BACK TO TABLE OF CONTENTS

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

I wish you all a very happy new year. I also want to thank you for your prayers, for your heartwarming letters and for your ongoing financial support. REAL Women is indebted to each and every one of you.

Congratulations to the Toronto Chapter of REAL Women in celebration of their 10th anniversary. The official formation of the Chapter began in a private home in 1991. Since then, the chapter has had regular meetings several times a year. At the anniversary meeting of their 10th year, held on November 24, 2001, Toronto SUN columnist, Linda Leatherdale, was to have been the guest speaker, but at the last moment, she was unable to attend because of a very serious illness in her family. As a result, the National Vice President, Gwen Landolt, stepped in and gave an overall summary of the present activities of REAL Women, followed by questions and answers, which everyone seemed to enjoy.

A lot of work goes into keeping Chapters active. We commend each and everyone of the Toronto Chapter Committee as well as the other Chapters across Canada and their members for their dedication to organizing and attending meetings and for their continued financial support of REAL Women.

The last issue of Reality reported that in early October, the British Columbia Chapter of REAL Women won the same-sex challenge of traditional marriage in that province. As a result of that win, the challengers in the Ontario case grew in size beyond anyone's expectations. Consequently, the Association for Marriage and the Family's costs have soared.

REAL Women of Canada is part of a coalition that forms the Association for Marriage and the Family. The coalition includes Focus on the Family and the Canada Family Action Coalition. Even though costs are shared the amount is staggering for us pro-family groups.

The lawyers representing the homosexual activists challenging the traditional meaning of marriage are paid with our tax dollars through the Court Challenges Program. We must pay our own costs. This is terribly unfair and terribly expensive for us.

The Association for Marriage and the Family is represented by David Brown from the prestigious Toronto firm of Stikeman, Elliott. We were extremely fortunate to have had such a distinguished and capable lawyer argue our case. Mr. Brown graciously attempted to keep his costs down. Nonetheless, our costs or disbursements over and above the legal fees still added up.

Disbursement fees include book-binding, agent fees, publication of Notices, in court filing fees, search, telephone, telecopier, photocopies, and a host of other costly needs. Also, every lawyer in the case has to be provided with a copy of our factum and there were twenty-two lawyers involved. Besides lawyer's fees, REAL Women accrues extra expenses as well through long distance telephone calls, secretarial expenses, etc., involved with the case.

We anxiously await a decision in the Ontario case. Of course, even a win will not signal the end. This case will be appealed as was the British Columbia same-sex challenge of marriage and the spanking case. This means further costs to the Court of Appeal for these cases before they end up in the Supreme Court. This is the reason we estimated the total cost at a minimum of $80,000.00. Since this case at the lower court level ran over budget, we can expect that we will need to raise funds beyond our original minimum estimate.

Again, I wish to stress our wholehearted thanks to you our members for your ongoing financial support of our work. However, I must emphasize that we have not amassed a buildup of funds. As fast as money is donated to our Legal Defense Fund, it is used to pay legal expenses. Memberships and other donations support our office expenses in both Toronto and Ottawa. We can proudly say we do it all without any government funding, thanks to you our members.

We have just passed the halfway mark in our Legal Defense Fund. If you have not as yet made a donation, please do so. If your membership or subscription is due, please renew, that alone is a great benefit. We continue to need your financial help, your prayers and your kind words of encouragement. God bless you!

BACK TO TABLE OF CONTENTS