Ideas of purpose, persistence, honesty, leadership and identity took centre stage at TEDxWhiteRock on March 15.
This White Rock event, held at Oceana PARC Playhouse, featured a lineup of local and regional speakers.
This year’s talk included seven speakers whose talks touched on everything from youth advocacy and accessibility to truth telling, career reinvention and inclusion.
The speakers, from a range of backgrounds and age groups, explored personal and community-driven topics through the event.
Opening TEDxWhiteRock was the youngest speaker of the event, Sabine Lapointe.
Lapointe, a White Rock local and Grade 11 student at Earl Marriott Secondary, delivered a talk titled Purpose Through Passion: How Youth Can Make An Impact. Her presentation focused on finding your passion and pursuing it without letting age stand in the way.
Lapointe shared her story on how she found passion in theatre and realized through her experience that some young people don’t get the opportunity to follow their passions in the arts.
That realization helped inspire the Playful Palette Foundation, a youth-led non-profit aimed at helping children access arts opportunities.
Following Lapointe’s talk on passion and youth advocacy was White Rock Coun. Susan Bains.
Introduced by her daughter, Bains delivered her talk titled Persistence – Moving Through Uncertainty, drawing from her journey through disability and advocacy.
Bains detailed her journey starting in 2016 when she first noticed a numbness in her foot while training for the Vancouver Sun Run that she used to do with her father every year. She recounted the emotional and uncertain process that eventually led to her requiring a wheelchair in 2022.
Still, Bains shared with the audience that she kept moving forward and has since become a prominent voice for accessibility in White Rock. She was among those advocating towards having an accessibility mat for the White Rock pier and succeeded in making that request become a reality.
Bains was elected into the White Rock council in the 2025 byelection and continues to push for greater accessibility in the city.
Jake Sawatzky was introduced next by South Surrey-White Rock MP Ernie Klassen (Sawatzky is the MP for New Westminster, Burnaby and Maillardville).
His talk, Locking In, reflected on ambition, setbacks and commitment. Being one of the younger Canadian MPs born in the 21st century, Sawatzky started by explaining two Gen Z sayings: “Locking In” and “Sending it.”
Sawatzky shared his journey through UBC, his concert series that raised money for charities, his involvement with Drop the Puck for Mental Health and on becoming an MP in 2025.
The message found at the centre of his talk was to commit to what you want and go after it.
Mehrnaz Bassiri’s talk, How To Use The Wrong Job To Find The Right Path, explored career redirection and personal growth.
Bassiri shared with the audience how it is possible to find the right career path through the wrong one.
A scientist with a master’s degree in chemistry, Bassiri now works as a full-time educator helping students pursue science. She told the audience that this was never the path she expected for herself, sharing that she was once a shy and reserved child.
Unsatisfied in her work as a scientist, Bassiri said she decided to apply to dental school, believing it would make her parents proud and provide stable hours and income.
But it was not what she truly wanted, she said, and that became clear when she received an email saying she had not been accepted.
After that, Bassiri began tutoring, which helped her realize educating others was where she truly wanted to be.
Gordie Hogg, former White Rock mayor, MLA and MP, introduced Roxanne Charles of Semiahmoo First Nation, who delivered her emotional talk titled Skelkelosen.
Her talk reflected on land, memory, culture and hope. Charles shared “truths that will not be found in our history books” and spoke about her community and the land on which White Rock and Surrey sit.
Though emotional at times, Charles ended her talk on a hopeful note, pointing to signs of change, including organizations such as Alex House that publicly recognize the sovereignty of First Nations and have committed to decolonizing practices and truth-telling.
Laurie Shoplan was the second-last speaker to take the TEDxWhiteRock stage.
Her talk, Truth Is Making A Comeback, focused on honesty, the abuse of power surrounding non-disclosure agreements and the role truth plays in everyday life.
Shopland is a life coach whose work centers on emotional well-being and personal transformation. She began by sharing a recent story about her four-year-old grandchild’s blunt honesty about the cookies she had baked, a moment that led her to ask, “When did we tell our first lie?”
Shopland then shared one of her earliest memories of lying and told the audience that everyone is a truth-teller, but lying is taught.
She connected that idea to present-day workplaces, where she said non-disclosure agreements can be overused and messy.
“Lying is becoming the water we swim in,” she told the audience.
Still, Shopland said she believes more people are beginning to choose truth over dishonesty and that shift should become normalized.
Doug Tennant, CEO of UNITI, closed out the event.
His talk, Leadership Builds Harmony, focused on inclusion, disability and the long road to creating housing for people with disabilities in Surrey.
UNITI is a partnership of Semiahmoo House Society, Peninsula Estates Housing Society and the Semiahmoo Foundation, organizations that provide services, supports and inclusive housing in Surrey and White Rock.
Tennant spoke emotionally about the effort to build an inclusive housing project and the disappointment that followed when it was initially denied.
Rather than back away, he said the community kept pushing until the project was approved. This moment underscored his message about perseverance, advocacy and inclusive leadership.
Volunteers with White Rock Youth Ambassadors helped support the event, which was led by organizer and master of ceremonies Gary Xie.
Several community members were in attendance to this event, including White Rock Couns. Anthony Manning, Bill Lawrence and David Chesney, as well as Scott Kristjanson and Surrey Coun. Linda Annis.
Learn more about TEDxWhiteRock on their website.
Event organizers state that full TEDxWhiteRock talks will be featured on TED’s officially Youtube Platform set for May.