Member for Vancouver Kensington. Thank you. Honorable speaker. Yesterday we celebrated international human rights International women's day, and this day has been recognized in countries around the world since 1911.. We know the history of misogyny predates thousands of years and the history of racism, white, supremacy, colonization predates many centuries, but it's a day to celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women.

Women like Baljeet Sethi, a community advocate for Refugee and immigration rights in BC, who founded the Immigrant and Multicultural Services of Prince George and Karen Joseph, co-founder and chief executive officer of reconciliation, Canada and hidea shimuzu. Who was an activist and educator in Vancouver and one of the first Japanese Canadian women to receive a teacher certificate. These indigenous and racialized women, and so many more, have helped to make British Columbia a more welcome and inclusive place for everyone, but International women's day is also a call to action to accelerate women's equality.

Just this past week, the office of the human rights commissioner released its report following an inquiry into hate in BC during the covid-19 pandemic.

It's shown a light on racism and hate incidents that continue to impact indigenous black and racialized people in BC, and it's exactly why having an independent human rights, commissioner, is so important through our historic anti-racism data act, we're taking an intersectional approach to dismantling systemic racism, we're implementing this act in partnership with indigenous black and people of color, so that together we can safely and securely collect data to shine a light on barriers.

People face when accessing government programs and services and through the resilience, BC anti-racism Network we're investing in our communities, providing people with the tools they need to address hate in their communities in advance, anti-racism efforts behind all this important work.

We have so many strong, passionate indigenous and racialized women, breaking barriers, standing up for Change and fight fighting for the rights of all people, I'm proud to be working with so many women who, every day, help to make life better for British Columbians I'm, proud to stand in solidarity with every member of this legislature who share that commitment. Thank you very much for the opportunity to speak about the inspiring, powerful and good women of this province and to celebrate their accomplishments with all of you,.