Andrea Lacoursiere is Red Deer’s new face in the fight against racism.
She was hired to be the City of Red Deer’s new equity coalition co-ordinator. Her job is to promote tolerance and inclusion in the Red Deer area, which has seen an influx of more minority newcomers in the past few years.
Equity co-ordinator positions are part of a two-year contract, funded by the Alberta Human Rights Commission, in five Alberta communities also including Calgary, Edmonton, Wood Buffalo and Lethbridge.
Her new role will present new challenges for Lacoursiere, but it spins around an age-old problem.
Lacouriere has been bothered by racism ever since she witnessed, as a child, her older, part-Dene, half-sister being taunted by kids at school. “It’s been a personal motivator in my work,” she said.
As a teen, Lacoursiere joined the STOP (Students and Teachers Opposing Prejudice) group formed by former Lindsay Thurber Comprehensive High School teacher Darren Lund. Later, she became part of Red Deer’s Welcoming and Inclusive Communities Network.
Most recently, Lacoursiere held the marketing, funding and community development positions at the Red Deer Museum and Art Gallery. While there, Lacoursiere became more familiar with the violence perpetrated against First Nations women while helping with the Walking With Our Sisters exhibit a few years ago.
Although her new equity coalition co-ordinator position won’t allow her to become a personal ombudsman, she said she’ll help anyone who wants to file an official complaint through the Alberta Human Rights Commission.
She also plans to hold grant application workshops to help groups apply for funding from a new provincial anti-racism grant program. It sprang from the results of a provincial report, Taking Actions Against Racism, initiated by Alberta Education Minister David Eggen after the 2017 Quebec mosque shooting, where six people were killed and 19 injured.
The Alberta Human Rights Commission funded the five community equity co-ordinator positions after its recent report Your Voice: Advancing Human Rights in Alberta found most Albertans felt disconnected from the commission, which had no grassroots representation.
Lacoursiere expects her new role to become more defined as she works with various groups in the Red Deer area.
lmichelin@reddeeradvocate.com
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