A plaque in honour of the late Gillian Barker is being placed on the rainbow bench in Newmarket this month for her work with York Pride that, according to her daughter, is just one of her many contributions to the community.
Barker passed away peacefully in June 2020 at the age of 60. She came to Canada when she was 17 years old and lived in Canmore and then Toronto before eventually starting a family and settling in Newmarket.
Her daughter, Emily Fardad, 26, said Barker was a "community-driven woman." She was a regular at the farmers market, trivia night at Market Brewing, enjoyed getting a burger and pint at Ground Burger Bar, but mostly importantly served marginalized individuals through her work.
Barker was a psychotherapist and worked a lot with at-risk youth, which Fardad said "really kind of connected her to the community in a very different way."
Her work took her out to Georgina Island to work with the Chippewa community there for 20 years.
"Mom very much dedicated her life and time to helping marginalized communities in every way that she could," Fardad said.
Which is why she got involved with York Pride.
"She had spent all of this time working with at-risk youth and seeing the impact of being marginalized for both your sexual orientation, your sexuality, your gender identity, and how that impacted kids at such a young age. And so for her again, she'll look for whatever solutions she can: How can I advocate? How can I help? What can I do?" Fardad said.
In April 2018, she was elected to the board of directors of York Pride and helped develop the organization's strategic plan.
"Gillian had a way of making some of the hardest decisions become more easily seen or understood. York Pride survives on volunteer support and we recognize that we were not the only organization she was helping. Gillian gave more than she ever asked for in return," York Pride said in an online dedication to Barker.
When Barker passed away in 2020, it was the height of the pandemic, meaning there could only be 10 people at the funeral. This included Fardad, her father, two brothers, some close friends, and then people from Pride and Georgina Island.
"We really wanted her funeral to be representative of her," Fardad said.
A livestream of the service was viewed by hundreds of people, upward of 500, she added.
"It really is a testament to her and how many people she touched and how many lives she impacted," she said. "I knew that she made an impact and I knew that she did so much great work. It wasn't until after she died, all of these people came forward. And, you know, I knew about an eighth of what my mom did, because she didn't really talk about it. She just did it. It was just a part of who she was."
Due to restrictions at the time, Barker's mother and sisters who live overseas were unable to attend. However, one year later, in 2021, they were able to attend when a rainbow bench was installed on Main Street Newmarket in honour of Barker.
Fardad said she got the call from York Pride shortly after her mom had passed that they wanted to honour her in this way.
"I couldn't even cry. I was just so overwhelmingly proud, profoundly proud of my mom that she had left such an impact and to have something like that, to honour her," she said.
It means even more to the community, beyond just honouring her mother, she said.
"The layers of like what this bench represents and what it means to the LGBTQ community, the fact that York Region put a rainbow bench for them and the mayor of Newmarket is standing there saying 'we all stand with you. This is a part of our community. You are represented here, you are safe here,'" she said. "The fact that that also gets to tie into [my mom], there's no word for what that means, it's beyond anything I could ever imagine."
They were unable to place a dedication plaque on the bench at the time but now one will be put on the bench, which is near Park Avenue on Main Street, on Saturday, Oct. 15 at 4 p.m. Fardad is taking advantage of the dedication to hold a celebration of life for Barker that same day at 5 p.m.
"I'm turning this into a celebration of her life because this is something to celebrate. I am proud of my mom, the fact that Pride wants to honour her, the community wants to honour her is something to celebrate. So this is really a way for us to be together to celebrate the incredible things that she's done, to share stories of what she's done and celebrate her as a person," she said.
Also that weekend, Fardad said on Oct. 14, the Chippewas of Georgina Island will be placing a rainbow bench on the island in honour of Barker and all the work she did there.
This time around, her relatives will be able to fly in for these celebrations. Fardad herself will be flying in for the event from Vancouver, where she moved for a job after her mom's passing. She said she is really looking forward to coming back to Newmarket, the town her mom loved so much.
The celebration of life will be at Old Flame Brewing Co. Anyone interested in attending can RSVP with Fardad through Facebook.
