Women is the N&*$er of the world -- Part 2

Today, I want to provide you a few lists, a bit of perspective and, perhaps, the possibility of change.

The reason? Seventeen years ago one man turned a gun on himself but not before killing 14 women and injuring 13 others at the École Polytechnique de Montréal.

While countless stories will provide his name, background, socio-economic and cultural status as well as intimate details of his suicide note and warped rational for his killing spree, I will refrain from doing this. Instead, I offer you the names of the dead. The direct victims of one man's violent, patriarchial attitudes towards women; one man's example of the desire for dominance and control over the "other half"; one example of the pervasive and prevalent attitude that women are secondary to men -- an attitude that continues to exist around the world.

People Killed
Geneviève Bergeron (b. 1968), civil engineering student.
Hélène Colgan (b. 1966), mechanical engineering student.
Nathalie Croteau (b. 1966), mechanical engineering student.
Barbara Daigneault (b. 1967) mechanical engineering student.
Anne-Marie Edward (b. 1968), chemical engineering student.
Maud Haviernick (b. 1960), materials engineering student.
Maryse Laganière (b. 1964), budget clerk in the École Polytechnique's finance department.
Maryse Leclair (b. 1966), materials engineering student.
Anne-Marie Lemay (b. 1967), mechanical engineering student.
Sonia Pelletier (b. 1961), mechanical engineering student.
Michèle Richard (b. 1968), materials engineering student.
Annie St-Arneault (b. 1966), mechanical engineering student.
Annie Turcotte (b. 1969), materials engineering student.
Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz (b. 1958), nursing student.

Now, take a moment. Read the list again. And sit with it. Sit with the knowledge that these women were innocent victims of one man's rage. Sit and reflect on the fact that they were punished, not for what they did, but for who they were. Now reflect on the fact that most of us, at least once in our life, will experience this unjustified and unwarranted hate directed at us - to some degree and on some level.

Done?

Good. Now remember how YOU felt when persecuted for being who you were. Recall the anger, the fear, the anguish and the confusion.

Got it?

Then take this into your day. Regardless of who you come across remember that prejudice, of any type, can and does kill. There is no rationalization that can justify hate and violence -- whether it is towards women, the LGBTQ community, Muslims, Christians, Jews, the list goes on. Yet, the only way we can truly break the cycle of us vs. them (differientation that leads to prejudice and hate) is to break down our own barriers and walls. Have courage. Persist. We will get through this.

Of course, for those more practically inclined, there are other actions that can and should be done. One such action is to support the Dec. 10th Campaign.

This campaign calls on all people (and organizations/corporations/institutions) to support the status of women in Canada -- a status, they report, which is seriously threatened. For more information of the Dec. 10th Campaign desires and rationale please scroll below to the declaration.

Finally, please examine the following list. It is the tally of all the women that died this year due to men on women violence in the GTA. The names are varied. The consequences are different. The reason is the same.

Women and Their Children Killed in the GTA in 2006
Yasmin Ashareh, 20
Seema Badhan, 19
Rose Boroja, 54
Colleen Bradley, 59
Kamlesh Dhingra, 58
Audrey Gates, 80
Wendy LaFleche, 41
Victoria LaFleche, 7
Jesse LaFleche, 3
Shao-Sang Liang, 38
Vivian Yuen-Yee Chau, 3
Ian Chau, five months
Dale Cheryl Mapstone, 29
Malena Morales, 31
Meherun Nessa, 35
Natalie Novak, 20
Rosa Peterman, 57
Gwendolyn Pilgrim, 35
Thayalini Subramaniam, 31
Malini Thayakumar, 36
Neruuya Thayakumar, 14
Gnanalakshmi Raman, 29

For more information on the Dec. 10th Campaign go to:
http://www.criaw-icref.ca/index_e.htm

For more information on the Dec. 6th Fund go to:
http://www.dec6fund.ca/what.htm

For more information on supporting the movement to end violence against women go to:
http://www.whiteribbon.ca/

Statement for the December 10th Campaign
For Women’s Equality and Human Rights
On December 10th, International Human Rights Day, Canada will mark the 25th anniversary of its ratification of the UN Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). Instead of celebrating this historical milestone, women in Canada are mobilizing to ensure that governments honour and respect their international and domestic human rights commitments. This is because over several months now, the federal government has acted in ways that deny most women’s realities, undermine women’s access to justice, and abandon its own obligation to advance women’s human rights in Canada.

Reality Denied

In 2006, the federal government made a number of important changes affecting women’s equality rights. These include a 40% cut to Status of Women Canada and the elimination of twelve regional Status of Women Canada offices. These measures signal a profound rejection of the realities of women’s lives. The justifications for these measures by Minister Beverley Oda are that women are strong, already equal, and don’t need these critical policy and legal supports. Although we acknowledge that women in Canada have won formal equality rights, we know that much more work must be done to make these equality rights a reality for all women in Canada. One indicator of this is women’s wages. On average, women still earn 71 cents on the male dollar, making Canada 38th in the world in terms of the wage gap ratio. Racialized and Aboriginal women earn significantly less. Their average annual income, respectively, is $16, 621 and $ 13,300. Further, even though 70% of mothers are in the paid work force, Canada still does not have in place a national child care program. According to the Toronto Community Foundation, over 10,000 children are on a waiting list for subsidized child care spaces in Toronto alone.

