| Follow
this link to Suggest an Addition 
click
here to access a link to the latest issues of FemmeVox
an initiative of
Womyn's Voices to engage women
to advance equality through technology (un)
R.E.A.L. Women of Canada
WATCH
click here
Women
& HIV/AIDS
Between
the Laughter: CBC Newsworld, The Lens
Tuesday,
Dec 11 at 10 pm, ET/ 7 pm PT
Comedy
is an unusual pursuit for someone who is hearing impaired. Stepen O'Keefe must
work as hard on his pronunciation as he does on his jokes. Immersing viewers in
the heard of Stephen's demanding life, the documentary follows along as he spends
time with his young son, runs a business with his wife, prepares to move into
a new home, and nurtures his blossoming comedy career. This is a humour filled
profile-from life in between comedy acts to the realities of being caught between
a hearing world and a silent one. Read More
December
8, 2007 | | September
22, 2007 | | The
world premiere of Stories for Hemingway's Havana
Written and Performed by Brian Gordon Sinclair
(Recipient
of the prestigious Sir
Tyrone Guthrie Award for
acting)
When:
July 7, 2007 at 7 pm
Where:
OISE (Ontario Institute of Studies in
Education) 7th floor Peace Lounge, 252 Bloor Street West
(this
is a FREE event)
presented by CAPA (Coalition Against Psychiatric
Assault)
This
is a Mad Pride associated event
Read
More
July
4, 2007 | | MAD
Pride Day - July 14, 2007 - An International Day Recognizing Mad People’s
Movement in Toronto
Survivors!
... Consumers! ... Mad Folks! ... Allies ... Activists ...
Help
Celebrate Mad Pride Toronto!
Join
the BED PUSH - A pride parade of sorts
Gather at 1pm at
the front door of CAMH 1001 Queen Street West at 1pm.
We will march to Parkdale
Activity & Recreation Center for a celebration!  Mad
Pride Day, July 14th, an international day recognizing Mad People’s movement
has been proclaimed as such, within the city of Toronto.
Help
recognize and celebrate psychiatric survivors, consumers and mad folks
by getting involved in and supporting Toronto's first ever Mad Pride Bed Push,
a parade of sorts. The
idea of a Bed Push is inspired by our British counterparts who staged The Great
Escape Bed Push, as a Mad Pride event last year. Dressed
in Pajamas a group of campaigners pushed a psychiatric bed from Millview Psychiatric
Hospital in Brighton, 60 miles to the original site of “Bedlam” the
Bethlem Asylum in London, all the while being pursued by a giant syringe. The
aim of the stunt was to raise awareness about the poor levels of choice of treatments
and the widening use of force in the psychiatric system. When:
July 14, 2007 at 1:00 pm
Where: CAMH, 1001
Queen Street West
Speakers: City Counselor
Gord Perks, M.P.P.
Cheri DiNovo, & M.P. Peggy Nash
Call
or email us, let us know that you
care about Mad Pride by getting involved in it. Read
More
June
11, 2007
| | | Legal
appeal of Ontario Energy Board decision on low-income energy consumers Low-Income
Energy Network (LIEN)
Press Release dd May 29, 2007
Today,
the Low-Income Energy Network
(LIEN) announced it will not be giving up the fight for fair energy prices
for low-income consumers in Ontario, despite a recent decision by the Ontario
Energy Board (OEB) that thwarted the group’s efforts. LIEN served notice
of its appeal to Divisional Court of the Ontario Energy Board’s (OEB) decision
issued April 26, 2007 that it does not have the jurisdiction to implement rate
affordability programs for low-income residential consumers. There was a very
strong dissenting decision in this matter by Gordon Kaiser, Chair of the three-member
Board panel, who found that the OEB does have the “jurisdiction to approve
special rates for low-income consumers in appropriate cases.” Read
More
May 29, 2007 | Women's
Group Applauds Amnesty International
CAEFS
- Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies
Press Release dd May 28,
2007
The Canadian
Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies (CAEFS) emerged from its
Annual General Meeting in Montreal with a clear direction from its membership
to commend Amnesty International for their report on The State of the
World's Human Rights. CAEFS is a federation of 26 local, community based service
providers who work with and on behalf of marginalized victimized, criminalized,
and imprisoned women and girls. Read
More
May 29, 2007 | BIZ
Futures - Self Employment Development Program
Toronto Business Development
Centre
Interested
in Starting your own Business? -
Living with a Disability?
-
Live in Toronto?
-
Have a good business idea?
-
Eligible for ODSP Employment Supports?
We
may have the perfect opportunity for you!
