CANADA MILITARY NEWS: Gloria Steinem and Marlo Thomas called Canada's Women and girls the bravest in the world back in our days of 60s, 70s and 80s- and we raised our sons 2 treat women and children better- Please don't let us down- March 8- International Women's Day is everyday- no more excuses students- no more excuses- Loretta Saunders 4 u/Rita MacNeil Warrior Woman/BLOGS /DAILY UPDATES /SEP 22, 2014 - JUSTICE 4 REHTAEH PARSONS- one of abusers pleads guilty- One Billion rising
SEPTEMBER 22- JUSTICE 4 REHTAEH PARSONS- one of abusers pleads guilty- NEWSFLASH
JUSTICE 4 REHTAEH PARSONS: NEWSFLASH: Young man enters guilty plea in high-profile Nova Scotia child porn case STEVE BRUCE COURT REPORTER
CANADA MILITARY NEWS: Sep 22-Rehtaeh Parsons Justice News- Jun28- hunting and catching PAEDOPHILES NOVA SCOTIA -CANADA/Child Abuse Survivors/Insidious CHILS TRAFFICKING 60 million worldwide/UNITED NATIONS protects paedophiles and sex traffickers???
SERIOUSLY??? THE INITED NATIONS... SAID THIS... Oh God... are the folks at UN really listening??? seriously??? ... ahh it's women saying this not the gracious man who leads the UN... sigh...
UNiTE to End Violence Against Women
"The 21st century has to be different for every woman and girl in the world. She must know that to be born a girl is not the start of a life of hardship and disadvantage." - Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women's message for International Women's Day. Let #IWD2014 be a call for action and new momentum to make gender equality and empowerment of women and girls a reality everywhere. http://ow.ly/ueRNT
Photo: UN Women
QUOTE: QUOTE: But no country in the world has achieved equality between women and men and girls and boys, and violations of the rights of women and girls are an outrage. So let us build on the lessons learned and the knowledge that equality for women is progress for all, and make greater and bolder progress as we work to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and chart a new post-2015 development agenda.
We can no longer afford to hold back half the world’s population. The 21st century has to be different for every woman and girl in the world. She must know that to be born a girl is not the start of a life of hardship and disadvantage.
Together we must make sure that:
SHE is Safe and Secure from gender-based violence.
SHE has Human rights that are respected, including reproductive rights.
SHE is Empowered economically and in every way through Education, Equal opportunity, participation and leadership.
This is the SHE imperative to which I call on you to commit.
Let us all cross the line and stand on the right side of history.
Today and every day, UN Women will stand strong for women’s rights, women’s empowerment and gender equality.
This event at Saint Mary's University was organized in part, to bring awareness to this years production of the acclaimed play The Vagina Monologues. One Billion Rising is also a celebration of progress in the work to end domestic violence.
We rise too, as a reminder that the discussion and activism need to continue. ---------------- IRANIAN EYES- the horror, the suffering of women, gays, children, unions, freedom
MARCH 11 2014
CANADA Are religious rights more important than women's rights?
No - we should only accept the beliefs of one group so long as they don't impose on another.
84%
Yes - we have built a society for religious tolerance and we should uphold that.
A powerful new documentary film will be shown at Acadia University in connection with International Women’s Day. It is being screened worldwide this year, says student organizer Kira McLean.
Honor Diaries is the first film to break the silence on “honour violence” against women and girls, she said, as a courageous group of nine women’s rights activists with connections to Muslim-majority societies come together to speak out against the violence women face in Muslim-majority communities.
In Wolfville, there will be two screenings on March 16 and 17 in the Irving Centre auditorium. The second event will be followed by a panel discussion.
Honor Diaries features an all-star cast of female human rights activists, McLean said, including New York Times bestselling author Ayaan Hirsi Ali.
“In male-dominated cultures, like Saudi Arabia, women and girls are treated like property, forced into marriage, and suffer female genital mutilation,” said Ali. “In Honor Diaries, I am proud to join these courageous women to speak the truth; that culture is no excuse for abuse.”
Paula Kweskin, Honor Diaries producer and writer and international human rights lawyer, said the film is the first to break the silence on “honour violence” against women and girls.
“More than a movie, Honor Diaries is a movement to save women and girls around the world, and here in North America, from human rights abuses,” she said.
This issue, McLean said, is something she cares a lot about.
“I feel that with increasing polarization and politicization of religious communities in Western countries it’s an issue we need to start discussing.”
She said she would hate to see North America face the same terrifying scenarios that the UK and other European countries are dealing with in regard to the religious minorities in those countries.
“I’m hoping this film will at least provide some food for thought and start a discussion about how much violence and oppression we’re prepared to sanction in the name of tolerance and political correctness,” she added.
The screenings will both begin at 7 p.m. The panel on March 17 includes: Farida Chishti, president of PEI chapter of the Canadian Council of Muslim Women; Dr. Najam Chishti, president of the Muslim Society of PEI; Dr. Jamie Whidden, who teaches modern Middle Eastern Political History at Acadia; and Dr. Donna Seamone, another Acadia professor of comparative religion.
The Fundy Film Society (FFS) was established in 2001 as a nonprofit society to bring high quality independent, Canadian and foreign film to the Annapolis Valley.
The Fundy Film Society gratefully acknowledges our partnership with the Toronto International Film Festival’s Film Circuit and its sponsors.
Our programme consists of two distinct series (Feature and Documentary) with the occasional weird Wednesday screening (wW) and Special presentation. All films are subject to change without notice.
We screen at Acadia Cinema’s Al Whittle Theatre, behind the Acadia marquee, 450 Main Street, Wolfville, Nova Scotia.
Winter 2014 Features series Sunday, March 16, 2014 at 4:00PM Sunday, March 16, 2014 at 7:00PM
Acadia Cinema's Al Whittle Theatre 450 Main Street, Wolfville, NS
Directed by Ralph Fiennes
Screenplay by Abi Morgan
Based on the book by Claire Tomalin
Starring Kristin Scott Thomas, Felicity Jones and Ralph Fiennes
Rated NR · 1h 51m
UK
English View trailer Read More…
Winter 2014 Features series Sunday, March 23, 2014 at 4:00PM Sunday, March 23, 2014 at 7:00PM
Acadia Cinema's Al Whittle Theatre 450 Main Street, Wolfville, NS
Directed by Asghar Farhadi
Screenplay by Massoumeh Lahidji and Asghar Farhadi
Starring Ali Mosaffa, Tahar Rahim and Bérénice Bejo
Rated NR · 2h 10m
Italy and France
Persian and French with English subtitles View trailer Read More…
Latest News
Winter weather reminder:
Fundy Film screenings will take place no matter the weather. Only a power failure will prevent us from presenting the scheduled film. There is plenty of room in the lobby for your skis and snow shoes. If the café is closed, please use the side alley doors. Thank you. 542-5157
MARCH 11- 2014 ... and the nightmare continues Study: Cyberbullying on rise at Canadian universities
THE CANADIAN PRESS
Last Updated March 11, 2014 - 10:31am
VANCOUVER — Cyberbullies have grown up.
Research out of Simon Fraser University suggests that the online abuse that has been so prevalent on the teenage battlefield is carrying through to the arena of adults at Canadian universities.
Papers to be presented at a symposium in Vancouver on Wednesday say that undergraduate students are harassing their peers on social media, instructors are on the receiving end of student-led online smear campaigns, and faculty members are belittling their colleagues in emails.
“When you look at cyberbullying among younger kids, or kids in middle and high school, usually by age 15, it dies off,” said education Prof. Wanda Cassidy, who worked on the study with two others.
University Cyberbullying
“What was surprising was the fact that it is happening in universities to the extent that it is.”
While many studies have been done on cyber abuse involving adolescents, research on the behaviour among adults is limited. Cassidy said she and her colleagues were curious to know whether teens who bully others online still do it after entering university.
The research team also wondered whether faculty staff are being targeted in cyberspace.
They surveyed over 2,000 people and interviewed 30 participants from four Canadian universities — two in British Columbia, one on the Prairies and one in Atlantic Canada.
Though some of the data from two universities are still trickling in, the available information so far indicates roughly one in five undergraduate students has been cyberbullied, mostly through Facebook, text messages and email, Cassidy said.
Some students said they were the target of crude slurs.
“Called me a `spoiled little rich bitch,’ mocked my bulimia in public messages to others on Facebook, messaged me multiple times telling me my boyfriend was cheating on me, that I was nothing more than `a clingy bitch, slut and loser,“’ said one student who was interviewed in a focus group.
Faculty members — mostly women — also said they’ve been harassed online by students or colleagues.
In one interview, a professor said she was bombarded with emails and text messages from a student who called her lousy, incompetent and useless.
“I am reporting you a they will take away your licence, you are so stupid,” the professor recalled from one message.
In another school, an instructor found herself fighting a losing battle against a colleague who was convinced she was gossiping about her.
“She texted me 73 times in one day, and over a week it was about 180 messages. When I didn’t respond, it was worse,” the instructor said.
Cassidy said the emergence of cyberbullying in an older population comes with grown-up consequences, such as ruined professional relationships or reputations, anxiety, sleep deprivation and thoughts of suicide.
“There was a fair proportion of people — both faculty and students — who said it made them feel suicidal … which is quite frightening, particularly when you think of faculty members.
“There should be some element of security that they don’t have to worry about colleagues bullying them, but obviously they do feel like maybe there’s no way out, there’s no way getting around it.”
The sense of helplessness is not uncommon, Cassidy said. The anonymity granted to cyberbullies makes it difficult to go after perpetrators.
And as more communications occur online, it becomes harder to avoid the angst that comes with reading a potentially abusive email or comment, Cassidy said.
She added that the website Rate My Professor, which allows students to grade teachers anonymously and post comments, is particularly distressing for instructors.
“Insulting and lied about me,” said one professor, who claimed a student wrote defamatory remarks on the website.
“I did not really feel good about going to that class knowing that someone was hating me. I almost talked about it with the class, but decided not to. It was pretty depressing and unmotivating. It was also pretty mean.”
There are ways professors can combat negative comments, such as posting a video rebuttal, but for the most part, many feel there is little they can do, Cassidy said.
“You just have to forget about it and hope that it’s not affecting (whether students will) take your course, or other professors are looking at it and it’s your reputation.”
Just over half of the surveyed students and faculty said they tried to stop cyberbullying. But less than half of them reported success. Cassidy said that’s partly because few university policies specifically address online bullying.
The research team examined 465 policies from 75 universities between November 2011 and January 2012.
One of the researchers, Simon Fraser criminology professor emerita Margaret Jackson said that many of the universities seemed dubious that online harassment in higher education should be considered cyberbullying.
“The connotation seems more applicable to younger individuals,” Jackson said. “I think we’ve moved through that now, so there is an appreciation that if this isn’t cyberbullying, it might be cyber harassment.”
The study found most universities did have policies around student conduct, discrimination and harassment, but not all were specific to online venues.
Jackson said devising clear-cut policies is a good start, but universities should also put resources into counselling and prevention to reduce cyberbullying.
“I think there needs to be an appreciation on the part of faculty and students that there is an impact to their behaviour and they should be acting respectfully,” Jackson said.
------------------------ SOCHI WINTER PARALYMPICS 2014 r on... and International Women's Day is being celebrated... would u please share the following 2 honour all the women Paralympic Athletes in SOCHI... please:
2da is International Women's Day... please hug and share 4 all our women athletes participating at Sochi Winter Paralympics 2014 in Mother Russia... share the love
Today, March 8 is International Women's Day. Let's click on "LIKE" for all the women competing at the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Games. Their courage inspire.
--------------------- MARCH 8, 2014- VOICE OF THE PEOPLE- CHRONICLE HERALD- Nova Scotia-Canada .... Playing politics
Re: “N.S. parties unite in call for inquiry into slain aboriginal women,” (March 6 story). Loretta Saunders was not murdered because she was an aboriginal woman. It appears Ms. Saunders was a victim of circumstances and of a crime of opportunity. I consider it bad medicine that elected officials are playing politics with a woman’s unfortunate death just to attack the prime minister. This story reminds me of how provincial politicians made political hay of Rehtaeh Parsons’ tragic, unnecessary death last year. A public inquiry would cost in excess of $100 million and result in many years of countrywide hearings. The monies could be more wisely invested in education, employment and housing of aboriginal families, if we are to successfully break the horrible cycle of addiction, violence and suicide that has plagued aboriginal people for over a century. Canadian taxpayers spend $20 billion annually to maintain aboriginal people. Today, the grassroots First Nations membership should not want for anything. I am 63. I was born into poverty, violence and alcoholism. I grew up as little girl eating out of dumps. I continue to see more mealtimes than meals. I have never had new clothing. I have been sober for 20-plus years. I shall not forget the struggle. I have a Grade 6 education. I receive a paltry ration cheque of $400 per month. I weigh 85 pounds. I live in a 2 x 4 constructed shack. I have no septic system, no foundation and no furnace. Non-native politicians are aware of these facts, like the First Nations leaders, yet both fail to respond to my many cries for help in regards to my present deplorable living conditions.
First Nations bands reap enough profits from fishing, gambling, tobacco and other industries and royalties that we should be self-sufficient today. Where are the monies going? At the same time, non-native politicians must stop playing politics and pretending to care about aboriginal women in their quest to gather more support at the ballot box.
Chief Ardy Born With 3 Thumbs, Doucetteville ----------------
Gloria Steinem and Marlo Thomas- helped change our world- thank u- hugs and love
"I don't know which one of you I'd like to f**k first."
