Edmonton honours leading ladies on Daughters Day
Edmonton celebrated six of its leading ladies at the city's annual Daughter's Day on Saturday.
Hundreds gathered at Edmonton City Hall to applaud the six winners of the 2016 Daughter of the Year award. Now in its fifth year, the event honours women who break barriers and set examples in their communities.
"They're unsung heroes," said Vivian Abboud, the Chair of Daughters Day.
"We have many women and girls in the community who are doing something different ... We're trying to find them because when we put the light on what they're doing, we're putting the light on the difference they're making in the community."
A grinning Linar Dahir waved to the crowd as she accepted one of this year's awards. Judges chose her from a pool of 25 nominees.
Dahir fled Ethiopia five years ago with her brothers and their widowed mother. Before coming to Canada, she said she experienced sexism daily as family members belittled her for being a woman.
"It still exists and you have to argue with them and you have to teach your siblings not to think like that," she said. "It's silly how people think like that."
Dahir said she hopes to see Daughters Day, which started in Edmonton, spread globally.
"The world cannot be better just by one side being stronger than the other," she said. "I think we all need to be recognized and all equality is so important ... To raise a great generation we need everybody's involvement."
This year's award-winners also included the first female staff sergeant in the Edmonton Police Service's homicide unit, Shawna Grimes. She accepted her award alongside MacEwan University's Vice President Michelle Plouffe, Edmonton businesswoman Teresa Spinelli, local artist and entrepreneur Yazmin Juarez and Dama Diriye of Edmonton's Immigrant Services Association.
Alberta Premier Rachel Notley received an honorary Daughter of the Year Award, though she wasn't present to receive it. Organisers cited her leadership during the Fort McMurray wildfire and her efforts to create a more gender-balanced provincial government as reasons for the award.