-
Learn how to start and operate your business
-
Nine Week intensive training program
-
Ongoing business advisor support
Next
Information Session:
Friday
June 22, 2007
10:00 a.m. to 12:00 Noon
Toronto Business Development
Centre
1071 King Street West
Read More May
25, 2007 | | Is
That Legal?
http://www.isthatlegal.ca/index.php?name=start.tenant_law
This
resource was created by Simon Shields, a lawyer whose goal in creating this site
was to "share his knowledge, experience and research regarding Ontario and
Canadian law with those in our society who most need it". The link is to
a new resource on the site --
an extensive legal
review of the new Ontario Residential Tenancies Act.May
18, 2007 | Summary
of Pro Bono Students Canada 2006-2007 ODSP Special Diet Allowance Analysis
Our analysis
examined the procedure associated with applying for ODSP Special Diet Allowance
funding, appealing special diet allowance rulings, and the various regulations
associated with this program. Based
upon our findings, we concluded that the ODSP Special Diet Allowance is failing
to meet its stated objectives. In our report we identified the major issues associated
with the current ODSP Special Diet Allowance program and recommended various steps
that maybe taken to properly resolve these issues.
May
15, 2007 |
| | | | | | |
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
July 29, 2006 |
| |
How
Much Longer? by Eduardo Galeano
07/28/06
"IPS" -- One country
bombed two countries. Such impunity might astound were it not business as usual.
In response to the few timid protests from the international community, Israel
said mistakes were made.
How much longer will horrors be called mistakes?
This slaughter of civilians began with the kidnapping of a soldier.
How much longer will the kidnapping of an Israeli soldier be allowed to justify
the kidnapping of Palestinian sovereignty?
How much longer will the kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers be allowed to justify
the kidnapping of the entire nation of Lebanon?
For centuries the slaughter of Jews was the favorite sport of Europeans. Auschwitz
was the natural culmination of an ancient river of terror, which had flowed across
all of Europe.
How much longer will Palestinians and other Arabs be made to pay for crimes they
didn’t commit?
Read More
July
28, 2006 |
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
July 28, 2006 |
| |
Is
the McGuinty Gov't thinking that some new “quick fix” funding will repair
the controversial Bill 107? Accessibility
for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Update dd July 27, 2006
The
McGuinty Government has been under fire for Bill 107’s serious problems.
We must be on alert for the possibility that it may try an inadequate “quick
fix” to deflect this criticism.
Specifically, it is possible that
the Government may soon announce the funding it will provide to the human rights
legal clinic it promised to establish. Last February, the Government said it would
eliminate the Human Rights Commission’s core role of investigating human
rights violations, and prosecuting where evidence warrants. The Government said
it would instead provide legal representation for discrimination victims who take
their case to the Human Rights Tribunal. When it introduced Bill 107 last spring,
it made the extravagant promise that each and every human rights complainant would
be given legal representation at the Human Rights Tribunal, regardless of their
income. A new Human Rights legal clinic would do this work.
Read More
July 27, 2006 |
Inflammatory
Breast Cancer (IBC): The Silent Killer
Inflammatory
Breast Cancer (IBC)
is an advanced and accelerated form of breast cancer usually not detected by mammograms
or ultrasounds.
Inflammatory breast cancer requires immediate aggressive treatment with chemotherapy
prior to surgery and is treated differently than more common types of breast cancer.
African Americans have
a higher incidence of IBC than do Caucasians and other ethnic groups (10.1%, 6.2%,
and 5.1%, respectively)."
Watch
the KOMO TV 4 video: The
Silent Killer: Inflammatory Breast Cancer 
(6:00)
Read
the KOMO 4 News Special Report dd May 7, 2006: Inflammatory
Breast Cancer
Read More
July
25, 2006 | |
|
Guaranteed
Livable Income a universal idea
Cindy
L'Hirondelle, Women's
Economic Justice Project Coordinator responds to Vancouver Sun column
In
Daphne Bramham's July 22 (Vancouver Sun) column "Oh,
wouldn't it be lover-ly?" she launches a none to subtle attack on
the Women's
Economic Justice Report on Guaranteed Livable Income and me personally. She
hopes the ideas in the report are a joke, calls the report "sloppy",
"sentimentalist", "Rousseau-ian", "sprinkled with neo-Luddite
thinking", "buttressed with Marxist-socialist cant"; that I am
"channeling the founders of the Social Credit party", making the guaranteed
annual income idea seem "ridiculous", doing a "huge disservice"
to the women interviewed, that I "trivialized the desperate needs of the
poor", made a "nonsensical lament about how [low income women] can't
buy organic", put feminism in disrepute and made the rest of Canada see us
as "wigged-out West Coasters." I'm surprised she didn't call me a blood-drinking
vampire as well, but then she wonders if I'm vegan. If she had contacted me, I
would have told her: that's right, I only drink the blood of organic carrots.