With those words, a long and beautiful friendship was forged between me and Gloria Steinem.
Let me explain.
In 1967, after the first successful year of my TV series, That Girl, a Hollywood agent had the idea of my playing the part of Gloria, who had just made headlines by going undercover as a bunny at the Playboy Club, exposing the sexism and poor working conditions endured by the women who worked there. I'd never met Gloria, but I'd read her articles and knew she was smart and passionate about women's rights, and I was eager to meet her.
A meeting was set up by the agent, and no more than thirty seconds into it, he beamed at us appreciatively from across his desk, and delivered that jaw-dropping hello.
"Boy, I don't know which one of you I'd like to f**k first."
Boy, did he pick the wrong two women to say that to. I don't think we heard anything else he said that day. The meeting -- and the idea -- came to an immediate end. But for Gloria and me, it was just the beginning.
Gloria was my touchstone in those early days of the women's movement. She brought me into a circle of amazing women who were doing groundbreaking things. She opened my eyes to the power of creating coalitions that actually effected change rather than just talking about it. And she remains, to this day, a beacon on the front lines of feminism.
Last week, I wrote an essay to celebrate International Women's Day, and I received countless comments from women asking, "Where are we now? What do we do now?" -- all of them yearning to reignite the passion they had felt at the dawn of the women's movement.
"My feminist spirit was reawakened," wrote Huffington Post reader Kimberly Satin Kubler, "but I don't know where to begin."
So let's start talking.- MARLO THOMAS
-----------------
I believe we need more voices -from men to support women’s equality and empowerment.- said MNA Attiya Inayatullah- Please don't 4get the women of Afghanistan, Pakistan ...Muslim Nations... Please don't
Eve- One Billion Rising- No more Excuses- No more Abuses- thank u EVE
Break the Chains- One Billion Rising- No more excuses- giving women and girls around the world the knowledge - girl power- sisterhood is alive and well- it's our time
--------------------------
FROM NOVA SCOTIA TO AFGHANISTAN- WOMEN MARCH- 1 BILLION RISING The dancing demonstrators of One Billion Rising - EURONEWS- IN AFGHANISTAN- THEY MARCHED-
Breaking the chain of violence against girls and women-
OUR TROOPS DIE, WOUNDED AND SOULS BREAKING FROM TRYING 2 BRING BASIC FREEDOM AND HUMANITY 2 MUSLIM GIRLS AND WOMEN IN THE HARD PARTS OF THE WORLD.... because damm it! they matter! God bless our troops and all the women who step up and join our military.... freedom is a hard word.... but tastes so good- and women and children matter everywhere
Poster Girl- (Wrong Side of the World)- From Nova Scotia 2 Afghanistan 2 Australia 2 the world... ONE BILLION RISING- no more abuses... no more excuses- Girl Power Rising Baby- thank u
--------------------
OUR GLORIOUS WOMAN WARRIOR RITA MACNEIL- March 8- come celebrate a woman who changed and helped so many women of abuse, children and even animals... a one of a kind Canadian Angel Bread and Roses
Flying on Your Own - Rita MacNeil (lyrics)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AwTYFu619E Flying On Your Own recalled Collaborator heard MacNeil’s hit decades ago; now he leads orchestra in tribute ANDREA NEMETZ ARTS REPORTER
Last Updated March 7, 2014 - 9:29pm Late Cape Breton songstress Rita MacNeil will be honoured this weekend in two Symphony Nova Scotia concerts Flying on Your Own: A Tribute to Rita MacNeil. The singer died last April at the age of 68. (FILE) .
Scott Macmillan thinks he was the first person to hear Rita MacNeil’s classic ballad Flying On Your Own. “There was a wonderful group of us that would play at the Middle Deck,” recalls Macmillan, a longtime collaborator of the late Cape Breton songstress. “We did several nights at a time. The band was hot — Allie Bennett on bass, John Alphonse on drums, Ralph Dillon on keyboards and myself on guitar. “One night, Rita came in early and said she had some songs she wanted to sing for me. The four songs were all good, but Flying On Your Own stood out.” Released nearly 30 years ago, Flying On Your Own was the biggest hit for the beloved Big Pond singer-songwriter, who died April 16 at the age of 68. She sang it in her last performance, on March 9, 2013, with Symphony Nova Scotia, in a concert that was part of the East Coast Music Award celebrations. A year later, Symphony Nova Scotia will honour the three-time Juno Award winner with Flying on Your Own: A Tribute to Rita MacNeil. Shows are tonight at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium; tickets are extremely limited. Macmillan will conduct the orchestra and has written an overture, a medley of Rita’s songs, for the orchestra to play. Lucy MacNeil of the Barra MacNeils and Rita’s niece, Katriona MacNeil, will sing Rita’s songs in the first half of the show. The Men of the Deeps, a choir of working and retired coal miners from Cape Breton who sang with Rita many times, will perform in the second half. The evening will wrap up with everyone joining in a finale chorus of Working Man. Speaking by phone from her Sydney Mines home, Lucy MacNeil says she is nervous “about performing Rita’s songs for her beloved fans.” She’ll sing six tunes. Katriona, who sang at Rita’s memorial last year, will sing My Island Too. “Rita’s songs get right to the heart of things. She can relate to so many people. Her songs can touch you and give you hope,” says Lucy, noting she didn’t see Rita up close till Expo ’86 in Vancouver. “There was a frenzy for Rita. Her concerts were always sold out. We sang at a Nova Scotia Day concert with Men of the Deeps and the RCMP band, and it was a nice memory to be part of.” Later, the Barra MacNeils were guests on Rita’s TV show and TV specials, including Rita MacNeil’s Christmas. They did backing vocals on For Mary, For Joseph, from her 2002 Christmas album, Late December, and included the song on their 2013 Christmas album, O Christmas Three. “In 2006 and 2007, she asked us to be a part of her Christmas tour and we toured with her and her band. One morning I had the opportunity to have breakfast with Rita, and she was a delightful woman with lots of encouragement,” recalls Lucy. “She had such an amazing way for all her hard times. She’s quite a woman to have accomplished all she did.” Lucy says she’ll try not to look at the audience this weekend for fear she’ll see them crying, which might make her falter. “Reason to Believe is a wonderful song, about her mother. When I got through the words, I feel how she felt for her mother. I tend to be emotional and romantic. It will be hard not to get emotional and teary-eyed.” Macmillan, who did many orchestral arrangements for Rita, says the show will include the lesser-known Dream Forever from A Night at the Orpheum, one of several albums he produced for her. Also on the set list is Old Man, “a song about Rita’s father that is beautiful and very emotional,” says Macmillan. “Weary Travelers will feature the backup band — John Alphonse will play drums, with Bruce Dixon on bass, Kim Dunn on keyboards and Chris Corrigan on guitar — all longtime band members for MacNeil. “The songs are beautiful. The songs stand on their own. They’ll be flying on their own. I know Rita will be thrilled.” And he thinks it’s fate that the one day everyone was available for the show was March 8, International Women’s Day, as Rita was a staunch supporter of women’s rights. “It’s like Rita came down and said this is the date we had to do this.” CELEBRATING RITA Flying on Your Own: A Tribute to Rita MacNeil When: Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium. Presented by: Symphony Nova Scotia. With special guests Men of the Deeps, Lucy MacNeil, and Katriona MacNeil. Conducted by: Scott Macmillan Tickets: Range from $30 to $57 (HST included). Call 494-3820 or visit www.symphonynovascotia.ca. Tickets for tonight’s show are extremely limited. For more information, go to www.ecma.com. http://thechronicleherald.ca/artslife/1192116-flying-on-your-own-recalled
flying on your own, working man so many uplifting songs - my sons called her an Angel from God... and so did the women and girls of this world.... Love u Rita MacNeil
Halifax, NS – Symphony Nova Scotia remembers the legacy of Rita MacNeil in a ... place Saturday, March 8, 2014 at 7:30 pm at the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium, ...
---------------
----------------
IN CANADA WOMEN EQUAL MEN.... WOMEN EQUAL MEN... WOMEN EQUAL MEN... WE PAID DEARLY AS GIRLS AND WOMEN... AND... as Peter MacKay says... we did NOT sacrifice our troops in Afghanistan 4 the basic rights and freedoms of Afghan girls and women 4 them 2 come home and see women's rights eroded in Canada....
BLOGGED:
CANADA MILITARY NEWS: Nova Scotia Domestic Violence Shelters/BULLYCIDE-BULLY HELP SITES/Homeless Shelters/UK /Australia/Canada- u matter- MARCH 8- INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY.... One Billion rising- breaking the chains- no more excuses- Nova Scotia honours Warrior Woman Rita MacNeil March 8th concert of remembrance
How
interesting in Nova Scotia- all parties working 2gether 2 ensure this stain of
evil is addressed at all leveils; as we all should ...
PLEASE
glorify your one political stream over
others on the bloodstains of dead and murdered women and children victims...it’s
ugly and makes u so
U make
us proud Nova Scotia 2da- coward women and child butchers don’t ask your
flavour, colour, religion, choices of politics do they- they just torture and
leave heartache etched in our Canadian heart and souls... r kids matter- all
kids matter- thank u..imho.
Actually quite a few of us upset yesterday with the game playing by one political party acting like they were the ONLY party that gave a sheeeet about women and children in our Canada ... and many of us were pis*ed off over the blatant bragging rights on the bloodstains of our dead women and children in our Canada....
This is better... so much better... God bless u Nova Scotia.
Back in the day.... it was not NDP, Liberals or Bloc and no one heard of Green- a Tory MP rose in the house about Pay Equity in Canada and Child Abuse and the rights of Children with Disabilities... his name - TORY MP SCOTT BRISON.... our PSAC President Darryl Bean had #1 in Ottawa on his licence plate... but NDP did not bring it in the house.... LIBERALS were cruel and mean and stubborn and the BLOC just didn't give a sheeet.... but Scott Brison- elected MP 4 Kings Conservative Party did... and he helped us change our Canada...
All women belong 2 all parties... or none... but our Canadian women deserve protection and healing and 2 feel safe- thank u Nova Scotia
N.S.
parties unite in call for inquiry into slain aboriginal women
THE
CANADIAN PRESS
Published March 6, 2014 - 12:33pm
Last Updated March 6, 2014 - 2:00pm
A vigil is held on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Wednesday for Loretta
Saunders and to call for a national inquiry into missing and murdered
aboriginal women. (SEAN KILPATRICK / The Canadian Press)
Nova Scotia’s three main party leaders have joined the voices calling
for a national public inquiry into missing and murdered aboriginal women
following the slaying of Loretta Saunders.
Liberal Premier Stephen McNeil said Saunders’s death is a tragic
reminder of a serious issue.
“I commend the federal government for its efforts so far, but I urge my
federal colleagues to take this work one step further,” McNeil said Thursday in
a joint statement with the leaders of the Progressive Conservatives and NDP.
Saunders, a 26-year-old Inuit woman from Labrador, was studying at Saint
Mary’s University in Halifax when she vanished last month. At the time, the
honours student was writing her thesis on murdered and missing aboriginal
women.
Her remains were found by the side of a New Brunswick highway two weeks
after her disappearance. Blake Legette, 25, and his 28-year-old girlfriend,
Victoria Henneberry, are charged with first-degree murder in her death.
It is estimated there are hundreds of cases of missing and murdered
aboriginal women dating back to the 1960s. A United Nations human rights
investigator called that statistic disturbing last year during a fact-finding
visit to Canada in which he also urged the federal government to hold an inquiry.
Canada’s provincial and territorial leaders backed the request for a
formal inquiry into the issue after meeting with aboriginal leaders last July.
The pressure on Ottawa to act has continued to mount since Saunders’s death.
The federal Conservatives say they renewed funding to combat violence
against aboriginal women in their recent budget, and have so far resisted pleas
for an inquiry.
A special parliamentary committee has also been studying the issue, but
Nova Scotia Tory Opposition Leader Jamie Baillie said the time has come for a
full-fledged national inquiry, calling it “an important next step.”
NDP Leader Maureen MacDonald said Saunders’s death highlights what she
calls a troubling pattern of violence against women that needs to be addressed by
all levels of government.
“Efforts must be made to examine and understand more fully what steps
must be taken to end the unacceptable rate of death and disappearance among
aboriginal women in Canada,” she said.
The provincial government said McNeil has written to the federal
ministers of justice, aboriginal affairs and the status of women expressing the
need for an inquiry.
Membertou honours young woman’s victory over addictions
MARY ELLEN
MacINTYRE CAPE BRETON BUREAU
mmacintyre@herald.ca @CH_MEMacIntyre
MEMBERTOU — This Mi ’kmaq community’s citizen of the
year didn’t develop a million-dollar business or win gold at the
Olympics.But what the gentle 26-year-old
accomplished, she did with grace, courage and unwavering love.
“I was
drug- and alcohol-addicted and my grandmother helped me a lot," Gail Christmas
said in an interview Wednesday.
“A long time ago, she was a drug and
alcohol couns ellor and I guess I was her last client," she said, smiling as she
thought o f her grandmother, Ruth Christmas, who died
last September.
The past two years have brought enormous changes for the
young woman. “It was two years on Feb. 3 that I’ve been clean and I’ve grown a
lot."
Her grandmother did everything she cou ld to help her overcome her
addictions and Christmas was completely devoted to
her. “When she was sick, she could call me at any time
and I would go to help her — she was a good woman," she said quietly, looking
down at her hands.
