09/22/2026
Last week, our Executive Director, Shahnaz Rahman, joined community partners at the City of Surrey's Gender-Based Violence Workshop, a follow-up to the Mayor's Forum on GBV earlier this year, where we were privileged to share our perspective alongside a panel of frontline experts.
After an Indigenous welcome from Kevin Kelly of Kwantlen First Nation and remarks from Mayor Brenda Locke and Sarah McIntosh (Chair of the Surrey Vulnerable Women and Girls Working Group) at City Hall, we moved to the City Centre Library for a facilitated workshop exploring four questions:
What systemic gaps and barriers do survivors and the anti-violence sector face?
Which existing programs should be strengthened?
What promising models from other municipalities could work in Surrey?
What role should the City play in prevention and crisis response?
In February, the forum laid out the scale of need. This workshop turned to what the municipality could do in response, and brought the sector into the room to help answer that.
Thank you to the City of Surrey staff, and to every organization that came ready to share hard-won knowledge. We're grateful to represent and advocate for the survivors we serve in engagement with policymakers, and look forward to continuing this work with the City and our partners to make Surrey safer for all.
Read our reflections on the February forum (blog link in bio): https://surreywomenscentre.ca/bearing-the-weight/
Pictured with Shahnaz: Sarah McIntosh (Atira), Aileen Murphy (Housing and Social Development, City of Surrey), Aman Tiwana (Ministry of Social Development)