Read
More
July 24, 2006 |
A
shameful silence on women's rights
Paul
Sheehan asks why Western feminists are mute on the plight of their Islamic sisters
Excerpt:
"... In this cultural clash, the treatment of women is the most hotly
contested terrain. Not just the treatment of non-Muslim women by Muslim men, but
the treatment of Muslim women within Western culture. Many Muslim women live under
constraints that are unacceptable to wider society. For years, a symptom of this
tension, which is largely submerged, has been the distraught young women turning
up at the Australian embassy in Beirut to escape forced marriages. In
the midst of this cultural and moral struggle one element has been conspicuously
missing - the feminists - the authors, academics and commentators who rose to
prominence as advocates of women's rights. In Australia and Europe, their response
to the growing levels of sexual intimidation, harassment or suppression of women
by Muslim men has either been a deafening chorus of silence, or denial and blame-shifting.
Read
the Full Article
July 23, 2006
|
Peace
in Lebanon Immediately
by
Kamala Sarup
From
the news, it seems that thousands of innocent people are targeted in Lebanon.
More than 500,000 people, over a third of them children, had been touched in Lebanon
by the conflict and more than 100,000 Lebanese were now in Syria, most of whom
needed assistance. According to news, Israel's 12-day air offensive in Lebanon
has left more than 350 Lebanese and 33 Israelis dead, while more than 100 Palestinians
and one Israeli soldier have died in Gaza. I
want immediate unilateral cease fire in Lebanon. I want equity and justice for
Palestinians and Israelis, especially for those children. Most of the deaths in
Middle East can be prevented by peace negotiations. Israeli and Palestinians must
accept a political solutions. People from both countries want peace. I
see only one solution to solving major problems peace power can't be stopped if
it's great and persistent enough. The solution is to serve the needs of all the
people. Our history proves that when enough people act they get results. The greatest
peace gains were gotten by people action. We need that now especially to
end Middle East war. Read More
July
23, 2006 |
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."
But
that is not all. She also makes a very damaging mistake about one of the points
listed under the section on "concerns". She thinks we were saying that
we did not want people new to Canada to have a GLI. She got it backwards! We had
the opposite concern. We wanted to ensure that people new to Canada could easily
access getting a Guaranteed Livable Income. Throughout the report it is also noted
that a GLI must happen in every country in the world. Read
More
July 23, 2006 |
| |
| Judge
Who Gave Canada Homosexual "Marriage" Had Conflict of Interest Says
Women's Rights Group TORONTO,
July 19, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The women’s rights organization,
REAL Women of Canada, has filed a formal complaint against Ontario Chief Justice
Roy McMurtry with the Canadian Judicial Council, alleging judicial misconduct.
McMurtry was the judge who issued a ruling in 2003 on the Halpern case that effectively
ended the traditional definition of marriage in Canada.
McMurtry’s
son, James, revealed in a letter to the editor of a BC newspaper that his sister
is a lesbian in a live-in relationship with another woman. This, says REAL Women,
creates a serious concern that “McMurtry had a personal and familial interest”
in the Halpern case, “which seriously impaired his objectivity and his ability
to adjudicate the case.”
REAL
Women’s letter alleges that McMurtry’s personal interest biased the
entire process and violated the “fundamental judicial obligations of office.”
REAL Women says that in addition, Justice McMurtry deliberately chose and selected
judges sympathetic to same-sex "marriage" to hear the case. Read
the Full Article
July 20, 2006
|
Submission
to the Standing Committee on Justice Policy on Bill 107, The Proposed Ontario
Human Rights Code Amendment Act
Accessibility
for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Alliance - Draft Only - July 15, 2006
Overview
of this Brief's Contents: This brief is
divided into two parts. In Part I
(the shorter part), we summarize our position on Bill 107 and how it should
be amended. For those interested in our position, but not wanting to get into
all the background and detail, Part I
provides all the information needed. It: -
summarizes what Bill 107 does.
-
summarizes the key problems with Bill 107.
-
explains the problems with the Government's process for developing Bill 107.
-
summarizes how to improve Bill 107, and
for
those interested in far more detailed information, Part
II, the longer part, gives an extensive explanation of each of the 49
amendments we propose. Accompanying this brief are appendices with important background
materials to support our proposals. These include:
1.
A list of the AODA Alliance's 49 recommendations for amending Bill 107
2.