In them, she held the citizen of the year award from
Membertou First Nation.
“I couldn’t believe — I didn’t know anything
about this," she said with a laugh .
In fact,
Christmas didn’t intend to go to the awards ceremony Tuesday night.
A
human services student at the Nova Scotia Community College’s Marconi campus,
Christmas wanted to us e the time to work on a project .
“But I went because my cousin said I had to go because I might have
to present the award with him to the person who won.”
Since the Bradley Christmas memorial award for citizen of the year
is named after her late uncle, a family member traditionally presents it to the
winner.
“My aunties, father and godfather, who
is also my uncle, they got up to present it,” Christmas said.
“I couldn’t believe I was the winner.”
Christmas is involved in a number of activities
in the community, including helping out with Special Olympics athletes and
boxing.
Asked why she thought she had won the
award, she paused to think over the question.
“I guess it’s because of the struggles I went through and people
were very proud to see me overcome them,” she said.
“My grammy really helped me.
I
guess we were helping each other and I know she was really proud of me.”
Gail Christmas,
Membertou First Nation’s citizen of the year.
MARY ELLEN MacINTYRE • Cape Breton Bureau
----------------------
Elders offer ‘helping hand’
Language, culture cr ucial for young people, Mi’kmaq
studies exper t tells symposium
Joe B. Marshall laughs as he
describes his wife’s tactic to encourage their grandchildren to speak
Mi’kmaq.
“My wife used to ignore our grandkids if they didn’t speak
Mi’kmaq to her," he said.
That’s tough love. But the language could sure
use a helping hand, Marshall said.
At a symposium on Mi’kmaq education
Wednesday, the Eskasoni elder spoke of the importance of bringing elders into
Mi’kmaq classrooms to instil the language, culture and philosophy in young
minds.
“If they don’t get Mi’kmaq education, they won’t know who they
are, they won’t know where they come from. They’ll just be part of the ball of
wax, mixed in with every other culture and everyone else," he said after
delivering his keynote speech at the Dartmouth conference.
Marshall,
executive director of the Union of Nova Scotia Indians and a retired associate
professor of Mi’kmaq studies at Cape Breton University, said elders do
occasionally visit classrooms and teach kids. But they should be involved more,
and they should also help outside the classroom to plan and build the Mi’kmaq
education system. “They
didn’t preserve the language and the culture; they lived it. They’re our
experts and we need them .
“The assimilation and the Christianization and
the ‘civilization’ of Mi’kmaq people . . . has advanced so far that we’ve lost
much of our culture, much of our language, traditions and our philosophies. We have to bring them back. The only place we can go
for that is to the elders."
One of the barriers to elders becoming
involved in education comes from within the Mi’kmaq community itself, Marshall
said.
“There are many of us who believe that you’ve got to forget our
language and our Mi’kmaqness. . . . Many people have
denied the language, even today."
Another Mi’kmaq elder from Eskasoni,
Albert Marshall, said he would like to see Mi’kmaq language become mandatory in
Mi’kmaq schools.
“To be a Mi’kmaq, you have to have the language. If you
don’t have the language, then everything you know about
who you are only could be considered as surface learning," he said.
And
time is of the essence.
Albert Marshall said the majority of the Mi’kmaq
population in Nova Scotia are under 30, and elders are “dying off quite
rapidly."
“Demographically, we’re at a
disadvantage."
He suggested using computer technology to bring Mi’kmaq
elders into Mi’kmaq classrooms across the province.
“Unless there are
opportunities provided for the knowledge holders to share their life, their
culture with the students, where are those students going to get it
from?"
Joe B. Marshall, keynote speaker at a
symposium on Mi’kmaq education in Dartmouth on Wednesday, stressed the role of
elders in impar ting language and culture to young First Nations
people. INGRID BULMER
• Staff
-------------------
OH NOVA SCOTIA- FROM AFGHANISTAN 2 RWANDA
FRAGRANT ENVOY
Bedford’s Stegemann invited to Rwanda
Bedford fragrance maven Barb Stegemann is heading to Rwanda at the
invitation of the African nation’s high commission.
The CEO and founder o
f the 7 Virtues Beauty Inc. lands in Kigali on Saturday, International Women’s
Day, to meet farmers who are growing the patchouli for the company’s next
perfume.
Stegemann says in an email: “We will also bring a film crew to
share the story of the farmers who are 80 per cent made up of orphans and widows
from the genocide 20 years ago. The farming co-operatives help them rebuild,
and we are so moved that they have invited us to come and share their story. We
were invited by the High Commission o f Rwanda after they met us at
Selfridges."
The 7 Virtues launched its fragrance line, which includes
Afghanistan Orange Blossom, Noble Rose of Afghanistan,
Vetiver of Haiti and Middle East Peace, at the U.K. department store on Sept.
21, in honour of the United Nations International Day of Peace.
The
fragrances are also available in Canada at Hudson’s Bay Co. stores, in the
United States at Lord and Taylor and at Galeries Lafayette
Berlin.
Stegemann visited Haiti on an agricultural trade mission with
former U.S. president Bill Clinton and the Clinton Foundation in March 2013.
Vetiver of Haiti uses organic vetiver essential oil sourced from
Haiti.
The mother of two is the first woman from Atlantic Canada to seal
a deal on CBC’s Dragons’ Den, where she met her business partner, philanthropist
W. Brett Wilson. Later, she was named top game changer in the show’s
history.
Afghanistan Women- ONE BILLION RISING- Pls Don't 4get us
--------------------------
It's important that all women matter in Canada and all children- our Government has been excellent in supporting women's issues federally...... more so than many b4 them.... however this horror against Aboriginal women who fall between the cracks of addiction and hard lives and destroyed by monsters as roadkill trash is wrong on so many levels..... we do need an inquiry... BUT NOT 2 FILL THE POCKETS OF A FEW... that's just wrong... get this done right...
AND SHAME ON UNITED NATIONS WHO ON THIS DAY MARCH 6 2014 STILL REFUSE 2 CALL WOMEN EQUAL 2 MEN IN WRITING- get away from women on this planet... u evil creeps... Congo, Rwanda, Africas, Sex-trafficking, paedophiles- UNITED NATIONS U SHAME THE WORLD...
Calls for inquiry at vigil for murdered Halifax woman Loretta Saunders
By Staff Global News and The Canadian Press
What is this?
Sponsored content is written by Global News' editorial staff without any editorial influence by the sponsor. If you'd like to learn more...
Sponsored content is written by Global News' without any editorial influence by the sponsor. If you'd like to learn more...
WATCH: What Justice Minister Peter MacKay says the government has been doing in response to cases like Loretta Saunders.
OTTAWA – It took the disappearance of a cousin to bring Holly Jarrett and her estranged mother together after a year of silence.
After Loretta Sanders went missing, her mother called Jarrett and pleaded with her to make up with her mom.
“She explained that we’re a family, and Loretta knew my mom and I didn’t talk, and she would be very happy when she came home to know that such a good thing had come from her being missing,” Jarrett said Wednesday at a Parliament Hill vigil for her cousin, a 26-year-old Inuit student who vanished from Halifax Feb. 13. READ MORE: Victoria Henneberry’s ex-roommate shocked about her arrest in Loretta Saunders’ murder
People gather at Parliament Hill in Ottawa March 5, 2014 for Loretta Saunders’ vigil.
Bryan Mullan / Global News
People hold banners on Parliament Hill in Ottawa March 5, 2014 at a vigil for Loretta Saunders.
Bryan Mullan / Global News
People gather at Parliament Hill in Ottawa March 5, 2014 for Loretta Saunders’ vigil.
Bryan Mullan / Global News
“I’ve talked to my mother every day since.”
The day after Jarrett reconciled with her mother, Saunders’ body was found on the snow-covered median of a New Brunswick highway.
“Left there, a young, promising, talented, contributing aboriginal citizen of our country, of my community and my family, left on the side of the road,” said Jarrett as she choked back tears.
“Our precious little girl who fought for justice for the very silent population of girls she’s now a part of.”
Jarrett proceeded to demand answers from the Minister of Status of Women Kellie Leitch as to “why this government thinks it’s okay to allow our women to be murdered at a rate of five to seven times higher than that of any other demographic in Canada.”
Saunders was an honours student at Saint Mary’s University when she disappeared. Two people have been charged with first-degree murder in her death. MORE: Case of 2 accused of murdering Loretta Saunders adjourned to March 19
One of them, 25-year-old Blake Leggette, appeared recently in a provincial court. The other, Leggette’s 28-year-old girlfriend, Victoria Henneberry, did not appear in court and was instead represented by her lawyer.
In a cruel irony, Saunders was writing a thesis on murdered and missing aboriginal women before she died.
Cheryl Maloney of the Nova Scotia Native Women’s Association, who spoke at the vigil, said she grappled with the question of who, if anyone, should finish Saunders’ work before coming to a realization.
“Maybe it wasn’t up to one person to finish Loretta’s thesis,” she said. “Maybe it was up to all of us as Canadians.”
Maloney and others at the vigil called on the Conservative government to hold a national inquiry into missing and murdered aboriginal women.
“If you, Mr. Prime minister, are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem,” said Manitoba NDP Niki Ashton. “We will not stop and we cannot stop in Loretta Saunders’ memory and in the memory of every single missing and murdered aboriginal woman…We must continue to call for an action plan.”
But while the Conservatives renewed funding to combat violence against aboriginal women and girls in their recent budget, they have so far resisted calls for a formal inquiry.
Minister of Justice and Attorney General Peter MacKay said Wednesday afternoon that Saunders’ death was shocking and sad, but that the Conservatives have been acting on issues “that pertain specifically to violence against women.”
“This government has enacted over 30 pieces of legislation with justice and public safety. We have brought forward more tools for police…more programs designed specifically to help vulnerable women get out of violent situations,” he said when asked about the possibility of a public inquiry during Question Period. “We have enabled aboriginal women to have matrimonial property.” WATCH: Conservatives pressed to hold public inquiry on death of Loretta Saunders
It is estimated there are hundreds of cases of missing and murdered aboriginal women dating back to the 1960s.
A United Nations human rights investigator called that statistic disturbing last year during a fact-finding visit to Canada in which he also urged the Conservative government to hold an inquiry.
James Anaya, the UN special rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, said a national inquiry would ensure a co-ordinated response to the problem and allow the families of victims to be heard. With files from Global News producer Bryan Mullan
-------------------
Women's
Movement
Since the end of the 19th century, Canadian women have been organizing
to redefine their place in society, to demand equality and justice. Through
legal and political means, the women's movement has allowed Canadian women to
obtain a certain formal equality.
Casgrain, Thérèse
Casgrain was a leading 20th-century Canadian reformer (courtesy Library
and Archives Canada/C-68509).
McClung, Murphy and Jamieson
Nellie McClung (left), Emily Murphy (right) and Laura Jamieson (March
1916) were the leaders of the feminist cause in western Canada (courtesy City
of Edmonton Archives).
Doris Anderson, 1921-2007.
In 1979 Doris Anderson became president of the Canadian Advisory Council
on the Status of Women, resigning in 1981. Later, in 1983 Anderson was the
president of the National Action Committee on the Status of Women(Image by
Barbara Woodley; courtesy of Library and Archives Canada/1993-234 NPC.).
Women's Movement
Since the end of the 19th century, Canadian women have been organizing
to redefine their place in society, to demand equality and justice. Through
legal and political means, the women's movement has allowed Canadian women to
obtain a certain formal equality. Parallel to this slow conquest of equal
rights, the lifestyle of Canadian women, as for women in most other Western
countries, has undergone profound changes. Goods and services traditionally
produced in the home are now available for purchase by consumers; and these
technological developments, together with the growth of the service sector,
have facilitated the increasing participation of women in the labour market, so
that by the 1980s the majority of Canadian married women had a paying job.
Serious inequalities in the relative position of men and women in society
remain, however. The federal government in 1967 set up the Royal Commission on
the Status
of Women to examine the situation, and in its 1970 report the commission
made 167 recommendations for greater equality of women.
Emergence of a New Women's Movement
The late 1960s in Canada, as throughout the Western world, saw the
emergence of a new women's movement. This new feminism rejected all limits to
the equality of women's rights and showed that equality in daily life cannot be
obtained through simple legal, political or institutional modifications. Women
were greatly influenced by books and articles by feminists such as Kate
Millett, Germaine Greer, Gloria Steinem and Shulamith Firestone, and by
publications such as Women Unite: An Anthology of the Women's Movement
(1972) and Margaret Anderson's Mother Was Not a Person (1973). These
writers held that society's major power relationship was one of domination and
oppression of women by men. The existing body of social relationships, along
with the very functioning of society, was analysed and criticized.
In the late 1960s, discovering that "sisterhood is powerful,"
women from Vancouver to Halifax began forming groups. The Vancouver Women's
Caucus was organized in 1968 and published The Pedestal from 1969 to
1973. The Montréal Women's Liberation Movement was founded in 1969, the Front
de libération des femmes du Québec published a feminist manifesto in 1970, and
the Centre des femmes edited the first French-language radical feminist
periodical, Québécoises deboutte! (1971-75). At first, some were
consciousness-raising groups, but others quickly turned to concrete action,
providing abortion services, health centres, feminist magazines, militant
theatre, day-care, shelters for battered women and rape crisis centres, and
organizing for equal pay. By the end of the 1960s, Canadian society had begun
to adjust to the rebirth of a major social movement, the women's movement.
