Paula Kirman is a writer, editor, photographer, filmmaker, musician, and community organizer who works mostly in community media and the non-profit sector. Paula was named a Daughter of the Year in 2014, and has also been awarded the Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee Medal in 2022, the Award of Merit for Advocacy of Social Justice from the Edmonton Social Planning Council in 2018, and the Human Rights Champion Award from John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights in 2016. A performing singer/songwriter, Paula has released two full-length albums and has also been a finalist or semifinalist in a number of songwriting competitions. Paula’s website is WordsPicturesMusic.com and she documents Edmonton’s activist scene at RadicalCitizenMedia.com.

When Paula was part of the organizing committee for the first Daughters Day in 2012, she was asked to write a song for the event. The song is now performed every year, and was professionally recorded and released.

Daughters Day

Stories of survival
Emerging from the darkness of fear
Begin with our arrival
A lifetime on a road led by tears

And there’s lots of joy and lots of pain
Sunshine and wind and rain
Blood flowing through our veins
With the strength and the wisdom of years

Obstacles surmounting
Overcoming them one by one
Towards freedom we are counting
And changes have already begun

When we’re writing our own history
Breaking through the mystery
Standing up for all to see
The battles that we’ve won

So here we stand before you 
Daughters of all ages today
Proclaiming something so true
We’re ready and willing to say

Stand for love and not for hate
Our rights are not for debate
Join with us – it’s not too late
For we will not go away

And there’s so much we can celebrate
Here on Daughter’s Day

© 2012 Paula E. Kirman