Wagner is head of one of the leading organizations in Canada for youth-based anti-genocide advocacy and activism. Find out what this 20-something and Billy Zane have in common, and how you can get involved.

What inspired you to join STAND?
I joined the University of Western Ontario chapter in the winter of 2006. I had taken a class about genocide, and was learning about the atrocities that were happening in Darfur, and felt I could not sit by and watch. So I joined up with my fellow students at Western who were forming a Stand chapter. I was involved predominantly in the Advocacy component with the chapter, and then joined the National team about a year later, just before I graduated from my undergrad to help organize Stand’s first National conference. I was in charge of setting up meetings with Parliamentarians for our delegates, which turned into the role of Parliamentary Engagement Chair, which led to Advocacy Director, and now for the past year and a half, Principal Director of the organization.

What are some of the projects or campaigns STAND is working on currently?
Stand is launching our latest campaign Stand for the Dead at the beginning of February across the country. When you join Stand for the Dead, you represent one person who has died in Darfur – you represent their life and their story. While standing for the dead, we ask you to speak for the living. To speak out for those who are still in the midst of a crisis. We provide you with the tools to act – by calling 1-800-Genocide, or simply filling out a form on our website which allows you to email a member of parliament directly. Our goal is to create a further groundswell of support across the country and to raise consciousness about Darfur and genocide, specifically asking people to take a simple step and act.

How has STAND been involved with the film tour of Darfur?
We are launching the campaign with the Darfur film tour in 10 cities across the country. Stand was approached by the Darfur production team last summer. The team wanted to partner with an anti-genocide advocacy organization in Canada to use the motion picture to raise awareness about the crisis. We thought this was a fantastic way to encourage people to think about Darfur, and to encourage people who may not otherwise get directly involved in the movement to take part in an advocacy-oriented event. We decided to pair the National Film Tour with the launch of our Stand for the Dead campaign – the night of the screening in each city marks the beginning of the campaign. More information about the film tour, including dates and locations, is available here: www.standcanada.org/darfurfilm

What has been your most successful campaign so far? And why was it successful?
Stand’s success can be evaluated on several different fronts, and three major campaigns or events come to mind as being extremely important for me. The first was our 2008 Federal Election Campaign “Speak the Name” – if a candidate spoke about Darfur, we spoke about them, on our website, on our newsletter, to the media. We had 92 supporters, 51 of whom were elected. A second series of events that come to mind are our annual Day for Darfur rallies which consistently draw hundreds of participants, politicians, activists and community leaders, and raise the profile of Darfur in the media. Our 2007 rally was paired with a series of Op-Eds published in the National Post about Darfur. The third series of events are our National Conferences that bring together Stand advocates from across the country once a year to share ideas, lessons learned and work together.

What have been some of the most challenging obstacles you’ve had to overcome working with an activism organization?
As a volunteer-run, youth-based organization, our youth and fluidity can be both an asset and a challenge. Our volunteers move on to jobs and other positions, which leaves us with frequent turn-over. Having the enthusiasm and fresh ideas of new volunteers, however, is inspiring and has made us as successful as we are – everything we have ever accomplished as an organization has been the doing of the energy, passion and determination of our volunteers.

What advice would you give to someone looking into starting an advocacy organization?
Feel passionate about what you are advocating for – at the end of the day, it needs to be the thing that you find the most compelling, or the most disturbing, or the most meaningful in the world. That will keep you inspired. Gather a core group of trusted colleagues around you who will be good sounding boards and will offer you their honest opinion. Ask for help. Be nice – you will find friends and allies in the most unusual of places. And just keep going – you will encounter obstacles, nay-sayers, logistical difficulties, you may feel that the world is apathetic, but if you keep going, one person will hear you, and that makes the world of difference. Your movement will grow.

Where do you envision STAND in 5 and 10 years from now?
Stand has grown substantially in the past 5 years – we now have over 40 chapters in high schools, colleges and universities across the country, and a National team of over 50 volunteers. I envision these numbers growing substantially within the next few years, particularly as our mandate continues to evolve and grow. We began as a Darfur-specific advocacy organization, and have now broadened our mandate to include genocide more generally. Our goal as an organization is to make stopping genocide a cornerstone of Canadian foreign policy, and that when genocide does occur, that Canada reacts swiftly to it. Darfur has been our example for this mandate and we will see that continue and grow as Stand continues to grow.

For more information on how you can get involved visit www.standcanada.org.

Photo courtesy of Jen Grantham.