Seeking an
End to Women's Poverty - Public Forum
Putting Violence Against Women on to the Social Agenda
Part 4 of a series, Friday January 16, 2004 at WISE Hall 7 pm - 10 pm
They are taking away our welfare
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And how will we help each other survive until then?
Join us for:
Learning centres to discuss expectations we can all have of our government. We will explore together what social changes we must initiate to get a redistribution of wealth and what we must do together to survive through the transition to our fair share. A panel discussion will be part of the learning centres. Speakers in the panel discussion include:
Sharon Yandle, Feminist Union Activist
Fay Blaney, Aboriginal Women's Action Network
Jackie Ackerly, Together Against Poverty
Lee Lakeman, Vancouver Rape Relief and Women's Shelter
Kim Pate, Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies
Dara Culhane, Moderator
This event is free and open to the public.
Space may be limited, please rsvp - 604-872-8212
Free childcare available, please rsvp
For more information about welfare &
welfare cuts please visit these articles & sites:
The World March of Women
Against Poverty- for sharing of wealth
Against Violence Against Women - for the respect of women's physical and mental integrity.
The persistence of inequality in a world of increasing wealth. We live in a world where inequality reigns. As we near the year 2000, profound disparities still exist between women and men, North and South, East and West, and within the population of a given country, between rich and poor, the young and the elderly, and the urban and rural landscape.
Go to the World March of Women Demands
B.C. Singled Out for Criticism by U.N. Committee
A coalition of 12 prominent B.C. women’s organizations are calling on Victoria to reverse recent policy changes and cuts to social programmes that specifically harm women and girls in the wake of criticism from the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).
- Read the BC CEDAW alternate report to the UN CEDAW Committee: British Columbia Moves Backwards on Women's Equality
- Read the Canadian Feminist Alliance for International Action (FAFIA) Alternate report to the UN CEDAW Committee
- Read the United Nations CEDAW Committee's criticism of Canada's lack of progress on eliminating discrimination against women.
In response to welfare cuts Vancouver Rape Relief found it neccessary to increase the amount of time that women could stay in the transition house for battered women.
We issued an information release in order to get the word out
The Gosselin v. Québec case is about a Québec welfare regulation that provided drastically reduced benefits (170$ a month) for persons under thirty years of age who were considered able to work. The case is now before the Supreme Court. The Court’s decision could very well determine whether basic welfare benefits are a right or a privilege in Canada and Québec.
More about this case at the National Association of Women and the Law website.
Kimberly Rogers died destitute, alone and eight months pregnant, while under house arrest for welfare fraud. An Ontario coroner's inquest into her death August 2001 revealed how welfare cuts were a primary cause of Kimberly's death. Visit the Disabled Women's Network of Ontario website for more information
On October 4, 2002, Women took to the streets to protest the welfare cuts.
This is link to the information leaflet we created and handed out to people in the downtown of Vancouver as we demonstrated: "The results of the Harris government cuts to welfare, legal aid and women's advocacy centres are in:
A dramatic increase in the number of wife murders in Ontario."
Leaflet text only
Leaflet pdf version
Other Anti-Poverty Websites and Resources:
Livable Income For Everyone (LIFE) is an organization started in 2003 to promote the implementation of universal guaranteed livable income in every country in the world.
Why? Because...
The Vancouver Status of Women's Welfare Resource Guide for Women in BC.
This guide provides general information to women about British Columbia's welfare system or Employment and Assistance Regulations. In your dealings with welfare you have a right to be treated with respect, to be given clear information and to be told about decisions that effect you. This Guide is meant to help you apply for the welfare, disability, and child benefits you are entitled to, and to offer guidance on any problems that you may run into in the process
Women for Women Needing Welfare
We encourage all supporters of women needing welfare to use this service to tell each other about upcoming workshops, protests, conferences, and other actions. WWW editors do post events from time to time. But "what's up" is as full, as diverse, as regionally-broad as you choose to make it.
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