Real Women of Canada - Newsletters - REAL WOMEN OF CANADA'S ACTIVITIES DURING 2004

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REAL WOMEN OF CANADA'S ACTIVITIES DURING 2004

Our list of activities is as follows:

January	A critique was submitted to the Canadian government and pro-family Members of Parliament on the government's National Plan of Action for Children. This latter document was the government's response to the UN Children's Summit in 2002. The Canadian delegation to that UN Conference was headed by Senator Landon Pearson. Although Senator Pearson claimed she had "consulted widely" with the Canadian public in drafting the document, this was not the case. The Plan of Action was heavily biased and ideological in both its anti-life and anti-family feminist perspective, especially in regard to its emphasis on the promotion of sexual and reproductive rights for children. An article was submitted for publication to all the daily newspapers in Canada objecting to the federal government's proposal to decriminalize the use of up to 15 grams of marijuana. We raised objections to this proposal on the grounds that such decriminalization of the drug was detrimental to adolescents, their families and to society as a whole.
February	A letter was sent to all pro-family Members of Parliament regarding Bill C-250, which amended the Canadian Criminal Code to provide protection on the grounds of sexual orientation against "hate propaganda." We argued that this amendment would shut down public debate on the homosexual issue, and would prevent pastors, faith-based organizations and others from speaking publicly against homosexuality, contrary to freedom of religion and freedom of expression and opinion.
March	REAL Women held a national conference in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Presentations were made on current family issues including the importance of the prohibition of homosexual material in Canadian schools, and the war against the family being waged by the Canadian government, the courts and the media. Two resolutions were passed at the conference. One resolution dealt with the closing of loopholes in the child pornography law, and the other resolution raised objections to embryo research and cloning procedures. At this conference, REAL Women's national award was presented to Garry Breitkreuz, Member of Parliament, for his dedication throughout his Parliamentary career to the protection of the family and the protection of human life from conception to natural death. A representative of REAL Women attended World Congress of Families III in Mexico City. She made a presentation at that conference on the topic Keeping Family in the UN's Agenda. She also was a member of the Drafting Committee for the Mexico City Declaration of World Congress of Families III.
March - April	Two representatives from REAL Women, which is an NGO in Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the UN, attended the meeting of the UN Commission on Human Rights held in Geneva, Switzerland. Our representatives reported that at this meeting, a resolution by Brazil, co-sponsored by Canada, to amend the 1948 Human Rights Declaration to include protection on the grounds of sexual orientation was advanced. It was subsequently withdrawn by Brazil on the grounds that there was no consensus on the resolution. The issues of abortion and population control were also extensively debated at this conference due to the report by the Commission's "Special Rapporteur," Paul Hunt, who argued that, "Women with unwanted pregnancies should be offered reliable information and compassionate counseling, including information on where and when a pregnancy may be terminated legally." He also incorrectly stated in his report that UN treaties require protection on the grounds of sexual orientation (homosexuality). They do not. Due to the controversial nature of his report, it was merely "accepted" by the Commission, but not supported.
April	A letter was sent to the editors of all the Canadian daily newspapers submitting a number of articles for publication from REAL Women's bi-monthly publication, REALity, providing the newspapers with the opportunity to publish any of the articles. The articles covered issues among others on the importance of maternity leave (next to Sweden, Canada has the largest number of women in the paid workforce, 71%); a court challenge by an abortionist to make abortion a constitutional right in Canada; the culture war by the courts against the family; the high costs, both financially and socially, of divorce.
May	A letter was sent to all the Canadian Members of Parliament objecting to a document issued by the federal Department of Justice on same-sex parenting. The Justice Department alleged in this document that same-sex parenting was not harmful to children. In our letter, we pointed out that the Department of Justice had abandoned the best interests of Canadian children and its responsibilities in loco parentis in order to promote same-sex parenting as part of its political and legal agenda to bring about same-sex marriages in Canada. In this regard, we pointed out that the Canadian government had completely reversed itself on this issue from a year previously when it appeared before the Ontario Court of Appeal arguing against same-sex marriages and also that same-sex parenting was harmful to children. The government at that time submitted evidence to the court to support its position against same-sex parenting. However, the government reversed its policy on same-sex marriages and its opposition of same-sex parenting. Subsequently, it published this document in support of same-sex parenting in order to bolster its case for same-sex marriages. In effect, vulnerable children were used as a decoy to promote this policy change. As we pointed out in our letter, studies supporting homosexual parenting were based on unreliable research and flawed methodology, and, as a result, provided a very tenuous basis on which to set public policy. REAL Women sent letters to the Editors of the Canadian daily newspapers that had published stories on the Justice Department's misrepresentations on same-sex parenting, pointing out the government's reversal in policy on the crucial issue, and that the government's position on same-sex parenting lacked credible studies to support it. REAL Women was asked by the national Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) on-line to submit an article outlining our objections to same-sex marriage. The article entitled, "Same-sex Unions Are Not Marriages," posted on CBC's News Viewpoint On-line, attracted a great deal of controversy and debate, particularly among homosexual activists who were unaccustomed to the CBC presenting any opinion opposed to their agenda, on the national broadcasting system. REAL Women's article was subsequently reprinted in several publications across Canada.