The AODA Alliance's "Fact Check" on Official Statements about Bill 107
3. The AODA Alliances
April 3, 2006 Discussion Paper on Options for Reforming the Ontario Human Rights
Code. Read
More
July
19, 2006 |
Autistic
Children Abandoned by McGuinty Autism Policies
Martel
rallies with children, parents, and advocates in Toronto
July
12, 2006 - QUEEN'S
PARK -
Shelley Martel, MPP for Nickel Belt and the NDP Health and Long-Term Care Critic,
is calling on Dalton McGuinty to immediately deliver on his two explicit election
promises to Ontario's autistic children.
"The
McGuinty Liberal government needs to honour their promises to autistic children
and their parents during the 2003 election," said Martel. "In addition,
significant funds need to be invested to ensure that all children who need IBI
treatment receive it. That's clearly not happening because, as of March 31, 2006,
753 children were languishing on the wait list, waiting for IBI treatment to begin."
Read More July
19, 2006 |
NDP
to Dalton McGuinty: Keep Your Promises to Autistic Children
July
7, 2006 - QUEEN'S
PARK -
Shelley Martel, MPP for Nickel Belt and the NDP Health and Long-Term Care Critic,
is dismayed by today's Court of Appeal decision but emphasized that, for New Democrats,
this issue has always been a political issue about what Dalton McGuinty promised
during the 2003 election and what he has continually failed to do. "Dalton
McGuinty made an explicit promise to the parents of autistic children. He promised
IBI treatment for every single child who needs it - regardless of age," Martel
said. "Mr.
McGuinty should never have dragged parents and their vulnerable autistic children
through the courts, at great expense to taxpayers and the families, just so he
could break a promise. I am calling on the premier to do the right thing for autistic
children and extend IBI treatment to all children who need it -- without delay."
Read More
July 19, 2006 |
Martel
Applauds Autism Rights Ruling
June
28, 2006 - QUEEN'S
PARK - NDP Critic Shelley Martel says
a recent ruling by Madame Justice DeGuire is a win for families of autistic
children, who have long argued that the McGuinty government is violating their
children's basic rights. Last
week, the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal ruled that children with autism
- whose provincially funded therapy is denied after age 6 - are now free to proceed
with their argument that the McGuinty government is discriminating against them
on the basis of age.
Read More
July
19, 2006 |
Autism
Announcement is a Drop in the Bucket
Martel
skeptical about McGuinty's promises to autistic children
June 16,
2006 - QUEEN'S
PARK - Shelley Martel, MPP for Nickel Belt and the NDP Health and Long-Term
Care Critic, says
that today's announcement by the McGuinty Liberal government to provide Intensive
Behavioural Intervention treatment to 120 additional children is a drop in the
bucket compared to what is actually needed to address the long wait lists.
Read
More
July 19, 2006 |
Behind
Batwoman's Gayness
Today's women are pigeonholed
as either girly girls or lesbians
Op-Ed in today's LA Times
Excerpt
... Whatever
the reason, it appears that there are only two ways to go about being female these
days: You are either a midriff-bearing, gum-snapping, engagement ring-chasing
girly girl or you are a probable lesbian. We
used to think of this dichotomy in terms of "separating the women from the
girls." Perhaps you remember how this went. Teenagers and early twentysomethings
wore nameplate necklaces and waited for the phone to ring, and adult women owned
condos and knew how to unclog a toilet without losing their sex appeal. But
in a culture that's as allergic to subtlety as it is obsessed with youth, acceptable
versions of womanhood seem to be melting away with the polar ice cap. You either
get the Botox, the boob job, the bikini wax and baby doll dresses, or you take
the radical step of looking and acting like a fully formed, grown-up female. Read
More
July 15, 2006 |
| |
Family
Violence in Canada: A Statistical Profile 2006
Victims Rarely Report Abuse: StatsCan Report
Victimization surveys have
shown that spousal violence frequently involves multiple incidents. However, a
new study examining 10 years of police-reported data shows that most spousal violence
is reported to police on only a single occasion. The
study, which analyzed spousal violence offenders and their contact with police
using a 10-year data file for 1995 to 2004, was published today in the 2006 edition
of Family Violence in Canada: A Statistical Profile. It found that 8 out of every
10 spousal offenders were reported to police on only one occasion during the 10-year
time frame. Persons accused of repeated spousal violence (those with two to four
police-reported incidents of spousal violence) accounted for 18% of the total.
