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DisAbled Women's Network: DAWN ONTARIO is a feminist cross-disability organization working towards access, equity, & full participation of women with disabilities through public education, coalition-building, lobbying, self-advocacy, resource development and information and communication technology; grassroots activism & individual empowerment, virtual activism - DAWN Ontario is a progressive, volunteer-driven, feminist

DAWN Ontario logo - disabled women's network ontario DisAbled Women's Network: DAWN ONTARIO is a feminist cross-disability organization working towards access, equity, & full participation of women with disabilities through public education, coalition-building, lobbying, self-advocacy, resource development and information and communication technology; grassroots activism & individual empowerment, virtual activism - DAWN Ontario is a progressive, volunteer-driven, feminist

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Responses to Ontario Budget 2007

The Ontario Child Benefit & the March 22nd Provincial Budget
Read a backgrounder on the Ontario Budget 2007 prepared by the Income Security Advocacy Centre

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DAWN Ontario is a progressive, volunteer-driven, feminist organization promoting social justice, human rights & the advancement of equality rights through education, research, advocacy, coalition-building, resource development, & information technology.

Our mission is to generate knowledge, information and skills to advance the inclusion,
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We work to illuminate the causes & multidimensional consequences of the growing inequality of wealth, income, power & opportunity in Canada; and to move this critical national problem onto the front burner of Canadian politics and public discourse.

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We do this by facilitating ongoing debates on fundamental and provocative issues as well as by building the individual and organizational capacities of those working for women's empowerment and social justice.

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DAWN Ontario: DisAbled Women's Network Ontario - Building an inclusive virtual community - banner -- DAWN Ontario DisAbled Women's Network: DAWN ONTARIO is a feminist cross-disability organization working towards access, equity, & full participation of women with disabilities through public education, coalition-building, lobbying, self-advocacy, resource development and information and communication technology; grassroots activism & individual empowerment, virtual activism - DAWN Ontario is a progressive, volunteer-driven, feminist


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Responses to Ontario Budget 2007

What people are saying about McGuinty's "Don't Believe it Budget:
People from across Ontario are saying Dalton McGuinty's "Don't Believe it Budget" fails to deliver

Low Income Families Together (L.I.F.T.)
Too Little, Too Late! 2007 Provincial budget offers last minute pre-election crumbs, but does not address poverty

O.D.S.P. Action Coalition:
People with Disabilities Left in Poverty by Ontario Budget

Income Security Advocacy Centre (ISAC):
Budget good first step, but much work remains to be done: anti-poverty activists

CUPE Ontario
Ontario's families will wait for years to benefit from McGuinty's "war" on poverty

Wellesley Institute:
Thanks for the thoughts, but where's the money?

Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL):
Wait ...Wait ...Wait

Accessibility For Ontarians With Disabilities Act Alliance Update (AODA Alliance):
What the Ontario Budget Includes on Disability/Accessibility

John Tory: McGuinty's Budget: No relief, few results for average taxpayers
Tory says McGuinty missed an opportunity to use billions in extra money to help families

Canadian Auto Workers (CAW):
Ontario Budget Falls Short of Expectations, Hargrove Says

Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation (OSSTF/FEESO)
:
Ontario budget increases overall education funding but local programs may still suffer

Canadian Federation of Students:
Ontario Budget Forecast for Students: Higher Tuition Fees and More Debt



Daily Bread Food Bank:
Budget's Ontario Child Benefit gets thumbs up from Daily Bread Food Bank

Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario (ETFO):
Elementary Teachers Applaud Government Focus on Education

Community Living Ontario:
McGuinty Government's Commitment to Developmental Services Encouraging

Ontario Association of Food Banks (OAFB):
Food banks welcome focus on poverty --
OAFB welcomes first step on a long journey to reduce poverty in Ontario

United Ways of Ontario:
Budget Addresses Needs of Vulnerable Ontarians

The Ontario Child Benefit & the March 22nd Provincial Budget
Read a backgrounder on the Ontario Budget 2007 prepared by the Income Security Advocacy Centre

New Federal Policies Affecting Women's Equality: Reality Check -- CRIAW's latest Fact Sheet
Do you agree with the federal Conservatives that “women are already equal”?

