and just future for queer people and all marginalized communities. Fae has dedicated her life and career to upholding the freedom, rights and safety of queer and trans people in an era of resurgent hate, polarization and rising authoritarianism.

Priscilla Purtschert (they/them) is part of the team at Taller de Comunicación Mujer (TCM), where they work as a companion in situations of digital gender violence. In this role, they participate in research and contribute to the methodological development and facilitation of workshops focused on the prevention of digital gender violence, as well as digital protection and care for diverse population groups. Since 2023, they have coordinated the feminist helpline for survivors of digital gender violence as part of the Navegando Libres program at TCM.