Only 1% were considered chronic abusers, that is they were involved in five or
more reported incidents. These
results may be partially explained by the 2004 General Social Survey (GSS) on
victimization that found that only 28% of victims of spousal violence turned to
police for help. Incidents that are reported tend to depend on the severity and
frequency of the violence, and on whether children were witnesses. Other factors
include whether the victim was female, young, Aboriginal or turned to others for
support. Read More
July
13, 2006 |
Kirby
report (2) turns a blind eye to women
Despite
the mounting evidence — as well as Canada's many commitments to using Gender-Based
Analysis in policy and program development — federal health studies somehow
remain gender-blind. by
Laila Malik, CWHN Almost
20 years ago, the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) issued an in-depth
report calling for action to address mental health concerns facing women in Canada.
Women and
Mental Health in Canada: Strategies for Change 
warned of the dire mental health effects of the feminization of poverty and violence
against women and drew attention to the disproportionate number of women assigned
with the diagnostic categories of depression and anxiety.
It outlined 25 recommendations
for improvement, including the development of affordable, high quality child-care
services, the establishment of pay equity policies, recognition of unpaid caregiving,
and the creation of a national clearinghouse of research and programs on women's
mental health.
The report was promptly buried, its recommendations consigned
to oblivion. Read
More
July
12, 2006
| |
| |
|
Right
of Choice: It's In Our Hands: Stop Violence Against Women
Amnesty International Report 2006
From birth to death, in
times of peace as well as war, women face discrimination and violence at the hands
of the state, the community and the family. Female infanticide deprives countless
women of life itself. Every year, millions of women are raped by partners, relatives,
friends and strangers, by employers and colleagues, security officials and soldiers.
Women, children and men suffer from violence inflicted in the home, but the overwhelming
majority of victims are women and girls. During armed conflicts, violence against
women is often used as a weapon of war, in order to dehumanize the women themselves,
or to persecute the community to which they belong. Violence
against women is not confined to any particular political or economic system,
but is prevalent in every society in the world. It cuts across boundaries of wealth,
race and culture. The power structures within society which perpetuate violence
against women are deep-rooted and intransigent. The experience or threat of violence
inhibits women everywhere from fully exercising and enjoying their human rights.
Read More
July
10, 2006 | |
|
Aboriginal
Issues - Glossary of Terms
The following is a guide
to various terms associated with First Nations people, issues and treaties. Please
note that individual preferences may vary and should be respected when known.
When unsure,
it is polite and appropriate to ask how a person, band or council wishes to be
addressed.
July 7, 2006 |
Uncertain
Futures: Gaining access to publicly funded abortions is not easy in New Brunswick
by Chris Arsenault
[The
only hospital in New Brunswick that was providing publicly funded abortions stopped
performing the procedure at the end of June.]
The decision to have
an abortion is rarely easy, but after the Dr. Everett Chalmers Hospital in Fredericton
stopped performing the procedure at the end of June, and with pro-life groups
rallying to prevent Moncton's George Dumont Hospital from picking up the slack,
many New Brunswickers are wondering about the procedure's future in the province.
Read
the Full Article here
July 7, 2006 |
| |
Abortion:
Ensuring Access
Sanda
Rodgers and Jocelyn Downie, Guest Editorial in the CMAJ, July 4, 2006
Access to reproductive
health care is essential to women's health, and for some women, abortion is a
key component of that care. But not all women in Canada have adequate, or in some
cases any, access to abortion.1 It is important for Canadian physicians to know
the facts about access to abortion so that they can better protect and promote
the health of their female patients.
Many
of us assume that, in contrast to the United States, women's access to abortion
in Canada is enshrined in law and guaranteed by our health care system. This is
not always true. A brief review of history is needed here.
Read the Full Article here
July 7, 2006
|
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
July 6, 2006 |
| REAL
Women are on the warpath, as I guess I would be too if I were REAListic, Equal,
Active, and for Life. Hey, I am all those things! Oh, they mean "not in your
unREAL way." I think.
REALists
have been quiet for a long time. But they see the Stephen Harper minority government
as their chance to change Canada back to the way they say it used to be. Whatever
that was, I'm sure it was lovely. And frankly, their view of the future does verge
on the dire.
"We
are living in the best of material times. Yet, simultaneously, we are also living
in a time of moral decadence: abortion on demand, the legalization of same-sex
relationships as marriages, the cultural and legal acceptance of homosexuality
despite its destructive ramifications, both psychologically and medically, rampant
sexual promiscuity and euthanasia, legalized drug use and legalized prostitution
just around the corner."