Check out CRIAW's hard-hitting new fact sheet:
New Federal Policies Affecting Women's Equality: Reality CheckPDF document requires Adobe Acrobat Reader (PDF file)

It summarizes “facts” and “current government policy” for six issues.

Read text here, highlighting one detail from each section.


Commentary on Sept. 26th Announcement of $1-Billion Funding Cuts
Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT)
CAUT commentary on Treasury Board funding cuts PDF doc - requires Adobe Acrobat Reader) (PDF, 4 pgs, 20 kb)
On September 26 Stephen Harper’s Conservative government announced a series of cuts totaling $1 billion over the next two years. The cuts were announced on the same day the government made a $13.2-billion payment on the national debt. The cuts affect a vast array of departments but are concentrated primarily on aboriginal programs, skills and literacy training, social policy research, legal assistance and research, and funding for Status of Women Canada. Read More

Support a National Child Care Program
Momentum is building for a private members’ bill that would boost child care from a patchwork of services to a pan-Canadian program. Add your support today by emailing your member of parliament about this important bill. Read more and Take Action

Government's real priorities revealed - Media Statement
We are deeply concerned about the gutting of the only federal agency that addresses critical questions pertaining to equality and about what it suggests about what this government's true intentions are for equality matters in Canada.

Announced Monday, the 5 million dollar cut to Status of Women Canada (SWC) is a serious attack on the lone federal department engaged in the development of gender responsive policy and in the fulfillment of Canada's human rights obligations to women at the international, domestic, and inter-governmental levels.

We now see the government's real priorities revealed. Read More

Canadian Conservative Government Slashes Funding to Wasteful Anti-Family Programs LifeSiteNews.com, John-Henry Westen, dd September 26, 2006
OTTAWA, September 26, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The budgets of some of the most wasteful and at the same time biased Canadian government funded programs have been slashed by the new Conservative Government. Three organizations which have been overtly pushing for same-sex marriage have been denied millions of tax-dollars they have been receiving for years under the previous Liberal government.
<SNIPED>

REAL Women Canada
, a conservative women's group said in a press release today that they were "especially pleased" at the cut to Status of Women. "This is a good start, and we hope that the Status of Women will eventually be eliminated entirely, since it does not represent 'women', but only represents the ideology of feminists," said the group. "The Status of Women was established in 1973 under Prime Minister Trudeau and over the years, it has funded feminist groups to serve as agents of change, never recognizing that other women have different views and have no wish to be represented by these feminist organizations."
Hold your nose & read more


National Council of Women of Canada (NCWC) Responds to Federal Budget Cuts
Stephen Harper promised to “take concrete and immediate measures …to ensure that Canada fully upholds its commitments to women.”

The elimination of the Court challenges Program will deny legal redress to poor and marginlized women: the Conservative Government is abrogating CEDAW Article 2 (c) To establish legal protection of the rights of women on an equal basis with men and to ensure through competent national tribunals and other public institutions the effective protection of women against any act of discrimination. The Charter of Rights and Freedoms does not include the financial means by which to access the courts on an equal basis with the wealthiest citizens or corporations when a individual’s rights have been violated.

Harper’s Government cut $5 million from the Status of Women budget despite the recommendations of the Parliamentary Committee, representing all parties in the house, to an increase in the budget of at least 25%. How does this action live up to his promised commitment to Canadian women?


Cuts to Status of Women and Court Challenges Program Undermine Government’s Commitment to Women’s Equality
FAFIA (Canadian Feminist Alliance for International Action) Press Release
Ottawa: FAFIA, a pan-Canadian alliance of women’s and human rights organizations, is denouncing the $5 million cut to the federal department of Status of Women over two years. These cuts will be taken from its modest annual budget of $13 million. The grants and contributions arm ($11 million) of the department was not affected.

