February 15, 2022 Newsletter

The only news you'll need this week 🎯

Clearing a New Path™ and Clearing a New Path Podcast™ are products of Radar Media, located in Dorchester, Ontario on the traditional territory of the Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee and Neutral peoples who once used this land as their traditional beaver hunting grounds.  As a settler here I’m committed to deepening understanding of Indigenous communities and reframing responsibilities to land and community. I am grateful to Mother Earth for the opportunity for love and connection and to the spirits of the Elders and the Medicine People who still walk the Earth.

FEBRUARY 15, 2022

Alison Kirkland is the CEO of the Women's Enterprise Organizations of Canada (WEOC). The umbrella organization is embarking on a national benchmarking survey to collect critical data about women entrepreneurs. YOUR INPUT IS CRITICAL! She talks about what WEOC does, what information is being collected with the survey and how it will utilize to implement strategies.

PODCAST EPISODE LIVE ON WEDNESDAY MORNING!

NEWS

On my mind this week:

1.

Rural women entrepreneurs and access to capital

It keeps coming up time and time again and it doesn't matter the age of the rural woman entrepreneur, nor any number of various circumstances but women I am interviewing, in rural and remote spaces are still having trouble getting loans at traditional banks in their communities. In the coming weeks, I'd like to do a deep dive and find some statistics on how many times a woman has to ask for money to start a business in rural Canada. This is a big reason why I'm excited to see the results from WEOC's survey (above) but I'm looking for other sources too.

2.

February 14 is traditionally a Day to Honour Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG). While memorial walks were organized across Canada yesterday,

Krista Fox announced she is preparing to walk across Canada, raising awareness for MMIWG starting Feb. 18 in Victoria, B.C. "

Fox is a North Battleford, Sask. mother and grandmother who is preparing to walk 10,400 km from Victoria B.C., to St. John’s, Nfld. to raise awareness for murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls." (Source

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3.

Human rights activist, author, journalist, publisher and broadcaster Carrie Best

"Sparked by incidents of racial discrimination, Carrie Best became a civil rights activist. Co-founder of The Clarion, one of the first newspapers in Nova Scotia owned and published by Black Canadians, she used the platform to advocate for Black rights. As editor, she publicly supported Viola Desmond in her case against the Roseland Theatre. Best used her voice in radio and print to bring positive change to society in Nova Scotia and Canada." (Source

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4.

Aminah Haghighi is trying to shake the perception that farmers are typically older white men.

"I saw that there weren't a lot of people that looked like me in this. And so I thought, maybe, if I'm not going to do it, then who else is going to look like me in this space," said Haghighi, 31, who is of Iranian and Filipino descent." (Source:

5.

How are people travelling now?

Since the shuttering of Greyhound bus stations across rural and remote communities, often the only long distance travel for those on a fixed income, how will people be able to leave town? Does anyone have a bus system that has started up or a small airline? I'd be interested to know and to speak with someone about it.

Feel free to email me at [email protected] .

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This week's newsletter supported by the Women's Enterprise Associations of Canada.

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