But
I'm for all these things. Not sure about rampant euthanasia (get it in writing,
I say, and point out the drawbacks: "Yer dead") or prostitution, but
perhaps they don't grasp that legal changes regarding prostitution are aimed (by
good men and good women) at saving hundreds of sex workers and other women who
have vanished into the thinnest of air in Canada. Some of them might have been
fed to pigs. Follow
this link to read the rest of this column
Then, please consider writing
to the CBC before all the misogynists get there first! Heather is one of the
few remaining feminist voices left in MSM and could do with some support! Email:
letters@cbc.ca
July
2, 2006 |
Women's
Economic Justice Report available online
In
April, 2006 the Women's Economic Justice Report on Guaranteed Livable Income
was released at a public meeting in Victoria BC. Follow this link to read
Project background:
http://pacificcoast.net/~swag/swcproject05.htm
Hard
copies of the report (printed with 100% recycled newsprint with a colour cover)
have been distributed to many groups and individuals in across Canada and a few
to the US and overseas. Out of 1000 copies, we have only 200 hard copies left
which we are reserving for those without easy access to the internet. Note:
This report is not just for women. All the women interviewed want a Guaranteed
Livable Income for everyone; however, they also recognize that women face more
poverty, stress, violence, unpaid and underpaid work, while also carrying primary
responsibility and worry for the well-being of the world's children.
Read
More
June 29, 2006 |
| | |
|
Help end the backlash. Boycott
Bacardi!
Let Bacardi know what you think:
email webmaster@bacardi.com
or phone 1-888-BACARDI
June
24, 2006 |
| |
Senate
Committee on Autism
Funding for the Treatment
of Autism referred to the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science
and Technology for Study and Report
After
all this hard work, by so many, it appears that we finally got funding for
autism treatment on the agenda! What happens now is not within our control
obviously, but we can have an impact on the final report and its recommendations
to the government if we all speak up.
We need to speak up now more than
ever. This committee must hear what each of us wants them to know. Please take
some time to think of a submission that you would send to them. Read
More
June 24, 2006 |
Sexual
Health for Lesbians: Risks and Realities
Canadian Health Network,
2006
Consistent, non-judgmental sexual health care for lesbian women that
supports them to make informed decisions depends on partnership and good communication
with their health care providers. Because this kind of communication is often
lacking, many women who have sex with women are unaware of their individual risk
factors for contracting sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Read
More June
24, 2006 |
National
Child Benefit / National Child Benefit Supplement - Rate increase July 2006
The provincial government
stopped taking the 2% NCBS increases, as part of the Clawback, a couple of years
ago. Thus, as of July, you get to keep 6% of the increases, which are included
in the amounts above. If
you receive income assistance in Ontario the provincial government reduces your
assistance cheque by 84% of the NCBS you receive, regardless of whether
or not you are working. Read More
June
24, 2006 |
Bill
to End the Long-Gun Registry The
Conservative government has followed up on its one-year amnesty for long-gun owners
by tabling a bill to end the Canadian long-gun registry. With the House of Commons
about to close for the summer, nothing will happen on the bill until the fall,
and even then it's not clear if the government can muster enough votes to get
it passed. While the bill does away with the need to register rifles and shotguns,
it keeps the requirements for registering restricted and prohibited firearms such
as handguns. Some of the current requirements for long-gun owners would also remain
in place, like all gun owners requiring a firearms license, the need for police
safety checks, and safety training.
Read
More
June 24, 2006 |
Report:
Are Wage Supplements the Answer to the Problems of the Working Poor?
(PDF 184KB/13p.)
Andrew
Jackson, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, 2006
The
idea of addressing poverty through some kind of wage supplementation program has
been around for some time, but has only recently moved to the centre stage of
Canadian social policy. Unlike the more visionary concept of a Guaranteed Annual
Income for all citizens, wage supplements are intended to promote and support
employment in low-paid jobs.
This paper examines different recommendations and finds wage supplements can play
useful supporting roles in assisting the working poor, but should not be seen
as the centerpiece of a new social architecture. Read
the report:
Are
Wage Supplements the Answer to the Problems of the Working Poor?
(PDF 184KB/13p.)
June
24, 2006 |
Where
There Is No Doctor: Now Available Online
The Hesperian
Foundation is proud to announce that their classic manual, Where There
Is No Doctor, is now available online! Follow
this link to access the 2006 edition on their website. According
to the World Health Organization, Where There Is No Doctor is perhaps the
most widely used health care manual for health workers, clinicians, and others
involved in primary health care delivery and health promotion programs around
the world. The manual provides practical, easily understood information on how
to diagnose, treat, and prevent many common illnesses. With over 90 translations
and adaptations of the book available worldwide, and millions of copies in print,
the book is an essential health resource for individuals and communities around
the world.
June
24, 2006 |
Ontario
Domestic Violence Death Review Committee Releases Annual Report
Dr.
Barry McLellan, Chief Coroner of Ontario, announced today the release of the third
annual report of the Domestic Violence Death Review Committee (DVDRC).