Social movements, which can be loosely defined as conscious collective
efforts to change some aspects of the social order, are difficult to describe
with precision. Major social movements contain within themselves many
subgroupings which may differ in important ways. The women's movement, for
example, includes liberal, radical and Marxist feminists, ecofeminists, lesbian
separatists, and those who view lesbianism as one lifestyle among others;
although these groupings debate vigorously on a number of issues, they do agree
on the basic need to improve the situation of women. The women's movement has
been working for social justice for women along many different fronts,
including politics, culture, the mass media, law, education, health, the labour
force, religion, the environment and the home. Combining the fight against
sexism with a fight against racism has become increasingly important. The
organizational structure includes groups of every size and from every region,
including national and international ones.
Some concentrate on self-help; some on working for general social
change. While in the beginning, in the early 1970s, the movement seemed to
consist of smaller radical groups, the movement's base has gradually expanded
to incorporate women of diverse opinions and from all parts of Canadian
society, including welfare mothers, professional, business and executive women,
native women and immigrant domestic workers. Large, well-established
organizations have also adopted feminist practices and the women's movement
itself has now generated a number of autonomous organizations.
Promoting the Movement's Goals
The women's movement uses diverse methods to promote its goal of social
justice for women. Public events, including lectures, entertainment in various
forms and leafleting, are arranged to "raise consciousness" and
disseminate information. Protest actions such as demonstrations, marches,
vigils and petitions are organized. Government, political parties and
particular agencies, institutions and employers are lobbied for reform. Action
often takes the form of first establishing a committee (caucus, interest group)
on the status of women, then documenting existing inequities, formulating
proposals for improvement, and finally lobbying for their implementation. In response,
the federal and various provincial governments established advisory councils on
the Status
of Women. The federal advisory council, which played an important role in publicizing
issues through its publications, was folded into the Status of Women Canada in
1996. There are a number of other bureaucratic institutions at all levels of
government, including municipal governments, as well as educational and health
institutions.
Another important activity of the women's movement centres on
publication, ranging from informal flyers to posters to highly academic volumes
and including children's books, self-help manuals and newspaper columns. These
contributions are published through mainstream outlets as well as through a
network of feminist presses.
The women's movement has been effective in organizing action on
particular issues using a multitude of means and involving a coalition of
groups and individuals. Issues generating mass efforts include, for example,
the right to choice in obtaining a legal abortion, the entrenchment of sex
equality in the Canadian
Charter of Rights and Freedoms in 1982, pornography,
the new reproductive and genetic technologies and threats to the environment,
civil
liberties and peace (seePeace
Movement).
Groups and Organizations
In sum, women have broken their isolation and have set up groups and
organizations across the country, or have joined existent organizations. Since
the late 1970s co-operation among the various groups has intensified. Some of
the national groups include the National
Action Committee on the Status of Women, the Canadian Research Institute
for the Advancement of Women, the Canadian Congress for Learning Opportunities
for Women, the National Association of Women and the Law, the Canadian Day Care
Advocacy Group, Federation nationale des femmes canadiennes-francaises, the
National Organization of Immigrant and Visible Minority Women of Canada,
National Watch on Images of Women in the Media Inc, the Women's Legal Education
and Action fund, Disabled Women's Network Canada, the National Congress of
Black Women of Canada, the Native Women's Organization of Canada, the National
Council of Women, the Voice of
Women, the Canadian Association of Sexual Assault Centres and many more.
Such groups consist mainly of women from the anglophone provinces, for
French Canadian women tend to align themselves on linguistic rather than truly
"national" lines. Thus, Québec has a whole series of counterpart
organizations to the "national" ones mentioned above, eg, Fédération
des femmes du Québec and L'Association feminine d'éducation et d'action
sociale, les centres d'aide et de lutte contre les agressions à caractère
sexuel, le Centre d'intervention pour l'accès des Femmes au travail et
l"R" des centres de Femmes. These groups and organizations define to
some extent the structure of the feminist movement in Canada. While a majority
of Canadian women as well as men are in sympathy with the goal of social
justice for women, much of the actual work falls to "front-line"
feminist organizations, some of which appear to be more or less permanent and
others that exist more as ad hoc groups which surface only to confront specific
tasks.
Changing the Social Structure
Creating a just society for women means the elimination of sexism in all
areas, particularly in the legal system, in the organization of social
production, in the perception and treatment of women's bodies, and in the arts,
sciences, religion, education and the mass media.
Most progress has been achieved in the legal area. Among the earliest
targets for action were the various family laws.
In 1973 the Murdoch case,
in which an Alberta farm wife was denied a half interest in the farm that she
and her husband had built up together over a 25-year period because her work
was seen simply as the fulfilment of her wifely duties, raised awareness about
the injustices of family laws. Since that time, all provinces have reformed
their family laws in the direction of greater equality between spouses, many
more than once.
Since the '80s, a number of provincial governments have instituted
agencies that collect and transmit support payments to lone parents. Several
important test cases came before the courts. One of these cases (the Thibaudeau
case) involved the taxation of support payments. In response to the public
reaction in this case, the federal government announced in 1996 that child
support payments received would no longer be taxable. Another legal decision in
the Lavell
case (1973) involved an Indian woman who had lost her Indian status and privileges
upon marriage to a non-Indian. The discriminatory aspects of the Indian Act
were removed as of 1985. Since that time, women who lost Indian status because
they married a non-Indian can reclaim their lost status, as can their
first-generation children. However, problems remain.
One of the primary concerns of the women's movement has been the
securing of appropriate rewards for work performed
by women. In this context, "work" includes both paid and unpaid work,
and involves the realization that the 2 are inextricably linked. It was the
women's movement that first emphasized that work done within the home is,
indeed, work, and should be regarded as such. The Wages for Housework
movement has been instrumental in focusing attention on this issue. Out of this
concern have sprung campaigns as well as one federal commission and one
parliamentary committee for good day care,
maternity and paternity benefits in employment, and some recognition in both
the pension system and in cases of divorce of work performed by the housewife.
In the paid labour force, concern focused initially on equal pay for
equal work. In the '80s, the demand for equal pay for work of equal value has
prompted comparisons of dissimilar jobs in order to establish fair pay scales
for jobs requiring similar skills, efforts and responsibilities. The Royal
Commission on Equality in Employment (Abella Commission), which tabled its
report in 1984, made a number of recommendations for sweeping changes.
Employment equity and pay equity have become a concern for unions, employees
and governments. Some programs try to overcome historical discrimination by
facilitating the promotion of women into levels and types of occupation from
which they have so far been excluded. There was also a concern to recognize the
contribution of wives who work in partnership with their husbands in
nonincorporated businesses, so that wages paid to the wife can be rated as such
for tax and legal purposes.
The most controversial field of feminist action is the attempt to affirm
women's right to control over their bodies, eg, with respect to fertility,
sexual relationships, sexual violence, and medical power over women's health.
The most fiery demonstrations have been about the control of abortion, a
struggle which began in the late 1960s. Dr Henry
Morgentaler, who supported the establishment of free-standing abortion
clinics, was at the centre of the debate. After several court trials, he was
finally acquitted in Québec, where abortions in family-planning clinics became
possible. The abortion question flared up again in the 1980s. In 1983 Dr
Morgentaler opened abortion clinics in Toronto and Winnipeg. Morgentaler was
prosecuted and acquitted by jury. The Crown appealed and ordered a new trial.
At that point, Morgentaler appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada.
In early 1988 in a landmark decision the Supreme Court voted to strike
down Canada's abortion law. A new federal law was narrowly defeated (by one
voice) in the Senate in 1991. The government opted not to bring in new
legislation thereafter. Since that time, Canada has been without a law that is
specifically geared towards abortion. In practice, this means that there
continue to be regional variations in how accessible abortions are, depending
on cost and on the existence of clinics and/or the willingness of doctors to
perform abortions in regular hospitals.
The abortion debate has had its corollory in a re-evaluation of medical
practices and initiatives in the field of contraception. It includes such
questions as is it necessary for women alone to carry its burdens? Why are they
the only ones to suffer the side effects of contraceptives? Why has research into
male contraception been so slow? Why do doctors so commonly perform
hysterectomies on menopausal women? Such questions have led feminists to
produce written and visual health "kits," to open self-help health
clinics, and to champion alternative medicine and the removal of pregnancy and
childbirth from medical structures. One concrete outcome has been the
legalization and institutionalization of midwifery in several provinces.
With the rapid changes that are occurring in the field of reproductive
technologies, and the social arrangements concerning them, the whole issue of
women's control over their reproductive processes has taken on a new dimension
and urgency. On the one hand, certain techniques such as in-vitro fertilization
and embryo transfer open the possibility for women to have children who before
were not able to do so. On the other hand, these same techniques and other
social arrangements raise problems of a type and magnitude that did not exist
before. Who should have access to these technologies? Should sexual
orientation, marital status and ability to pay be relevant? Women's groups
argued vigorously that such factors should not impede access. But should these
technologies be used at all?
Medical doctors are now a third party in the process of reproduction and
literally hold the power to determine the genetic make-up of new human beings
when some of these technologies are used. Laws and policies about many of the
issues arising either do not yet exist or have been insufficiently elaborated.
Who owns the sperm of a dead donor? Should egg donations be permitted? If so,
should they be anonymous or should it be possible to specify recipients? Should
human cells be patentable? Should somatic cell gene manipulation be permitted?
How can the profit motive in human reproduction be controlled?
In 1987, the Canadian Coalition for a Royal Commission on New
Reproductive Technologies started to systematically lobby the government to set
up a Royal Commission on this issue. This effort was successful with the establishment,
in 1989, of the Royal
Commission on New Reproductive Technologies. However, the commission
suffered from strong internal dissension. Their report, released in 1994, had
in early 1996 only led to a call by the Minister of Health for a voluntary
moratorium on certain practices - a call that has not been heeded. As of 1999,
none of the recommendations had been implemented.
Male control over women's bodies has also traditionally expressed itself
through violence. New halfway houses for battered women have opened in several
cities, and analyses and reports on this hitherto forbidden topic are published
in newspapers and magazines. Rape, the chief
representation of aggression against women, has escaped from the silence which
formerly surrounded it. Rape crisis centres have existed in major cities since
1973; a lobby has been organized to press for changes in the law; each fall
urban women parade to demonstrate their right to use the streets safely at
night; and every year thousands of Canadian women take courses in self-defence.
In 1990, a young man shot and killed 14 young women at the École
Polytechnique de Montréal, stating "You are all feminists!" This
tragedy rallied women as well as men in Canada around efforts to reduce all
forms of violence against women and children, including incest, date rape and
sexual harassment. The federal government set up a Panel on Violence against
Women, which delivered their report in 1993. The most publicized action on the
part of the federal government was a law on gun control.
The new feminism has also affected the arts, creative activities,
education and the mass media. Discussions about women are analysed, evaluated
and dissected, with the result that women are using new languages, images and
methods of analysis.
Women's writing in the last few decades has seen an unprecedented and
revitalizing explosion. Women now talk about what it is to be a woman. They
talk about things that were previously private, hidden or mythologized, such as
rape, incest and family violence. Some writings focus on the denunciation of
oppression; others "celebrate the differences" and talk about
maternity, mothers' daily work, children, marriage, the family, the
relationship of women to nature and love between women. Female writers such as Nicole
Brossard, Louky Bersianik, Madeleine Gagnon, Denise Boucher, Margaret
Atwood, Alice Munro,
Jane
Rule and many others mark a turning-point in Québec and Canadian
literature. During the '80s and '90s, writers and poets like Gloria Escomel
have integrated feminism into the plurality of women's experiences. Theatrical
production includes such acclaimed feminist plays as La Nef de sorcières
(1976), written by a feminist collective, Boucher's Les Fées ont soif
(1978) and Betty Lambert's Jenny's Story (1982). Feminist theatre
troupes have existed since the 1970s and feminist plays are now in the
repertory of various small or institutional theatres.
In the mass media, feminist journalists and the work of feminist groups
have had some effect in generating higher awareness of women as readers and
newsmakers. Columnists in several major newspapers and periodicals now write
from an explicitly feminist perspective. Nevertheless, the relationship between
the women's movement and the mass media remains strained, as the media
sometimes misrepresent the movement. As a result, a feminist press has
developed, with its own media production and distribution system.
Politically committed humorists, rockers and women performers challenge
audiences. Female producers at the National
Film Board, through Studio D, have produced or co-produced documentaries,
including the major series "En tant que femmes", "Not a Love
Story", "The Burning Times", "On the Eighth Day" and
"Forbidden Love: The Unashamed Stories of Lesbian Lives". In 1996,
Studio D was closed.
Video has always been open to women: in 1975, to honour International
Women's Year, feminist video production and distribution centres opened in 8
Canadian cities. Some still exist and each year they produce material or
fictional work which is distributed through community and educational circles.
A great effort has been put into eliminating sexism in education. Women's
studies are now an accepted part of many curricula. In 1983 the Social
Sciences and Humanities Research Council created a committee for
facilitating the equal treatment of the sexes in social science and humanities
research. It produced a pamphlet by Eichler and Lapointe, On the Treatment of
the Sexes in Research, which argues that good research must be nonsexist. In
general, integrating women into our thought processes is now widely seen as
important and legitimate, although the process of doing so has just begun.