“These cuts will critically affect the federal government’s own commitment to live up to its equality commitments to women,” said Shelagh Day, Co-Chair of the Canadian Feminist Alliance (FAFIA).

FAFIA is also dismayed by the elimination of the Court Challenges Program. “This Program has provided Canadian women with their only access to the use of their constitutional equality rights,” said Shelagh Day. “Equality rights have no meaning in Canada if women, and other Canadians who face discrimination, cannot use them.” Read More | en français: Des coupures à Condition féminine Canada et au Programme de contestation judiciaire sapent l'engagement du gouvernement envers l'égalité des femmes

Conservatives Elimininate Court Challenges Program & Cut $5M from Status of Women of Canada over next 2 years
The $5 Million cut to Status of Women Canada (SWC) and the elimination of the Court Challenges Program (CCP), seriously undermine the Government's commitment to women's equality.
The overall budget at SWC is $24 million. The women's program absorbs almost $11 million (grants and contributions). That means the department functions on effectively $13 million, 5 million of which has just been cut over next 2 years.

Here's the pinpoint URLs to Treasury Board of Canada site with info on the cuts.
English: http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/media/nr-cp/2006/0925_e.asp
En français: http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/media/nr-cp/2006/0925_f.asp

 

Notes from Pay Equity Press Conference, Ottawa, Sept/21/06
Andrée Côté, National Association of Women and the Law (NAWL)
Bonjour, my name is Andrée Côté, and until a few weeks ago I was Director of Law Reform at the National Association of Women and the Law. NAWL has been forced to lay off it's staff in the last few weeks and is waiting for the renewal of our funding application from Status of Women Canada.

The Harper government response on pay equity this week demonstrates why it is so important that women's groups receive adequate and stable funding: we need to have the capacity to defend women's rights, and to respond to retrograde and ineffective policies that bring us back 20 years. Read More | plus en français

Pay Equity: at the heart of equality
Canadian Labour Congress & Public Service Alliance Of Canada
Press Release dd Sept. 21, 2006
The federal government announced yesterday that it is taking a giant step backwards on the question of equal pay for women workers. More than thirty years after the adoption of the Canadian Human Rights Act, women still earn less, on average, than men regardless of their occupation, age or education. Today, a woman earns 72.5 cents for every dollar a man earns. Our equal pay legislation is not working. The wage gap is even greater for Aboriginal women, women of colour and women with disabilities. Read the full release in English | en français

Women's groups fear federal cuts coming
by Norma Greenaway, CanWest News Service, Vancouver Sun, Sept. 22, 2006
A leading Canadian women's rights group has been forced to close its office for lack of money and other federally financed organizations fear a similar fate as the Conservative government zeroes in on a promise to cut spending by $1 billion this fiscal year. The prospect cheers Gwen Landolt, vice-president of the pro-life, pro-family conservative lobby group REAL Women Canada and a fierce critic of federal funding of ''feminist'' and other special interest groups. ''It's simply an abuse of taxpayers' money to fund only one ideology,'' Landolt said in an interview. Read Full article at: http://tinyurl.com/fl9aw

Conservatives Take First Step Towards Dismantling Ministry for the Status of Women / Les Conservateurs Amorcent Le Démantèlement De Condition Féminine Canada
NDP / NPD Press Release dd Sept. 20, 2006
Excerpt: OTTAWA – The future of women’s organisations across Canada is being threatened as the Conservative Government is taking too long to review Status of Women Program applications – forcing prominent women’s organisations to close their doors.

“By not responding to funding applications, the Conservatives are allowing programs to shut down, one by one.,” said NDP MP critic for the Status of Women Irene Mathyssen. "What's next? The entire department? It looks like Bev Oda is spoiling to dismantle the Status of Women department."

