BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:icalendar-ruby CALSCALE:GREGORIAN METHOD:PUBLISH BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260425T192618Z UID:869-940266@bc.anglican.ca DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260521 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260523 CLASS:PUBLIC CREATED:20260422T142054 DESCRIPTION:Christ Church Cathedral is pleased to present a conference on h omelessness in Victoria. All events are free to attend and open to all. \ n7:00pm Thursday May 21 - A Framing Lecture\n"A Theology of Home in a Time of Homelessness" presented by Dr. Siobhan Garrigan\n\nDr. Garrigan is the Loyola Chair of Theology and Trinity College Dublin and the Head of the S chool for Religions\, Peace Studies\, and Theology. She works primarily at the intersection of theology and social justice\, specifically through th e lens of sacramental theology\, interpreting the material as spiritual an d the embodied as the locus of divine revelation. Dr. Garrigan previously served as founding director of Emmaus Coventry\, a charity that empowers p eople to overcome homelessness through tailored support in communal living and gaining employment skills in the recycling industry. She has a weekly radio broadcast called Witness that connects theology with current even ts.\n\nFriday May 22 - Panel Discuss ions on Policy\nPanel 1 (9:00am) - Explaining Basic Issues\nThis panel wil l help people understand things like what factors lead to people being unh oused\, what is the relationship between mental health\, addiction\, and h omelessness\, and why is the indigenous homeless rate disproportionate to the overall population\, in an attempt to dispel misperception and equip p eople with the knowledge to meaningful think about public policy.\nPartici pants from Salvation Army\, Peer2Peer Indigenous Society\, Our Place Socie ty\, and Cool Aid Society.\nPanel 2 (10:30am) - Gaps\, Barriers\, and Poli cy Failures\nThe second panel will inform us about what perpetuates homele ssness in Victoria\, including gaps in service\, barriers to re-housing\, and policy failures that exacerbate the struggle.\nParticipants from Portl and Housing Society\, Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness\, Mental Healt h Recovery Partners\, and Aboriginal Coalition to End Homelessness.\nPanel 3 (2:00pm) - Signs of Hope and Avenues for Advocacy\nThe third panel turn s to what is working\, where we see progress\, and areas where advocacy an d direct involvement can make real and lasting change.\nParticipants from New Roads Recovery\, Mustard Seed Food Bank\, Threshold Housing\, Beacon C ommunity Centre.\nPanel 4 (3:30pm) - Faithful Response - Theological Refle ction on Public Policy\nThis final session will see our keynote lecturer\, our bishop\, and our diocesan theologian reflect on how our faith should inform the policy decisions we support and the call it puts on our lives t o love all our neighbours and create a better community.\nSaturday May 23 - Storytelling and Engagement\nSession 1 (10:00am) - A reading from "Encam pment" by author Maggie Helwig\nThe Rev. Maggie Helwig tells the story of the encampment that set up on the yard of her church in Toronto’s Kensin gton Market. She befriends the people living on her churchyard and fights for them to be able to experience it as a home. The book calls us to confr ont the callousness that allows is to live with so many neighbours who are unhoused and asks us to respond with compassion and grace.\n\nSession 2 (1:00pm) - A viewing of "940 Caledonia" with documentarian Krista Loughton\nShot during the pandemic\, this film tells the story of Tina Dawson who found herself living on the streets of Victo ria for the first time during a frigid winter. It helps the viewer to unde rstand the realities of such an ordeal while also advocating for the creat ion of sanctioned spaces for the unhoused rather than the proliferation of encampments in various parks and alleyways.\n\nSession 3 (2:30pm) - Life Stories from Those Who Lived Them\nWe will hear from people who lived unhoused for some time in their lives – what it was really like\, what helped them survive and now thrive\, what t hey want us to know.\n LAST-MODIFIED:20260422T142054 LOCATION:Christ Church Cathedral SUMMARY:A Conference on Homelessness in Victoria URL;VALUE=URI:https://bc.anglican.ca/events/a-conference-on-homelessness-in -victoria/2026-05-21 ATTACH;FILENAME=archive assist.png;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://dq5pwpg1q8ru0. cloudfront.net/2026/04/22/18/46/22/ea57ee4e-f1a6-44d9-87f9-7e228d2436d5/ar chive%20assist.png END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR