It’s a pre-pandemic day in an outwardly unassuming building on one of Toronto’s busiest streets. Barbara Aikman and Asunta “Sue” DiTrani, studio facilitators at Sistering’s Spun Studio, present one of the studio’s participants with a cheque—earnings from the sale of textiles the woman had created in the Spun Studio Entrepreneur program. She accepts the money with a whoop of joy that quickly turns to tears as she wraps Sue in a hug.
This piece of paper represents far, far more than a first payday: it represents validation.
To fully understand the impact of this moment, we must take a step back in time to a policy decision that redefined what it meant to be a marginalized person in Canada.
All images courtesy of Sistering/Spun Studio.