Since the '90s, the greatest challenges to the women's movement - as to
other socially committed groups - are the policy changes that are taking place
in the context of deficit and debt reduction. This is occurring at the
provincial as well as at the federal level. Provinces vary in the degree to
which social programs are slashed and infrastructure is dismantled, but the
general trend is towards tightening public spending in social programs. These
programs are often geared to serve the poor and disadvantaged, which include a
disproportionate number of women. Women are thus particularly negatively
affected by the manner in which Canadian governments are attempting to balance
their books.
The globalization of the economy and the resultant impoverishment for
women and other disadvantaged groups may generate new coalitions between
equity-seeking groups from the grass roots to the national and international
levels. For instance, in 1995 the Bread and Roses March involved women marching
for 10 days to Québec City to dramatize poverty.
Conclusion
In the time since its re-emergence, feminism has had a major impact on
our society. Ultimately, creating social justice for women involves a profound
restructuring of society and of the way people think about and experience the
world. By stressing that "the personal is political," the women's
movement has made the social inequality of women a public and not merely a
private problem. This accomplishment is its single most important contribution.
With changing circumstances, new issues emerge that need to be
addressed. In Canada in 1996, globalization, lack of good jobs, slashing of
social programs, de-institutionalization and devolution of powers from the
federal government to provincial or local governments, the diminution of
national or provincial standards and environmental deterioration are issues
which are now of concern to the women's movement as well as to those issues
which had been identified previously. For other issues such as day care,
the scope has been defined but implementation has still to be achieved.
WHY WON'T UNITED NATIONS SIGN SIGNATORY DECLARYING WOMEN EQUAL MEN?
-THIS BLOG IS SERIOUSLY ABOUT CANADA'S UNIVERSITIES NEEDING 2 CLEAN UP THEIR ACTS AND PAMPERED INDIFFERENCE 2 THE REAL WORLD... ESPECIALLY WOMEN AND GIRLS AND CANADA'S CULTURAL ORDER - we have blogged so often- and our Canada colleges and universities are among the finest on the planet... but this underbelly must be spiked out now!
Racial segregation, social justice style -UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA
By Anthony Furey,QMI Agency
First posted: Tuesday, March 04, 2014 05:35 PM EST
What first comes to mind when you hear “racially segregated school event”?
You probably think of the United States civil rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s.
Try again. It’s happening now in Canada.
Concerned students got in touch with me about an event the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa put on Tuesday night called In My Skin.
The goal was supposedly to talk about experiences with racism. However, the online invitation was taken down due to controversy.
It read: “In this meeting, we will have all the racialized folks in one room talking about their experiences … In another room, we will have all the non-racialized folks talking about their white privileges.” That’s right. Whites in one room. Non-whites in another.
Emma wrote passionately on the event board: “THIS IS THE MOST F---ING RACIST THING THIS DAMN SCHOOL HAS EVER DONE... YOU ARE MAKING HUGE HUGE HUGE HUMANITARIAN MISTAKES.” Mixed race students had a problem too. Jamie wrote: “I personally have no idea where I will sit considering I’m half white and half black. I actually don’t want to attend this event solely because I will feel awkward no matter what room I’m sitting in as I won’t feel that I completely fit in with either side.” But Selena’s comment was the most powerful: “So I’m guessing I can’t sit with my boyfriend then.” A young couple are able to go about undisturbed in society today because of advances made decades ago. Then an organization says if they want to attend an official event in their community they have to be separated based on colour.
In a statement standing behind the event, the student federation notes:
“Unfortunately, the structure of these two initial discussion groups were misunderstood by some students, who claimed that such an event promoted segregation and ‘reverse racism.’ It is first important to note that reverse racism is a myth.” So that’s how they get around their own racism — claiming it’s a myth.
Has it occurred to the student union’s mostly white executive that the best way to achieve harmony is to focus on similarities, not differences?
In 1954 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Brown vs. Board of Education that state laws establishing separate schools for black and white students was unconstitutional.
And yet half a century later, because of some social justice gobbledygook, we’re faced with this.
The SFUO represents more than 35,000 undergraduate students. They pay yearly dues of around $175.
The purpose is to give students a voice alongside administration, faculty and the broader government. But they stray far from that.
This week is Reproductive Justice Week — a week of pro-choice activism.
There’s a campaign to eliminate bottled water on campus and another to challenge the Health Canada rule banning men who have had sex with men from giving blood.
Whatever your views on these issues, why should every student pay $175 for activists to wage these battles? (Or to segregate races?) Only 3,800 students voted in the 2013 SFUO elections. This low turnout is natural because students care more about studying.
But this enables the extremists to build empires unnoticed.
The student union didn’t return calls about the event and they weren’t making details like the time public.
If you attended either session and would like to share what happened, e-mail me.
If you don’t want your student fees or tax dollars supporting racial disunity, e-mail university president Allan Rock at president@uOttawa.ca.
University today: It’s like some kind of 1960s Alabama-style Occupy encampment. Welcome to the 21st century folks!
Hey Canadian Students a little history on Canada Women 4 u
Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the International Women’s Day (IWD)
Vancouver Sun
EXCERPTS only
1910: The National Council of Women go public in favour of suffrage.
1916: Between January and April, women in Manitoba won the right to vote in provincial elections followed by women in Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario.
1918: Women over 21 get the right to vote at the federal elections. Women also won the franchise in Nova Scotia.
1919: Women get the right to run for election to the House of Commons, and also get the right to vote in provincial elections in New Brunswick.
1921: Agnes Macphail was the first woman elected to the House of Commons.
1922: Right to vote in P.E.I. elections extended to women.
1925: Women in Newfoundland get the right to vote.
1927: The Supreme Court of Canada ruled that women are not “persons” under the law.
1929: The Famous Five appealed their case the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in England and win. Women are declared “persons” under the law and qualify to be appointed to the Senate.
1934: Women in New Brunswick allowed to run for provincial office.
1940: Women in Quebec finally allowed to vote provincially.
1967: Royal Commission on the Status of Women launched.
1970: Report of the Royal Commission of the Status of Women is tabled.
1971: The first federal minister responsible for the status of women is appointed. Robert Andras is the first of seven men appointed to the position.
1972: Rosemary Brown became the first black women elected to provincial office in Canada. She was an MLA in B.C. for 14 years. 1986: The federal employment equity Act is passed. International Women’s Day: 100 years of struggle for women’s liberation
By Judy Rebick
Rabble
March 7, 2011
The history of IWD is a history of the struggle of ordinary women to throw off the burden of the oppression and discrimination they faced. In 1908, 15,000 women marched through New York City demanding shorter hours, better pay and voting rights. The first National Women’s Day was celebrated in 1909 to demand right to vote, be trained, hold office and an end to discrimination on March 19.
Socialist women in Germany and Russia fought for an international women’s day to recognize the struggles of working-class women for better jobs, training and working conditions within the context of the fight for women’s suffrage and at the same time to push the socialist movement, massive at that time, to take seriously women’s demand for the vote and political participation. From the beginning, IWD was about a more inclusive women’s movement and a more feminist political movement.
In 1911, the first International Women’s Day marches were held across Europe. A few days later on March 25, 146 immigrant women were killed in the Triangle Factory fire because the bosses locked the doors from the outside. Russian socialist Alexander Kollentai proposed that the next year IWD would honour these women and the theme of IWD became bread and roses and the date March 8.
At the time, most women workers in Canada were domestic or textile workers. As soon as they got married or pregnant they were fired. They made up to 80% less than men for the same job. So the demand for bread was obvious.
As the song Bread and Roses, which has become an anthem of the women’s movement says, “Hearts starve as well as bodies, give us bread but give us roses.” The rose is a powerful symbol of the female and of love. That symbol comes not only from its beauty but also from its tenacity. ….
In Europe, women’s groups continued to celebrate but the IWD tradition was lost in North America even once a new generation challenged patriarchy in the late 60s and early 70s. On the 50th anniversary of IWD in 1960, delegates from women’s groups in 73 countries adopted a declaration for the political, economic and social rights of women. Then in 1975 the UN declared International Women’s Year and women’s liberation became official….
We have achieved a revolution in the status of women in the hundred years since IWD began. Our grandmothers who fought those early battles couldn’t even have imagined how much closer to liberation we are today. But we have not yet fully transformed the ancient system of patriarchy that continues to promote male domination, militarism and the objectification and oppression of women. That will take a new generation, of women and men, to take power out of the hands of the politicians, the corporations, including the media, and the experts, into their own hands and share it more equally and fairly. BCGEU poster for IWD 2011
SOCHI! SOCHI! SOCHI! - F**k all the hate and talk of wars that nobody can afford and 7 billion people are sick of hearing with such environmental disasters and billions starving.... bring on the dream that we can do anything - SOCHI WINTERPARALYMPICS 2014 IN GLORIOUS MOTHER RUSSIA BABY! - Congrats Sonja - our Canada Flag Bearer.... this is the real Canada folks... real, raw, righteous... and we love u all so much.
-----------------
------------------------
Historic Canadian Women Agnes Macphail
Historic Canadian Women- Jennie Trout ------------------------
CANADA will never shy away
from abuse of girls and women and boys and men in our Canada.... Gloria Steinem and Marlo Thomas called
Canada's women and girls the bravest on the planet back in our days... 60s,
70s, 80s.... and we were and many of us paid a high price.... but we never gave
up... and we never gave in
.... and at least Canada has
the courage 2 scream out loud.... and demanding and fixing this horrid
behaviour. It's what makes Canada
different and special.... so let's git r done Canada....
...No more abuses of our
women... and children... no more excuses... do NOT make old grannies and
grampas take a towel up the side of your head... seriously...
Canada's little girl- Loretta Saunders- We Want and Inquiry Canada
one
billion rising- no more abuses... no more excuses Canada -women and children
matter
FROM THE GOOD MEN CANADA'S CULTURE- THANK GOD MOST OF OUR CANADA MEN AND
BOYS ARE SO BRAVE AND DIGNIFIED REGARDLESS OF PERCEIVED STATUS ON THIS PLANET.. they honour and respect and cherish us women and girls and all children... we matter in Canada.... thanks 2 all the men and male youth stepping up and shouting- MAN UP CANADA- MAN UP REAL MEN HONOUR THEIR MOTHERS AND THEIR WOMEN AND GIRLS... --------------------- and then there's this... and really...... USA... really.... this is rampant around the world... God knows we have been seeing this all over the planet.... CANADIAN WOMEN ARE JUST STOMPING ON THIS... because we won't tolerate this any more... great article by the by...
So What IS Rape Culture, If
Not This?
March 3, 2014 by Matthew G P
Coe 23 Comments
Matthew G. P. Coe looks
critically at a culture that allows people to make jokes about raping the
President of the Student Union of the University of Ottawa.
-
Last Friday, Anne Thériault
released photographs she received of a Facebook conversation between five
members of the board of the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa. She
wasn’t a party to this discussion, thank God, because if you weren’t already
aware, this conversation was a product of their frustration over the victory of
the new leader of the Federation, Anne Marie Roy.
The photographs that were
released, which are part of an ongoing issue within the SFUO, capture a conversation
that describes the assorted sex acts one of the participants seemed to intend
to engage in with Ms Roy. The conversation included the exchange, “someone
punish her with their shaft,” and the reply, “if you fuck [her] I will
definitely buy you a beer.”
Anne’s article has been
linked to from a variety of areas (including the SFUO’s own publication, The
Fulcrum), and almost invariably, when (presumably) university-age men get
involved in the discussion, they defend the participants in the discussion,
claiming that this isn’t rape culture; they were just talking about much they
wanted to have sex with her.
No.
This conversation isn’t a
bunch of fourth-years fantasising about a particular woman. This conversation
is people who are angry that this particular woman won an election, who
rumourmonger about her sex life, and who describe in graphic detail how they
would like to revenge their electoral loss upon the victor.
If that isn’t rape culture,
I’m not sure what a better example could be.
♦◊♦
But their apologists insist
that we don’t live in a rape culture. Because, despite myriad examples in the
media, they can’t (or won’t) interpolate a common thread of all the incidents
to discover a working definition. So, how about this, which I’ve derived from
all the examples I’ve discovered and read of since I started paying attention:
Rape culture is the gradual
normalisation, through, for example, jokes, commentary, and apologia, of the
exertion of one person’s will over another, through the use of coerced or
forced sex acts, such that such exertions become acceptable or justifiable as
either hypothetical or practical actions.
Does that about cover it? I
think it does. The way we suggest that victims of prison rape somehow had it
coming, simply by virtue of being convicted criminals, is there. The way we
suggest that, when a woman gets drunk at a party and coerced into sex she
wouldn’t normally have, that she’s somehow invited it, is there. We’ve got all
the tasteless rape jokes covered, including those made by these five
individuals… and as a bonus, the included definition of rape, I think, avoids
the obnoxious fallacy of “all intoxicated sex is rape”.
So, given this as a working
definition of rape culture.. how exactly is the conversation between these five
not a glaring example? How exactly is the fact that at least three of them are,
apparently, considering legal action against Ms Roy, not rape culture? And
for.. what? Receiving photographs of a Facebook conversation, and bringing the
conversation to the attention of the SFUO? Even this threat of a lawsuit is an
aspect of rape culture–they’re using threats (and legally dubious ones, at
that) to try to silence her and keep their appalling conversation in the
shadows. They are attempting to normalise their “jokes” about raping Ms Roy.
♦◊♦
That all but one of them are
so aggressively refusing to admit that their conversation was so horrifying is
a further attempt to normalise it. They’re acting as though Ms Roy exposing
them was a greater wrong than what could, in a certain light, be seen as a
conspiracy to rape her. And why? Because she won the Student Federation’s
election.