As of Sept. 12, The National Association of Women and the Law, has closed their doors due to insufficient federal funding. The Canadian Feminist Alliance for International Action (FAFIA) will shut down on Sept. 26. Organizations have put in applications for funding, but have heard nothing from the Minister responsible for Status of Women, Bev Oda.
English version
en français


The Effect of Bill 14 - Access to Justice Act - on Paralegals and the Public
In its on-going opposition to Bill 14, the Paralegal Society of Ontario (POS) emphasized the numerous concerns expressed by both paralegals and non-paralegals to the Standing Committee on Justice Policy. Read More

Womyn's Voices Online Consultation - Violence Against Women: Sept. 18 – Oct. 13, 2006
Objective: Engage women of Canada, including equality seeking women’s organizations, in the federal government ICT initiatives and collaborate on developing strategies to eliminate online violence and exploitation of women.
Outcomes
Activities
Schedule
Register


Blair: "clamp down on antisocial children before birth"
Setting out plans for state intervention to prevent babies born into high-risk families becoming problem teenagers of the future, Tony Blair said teenage mothers could be forced to accept state help before giving birth, as part of a clampdown on antisocial behaviour. Read More

Conservatives Must Come Clean on Agenda for Status of Women Canada
Liberal Party of Canada Press Release dd August 25, 2006
OTTAWA – Liberal Critic for Status of Women and Multiculturalism Maria Minna today called on Heritage Minister Bev Oda to reveal the Conservative government’s true intentions for the future of Status of Women Canada.

“The Conservative grassroots community is actively campaigning for the demise of this important agency which promotes the rights of women in Canada,” said Ms. Minna. “Ms. Oda must come clean and reveal whether or not she will bow to the pressure of these extreme right-wing groups or if she will take a stand and publicly distance herself from their position.”

Recent media reports indicate that several socially Conservative blogs have begun a campaign to eliminate the federal agency for the Status of Women. The group REAL women of Canada, which also opposes same-sex marriage and legalized abortion, launched the campaign because of their belief that the agency “promotes feminist policies on the false premise that women in Canada are victims of a patriarchal society.” Read More


Law Society Silences Non-Advocacy Paralegals
Imagine having your ability to make a living severally changed or eliminated, and you are not able to use your constitutional right to speak out in protest. That is what the non-advocacy paralegal faces, as the McGuinty government moves forward with its controversial Bill 14, The Access to Justice Act. The bill, if passed, would have paralegals regulated by the Law Society of Upper Canada. Read More

Federal Court orders sign language services
In a landmark ruling, the Federal Court of Canada has ordered the federal government to make professional sign language interpretation services available on request when providing services to people who are deaf or affected by hearing loss. Read More


Women & HIV/AIDS

Women and HIV: The promise of microbicides
Randy Sheppard, CBC News Online
According to the World Health Organization, women account for nearly 70 per cent of HIV-AIDS cases worldwide.

When most people think about AIDS, they see it primarily as a problem of the gay community or of those who share needles. And they wouldn't be wrong.

But over the past half-dozen or so years, the face of AIDS in Canada and the United States has begun to change quite dramatically. More and more of those acquiring the disease turn out to be young heterosexual women, infected by their partners. Read More


AIDS 2006
16th International AIDS Conference
Time to Deliver
www.aids2006.org/

Click this logo to visit the site of AIDS 2006 -- 16th International AIDS Conference -- Time to Deliver

Highlights from the XVI International AIDS Conference, Monday, August 14 - Friday, August 18, in Toronto, Canada

Global Leaders Speak Out: Mr. William Jefferson Clinton and Stephen Lewis - August 15, 2006 -- XVI International AIDS Conference
Read Transcript and/or View Video of this session

Clinton, Gates Address Stigma, Other Challenges to Combating HIV/AIDS Pandemic - August 14, 2006 -- XVI International AIDS Conference

Priorities in Ending the Epidemic: Mr. William J. Clinton and William Gates - August 14, 2006 -- XVI International AIDS Conference
Read Transcript and/or View Video of this session

Actor, HIV/AIDS Advocate Richard Gere Says Media is Crucial in Fighting Pandemic - August 14, 2006 -- XVI International AIDS Conference

