Pride and Prejudice in Rural Ontario - Tami Murray and Patricia Marshal

Pride and Prejudice in Rural Ontario

In April of 2023, in the town of Norwich, Ontario the municipal council voted to ban all flags except for Canadian flags and provincial flags. At the same meeting, the council refused to recognize a Pride celebration and voted down the creation of a DEI committee.

This isn’t a new fight in this town, and it’s not a new fight in rural Canada. Protests at Drag Storytime are growing and a veil of intolerance is not only lifted but being shouted proudly.

This episode, I speak with two community representatives that refuse to give up.

Tami Murray is the President of the Oxford County Pride Committee coordinating Pride events throughout the County of Oxford. Her day job is being the proud owner and operator of Diversity Counseling with a clinical approach that supports best practice perspectives in the area of mental health wellness. Tami is also a workplace wellness facilitator for Homewood Health Care, providing psychoeducational wellness workshops throughout southwestern Ontario. 

Patricia Marshal is a neuro-divergent, demi sexual woman of mixed Anishnaabe, Celtic and German decent and resident of Oxford County. She is mother to four children, two of whom openly identify under the 2slgbtqia+ umbrella and the soon to be wife of a proud Houdenesaunee descendent; She is the founder and director of IISAN- Ingersoll & Area's Indigenous Solidarity and Awareness Network as well as a member of the Ingersoll Accessibility committee and Ingersoll's Diversity & Inclusion Committee, 

IISAN is a collaborative friendship network of Indigneous and non-Indigenous members. It is  a grassroots not-for-profit organization that was formed in the wake of the discovery of the 215 children at a residential school in Kamloops BC in 2021. The intention of the group is to help the community of Oxford County take meaningful steps towards Truth and Reconciliation. IISAN is responsible for hosting the annual march for T&R in Ingersoll on September 30th, a youth program titled IndigiKNOW, MMIWG2S+ Awareness initiatives, creative art displays, community activism and community speaking and education.