These aren’t even reasonably
responsible adults. They’re undergraduate students, and they seem to think that
all of how they’ve been behaving is acceptable. This speaks volumes of the
society in which they grew up, that at (roughly) twenty-two years of age, they
can so thoroughly disrespect and disregard women.
The worst part of it is
that, for women who put themselves on the front lines, who speak and act as
though they deserve to be regarded equally with men… this kind of reception
isn’t remotely uncommon.
So try to tell me that rape
culture isn’t real. Because every time something like this happens… I know that
it is.
“If that isn’t rape culture,
I’m not sure what a better example could be.”
What about the FBI
definition of rape that ignores the vast majority of female perpetrated rapes?
“Rape culture is the gradual
normalisation, through, for example, jokes, commentary, and apologia, of the
exertion of one person’s will over another, through the use of coerced or
forced sex acts, such that such exertions become acceptable or justifiable as
either hypothetical or practical actions.”
Although a good working
definition, I can see a glaring omission, the erasure of victims. Whenever
someone makes a statement such as only 1% of rapes are committed by women based
on statistics gathered from data using the biased FBI definition, they erase
100,000s of victims based on the CDC 2010 NISVS. When these stats don’t include
rapes in prison, they erase all those victims, the overwhelming majority of
whom are men and boys.
COMMENT: MATTHEW COLE
March 3, 2014 at 4:29 pm
I’m sorry if I made it seem
like the normalisation of rape is more indicative of a rape culture than rape
itself. Of course it isn’t. The fact that, what are the most recent numbers,
one in FOUR women will be sexually assaulted in her life, is indicative that
rape is a *huge* problem.
I was attempting to address
all the conversation that tries to suggest the conversation I referred to is *not*
rape culture. That it’s just “how guys talk”, or that because Ms Roy wasn’t
*actually* raped, it’s okay to talk like that. That it’s harmless fantasy.
It’s not. It’s symptomatic
of a culture that’s become horrifyingly desensitised to the use of sex acts as
a weapon. That it’s acceptable to suggest–even in supposed jest–that you, or
one of your friends, should rape a woman because you believe that she
misrepresented herself in order to win an election.
The comments “this isn’t
rape culture” or “‘rape culture’ as a term is overused” get trotted out each
and every time one of these incidents arises. And it’s horrifying to see.
Apparently these people need a dictionary definition of rape culture in order
to get it.
------------------------
---------------------
Lord this hurts... just
hurts.. HEY CANADA- IT'S TIME WE STEPPED UP 4 THE VICTIMS NOW... ENOUGH OF THIS POOR KILLERS RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS WHILST OUR VICTIMS ARE DUMPED AN 4GOTTEN LIKE ROADKILL.....
Memorial and Rally for
Loretta Saunders to be held on Parliament Hill on Wednesday, March 5
derrick on March 4th, 2014
8:46 pm
Ottawa, ON) – Cheryl
Maloney, President of the Nova Scotia Native Women’s Association will be in
Ottawa along with Holly Jarret, a family member of Loretta Saunders, to host a
memorial and rally tomorrow on Parliament Hill to renew the call for a National
Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women.
DATE: Wednesday March 5, 2014
TIME: Rally
begins at 12 noon local time
LOCATION: Parliament Hill,
Ottawa
President Cheryl Maloney
stated: “The overwhelming support from the city of Halifax and the Province of
Nova Scotia has renewed the faith of both the family and myself that Canadians
do care and are not indifferent to the loss of so many Indigenous women. The
experience in reaching out to the greater Halifax community and standing side
by side with people from other cultures has given me faith that Canadians can
help finish Loretta’s thesis on Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women.
We are meeting on Parliament
Hill to remind this government that it must be responsive and representative of
Canadians, and to address the serious problem we have in Canadian Society. A National Inquiry will be an important step
towards recognition of Aboriginal peoples place in Canada and reconciliation of
all Canadians and Aboriginal peoples.”
Loretta Saunders, an Inuk
woman from Newfoundland and Labrador, was a student at Saint Mary’s University
in Halifax, focusing her thesis on missing and murdered Indigenous women,
specifically studying the murders of three Indigenous women from Nova Scotia. Police confirmed her death on February
26. The case has sparked nation-wide
attention and renewed calls for a National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered
Indigenous Women.
Contact information:
Cheryl Maloney, President,
Nova Scotia Native Women’s Association
IN
HONOUR OF LORETTA SAUNDERS AND HER UNBORN CHILD- CANADA REMEMBERS R CANADIAN
DAUGHTER- Peace of Christ child....
tears and prayers.... we will have justice
ALL ACROSS CANADA... ALL
ACROSS THE PLANET.... ONE BILLION
RISING- No more excuses...
Dal students demand action
on murdered, missing aboriginal women
SHERRI BORDEN COLLEY Staff
Reporter Last Updated March 4, 2014 - 8:05pm
James Saunders (second from right), brother of
Saint Mary’s University student Loretta Saunders, whose remains were found last
week, is seen during a candlelight vigil at the Grand Parade in Halifax on Feb.
25. (TIM KROCHAK / Staff)
Two student associations at
Dalhousie University’s Schulich School of Law have added their voices to a call
for a national inquiry into missing and murdered aboriginal women.
Leading up to International
Women’s Day, hundreds of letters in red envelopes will be sent to Premier
Stephen McNeil urging him to press the federal government for an inquiry into
the issue, which has affected First Nations communities across Canada.
The red envelope campaign
began at January’s IDEALaw conference, which was organized by the Social
Activist Law Student Association and the Dalhousie Aboriginal Law Students’
Association.
At the conference, Pam
Glode-Desrochers called on participants to sign a letter to be sent to the
premier. Over 100 letters were signed that day.
On Tuesday morning, the
executive director of the Mi’kmaw Native Friendship Centre in Halifax had
another 150 signed letters, from community members, ready to be mailed out.
“The decision was made that
the red envelope actually represented the spilt blood of murdered and missing
aboriginal women,” Glode-Desrochers said in an interview Tuesday.
As of March 31, 2010,
through its Sisters In Spirit database, the Native Women’s Association of
Canada documented 582 cases of missing or murdered aboriginal women and girls
but says it knows there are more cases that haven’t been recorded. The majority
of the disappearances and deaths occurred in Western Canada.
Sisters In Spirit was a
five-year research project funded by Status of Women Canada.
“The call needs to happen,”
Glode-Desrochers said. “Aboriginal people, women in particular, have been
missing and murdered for years. We now figure that number has increased to over
800 over the last few years since the funding has been cut for the Sisters In
Spirit campaign.
“And it is time that both
aboriginal communities and non-aboriginal communities understand the impact
that happens with these disappearances, these murders. People don’t understand
the amount of people that are truly missing.
“I’ve heard people say
‘well, they’re prostitutes, they’re drug addicts.’ … People need to understand
that these are somebody’s mother, daughter, niece, cousin, grandmother. These
are people, they are not animals. These are human beings who deserve to have
their voice heard.”
On Feb. 13, the Native
Women’s Association of Canada delivered 23,088 signatures to Ottawa from
concerned Canadians demanding action on the high rate of missing and murdered
aboriginal women and girls.
On Tuesday, Laurel Munroe,
McNeil’s press secretary, said the premier is in support of a national inquiry.
But Munroe said she could not elaborate.
Leah Burt, a third-year law
student and co-chairwoman of the Dalhousie Aboriginal Law Students’
Association, said the letters also ask that federal funding be reinstated for
the Sisters In Spirit database.
On Thursday, a table will be
set up at the law school to encourage more people to sign letters in advance of
International Women’s Day on Saturday and “in recognition of the tragic loss of
Loretta Saunders, which kind of brought this issue to the public eye again,”
Burt said.
Last week, police found
Saunders’ body along the Trans-Canada Highway near Salisbury, N.B.
The 26-year-old Inuk woman
from Labrador was reported missing on Feb. 17, four days after she was last
seen. She was pregnant and studying at Saint Mary’s University, where she was
working on an honours thesis on missing and murdered aboriginal women.
Victoria Henneberry, 28, and
Blake Leggette, 25, have been charged with first-degree murder in the case.
WTF??? is going on in Canadian
Universities across this country... YET ANOTHER SLAP AT WOMEN.... ??? Women = Men in Canada- it's been the law
like 4eva.... University of Toronto- York University-University of BC-St.
Mary's, University of Saskatchewan, Memorial University- NFLD (student union
don't have the courage 2 ensure rape, bullycides are made part of the study)...
oh come on! ur supposed 2 lead our
children... and... now... University of Ottawa- all these universities and
colleges with privileged indifference of our Global children who are supposed 2
be the leaders of our future? (only the poorest or the wealthiest can afford
university... lower and middle class just can't afford the fees, etc...still ..
in Canada yet- let's fix this as well)
------------
Rape Culture at the
University of Ottawa
28 Feb
On February 10th, Anne Marie
Roy, president of the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa, was sent
screenshots of a chat that had taken place earlier in the month between two
student federation board members and several other students who are either
elected to or participate in various faculty associations. The chat had taken
place during the student federation elections, and all five men involved were
members of a campaign opposing Roy’s (Roy has been president of the student
federation since May 2013, and was re-elected this month). The conversation was
about Roy, and the portion she was given contained graphic sexual descriptions
about what the men wanted to do to her, including a rape joke that could,
potentially, be taken as a rape threat.
Below are the screenshots.
The participants are as follows:
Bart Tremblay: a non-elected
student involved with the association for the Arts faculty
Alexandre Giroux: On the
board of directors of the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa, and
VP Social for the Science Student Association
Alex Larochelle: VP Social
for the Criminology Student Association
Pat Marquis: VP Social of
the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa
Michel Fournier-Simard: VP
Social for the Political Science and International developement Association
Screen Shot 2014-02-28 at
1.56.05 PM
Bart Tremblay: Let me tell you something
right now: the “tri-fluvienne” [nickname for someone from Trois-Rivières,
Québec] president will suck me off in her office chair and after I will fuck
her in the ass on Pat [Marquis]‘s desk
Alexandre Giroux: Tri-fluvienne? Who’s
that?
Alex Larochelle: PJ I believe?
Bart Tremblay: Anne-Marie Roy, you
dipshits, she comes from Trois-Rivières
Screen Shot 2014-02-28 at
1.56.45 PM
Alexandre Giroux: What? No. What a
shit-eater. She says that she comes from somewhere in Ontario.
Alex Larochelle: Fuck yeah Anne Marie Roy
Bart Tremblay: She told me Trois-Rivières
Alexandre Giroux: Haha shiiit
Alex Larochelle: Someone punish her with
their shaft
Alexandre Giroux: Well Christ, if you fuck
Anne Marie I will definitely buy you a beer
Screen Shot 2014-02-28 at
1.57.07 PM
Alex Larochelle: Hahah, I’d buy you a beer
too
Bart Tremblay: Lol
Alexandre Giroux: BAHAHA
Pat Marquis: I’ll get a 24 for Bart if he
does it
Bart Tremblay: [Thumbs up symbol]
Bart Tremblay: Yeeee
Screen Shot 2014-02-28 at
1.57.41 PM
Michel Fournier-Simard: Dude she has
chlamydia. And she told francophone students that she was from Trois-Rivières
but she moved to Southern Ontario when she was five years old. It’s a super
political strategy.
Alex Larochelle: Hahaha I heard she has
syphilis
Alexandre Giroux: Well look hahhahahah
Alex Larochelle: But those get treated bro
lol. Someone told Pat and I when we were in Boston. It’s such bull shit hahaha.
Someone punish her with
their shaft. Someone punish her with their shaft. This is the type of thing
that’s said about women in positions of power – not a critique of their
policies, but a threat of sexual violence. Not a comment on how they do their
job, but graphic fantasies about how they should be sexually degraded. Nothing
about their intelligence or capability, just a string of jokes about how
riddled with venereal disease they are. This is misogyny, pure and simple. This
is slut-shaming. This is rape culture.
Can you imagine anything
like this ever being said about a male leader? Try to picture, for a moment, a
female candidate saying that her opponent is going to eat her out, or that
she’s going to “punish” him with her vagina. Sounds pretty unlikely, doesn’t
it? And yet, this is the kind of thing that women are subjected to all the
time; the truth is that no matter how far we might think we’ve come, no matter
how many female CEOs there might be, the belief that women are little more than
a collection of fuck-holes persists. Oh sure, people might pay lip-service to
the fact that women are equal to men in intelligence, talent, and capability,
but at the end of the day we can’t escape the fact that a woman is still viewed
as being less than a person. Because that conversation right there? That is not
how you talk about a person.
What’s even worse is that
events like these are nearly always downplayed. It’s just a joke, people say.
They would never have said that if they’d thought you would hear it. In fact,
three of the five men involved in the conversation are considering legal action
against Roy on the grounds that it was a private conversation that should not
have been made public. That’s right. They want to pursue legal action against
her because she publicly called them out for making rape jokes about her. This
is the fucked up culture we live in.
To make things even worse,
these men are all in a position of leadership at the University of Ottawa.
These are the people that the students look up to, that they use as a sort of
moral compass to navigate university life. If these men face no consequences
for their actions – indeed, if they are able to press charges against Roy for
publicly addressing their comments – what are the students going to learn from
this? They’ll learn that rape is a joke, that women can be terrorized into
silence, and that it’s useless, maybe even dangerous, to speak up. Are these
the lessons that we want our student leaders to be instilling in the heads of
seventeen and eighteen year old kids?