Women at the Frontline in the AIDS Response - August 14, 2006 -- XVI International AIDS Conference
Read Transcript and/or View Video of this session

Media and AIDS: Spreading Information Faster than the Disease - August 14, 2006 -- XVI International AIDS Conference
Panelists at this session discuss the mobilization of the media industry following the 2004 launch of the Global Media AIDS Initiative by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan at a special meeting organized by the Kaiser Family Foundation and UNAIDS.
Read Transcript and/or View Video of this session

High Level Session on Leadership: Time to Deliver for Women and Girls - August 13, 2006 -- XVI International AIDS Conference
Read Transcript and/or View Video of this session

Opening Address at 16th International AIDS Conference Aug. 13, 2006 by Governor General Michaëlle Jean

Daily Roundup for Friday, August 18, 2006 from the XVI International AIDS Conference
Delegates at the closing of the XVI International AIDS conference in Toronto were reminded that now is the "Time to Deliver." Read More

Daily Roundup for Thursday, August 17, 2006 from the XVI International AIDS Conference
The XVI International AIDS Conference began today by addressing the need for a coordinated and comprehensive approach to HIV that includes elements some say are often overlooked, like human rights and youth. Read More

Daily Roundup for Wed., August 16, 2006 from the XVI International AIDS Conference
On Wednesday, achieving universal access to HIV/AIDS was a major focus of the conference. The World Health Organization released new estimates of global antiretroviral therapy coverage. Read More

Daily Roundup for Tuesday, August 15, 2006 from the XVI International AIDS Conference
The latest Daily Roundup includes comments from actor Richard Gere and former U.S. President Bill Clinton. Read More

Daily Roundup for Monday, August 14, 2006 from the XVI International AIDS Conference
The Daily Roundup for Monday, August 14 looks at the AIDS 2006 theme – Time To Deliver – and features comments from Bill and Melinda Gates and former U.S. President Bill Clinton.
Read More


How you can participate online (free) in the 16th International AIDS Conference - Aug. 13 to 18, 2006
In preparation for the 16th International AIDS Conference taking place in Toronto from Aug. 13 - 18th, 2006, (and to help inform both myself as a conference delegate and other DAWN members) we've assembled some information on Women and HIV/AIDS (see below) from the International Women's Health Coalition (IWHC).

Please note that portions of the AIDS 2006 Conference will be available for viewing on the Internet at no cost and with no registration... Webcasts and transcripts, along with additional coverage, will be accessible at a later date. You can now sign up now to receive a daily update email during the week of the conference, providing summaries of each day's developments and direct access to all of the online coverage. Sign up at www.kaisernetwork.org/aids2006.

For those of you living in or near the Greater Toronto Area, please note that there are a number of women's events that will be held in the Global Village at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. These are open to the general public (free of charge) as well as to conference delegates.

Here is the link to the Programme available online: www.aids2006.org/PAG/ProgrammeAtAGlance.aspx. Any event marked with GV as the venue is scheduled to take place in the Global Village and does not require a conference badge to attend. As an example, here are 2 events scheduled at the Global Village (which I am anxious to attend):

1. An interactive session hosted by Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID)

Where's the Money for Women's Rights and HIV/AIDS?

AWID will share its 'hot off the press' research on resources for women's rights organizations and HIV/AIDS. Come share and learn if women are being short-changed and become part of the strategies to mobilize more resources for women's rights. For more info, contact awid@awid.org.

When: Sun. Aug. 13, 2006 from 3:00pm to 4:30pm
Where: Global Village, Main Stage, Metro Toronto Convention Centre

2. Hosted by the International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS (ICW), International Women's Health Coalition (IWHC) and AWID:

In Her Own Words: Violations of Women's Human Rights and HIV
Moderated by Charlayne Hunter-Gault (CNN-Johannesburg)

This panel will expose rights violations that have led to the growing number of women who are now living with HIV, calling for greater respect and promotion of women's rights within the HIV/AIDS response. Panelists from different parts of the world -- HIV+ women activists and policy analysts -- will identify where appropriate policy or program interventions might have made the difference in terms of HIV status, treatment and community response. For more info, contact Cami Hilsendager at chilsendager@iwhc.org.

