A two-day conference for Indigenous Women Leaders opened on Monday at the Grand Coastal Hotel at Le Resouvenir, East Coast Demerara.
The conference, which is being facilitated by the Canadian High Commission in partnership with the Canadian Executive Service Organisation (CESO) & the National Toshaos Council (NTC), aims to help the female Toshaos gather new insights and resources to face leadership challenges with confidence.
One of the areas addressed is access to justice.
“Today is dedicated to showing you women leaders how best to use your justice system, what tools are out there, who can you turn to, are you able to use the system.
“We have brought some key experts from the judiciary, police, academia and social services to help navigate the system but also so you can identify what is not working for you and your communities,” said Canadian High Commissioner to Guyana Lilian Chaterjee.
Chatterjee said that the Canadian High Commission was pleased to be able to sponsor the event and provide leadership support to female indigenous leaders.
It is expected that the shared experiences of the visiting Canadian Chiefs will help local leaders understand how to better manage issues and challenges which face the first peoples of Guyana.
The High Commission also provided all 36 indigenous women at the conference with an activated smartphone and data to foster communication, networking and the sharing of experiences post-conference via a WhatsApp chat group.
Chairperson of the National Toshaos Council (NTC) Nicholas Fredericks called for more to be done to assist indigenous leaders to help in the management of the country’s oil and gas resources.
He noted that “indigenous women are very limited in terms of information in the oil and gas sector, in terms of participating in the different policies, departments that were established to implement the programs of the oil and gas sector…really important is what can we do to strengthen this very important sector that is driving our country for the next couple of decades”
The Indigenous Women Leaders Conference is being facilitated under the theme “Equipping Indigenous Women with Tools for Success: Leadership, Access to Justice and Networking conference.”
The main objectives of the conference are to: help indigenous women gather new insights and resources to step forward with confidence as they face their next leadership challenges, provide indigenous women with more skills leadership skills and provide a forum for shared experiences.
Some of the panellists participating in the discussion are the Director of Public Prosecution, the Director of Child Protection Services, Hon Justice Sandra Kurtzious representing the Chief Justice, and Ms Maxine Graham, Deputy Commissioner of Police representing the Chief of Police.
Day two of the conference focuses on developing leadership skills.
This segment will be facilitated by Canadian Chief Glenn Nolan, who is the Chair of the Board of CESO and his colleague Chief Anna Achneepineskum.
