Date: Saturday, March 2, 2019
Time: 12:00 pm - 8:00 pm
​North Surrey Secondary School
​15945 - 96 ave (corner of 160 St.), Surrey, BC
As a way of making our conference more inclusive and accessible for people with children and for people traveling, we are starting later in the day. In keeping with our theme of teaching for Justice and with Joy, we will start with a KEYNOTE and end with a PLAYNOTE!

12:00 - 12:45pm 
Arrival, light snacks, table displays, sign up for workshops

1:00 - 2:00 pm
Aboriginal welcome, followed by keynote

2:15 - 3:45 pm
Workshop #1

4:00 - 5:30 pm
Workshop #2

5:45 - 6:30 pm
Meal, table displays, networking

6:45 - 8:00 pm
​"Playnote" with Queer as Funk
Welcome to the 2019 Cross Border Conference!  We are looking forward to coming together to hear our keynote, to dance at our play note, to participate in social justice workshops, and to network with each other.  

​Our students in both the US and Canada are being inundated with stories of death and disaster when they scroll through the oceans of information instantly available on their smartphones. Research shows that having constant access to this unending tide of bleak news is having an impact on our students’ mental health. There has been a significant rise in youth depression and despair.

As waves of hate have been regularly crashing against our marginalized  communities, the response to these injustices has been fascinating. We've seen a exponential increase in support for organizations working for social justice, and also a surge in popularity in speaking truth to power through humour.  There's also been a huge response in all areas of the arts in defense of human rights and dignity, and to work toward a better world.
 
​Teachers too have a role to play in this work. Apart from teaching students how to be media literate, what else can teachers do in response to this disturbing trend? How can we help students to see the “joy in the morning” that will come when we have won justice for all? How do we teach for justice and for joy?

We invite teachers, activists and artists from British Columbia, Oregon, and Washington to imagine our classrooms as spaces where joy is the syncopation that sustains the work for justice.
Teachers from British Columbia, Oregon, and Washington will come together to connect across borders in this second cross border social justice conference. Come! Bring your colleagues! 
The first 200 registrants' names will be entered in a draw to win back the cost of their registration!