When: Mon. Aug. 14, 2006 from 6:30pm to 8:00pm
Where: Global Village, Main Stage, Metro Toronto Convention Centre


Women and HIV/AIDS: Select Facts
Women are increasingly vulnerable to HIV/AIDS. 
Young people, especially young women, are disproportionately at risk.
Women and girls do not have access to comprehensive information and services.
The biggest HIV/AIDS risk for many women and girls is marriage.
Sexual coercion and violence lead to a greater chance of infection. Read More


With Women Worldwide: A Compact to End HIV/AIDS

Outlines priority actions for making global HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, and care strategies work for women. Developed by a group of women advocates for use in 2006 negotiations on HIV/AIDS and beyond. ... Read More

Women and HIV/AIDS: Women's Vulnerability to HIV/AIDS:
An Overview

The Context: Women's vulnerability to HIV/AIDS Worldwide
In January 2002, United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan announced that for the first time, women represented half of HIV-positive individuals worldwide, and more than half in sub-Saharan Africa, the region of the world hit hardest by the epidemic. HIV/AIDS had become a generalized epidemic in many African countries, moving from high-risk groups such as sex workers and injection drug users to the general population, largely because of pervasive gender inequality. The combination of social and political inequalities and severe poverty is lethal to women in the developing world, rendering them disproportionately vulnerable to the virus. ... Read more

The Commitment: Addressing Women's Realities
Despite women's disproportionate vulnerability, few programs aimed at curbing the pandemic's spread target them or reflect the realities of their lives. If we want to stop HIV/AIDS—in Africa, in Asia, in Latin America, in Eastern Europe, and in Canada and the United States — we must do two things: ... Read more

Colleagues: Empowering Women on the Ground
IWHC's colleagues worldwide are providing young people with the information, skills, and strategies to protect themselves against HIV/AIDS, and advocating for policies that mandate the gender-sensitive comprehensive sexuality education that will enable future generations to reach adulthood in good health. They are also working to erode the gender inequalities that fuel the epidemic's spread by advocating for women's sexual and reproductive rights and focusing attention on the realities of women's lives. For example: ... Read more

 

ATHENA: Advancing Gender Equity and Human Rights in the Global Response to HIV/AIDS
As the world enters the third decade of the global HIV/AIDS pandemic, women — especially the young and the poor — are increasingly affected. Because gender inequity fuels HIV/AIDS and HIV/AIDS fuels gender inequity, it is imperative that women and girls speak out, set priorities for action, and lead the global response to the crisis. The ATHENA Network was created to realize this imperative.

ATHENA strives to bridge the communities around the world that are addressing gender, human rights, sexual and reproductive health, and HIV/AIDS. Further, ATHENA promotes the leadership and participation of women and girls, especially those living with HIV/AIDS, as central to the global response. Through these efforts, we are guided by four central mandates for our collective work – the indivisibility and intersectionality of issues and experiences; the need for independence and integrity; the inclusion of grassroots and indigenous groups; and the importance of intergenerational exchange, new voices, and the involvement of youth. Read More


A Dose of Reality: Women's Rights in the Fight against HIV/AIDS

The global HIV/AIDS pandemic is taking a catastrophic toll on women and girls. The number of HIV infections among women and girls has risen in every region in recent years, and in sub-Saharan Africa, women and girls constitute nearly 60 percent of those living with HIV. In some countries, the HIV infection rates for girls are many times higher than for boys. The rising number of HIV infections among women and girls is directly related to violence against women and their unequal legal, economic, and social status.

Abuses of women's and girls' human rights impede their access to HIV/AIDS information and services, including testing and treatment. Those who do obtain HIV services sometimes face disclosure of their confidential HIV test results by public health officials without the women's consent. This heightens women's risk of being ostracized by their communities and abused by their intimate partners.

