Reflections on the GBV Change Lab Gathering

In early March, 2025, Righting Relations held a small gathering of folks doing work on Gender-Based Violence (GBV) in Wolfville, Nova Scotia. Inspired by the emergence of the Montreal GBV Change Lab, which has begun bringing together survivors in Montreal to explore sharing and amplifying their stories, we recognized that there are so many members and partners doing work in this field across our network. We welcomed folks from not only the GBV Change Lab, but also our Queer (2SLGBTQIA+) Change Lab, our Indigenous Women’s Leadership Change Lab, and the Strengthening Men’s Change Lab, as well as some of our partners. Many wondered how we ended up in Wolfville of all places, and how easy was it going to be to navigate such an intimate space with new faces, new members and new organizations joining for the first time. However, all these questions were answered in beautiful and powerful ways as Righting Relations.

The space was held by Vanessa and Eveline, coming from Manitoba, who grounded us in Eagle teachings of love and strength to help us navigate such a complex and emotional topic together. We soon knew that we were really close to Eagle Nesting grounds and we were at the right time and right place to pay respect and admire them.

The gathering enabled us to connect frontline efforts, research, policy, and international work through shared principles and approaches to end GBV. We identified our collective strengths, common needs, and opportunities for collaboration to support each other’s work. It was heartwarming to see the work of Women of First Light, Action Canada, Educonnexion, John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights, and Blackbird Medicines, as well as members from different Righting Relations Change Labs, connect in natural and complementary ways. We soon saw emerge the needs and ways to learn from each other’s work and lived experiences; that the place allowed us to live and model in respectful and accommodative ways to share space and that formal and informal conversations were going deeper and deeper. We all felt validated and knew that the complexity of our work was seen and resonated with others.

We finished our gathering feeling profoundly supported, connected, and ready to share learnings, build capacity, and collect information to help move forward. We’d like to thank both Women and Gender Equality Canada, and the Catherine Donnelly Foundation, for their support in making this gathering and much of this work possible.