Since this incident was
first brought to light, Pat Marquis, the VP Social for the Student Federation
of the University of Ottawa, has been in discussions with Roy about the
accountability measures he can take for his role in this conversation. It is
their hope that these measures can be a public conversation between Roy and
Marquis, and could serve as a learning opportunity for the student body. Alex
Larochelle has also contacted Roy and tentatively mentioned participating in
this conversation as well. As for Bart Tremblay, Alexandre Giroux and Michel
Fournier-Simard, they are continuing to attempt to pursue legal action against
Roy.
I reached Roy this afternoon
for a statement, and she had this to say:
“It’s definitely concerning
because these are individuals who are responsible for putting on social events,
many of which involve alcohol, and they are also responsible for the safety of
membership at these events. On a personal level I feel that this is very
misogynistic, I feel that this is a reaction that these men are having because
I’m a woman in a position of leadership. My concerns on this are twofold:
first, the issue of student safety in general, and second, that women are not
going to feel safe running for positions of leadership on campus.”
I think she pretty much hits
the nail on the head with that assessment.
F**k Canada Memorial
University Student Union- PROFESSOR IS RIGHT- So is the following teacher- The
Day I taught my students- how NOT 2 rape- it needs addressing in all schools
and universities- IN THEIR FACES- 4 all the Rehtaeh Parsons.... don't hide
Student Unions- 5 Canada universities have brought horrible shame- CANADA
STUDENTS- man and woman up.... in class- all the time- ONE BILLION RISING
Memorial University assignment on rape and
suicide upsets student union
Associated Press
By The Canadian PressJanuary
31, 2014 12:07 PM
ST. JOHN'S, N.L. - The
student union at Newfoundland's Memorial University is calling for a professor
to apologize for a controversial assignment that it says makes light of sexual
assault and mental health.
Candace Simms, the student
union's executive director of external affairs, said she learned of the
assignment after students in a computer science class taught by John Shieh
(SHEE) came forward to complain.
Simms said the Jan. 20
assignment asked students to create a computer program that could help
determine whether a rape victim would commit suicide.
"Students were very
upset," Simms said Friday in an interview. "It's a pretty
disrespectful question to ask and it's unnecessary for the type of assignment
that it is. There are thousands of other possibilities that this instructor
could have used."
Shieh could not be reached
for comment.
A spokeswoman for the
university said the dean of science, Mark Abrahams, was unavailable for an
interview.
However, Kelly Foss emailed
a statement from Abrahams in which he said the school was investigating the
matter.
"I can assure you we
are taking this matter very seriously," he said. "The particular
assignment question has, understandably, raised concern throughout the Memorial
community and beyond. It does not reflect the vision, mission and values of our
university."
Simms said the student union
believes Shieh should undergo sensitivity training with the school's sexual
harassment office, but it is not calling for him to be punished.
CANADA'S YORK UNIVERSITY-
SHAME- SHAME ON U- WOMEN EQUAL MEN IN OUR CANADA- SHAME ON U-- ONE BILLION
RISING- NO MORE EXCUSES- AS MINISTER PETER MACKAY SAY..IT'S WHY OUR TROOPS GO 2
WAR - 2 PROTECT LITTLE GIRLS AND RIGHTS OF WOMEN- SHAME CANADA'S YORK
UNIVERSITY
Concerns voiced after two
serious allegations of sexual misconduct involving uOttawa students
CBC News Posted: Mar 04,
2014 9:47 AM ET Last Updated: Mar 05, 2014 10:07 AM ET
Concerns are being voiced
about a growing "rape culture" on campuses after two serious
allegations of sexual misconduct involving University of Ottawa students.
First, four student leaders
resigned after a private Facebook chat involving sexually threatening banter
about the president of the student federation was made public online.
Next, the university
suspended its men's hockey program as police investigate a complaint of sexual
assault while the team was on a road trip in Thunder Bay.
Women's rights activists
told CBC there are likely more incidents that haven't been revealed and they
hope the two allegations that have already come to light will get people
talking about "rape culture."
Julie Lalonde said students
and staff must speak out when they hear sexually aggressive conversations or
jokes about rape.
"I want to see more
people coming forward to call out this behaviour. When you hear these comments
don't normalize them — your silence is normalizing and your silence is
implicating you. 'This is OK by me,'" she said.
Student leader speaks out
Anne-Marie Roy said she
could not stay silent when she found out that male student leaders had made
sexually explicit remarks about her online. One comment suggested that Roy
should be "sexually punished."
Anne Marie Roy University of
Ottawa
Anne-Marie Roy is the
president of the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa. (Twitter)
"I definitely felt it
was important for me to take action," she said.
Roy, the president of the
Student Federation of the University of Ottawa, said what happened to her is
too common on campus.
"It seems like rape
culture is very ingrained in the way some of these men are thinking, and it's
very normalized — so much so that discussing these matters in a private
conversation is OK," she said.
Lalonde said the comments
are not acceptable whether they're made in private or in public.
"When members of
student council can make threats of rape against a president and they're not
even denying those comments — they say they're joking, that it's just normal
guy talk — I think that speaks to a systemic problem," Lalonde said.
University 'deeply
concerned' about Gee Gees allegations
The University of Ottawa
said Monday it was "deeply concerned" that it was only made aware of
allegations of "serious misconduct" involving hockey players on
February 24.
Thunder Bay police are
investigating an alleged sexual assault dating back to the weekend of Feb. 1,
when the University of Ottawa hockey team was in town. The investigation was
launched after a third-party complaint, meaning someone other than the alleged
victim came forward.
Police are only aware of one
victim at this time but several players on the team are under investigation.
The University of Ottawa has
launched an internal review and said it will "co-operate fully" with
any police investigation.
Anne-Marie Roy, uOttawa
student leader, subject of explicit online chat
Warning: Story contains
graphic language
The Canadian Press Posted:
Mar 02, 2014 12:24 PM ET Last Updated: Mar 03, 2014 7:39 PM ET
A student union leader at
the University of Ottawa says an online conversation among five fellow students
in which she was the target of sexually graphic banter shows that "rape
culture" is all too prevalent on Canadian campuses.
Saint Mary's pro-rape chant sparks 20 new
recommendations
UBC promises 'lasting change' following
rape chant
Anne-Marie Roy, 24, is going
public despite being threatened with legal action by four of the male students,
who say the Facebook conversation was private.
Nonetheless, Roy — who
received a copy of the conversation via an anonymous email — said she felt
compelled to speak out, especially since the five individuals were in positions
of leadership on campus.
Anne Marie Roy University of
Ottawa
Anne-Marie Roy is the
president of the Student Union of the University of Ottawa. (Twitter)
"They should be held
accountable for those actions. Actions have consequences and I think that this
is certainly something that can't go unnoticed," said Roy, who heads the
Student Federation of the University of Ottawa.
"Rape culture is very
present on our campuses ... I think that it's very shameful to see that there
are student leaders who are perpetuating that within their own circles."
The incident was first
reported in the Fulcrum, the university's English language student newspaper.
Facebook chat transcript
sent anonymously
Roy said she was sent
screenshots of the Facebook conversation on Feb. 10, while student elections
were being held on campus.
The online conversation — a
copy of which was obtained by The Canadian Press — included references to
sexual activities some of the five individuals wrote they would like to engage
in with Roy, including oral and anal sex, as well as suggestions that she
suffered from sexually transmitted diseases.
"Someone punish her
with their shaft," wrote one of the individuals at one point. "I do
believe that with my reputation I would destroy her," wrote another.
After confronting a member
of the conversation in person, Roy said she received an emailed apology from
all five men which emphasized that their comments were never actual threats against
her.
"While it doesn't
change the inadmissible nature of our comments, we wish to assure you we meant
you no harm," the apology, written in French, read.
"We realize the content
of our conversation between friends promotes values that have no place in our
society and our campus, on top of being unacceptably coarse."
But Roy felt the apology
wasn't enough.
"I was very torn up by
the conversation," she said. "I also think there needs to be a level
of responsibility taken for the words that were said in that
conversation."
Four men threaten legal
action if copy not destroyed
Roy decided she would bring
it up at a Feb. 23 meeting of the student federation's Board of Administration,
which oversees the affairs of the student union.
Her plan was to distribute
copies of the conversation to the board's members while asking the board to
move a motion to "condemn" those who engaged in the discussion, two
of whom were board members. The other three were involved with organizing
campus events.
After learning of Roy's
plan, four of the five individuals sent her a letter warning her that the
conversation was a private one and that sharing it with others would amount to
a violation of their rights.
After consulting with a
lawyer, Roy chose to go ahead with sharing the conversation with the board, but
received a cease and desist letter during the board meeting.
The letter — which
identifies the four participants as Michel Fournier-Simard, Alexandre Giroux,
Alexandre Larochelle and Robert-Marc Tremblay — threatened legal action against
Roy if she did not "destroy" her copy of the online conversation and
stop sharing it with others.
The letter also alleged that
Roy, through an intermediary, had initially considered not sharing the
conversation if the four participants would promise not to run for student
leadership positions in the future.
After learning of the
letter, the board decided to shelve the motion introduced at the meeting, but
Roy said she wasn't ready to drop the matter.
"It was kind of like
getting a double whammy, you get put in a very difficult situation and to have
these men try to take all power away from me by telling me that I need to be
censored and that I can't take action," she said.
"This is also
incredibly frustrating and I think speaks to the fact that rape culture does
not get challenged enough."
Student union VP resigns
The one participant in the
conversation who is not threatening legal action said the entire incident has
been a huge learning experience.
"There was some
conversation with some pretty violent, like, some pretty demeaning words,"
said Pat Marquis. "I didn't say much in that conversation, but I didn't
stop it either."
Marquis was a vice-president
in the student union until he resigned this weekend, reportedly after receiving
hate mail and threats related to the conversation. He said he planned to meet
with Roy to "discuss ways to move forward."
"There's a lot of boys'
talk and locker room talk that can seem pretty normal at the time, but then
when you actually look back at it, it can be offensive," he said.
"I would never say that
kind of thing out in the public but when it was a private conversation I guess
it slipped my mind that that's really not acceptable."
Another member of the five,
who did not want to be named, said the conversation was private and obtained
illegally. He said the participants didn't believe they promoted rape culture,
but "didn't stop it," and now wanted to "promote the end of rape
culture together."
Meanwhile, a lawyer for
Larochelle said his client was to meet with Roy on the weekend to defuse the
situation.
On Sunday, Larochelle sent a
letter to CBC News indicating he'd resigned from his position as vice
president, social commissioner for the Criminology Student Association.
He also provided The
Canadian Press with a copy of a letter he sent to the author of a blog which
has discussed the matter openly.
"Nothing in my client's
statements are misogynistic, "slut-shaming", or refer to
"rape," wrote Michael D. Swindley in that letter.
uOttawa: attitudes 'have no
place on campus, or anywhere else'
In a statement issued on
Saturday, the University of Ottawa said it was "appalled" by the
online conversation which it said demonstrated attitudes about women and sexual
aggression that had "no place on campus, or anywhere else." It said
it was working with Roy to develop "an appropriate response."
The entire incident has at
least one observer saying it's clear universities need to have a more open
discussion about how students talk about each other, even in private.
"I do think it's a form
of cyberbullying even though she wasn't a direct recipient of those messages on
Facebook," said Wanda Cassidy, associate professor at Simon Fraser
University who researches cyberbullying in schools and universities.
"There needs to be a
lot more conversation around those kinds of behaviour and comments that are
made demeaning towards women."
The footprint that such
comments can leave on the Internet should also make individuals think twice
before sending demeaning or hurtful messages, she said.
hi-smu-852
Students at Saint Mary's
University in Halifax were captured on camera doing a chant that promoted
non-consensual sex with underage girls.
"Whereas 20 years ago
those guys might have been out sitting around having a beer and talking in that
way, it is quite different when you're putting in print, because it's there as
a record."
Roy's experience comes about
four months after outraged complaints surfaced over student chants at
universities in Halifax and British Columbia.
The president of the Saint
Mary's University students' association stepped down in September after a
frosh-week chant glorifying the sexual assault of underage girls was captured
on a video that made national headlines.
And the University of B.C.'s
Sauder School of Business cut support for annual first-year orientation
activities after a similar chant was sung on one or more buses during events
sponsored by the Commerce Undergraduate Society.
Poll question
Should private Facebook
messages, no matter the content, stay private?
Yes, everyone talks about
things they shouldn't.No, certain things are unacceptable.
VoteView Results
On mobile? Click here to
vote on whether private online messages should always stay private.
Sweet Jesus, Mother Mary and
Joseph... do u think Canadians aren't watching and tired of this
sheeeeet!!!!!!! York University, UBC,
St. Maaaaary's University, Newfoundland University there dump cups.... COME
ON.. ... and now this.... SO ENTITLED AND PRIVILEGED... yet u don't understand
equality in Canada- WOMEN EQUAL MEN... and gender is no one's business.... in
Canada since 1969 WTF???? ON BILLION
RISING.... break the chains.... enough of this
... God am so weary of this
creepy behaviour by rich, entitled and privileged..... youth and educators....
just so sick of it...