Governments around the world have done far too little to combat the entrenched, chronic abuses of women's and girls' human rights that put them at risk of HIV. Misguided HIV/AIDS programs and policies, such as those emphasizing abstinence until marriage, ignore the brutal realities many women and girls face. By failing to enact and effectively enforce laws on domestic violence, marital rape, women's equal property rights, and sexual abuse of girls, and by tolerating customs and traditions that subordinate women, governments are enabling HIV/AIDS to continue claiming the lives of women and girls. Read More


Women and HIV/AIDS: The Barcelona Bill of Rights
As we enter the third decade of HIV/AIDS, women, especially the young and the poor, are the most affected. Because gender inequality fuels the HIV/AIDS pandemic, it is imperative that women and girls speak out, set priorities for action and lead the global response to the crisis. Therefore, women and girls from around the world unite and urge all governments, organizations, agencies, donors, communities and individuals to make our rights a reality. Read More


Remarks by Stephen Lewis, UN Special Envoy for AIDS in Africa to High-Level Panel on U.N. Reform in Geneva
There is a crying need for an international agency for women. Every stitch of evidence we have, right across the entire spectrum of gender inequality suggests the urgent need for a multilateral agency. The great dreams of the international conferences in Vienna, Cairo and Beijing have never come to pass. It matters not the issue: whether it's levels of sexual violence, or HIV/AIDS, or maternal mortality, or armed conflict, or economic empowerment, or parliamentary representation, women are in terrible trouble. And things are getting no better. Read More

Four Steps for Canada: Stephen Lewis and Canadian civil society groups demand action on global AIDS crisis
Platform presented to Prime Minister Stephen Harper in advance of AIDS Conference
Stephen Lewis, the UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy for AIDS in Africa, today joined the Global Treatment Access Group (GTAG) and the Make Poverty History Campaign in calling on Prime Minister Stephen Harper to take decisive action in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

The Global AIDS Crisis: Four Steps for Canada is a civil society platform for action to halt the spread of HIV/AIDS globally and to improve the quality of life of people living with HIV/AIDS. The platform has already been endorsed by more than 80 organizations across Canada, including the labour movement, faith groups, AIDS organizations, student groups, human rights advocates, and humanitarian and development organizations. Read More

 


The stigma surrounding abortion continues in New Brunswick - Open Letter from Dr. Henry Morgentaler
The New Brunswick government continues to deny women access to publicly funded abortions. Under the current Medical Services Payment Act, to have an abortion covered by Medicare, women are obliged to have the approval of two doctors in writing and the abortion must be performed in a hospital by a gynecologist. This leaves women with no family doctor or an anti-choice doctor no option other than the Morgentaler Clinic in Fredericton. This discriminatory practice must stop. Read More


Vancouver Sun, columnist Daphne Bramham slams the Women's Economic Justice Report on Guaranteed Livable Income
In the July 22, 2006 Vancouver Sun, columnist Daphne Bramham slams the Women's Economic Justice Report on Guaranteed Livable Income. (page C4) See article here: http://tinyurl.com/fs3kj

She states: "Far from helping women like them, this report makes the whole idea [guaranteed income] seem ridiculous." and "The 72-page report by Cindy L'Hirondelle reeks of a sloppy, sentimentalist view of nature, a vision of an idyllic, Rousseau-ian rural life minus the peasants." and"Please, somebody tell me that the Victoria Status of Women Action Group's recently released list of benefits of a guaranteed annual income wasn't written for David Letterman." Read More


R.E.A.L. Women file complaint against Ontario Chief Justice
The R.E.A.L. Women clan are at it again ... Now they've filed a formal complaint against Ontario Chief Justice Roy McMurtry with the Canadian Judicial Council, alleging judicial misconduct.


Open Letter/Petition to Mr. Harper demanding that the Gov't of Canada stop supporting Israeli violence
I hope you will add your names to this