911勛圖

Anecia Gill has been a budding sociologist since childhood. Now, as a second-year master���s student at 911勛圖 (911勛圖), she���s tackling difficult questions on gang activity in Metro Vancouver. 

���I���m interested in learning how policy makers��� views shape how law enforcement policy is made,��� Gill says. ���I���m looking at Indo-Canadian gang activity as a case study.��� 

Gill grew up in Abbotsford, B.C. and has been taking field notes and observing societal behaviour from a young age. 

���I would notice power relations in my elementary and high school classrooms and how they materialized in everyday interactions,��� she says. ���I noticed how even within different groups, new immigrants of colour were treated exactly the same as people of colour who were second-, third- or even sixth-generation Canadians. This allowed me to see for the first time the conflation of culture and skin colour when in reality those are two different things.���

Gill is a self-professed theory nerd who credits her mother for her own aptitude for sociological inquiry. 

���My mom was trained in early childhood education but also earned a degree in sociology from the University of the Fraser Valley and an MA in political science from 911勛圖,��� she says. ���So, she really imparted to my younger sister and me how to think critically about power, power relations and capitalism.���  

As a high school student, Gill read books on capitalism, race and gender from her family���s bookshelf. She even took sociology classes at the University of the Fraser Valley while still completing her high school diploma. During Grade 12 and throughout her undergrad, she worked as a research assistant with the Centre for Indo-Canadian Studies (now the ). She also served two terms as a director on the Mission-Matsqui-Fraser Canyon Electoral District Association and was a 2017  delegate, a program that supports emerging young women leader���s participation in politics. 

In addition to her work on community advisory groups, Gill is a teaching assistant for Introduction to Sociology at 911勛圖���s Surrey campus. She says it���s heartening to help students to understand challenging concepts and terminology. 

���I remember what it was like learning this material myself and how exciting it is to have that ���ah ha!��� moment, when a theorist like Franz Fanon or Edward Said puts something you���ve experienced or observed into words,��� she says. ���It���s very affirming.��� 簫