The goal of the Bradford West Gwillimbury & District Community Foundation is to provide a stable source of funding for local charities and groups, but also to strengthen community connections.
Its ‘Rooted in Community’ evenings of conversation and public education fulfill both goals.
On Thursday, May 30, the Foundation, in partnership with Green Valley Alliance Church and True North Partnership, will present Rooted in Community, with guest speaker Kathleen Lickers.
“We are thrilled to have an inspiring speaker, Kathleen Lickers, a Seneca lawyer with a powerful challeng: ‘Reconciliation: What does it mean to me?’” said Robert Evans, chair of the BWGD Community Foundation.
“I have been privileged to work with Kathleen at the Law Society, where we served together on the Equity and Indigenous Affairs Committee.”
Lickers, who was called to the bar in 1995, has served as an Associate Legal Counsel for the former Indian Claims Commission, where she promoted the reform of policies and laws affecting First Nations peoples in Canada.
A Six Nations of the Grand River Haudenosaunee, Lickers has been an advisor to the Auditor General of Canada, the Assembly of First Nations, the Office of the Senate Ethics Officer; she co-chairs the Law Society of Ontario’s Indigenous Advisory Group.
She has also been designated as Indigenous Peoples’ Counsel and a ‘legal warrior’ in the fight for First Nations legal rights, and in 2018, received the Law Society Medal.
“She is a wonderful person,” said Evans. “I’m sure that everyone who attends will be delighted to meet her and will be inspired by her message.”
Rooted in Community will be held at Green Valley Alliance Church, 758 Simcoe Road in Bradford, starting at 7 p.m. on May 30.
Tickets are $20, available at bwgdcf.ca, and at locations around town that include Evans DeVries Higgins LLP, 21 Holland St. West; Nancy’s Nifty Nook, 152 Holland St. E., and the Bradford Print Shoppe, 170 Artesian Industrial Parkway.
The evening will include refreshments, door prizes, and an inspiring discussion of the meaning of reconciliation.
