Feminists Stand on Guard to Protect
Gender Program for Judges

For reasons of fairness and objectivity, REAL Women has made every attempt to change the federal judges' gender educational (indoctrination) program, sponsored by the National Judicial Institute. It has been a challenge!

As previously discussed, (See Reality, "Feminist Canaries are Singing Again," May/June 2000, p. 1), the gender sensitivity course required for all federally appointed judges is based on a feminist book Equality and Judicial Neutrality (Carswell 1987). The judge's program also includes feminist legal theories, statistics and analysis and no other perspectives are included in it. For example, the definition of "equality" in the program was written by lesbian partners Sheilagh Day and Gwen Brodsky.

Ms. Day is the former Vice President of the National Action Committee on the Status of Women (NAC) and one of the founders of the legal arm of the feminist movement, the Women's Legal Education Action Fund (LEAF). She is currently chairperson of the Equality Panel of the notorious Court Challenges Program, which is generously funding all the feminist/homosexual/lesbian court challenges.

Ms Day's lesbian partner Gwen Brodsky, formerly chaired the Lesbian and Gay section of the Canadian Bar Association and represents homosexual/lesbian groups in court (the funding, of course, provided by her partner, Sheilagh). Ms. Brodsky was also, at one time, litigation director of LEAF.
REAL Women has now learned why the program has remained unchanged over the years and how the feminists have managed to retain their stranglehold on it. They have done so by carefully placing on the National Judicial Institute's Advisory Committee their very own sentries to guard the gates of the program, thereby ensuring that the feminist purity of the program be maintained.
These feminist sentries serve as key members of the Program's Advisory Committee. They include:

- Lynn Smith, Faculty of Law, UBC and immediate past President of LEAF;

- Juanita Westmoreland-Traoré former chairperson of the Ontario Employment Equity Commission and now a Quebec judge. She was also a member of LEAF;

- Sheilah Martin, editor, wonder of wonders, of the feminist book Equality and Judicial Neutrality on which the judges' indoctrination course is based!

In addition to these three "stars," there are 5 other female law professors on the Advisory Committee. Although we do not know their specific views on feminist legal theory, we can reasonably be assured that they support the feminist line of thought. Why else would they be on the Advisory Committee? Further, on this 16-member Advisory Committee is a member of the notorious BC Human Rights Tribunal. What a crew of narrow-minded ideologues to form the majority on this committee! Further, who knows how many of the remaining members of the Committee also support their ideology?

With these feminist legal mandarins standing guard over their "treasure," i.e., the gender sensitivity indoctrination course of the National Judicial Institute, it is little wonder REAL Women has been unable to breach its defenses.

Please write to the Chairperson of the National Judicial Institute:

Madame Justice Beverley McLaughlin
Chairperson, National Judicial Institute
Place de Ville B,
112 Kent Street, Suite 450
Ottawa ON K1A 0W8

and request that this biased, unreasonable program be removed. There never will be "justice" in the justice system in Canada as long as this course remains in existence.

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