U of S suspends hockey coach
Dave Adolph over homophobic slur
CANADA MILITARY NEWS: One
Billion Rising- no more excuses or abuses- girls and women matter in this
world- St. Mary's University needs 2 get with 2day's world and human dignity -
privileged indifference does NOT work in Canada- Women equal Men in Canada-
Blogs -ALWAYS ...GOD BLESS OUR TROOPS
U of T student loses bid to
avoid class with women because he’s shy
U of T student Wongene
Daniel Kim loses complaint before Human Rights body against prof who docked
marks when he wouldn’t attend co-ed class
The controversy sparked a
national debate about how far universities should go to accommodate students,
from religious belief to personal preferences.
“The heart of the Human
Rights Code is to make sure people are treated fairly and accommodated for
grounds protected by the code, like race, gender, disability — but shyness
around women is certainly not one of those grounds,” said Jim Turk, executive
director of the Canadian Association for University Teachers.
“There is no reason
whatsoever to accommodate personal preference — what if I didn’t like redheads?
— and when people try to use it for personal preference undermines the basic
values of a post-secondary education dedicated to diversity and not treating
any class of students as subordinate to others.”
U of T spokesman Michael
Kurts agreed the university accommodates student requests based on any grounds
protected by the Ontario Human Rights Code, “but those human rights obligations
do not extend to individual preferences.”
change schools - go to York
U, and tell them you object to woman being in the same class on religious
grounds.
it worked before, why
shouldn't it again?
-----------------
BLOGGED- AND BLOGS:
CANADA MILITARY NEWS:
Desiderata-ur a child of the universe/Bullying amazing NINJA LOVE teacher
shares "how long have u been doing this?... Every Friday since
Columbine" and How not 2 rape/ONE BILLION RISING FEB. 14 girls and women
standing up- no more abuses or excuses 225 Countries join us/SOCHI Winter
Olympics-Paralympics 2014 in Mother Russia/ Our troops ..the soul of our
nation- they define us
hmmmmmm DRUNK DRIVER KILLERS DESTROY MORE LIVES THAN ALL ACCIDENTS COMBINED hmmmmmm USA PUTS KIDS IN JAIL AND JEUVIE INSTEAD OF LOVE, HUGS AND HELPING THEM AND IN 10 YEARS WILL HAVE AHUGE MESS WITH THEIR LEGAL WEED AND CHILDREN... JUST WATCH! hmmmmmm Minister Peter Mackay prefers 2 change a stance that is unrealistic in 2da's world and times on minor infractions that DON'T HAMPER HUMAN LIFE... and save policing and Canada $$$$ whilst nailing the insideous creepy evil that is spreading in2 our peaceful Canada needs those $$$$ badly hmmmmmm Jusin Trudeau (Torys 165 seats NDP 100 seats Liberals .....34 seats) wants toking smoking made legal... WHILST CANADA FINALLY HAS A GRIP ON THE DANGERS OF SMOKING IN CANADA.... AND ENORMOUS CAMPAIGNS (the Asias, Europe, Africas are in huge trouble with unlabbled smoking and the diseases that are killing so many of your youth... and their middle aged) 2 STOP SMOKING IN CANADA... which we are winning hugely! Let's see smoking illegal...and toking smoking ..completely legal??? hmmmm u know what... on this day will stick with Minister MacKay...he's got guts... and our troops love him 4 his passion and loyalty 2 r boots on the ground- he walks the talks 4 our troops every damm time HAPPY WINTER PARALYMPICS ALL... GOD BLESS OUR TROOPS... AND OUR CANADA
hmmmmmm DRUNK DRIVER KILLERS DESTROY MORE LIVES THAN ALL ACCIDENTS COMBINED
hmmmmmm USA PUTS KIDS IN JAIL AND JEUVIE INSTEAD OF LOVE, HUGS AND HELPING THEM AND IN 10 YEARS WILL HAVE AHUGE MESS WITH THEIR LEGAL WEED AND CHILDREN... JUST WATCH!
hmmmmmm Minister Peter Mackay prefers 2 change a stance that is unrealistic in 2da's world and times on minor infractions that DON'T HAMPER HUMAN LIFE... and save policing and Canada $$$$ whilst nailing the insideous creepy evil that is spreading in2 our peaceful Canada needs those $$$$ badly
hmmmmmm Jusin Trudeau (Torys 165 seats NDP 100 seats Liberals .....34 seats) wants toking smoking made legal... WHILST CANADA FINALLY HAS A GRIP ON THE DANGERS OF SMOKING IN CANADA.... AND ENORMOUS CAMPAIGNS (the Asias, Europe, Africas are in huge trouble with unlabled smoking and the diseases that are killing so many of your youth... and their middle aged) 2 STOP SMOKING IN CANADA... which we are winning hugely! Let's see smoking illegal...and toking smoking ..completely legal???
hmmmm u know what... on this day will stick with Minister MacKay...he's got guts... and our troops love him 4 his passion and loyalty 2 r boots on the ground- he walks the talks 4 our troops every damm time- and in the world of our men and women who serve and 2 often die... Women and Girls in the hard and evil parts of the world matter just as much...
Westboro Baptist Church USA- The John Kerry and Jane Fonda of Vietnam
HAPPY WINTER PARALYMPICS ALL... GOD BLESS OUR TROOPS... AND OUR CANADA
----------------------
INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY... is every day in
Canada and don't 4get it... BREAKING THE CHAINS OF ABUSE- ONE CHAIN AT A TIME -
One Billion Rising - powerful video
around the world.... inspiring...
On 19 January 2014, the
official One Billion Rising 2013 documentary short will premiere at Sundance,
the preeminent film festival founded by One Billion Rising supporter, Robert
Redford!
In celebration, we invite
you to host a Sundance Rising Viewing Party as a lead up to your 2014 One
Billion Rising for Justice events. Gather activists, volunteers, community
members, and organizations in houses, dorms, movie theaters, stadiums,
auditoriums, parks, and malls between 19 January to 25 January to screen the film
and help build momentum for this years initiatives, while honoring last years
accomplishments.
CANADA MILITARY NEWS: One
Billion Rising- no more excuses or abuses- girls and women matter in this
world- St. Mary's University needs 2 get with 2day's world and human dignity -
privileged indifference does NOT work in Canada- Women equal Men in Canada- Blogs
-ALWAYS ...GOD BLESS OUR TROOPS
'Girl power' crucial in push
to achieve global development goals, says Ban in Davos-JAN 24- UN NEWS 2014-ONE
BILLION RISING-no more abuses or excuses-Women Matter -October CANADA- John
Baird addresses UN 4 Women's Rights and horrid abuses of girls -women/Cher
nails it/Congo disgrace/USA-Canada Child Sex Trafficking- Canada women equal
men...period- ?CAN'TRESTOF THEWORLD?
Walk a Mile in My Shoes- 70s- and always 2 Canada's Vietnam Vets- we remember the horrible treatment of men and women dying 4 our freedoms... of USA- when they returned home... Canada didn't - they did not honour our troops (many First Peoples).. but they did not disgrace them... not in our Canada still surviving WWII and Korean War and WWI
--------------
U are a child of the
universe- no less than the trees and the stars- u have a right 2 be here....
CHILD OF THE UNIVERSE
(Lyrics) Desiderata by Max Ehrmann
Go placidly amid the noise
and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without
surrender be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and
clearly; and listen to others, even the dull and ignorant; they too have their
story.
Avoid loud and aggressive
persons, they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with
others, you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be
greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as
well as your plans.
Keep interested in your
career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of
time.
Exercise caution in your
business affairs; for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you
to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full
of heroism.
Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign
affection.
Neither be critical about
love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as
the grass.
Take kindly the counsel of
the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit
to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with
imaginings.
Many fears are born of
fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the
universe, no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is
clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore be at peace with
God, whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and
aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.
With all its sham, drudgery
and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be careful. Strive to be
happy.
Max Ehrmann 1927
----------
BLOGGED:
CANADA MILITARY NEWS: Sep6-
innie meenie minie mow- catch a nig**r by the toe -in our day VS 2day's "Y
is for your sister, O is for oh so tight, U is for underage, N is for no
consent, G is for grab that ass, SMU boys we like them young." - Thx SMU
students r couragely stepping up and fixing the hurtin
Canada remembers fallen women who have served our nation and died 4 basic freedoms and rights and dignity of sisters and their children in hard parts of the world
God bless our Troops.... who
define us and our nation- they fight and
die, wounded and suffer intolerable evil 4 basic rights 4 women and children in
the hard and evil parts of this planet on this day.... thank u
and
WOMEN AT WAR- THE NEW FACE OF CANADA'S MILITARY
OUR TROOPS DIED, WOUNDED... AND MANY SUICIDE- TRYING 2 BRING WOMEN AND GIRLS FREEDOM IN AFHGANISTAN.... not only has Karzai and his cahoots betrayed women.... so has the Western world and Muslim World and the Global Political Structure kissing the arse of United Nations.... God bless Afghan women... God bless our troops... who serve in the evil and hard parts of this planet..... just not right... not right- Afghans deserve better than this... so do our troops.
Afghanistan 'a bad place to be female' Woman in Kabul, Afghanistan
Emma Graham-Harrison in Kabul
theguardian.com, Friday 7 March 2014 15.37 GMT
EU ambassador criticises prosecution of 'moral crimes' and says Hamid Karzai's government has failed Afghan women
Franz-Michael Mellbin said the Afghan government had failed to prioritise women's rights. Photograph: Paula Bronstein/Getty Images
President Hamid Karzai's government has let down Afghan women, according to the new EU ambassador to Kabul, who singled out the failure to end prosecution of rape victims and other abused women for "moral crimes" as a particular "disgrace".
Franz-Michael Mellbin said that despite huge practical improvements in areas from maternal mortality to the number of girls in schools, Afghanistan was still one of the worst places to be a woman and a frontline in the global battle for women's rights.
Mellbin, who previously served in Afghanistan as the Danish envoy, declined to criticise Karzai directly but said the government overall had failed in its responsibilities to be a voice for women's rights, as conservatives opposed to women having any role outside the home gathered strength.
"We cannot be satisfied with what has been done. Right now what I feel is unfortunately very much lacking is that the government is not showing a sense of priority and urgency that we'd like to see," he told the Guardian in an interview to mark International Women's Day.
"What we are lacking is a strong official voice to counter those reactionary voices … this makes it very difficult to fight for progress. We look in vain for strong government policy."
Karzai has always described himself as a supporter of women's rights, but recently there has been heavy pressure on the fragile gains made after the Taliban's fall from power.
Last year a landmark law to prevent violence against women was pushed out of parliament, the quota of seats for women on provincial councils was cut, and a proposal to reintroduce stoning as a punishment for adultery – used more against women than men – put forward by the justice ministry.
Earlier this year, parliament passed a law that gagged victims of domestic violence by preventing relatives testifying against each other, although it was later modified on Karzai's orders.
Many women believe this is happening because political interest in Afghanistan is fading in the west as troops head home. They fear that with the complete departure of foreign forces this year, conservatives will chip away faster at their rights or simply use them as a bargaining chip in peace talks with the Taliban.
"I understand why Afghan women are very worried about the future, and they are, they constantly raise this issue with me," Mellbin said, adding that he was inspired by Afghan women's determination to seize every opportunity made available to them.
"All over Afghanistan women today are 'first movers'. Some will be the first woman in their family to go to school, others to open a business or take public office. There is a tremendous awareness among Afghan women that they are trail-blazing for the next generation, for their daughters."
He plans to make women's rights a priority during his time in Kabul, as part of the EU's "value-driven foreign policy", at least until he sees a government more focused on protecting and expanding gains so far.
"I do not subscribe to the view that silence is an option," Mellbin said. "We need to be more ambitious. Our agenda has to be continued progress, continued advancement."
The ambassador said the campaign for the presidential election on 5 April was encouraging, with all the leading candidates to replace Karzai, who cannot stand again, pitching themselves as modernising nationalists.
"We're trying to prepare a list of issues that we would like to raise with the new government with regard to women's rights as soon as it comes into power," he said.
He plans to push for an end to the trial of women for "moral crimes", which are mostly violations of social norms, such as running away from a forced or abusive marriage. Rape victims have also been jailed for having sex outside marriage.
"[The prosecution of] moral crimes is something that is a scourge for women in Afghanistan, it means that girls and women who are victims … are further victimised by the state," he said. "Its a disgrace for any country to have such an institution."
Activists are likely to welcome Mellbin's stance, after strong criticism of western nations that fund the Afghan government but have often seemed unwilling to speak out on women's rights.
"Over the past year, through an escalating series of serious attacks on women's rights, the response from donors has largely been a deafening silence," said Heather Barr, Afghanistan researcher for Human Rights Watch.
"No government as dependent on foreign aid as this one has the luxury of not caring what donors think. Donors need to speak out quickly and forcefully every time there is an attack on women's rights. When they fail to do so it just makes it look like they don't care."
CANADA MILITARY NEWS: South
Pole Wounded Warriors Allied Challenge-Incredible story and victory of 4
counries of Wounded Warriors - Antartica 2 South Pole- Victory run/walk
success- in harshest climates- UK/Canada/Australia and USA- The Journey and
success proving 2 a billion folks proudly- disabilities are abilities in
disguise- did we make u proud- u surely did and do..Environmentalists could NOT
make it.... u ran and walked it.... the world rejoiced and Santa and NORAD
hugged u along the way.The Journey 2 Victory blogged daily- December 2013/O
CANADA TROOPS- we love u so- honour
.png)
Doris Anderson, 1921-2007.
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
Historic Canadian Women Agnes Macphail 
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.