The report contains
an overview of domestic violence deaths occurring in 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005
that were reviewed by the committee, along with the statistical analysis of information
collected. Recommendations arising from the review are also included in the report. The
DVDRC is an advisory committee and reports directly to the chief coroner. The
committee was created in response to recommendations made by the juries in the
coroner's inquests in the deaths of Arlene May and Randy Iles (1998), and
Gillian and Ralph Hadley (2002), as well as the Joint Committee on Domestic
Violence. The committee members are drawn from the health, justice, advocacy
and social services sectors. Read More
June 20, 2004 |
Canadians
Rejecting Harper Government Child Allowance, Poll Shows
The
results of a poll released today show that Canadians are rejecting Stephen Harper's
plan to distribute a $1,200 child allowance to parents with children under six
years of age. The Environics poll asked more than 2,000 Canadians their views
on child care and the response was clear - 76% of Canadians support a national
affordable child care strategy such as the 2004 federal-provincial agreement that
was cancelled by the Conservative government. Monica
Lysack, Executive Director of the Child
Care Advocacy Association of Canada (CCAAC) says that Canadians
are not buying into the Harper government's child-care strategy adding, "They
see that this plan isn't going to help them find affordable, quality care for
their children." The poll showed that only 35% of Canadians support the government's
child allowance plan. What's
most crucial for the minority Conservative government is that many Canadians say
that their opposition to the child allowance is strong enough that it is likely
to influence their vote in the next federal election. This is even true for one
third of Conservative voters, a fact Lysack cautions that Stephen Harper should
be very concerned about.
Read More
June
20, 2006 |
CNIB
announces print clarity standards for all Canadians
Black and white contrast, Arial or Times Roman, and matte paper finish are
among ten recommendations for improved clarity and readability
CNIB,
Canada's primary provider of vision loss support programs and services, today
launched Clear Print, the first formal print clarity standards for making
printed materials more accessible to all Canadians, from fully sighted individuals
to aging and low-vision readers. The standards were developed following an extensive
international review of research into the variables that affect an individual's
ability to easily consume print information. ... Clear
Print identifies 10 variables that affect print clarity, including contrast (black
and white is always best), most readable fonts (Arial and Times Roman top the
list), paper finish (many readers are highly sensitive to glare), and size of
type (the bigger the better). Other recommendations cover type colour, type heaviness,
letter spacing, margins and columns, and design and simplicity. Read
More
June 20, 2006
|
McGuinty
Government Improves Patient Access to Drugs
New Act Will Lead to Better Value for Taxpayer Dollars
The McGuinty
government is providing Ontario residents with better access to drugs while ensuring
significant new savings with legislation that received third and final reading
today, Health and Long Term Care Minister George Smitherman announced.
"We're
on the side of Ontarians who want and deserve better health care, especially those
who will benefit from better access to medications," said Smitherman. "The
Transparent Drug System for Patients Act will allow our government to deliver
better value for money to the taxpayers of Ontario."...
"Bill
102 brings the most significant change to Ontario's public drug system,"
said Marc Kealey, CEO of the Ontario Pharmacists' Association. Read
More
June 20, 2006 |
Monica
Lansing
Monica
Lansing was a terminally ill mother who had her three children taken away from
her on the night she died
Monica
Lansing’s entire life was centered around her three children. She worked
very hard to support them and provide them with a safe and loving home. Monica
and her ex-husband, had a joint custody agreement, in regards to their children,
but Monica had primary guardianship of all three children and they lived with
her full time. 4
years ago, she fled from her husband, who continued to harass her even though
she had moved to another province. He employed members of his family, specifically
a brother-in-law, to watch her house and enter into her home when she was at work.
His brother-in-law is a former police officer and paramedic and is now the subject
of a complaint filed with the Alberta College of Paramedics. For
three years Monica was granted day-to-day care and was the primary guardian of
the children until she became sick. When Monica was diagnosed with Leukemia he
took her children away from her and cut off his support payments. Contrary to
what he told the courts and the newspapers, he uprooted the children from their
schools and friends and relocated them to British Columbia without notification
or her consent. Read More
June
19, 2006 |
Outcry
against Bill 107 grows: more than 50 organizations call on Premier for change
Former
Human Rights Commissioner and member of 1992 Cornish Task Force Advisory Committee
Tom Warner joined community leaders at a press conference this morning
to release an open letter to Premier McGuinty.
