by Sister Nancy Brown
Vancouver Collective against Sexual Exploitation is a non-partisan group of diverse individuals and organizations united as a single voice to end all forms of sexual exploitation. VCASE advocates with survivors of sexual exploitation in prostitution, pornography and human trafficking. Its primary focus is the retention, strengthening and enforcement of the Canadian federal law (PCEPA-Protection of Community and Exploited Persons Act) that holds sex buyers and those who profit from the sale of humans for sex accountable for the harm they cause while at the same time it protects the vulnerable persons. VCASE amplifies the voices of survivors and supports their liberation.
Collaboration within this collective of primarily women is not only essential but advantageous. There is greater synergy, recognizing that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Working together, including everyone’s voice, experience and expertise creates a richer synthesis and superior result.
This year’s goal is to focus on demand, the root cause of sexual exploitation. One strategy is to collaborate with a men’s group, Buyer Resist. Encouraged by VCASE, a young man from Victoria, BC built a website targeting men looking to buy sex and leading them toward recovery from their sex and power misconstruction. Five developers formed a team and built Wilber (named after William Wilberforce), an Artificial Intelligence chatbot that reaches sex buyers seeking escorts online and helps them recognize their need for help. From Dec. 2021 to Dec. 2022, volunteers reached 2000+ buyers and made 250+ referrals for resources. (In the USA, www.epikproject.org )
VCASE will provide Buyer Resist with volunteers, encouragement and support to keep addressing the demand side, stopping buyers, one by one. Through this collaboration we will affect change in our society. Sex buyers, pimps, and traffickers roam freely worldwide sexually abusing millions of our women and children with near complete impunity. This must stop!
Members of VCASE (Nancy Brown, Gwendoline Allison and Evelyn Vollet) chat during a break at a presentation on Human Trafficking.
More Charity Alive – March 2023
Women Working Together
As you read the articles in this month’s Charity Alive we hope that these will just be the beginning of sharing your own experiences of this gift of love revealed in community.
The Wellesley Connection — What Potential!
“It is pure potential. Every ball or skein of yarn holds something inside it, and the great mystery of what that might be can be almost spiritual.”
Collaboration is the Answer, Within and Without
Vancouver Collective against Sexual Exploitation is a non-partisan group of diverse individuals and organizations united as a single voice to end all forms of sexual exploitation.
Sustainability
When looked at from a global perspective, remedies seem daunting. Yet, when focused on individual choices, small things do make a difference. Sustainability calls each of us to think globally but act very locally.
From the Archives — Sisters helping Sisters
In sharing the history of the congregation, the ministries in education, orphanages, and social services are often highlighted. In this article, I wanted to share ministries within the congregation – Sisters helping Sisters.
More Charity Alive – December 2022
Bringing light into darkness
The soft darkness of winter night helps us to recall our communal gatherings, our contemplative prayer, our care for each other.
Renewal of Vows and Commitment
On December 7, 2022, the eve of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception we joined together (via zoom) as members and associates in a prayer service to renew our vows and commitment.
Christmas Cards
As the Christmas season approaches, we are filled with gratitude for the many benefactors who have joined us in giving Joyful Witness through gifts in 2022.
From the Archives — Christmas Crèches
Photos and traditions of Christmas crèches, or cribs
Charity Alive – November 2022
What an Accomplishment! St. John’s Bread and Life: 1982 – 2022
Since the early 2000’s, 12 of us have been present at Bread and Life. Its mission and ours resonate.
Centro Corazón de María [Heart of Mary Center] Celebrates 20 Years
A spectacular balloon sculpture, music, two artisanal cakes, but most important of all, about 150 friends old and new marked the celebration of the 20th anniversary of Centro Corazón de María, the ministry to the Latino community in Hampton Bays, New York.
Ebony Etchings
I invite each of you to join me in my exploration of my home space, my heart space, my God space where I live my truth as an African Nova Scotian woman and a member of the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent DePaul, Halifax.
Associate Retreat May 2022
A sense of peace and serenity welcomed fellow Long Island/Queens Associates Betty Erdos, Helen Ogden, Mickey Madden, Ann Masters and me when we arrived at the tranquil and cozy house on the eastern bay for the weekend of May 20–22, 2022.
Book Review: White Privilege, Black Struggle in U.S. Religious Congregations
“Subversive Habits” is a clever title, but the subtitle that scholar Shannen Dee Williams chooses for her superb book states her theme much more cogently: ‘Black Catholic Nuns in the Long African American Freedom Struggle.”
From the Archives — What’s in a name?
The inspiration for this article came from a recent delve into the history of one of the most inquired about teachers in the community, Sister Marie Clotilde Douglas.
