Sonya Boyce

Born in Jamaica, I now live and work on the ancestral and unceded lands belonging to the xwməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations in Vancouver, BC. Like many, I came to this work because of my own life experiences of gender-based violence.

For the past 20+ years, I have been working on the
frontlines of the anti-violence movement – a movement that continues to be by, for and about white women. For most of that time, I ran a crisis centre for survivors of gender-based violence in Surrey, BC - an urban centre in Metro Vancouver - which is now home to largest black population in the province of BC.

But I could probably count the number of Black women who walked through our doors on one hand. This is the first time that I have worked in a movement that is for, by and about black women, girls, and gender diverse people - like me - which makes it heart work.

“I use my voice and lived experiences to disrupt anti-Black gender-based violence."