Emelia Kazakawich said she would prefer to see the current provincial government change its ways. “I think a full apology comes with a change in behavior,” he told Global News. “There was an apology that wasn’t really an apology, which was quite expected. “But I think the way you support an apology is by changing your behavior and fixing what you broke.”
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Kazakawich, who admitted her views don’t necessarily align with the messages of the United Conservative Party and the Alberta government, submitted an essay highlighting issues in the province she’d like to tackle, including health care, the opioid crisis, housing and quality of life. Story continues below ad “I live in an Alberta where the health care system has been so overburdened for so many years that the opioid crisis and freezing people with nowhere to go fall to the bottom of the priority list,” he wrote. “I live in an Alberta where our health care system is purely reactive, with very few preventative protocols.” if this is accurate, then I am one of the two losers, and that was my entry. pic.twitter.com/KrTgBuM7eU — Emelia Earhart (she/they) (@barfelope) August 11, 2022 The 23-year-old grew up in Lethbridge, seeing her drug addiction crisis worsen throughout her teenage years and early adulthood. “I used to work downtown and see a lot of homeless people, a lot of needles in the back alley, things like that. We have homeless encampments all over here,” she said from her home in Lethbridge. Story continues below ad 1:58 Status of Women minister apologizes for racist, sexist Alberta essay contest Status of Women minister apologizes for racist, sexist Alberta essay contest Currently, Kazakawich works with people with special needs. “I’m very passionate about people being able to exist in a way that works for them instead of trying to exist against the forces that try to make them fit into a small niche.” The government has not responded to repeated questions about the competition and how many entries were submitted. However, a spokesperson told CBC there were five entries. “I submitted one mainly because I thought, ‘Well, someone’s going to read this, so I might as well say my piece, right?’
Read more: Status of Women minister apologizes for racist, sexist Alberta essay contest
It wasn’t until Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood MLA Janis Irwin posted a reaction to the province’s essay contest that Kazakawich realized the essay she had submitted six months earlier would be revised. Story continues below ad He also took the time to read the winning entries. “The third one, it was a little bit like it was just disturbing to see an essay that didn’t equate men and women as equals and valued women who are mothers more highly than women who aren’t,” Kazakawich said. “It’s kind of worrying to see the current government supporting it.” This is so confusing. 🤯 Read for yourself: the 3rd place winner of UCP’s Her Vision Inspires Essay Contest. Explain, @HomeniukJ. You proudly started this contest. Did you pick the winners? Is this your party’s vision for Alberta? #ableg pic.twitter.com/FnHUl34x0Z — Janis Irwin (@JanisIrwin) August 9, 2022 The third-place essay, whose author is identified only as “S. Silver’, the value of women centered around our ‘ability to give birth’. He also talked about the great replacement conspiracy theory, calling immigration policies “a sick mentality that amounts to a push for cultural suicide.” Story continues below ad Deputy Minister for the Status of Women Jackie Armstrong-Homeniuk and Jackie Lovely, the department’s parliamentary secretary – the judges of the competition – apologized for the winning entries, which were published and removed from the legislature’s website earlier this week . Environment and Parks Minister Whitney Issik, a former undersecretary for the status of women, said she does not hold any of the beliefs expressed in the third position. And he said the two judges apologized.
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“At the end of the day, they were told by the participants who chose the essay that a mistake was made — a mistake was made — and they apologized for it,” Issik said while speaking at a news conference about an industrial pilot project in Fort Saskatchewan, Alta., on Friday. “For me, this is the end.” Kazakawich said she would love to speak with Silver, the third-place winner. Emelia Kazakawich appears in this undated handout photo. A woman who submitted an essay to a competition run by the Alberta government says the two judges should not resign but better apologize and change their behavior. Kazakawich, who is 23, says it was disturbing to see a winning essay that said women and men are not equal. She would like the UCP government to respond to her essay. Kazakawich posted her essay on Twitter Thursday, which touches on the opioid crisis, health care and quality of life in the province. THE CANADIAN PRESS / pamphlet – Emelia Kazakawich “I would love to hear her story and her perspective and why she believes these things,” the 23-year-old said, stressing the importance of approaching conversations with the goal of understanding. Story continues below ad “I think there is room for both perspectives. I think the problem comes when you think your perspective is the only right one.” Kazakawich said the response to posting her essay on social media has been overwhelmingly positive, and she has even been offered gifts. Instead, it encourages donating to community organizations. “There is nothing I seek to gain from this, other than solidarity with other people who see a future Alberta the same way I do. And for other young women in Alberta to know they’re not alone when they believe these things.” –with files from The Canadian Press © 2022 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