Access Denied

Access to justice is now denied to women on many fronts. In the last year, the federal government abolished the funding for the national child care program, decided not to adopt an improved federal pay equity law, eliminated all funds for the Court Challenges Program, removed the goal of equality from the mandate of the Women’s Program at Status of Women Canada, and prohibited the use of federal funds to engage in advocacy at any level of government, lobbying and most research. Other policy decisions have also contributed to denying women’s access to equality and their rights. Among these are the cuts to literacy programs, the lack of support for women and men who are homeless, the refusal to respect the Kyoto Protocol, the decisions to renege on the Kelowna Accord as well as Canada’s obstruction of the adoption of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Equality Denied

Instead of promoting women’s equality, the federal government is severely hindering: women’s capacity to organize, advocate and lobby. They won’t support women’s equality in the workplace and have limited women’s rights to challenge discrimination before the courts. Canada’s democratic safeguards are indeed being eroded and our internationally acclaimed human rights legacy is seriously in jeopardy.

Respect Your Commitment, Prime Minister Stephen Harper

We, the undersigned, urge Prime Minister Harper to respect his own election commitment to uphold women’s equality and human rights in Canada. During the 2006 election campaign, Mr. Harper stated:

“If elected, I will take concrete and immediate measures, as recommended by the United Nations, to ensure that Canada fully upholds its commitments to women in Canada." (January 18, 2006).

Prime Minister Harper is not respecting this commitment. The government’s approach jeopardizes the historic efforts by Canada to achieve women’s full equality, and disregards women’s human rights here at home. Rather than uphold his commitment to the women in Canada, the Prime Minister has in fact ignored the experience of millions of women in order to justify his government’s actions.

On December 10, we call on the federal Government to:

• Reverse its policy decisions on childcare, pay equity, the Court Challenges Program, Status of Women Canada, and the Women’s program..

• Respect the CEDAW Committee recommendations, by improving the living conditions and respecting the human rights of Aboriginal women, effectively addressing violence against women and women’s poverty, improving maternity and parental benefits, funding civil legal aid, changing immigration laws to respect the rights of live-in caregivers and ensuring a more equitable participation of women in the political institutions.

Women in Canada, because we are strong, determined and passionate, can and will not accept an erosion of their hard won and still fragile equality rights. Women are not living in poverty, as mothers, care-givers or elders, because they are weak or lack self-confidence. They do not choose to become the victims of violence at the hands of partners, family members or strangers. They do not wish to have their children taken from them because of a lack of access to safe and affordable housing. They have not chosen to be under-represented in Canada’s political life, or to be underpaid in countless workplaces across the country. Women, women’s organizations and our allies have chosen, however, to come together to call upon this government to reverse course and promote a collective respect for women’s equality and human rights.
Sincerely,

 Aboriginal Women’s Community-Based Studies Initiative
 Alliance des femmes de la francophonie canadienne
 Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
 Canadian Council of Muslim Women
 Canadian Federation of Students
 Canadian Federation of University Women
 Canadian Feminist Alliance for International Action
 Canadian Labour Congress
 Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women
 Canadian Union of Public Employees
 Canadian Women's Community Economic Development Council
 Canadian Women’s Foundation
 Child Care Advocacy Association of Canada
 DAWN Ontario
 Fédération des femmes du Québec
 Feminists for Just and Equitable Public Policy
 MATCH International
 National Association of Women and the Law
 National Council of Women of Canada
 New Brunswick Advisory Council on the Status of Women
 Ontario Association of Interval and Transition Houses
 Provincial Advisory Council on the Status of Women, Newfoundland and Labrador
 Public Service Alliance of Canada
 Regroupement provincial des maisons d'hébergement et de transition pour femmes victimes de violence conjugale
 Transition House Association of Nova Scotia
 Women’s Inter-Church Council of Canada
 Women’s Space
 YWCA Canada

Holy city? or Homo city? Israel stands up and out despite protests

"This is not a homo-city; this is a holy city."

So decried an orthodox cleric over the decision made by Jerusalem's attorney general to allow a gay pride parade through the streets of the revered city.

Has the irony sunk in yet?

There is no doubt that the city is steeped in historical meaning. Jews viewed the city as a holy place more than 3,000 years ago; Muslims trace their lineage back to former Jerusalem residents and consider one temple in the city as the third holiest site in the world; while, Christians continue to see this place as a the city where Jesus was crucified. Yet the common bond among all religions and people is that Jerusalem (along with Israel, as a whole) was populated and has evolved under a cloud of hate and prejudice.

The very fact that Israel exists is because the world turned its back on a group of people because of their life practices. Now, the same is happening inside the walls of one of the world's holiest cities.

Rather than honour the notion of "love thy neighbour" fights and protests have erupted all over the city to protest the planned gay pride parade.

The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported over the weekend that: Dozens of fervently Orthodox Jews in Mea She’arim rioted at the news that the parade was to proceed, blocking off the city’s Shabbat Square with burning trash cans...The [attorney general's] approval [of the parade] caused a violent riot from hundreds of ultra-Orthodox Jews which left policemen wounded and saw the arrest of 30 people.

Just over 70 years ago the country was founded to protect ethnicity and religious convictions. Now, the very residents that have benefited from this foundation of love and tolerance are condemning people -- because they disagree with their love and companionship lifestyle.

Thank god for the rule of law.

Despite the close-minded actions of a the minority orthodox and fundamentalist religious groups in Israel, the country's attorney general, Menachem Mazuz, approved the twice-delayed parade in support of "freedom of expression". While religious leaders in the country may not condone the expression of the LGBTQ community it is clear that the country is still (thankfully) ruled by law (based on the very human rights Jews demanded almost a century ago).

While ultra-conservative views will never be changed, it is possible to equip a society and a culture with the facets of tolerance (and, hopefully, acceptance). This can only be done when equality and the freedom to express one's lifestyle choices is protected by for all under the law. While the Israeli government may be getting flak for its decision to proceed with the country's gay pride parade, I applaud their efforts to truly create an inclusive and tolerant society.

After all, that's why Israel, the nation, was first formed.