The letter was signed by more than 50 organizations representing racialized
communities, seniors, gays and lesbians and people with disabilities. It
sets out growing concerns over Bill 107, the government's human rights reform
legislation, and condemns the Premier's plan to hold public hearings on the legislation
in the summer when people are less able to attend and boards are unable to meet
to approve submissions. The groups are calling on the Premier to hold the hearings
in the fall and be prepared to make the necessary changes. Read
More
June 15, 2006
|
Creating
Job Opportunities for People on Social Assistance
Innovations
Fund Encourages Ontario Businesses to Get Involved
TORONTO,
June 14, 2006 - The McGuinty government is calling on the Ontario business community
to help social assistance recipients get into the workforce and on the path to
a brighter future, Madeleine Meilleur, Minister of Community and Social Services,
announced today. The
government is launching a new Employment Innovations Fund to engage employers
in expanding employment opportunities for people on social assistance, including
people with disabilities. Organizations such as employer associations, municipalities
and not-for-profit organizations are invited to submit proposals for new programs
that will create sustainable job opportunities and help businesses tap into this
pool of willing, job-ready people. Read More
June
14, 2006 |
Launch
of 'Failing the Homeless' report on Barriers to ODSP Access: June 20th
Street Health - Release
Over the past year and
a half Street Health, a community-based health care organization working
with homeless and underhoused people in downtown Toronto, has been working on
a research project exploring the barriers to accessing ODSP for our clients, while
at the same time helping them to secure benefits.
The
report, entitled: “Failing the Homeless: Barriers
in the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) for Homeless People with Disabilities”,
identifies key barriers and delays in the ODSP system for homeless people. It
also makes recommendations for how to improve access to ODSP benefits for homeless
people with disabilities. Read More
June 14, 2006 |
OHRC
Fact Sheet
In
response to recent inquiries and to help provide additional information for the
discussion on Bill 107 and how best to improve and rebalance Ontario’s Human
Rights System, the Commission has prepared a Fact Sheet highlighting cases the
Commission has been involved in over the years that have received decisions from
higher courts. Please
go to www.ohrc.on.ca/english/news/e_june-06-facts.shtml.
Fiche
de renseignements du CODP
En réponse aux enquêtes que nous avons reçue et pour donner
desrenseignements additionnels pour l’entretien sur le projet de loi 107
et le sujet des meilleurs moyens d’améliorer et de rééquilibrer
le système des droits de la personne en Ontario, la Commission a mis au
point une fiche de renseignements qui souligne des causes dont la Commission a
participé qui ont reçu une décision d'une cour supérieure.
Veuillez visiter www.ohrc.on.ca/french/news/f_june-06-facts.shtml.
June 14, 2006 |
Report:
Count Us In!
Inclusion and Homeless Women in Downtown
East Toronto - June 2006
Project Partners:
Ontario Prevention Clearinghouse, Ontario Women's Health
Network, Toronto Christian Resource Centre and Toronto Public Health
The
purpose of this project was to investigate how health and social services in Toronto,
and in the province of Ontario, can be made more inclusive, and in turn, promote
the health and well-being of marginalized groups. Homeless and underhoused women
who live in Downtown East Toronto led the research and were actively engaged in
all stages of the project, from collecting and analysing the data to developing
the final recommendations. They
facilitated 11 focus groups with 58 women who are homeless or underhoused.(4)
The researchers collected feedback on the health and social services that women
use as well as the participants’ ideas about how policies and services could
be improved. Count Us In! aims to influence how governments and service
providers plan, deliver and fund services for populations that are marginalized.
As one participant said, this is an opportunity for the service providers to "step
back and take a good look at what is needed."
This report summarizes
what the women said. It describes many of the barriers they face, and then highlights
their solutions for making services more inclusive. Read
the key
recommendations
Count Us In!
highlights the importance of marginalized women being actively involved in every
part of the process, to ensure that their voices are heard, that they are "at
the table," and that the appropriate actions are taken to meet their needs.
Read
More
Download
the Report
(PDF, 381 kb, 33 pages)
June 13, 2006
|
Support
Falun Gong Peaceful 24-hour Appeal Site In front of the Vancouver Chinese Consulate
Add Your Voice to the Petition
On
June 8, Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan ordered local Falun Gong practitioners to
dismantle the appeal site they've maintained outside the Chinese Consulate 24/7,
rain or shine, for the past five years. Mayor Sullivan said the group's signs
and booth erected by the consulate contravene a city bylaw. The
Falun Gong practitioners say they were initially given verbal permission to hold
a constant vigil at the site in order to raise awareness of the persecution
against Falun Gong in China, now in its seventh year. They
say the site bears witness to the thousands of practitioners who have been
tortured and killed as a result of the persecution, and believe they should
be allowed to remain until the persecution c |
|
Women are increasingly vulnerable to HIV/AIDS. 