The Intersectionality of Basic Income

Introduction

Individuals do not live their lives in siloed experiences that are divided neatly into different facets of their identity. Income, class, gender, ethnicity and race, age, sexual orientation, the environment - all of these are interconnected within the experiences people have every day in their communities. Our systems function in much the same way. In this important and timely panel discussion, we focus on the intersectionality of basic income with the social and environmental justice work happening across North America to inspire deeper collaboration and coalition building as we fight for economic justice.

Click here to watch this session from our 2021 conference.

About the Panelists

Opening Remarks: Annamie Paul, Party leader of the Green Party of Canada

Annamie Paul is a Canadian politician, activist, and lawyer who is the leader of the Green Party of Canada, serving since October 3, 2020. She is the first black Canadian and first Jewish woman to be elected leader of a federal party in Canada.

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Rev. Liz Theoharis, Co-chair Poor People’s Campaign

The Reverend Dr. Liz Theoharis is Co-Chair of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival with the Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II that organized the largest coordinated wave of nonviolent civil disobedience in 21st Century America and has since emerged as one of the nation’s leading social movement forces. She is the Director of the Kairos Center for Religions, Rights, and Social Justice at Union Theological Seminary.

Mitchell Beer, Energy Mix Productions

Mitchell Beer is publisher of The Energy Mix, a thrice-weekly e-digest on climate change and energy, and a lead organizer of a project on livelihoods, incomes, community resilience, and a low-carbon Canada. He traces his work on renewable energy to 1977, on climate change to 1997, and delivered a 2019 TEDx Ottawa talk on building wider public buy-in for faster, deeper carbon cuts. A proudest memory was building a model wind turbine out of wooden stir sticks with his then-11-year-old daughter.  Improv comedy practices are often the best part of his week.

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Sheila Regehr, Basic Income Canada Network

Chairperson and founding member of BICN, former federal public servant, former Executive Director of the National Council of Welfare, co-author, with Chandra Pasma, of 'Basic Income: Some Policy Options for Canada' available at www.basicincomecanada.org

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Amy Durrence, Free From

Amy is a lawyer and social justice advocate from Atlanta who loves “all y’all!” and is passionate about identifying and dismantling systems of oppression, starting with her own cis white privilege. Amy’s advocacy for survivors of GBV started at Georgetown University Law Center, where she served as a student attorney in the Domestic Violence Law Clinic. After law school, Amy returned to Atlanta where she continued her advocacy as a lobbyist for the Georgia Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Georgia Women for a Change. After joining the boutique litigation firm, Fellows Labriola LLP, Amy continued doing social justice work in her spare time as the policy director for the Junior Leagues of Georgia and a Fellow in the Georgia Women’s Policy Institute. In these roles, Amy was instrumental in the passage of Georgia’s Family Medical Leave Act. After relocating to LA, Amy joined FreeFrom in 2019 and serves as the Director of Systems Change Initiatives. In her role, Amy leads FreeFrom’s work to advocate for the passage of survivor wealth-centered policies across the U.S. and to expand the ecosystem of support for survivors by making banks, employers, credit card companies, and others part of the solution to ending GBV in this country.

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Moderated by:

Almaz Zelleke