June	REAL Women, along with several other pro-life/family organizations, appealed to the New Brunswick Court of Appeal, the decision of the lower court of New Brunswick, which refused our application to intervene in the case of well-known Canadian abortionist, Henry Morgentaler, who is bringing a legal challenge to have the government fund abortions performed in his private abortion clinic, and to have the court declare abortion a constitutional right in Canada. A document was prepared and distributed throughout Canada setting out the five key family issues in connection with the national election held on June 28, 2004. This document was also published in REAL Women's bi-monthly publication REALity May/June 2004 issue) and posted on our Website, http://www.realwomenca.com/.
July	A letter was sent to all the Attorneys General/Solicitors General of the ten provinces in Canada and the Territories, on the issue of cross-border paedophiles using the internet to lure vulnerable children. Canadian children are particularly vulnerable to this because Canada's age of consent for sexual activity is set at only 14 years, which is one of the lowest ages in all western nations. Further, Canadians own more computers than are owned in other countries. (There are more than 10 million Internet users in Canada.) According to Microsoft Canada, 99% of Canadian children have access to a computer. In our letter, we urged the provincial governments to place more funding and manpower on police work required to curtail the luring of children on the Internet as well as the removal of child pornography from the Internet. An article on Canadian children being targeted by cross-border paedophiles and the necessity to raise the age of consent was sent to all the major Canadian daily newspapers for publication.
August	A paper by REAL Women entitled "Same-sex Parenting is Harmful to Children" was presented by a REAL Women representative at the European Regional Preparatory Committee Meeting in Geneva, Switzerland. This conference was held in preparation for the upcoming Doha International Conference for the Family to be held in Doha, Qatar on November 29 - 30, 2004.
September	A letter was sent to all the Canadian Members of Parliament (in both official languages, English and French) urging that the age of consent for sexual activity of children be raised from the present 14 years of age to at least 16 years of age; preferably 18 years of age. We recommended that 18 years of age was preferable, since it would bring the age of consent more in line with the criminal justice system for youths which provides special protection for those under 18 years of age. It also would be more in line with most provincial child abuse legislation, as well as laws relating to the sale of alcohol and tobacco to young persons. (Most provinces permit the sale of these substances only to those over 18 years of age.)
October	A pamphlet was prepared and distributed across the country warning parents of the dangers to children of unsupervised use of the Internet that can lead to their being lured by paedophiles, and the access by children to pornography. The pamphlet urged parents to monitor their children's access to the Internet, and also included practical suggestions for parents on how to accomplish this. REAL Women was an intervenor before the Supreme Court of Canada on the issue of same-sex marriage. The federal government sought a non-binding opinion (Reference) from the Supreme Court of Canada on the constitutionality of same-sex marriages. It requested the court's opinion to support same-sex marriage as it intends to table legislation in Parliament to change the definition of marriage from a union of a man and a woman, to a union of two "persons," i.e. to allow same-sex marriages.
November	REAL Women is to participate in the UN NGO World Day Against Child Abuse organized by WWSF (Women's World Summit Foundation), sponsored by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees, and supported by UN Special Rapporteur on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography/Independent Expert on the UN Study on Violence against Children, by holding a national press conference in Ottawa with press conferences held simultaneously in other Canadian centres by REAL Women chapters. REAL Women will testify before the Standing Senate Committee on Transport and Communications on the issue of media bias against the traditional family, and the failure of the tax-supported Canadian national broadcasting system (CBC) to provide balance in its programming. We also will raise objections to restrictions placed by the government-appointed Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) on licensing of religious and conservative broadcasting in Canada.

In addition to the above, in 2004 REAL Women published six issues of our bi-monthly publication REALity (available on our Website). This publication updates our members and others on the issues affecting the family. We also issued six press releases in 2004 relating to current family issues. Examples of the topics of the press releases include the harm caused by same-sex parenting (April 28); objections to the appointment of two radical feminists and supporters of same-sex marriage to the Supreme Court of Canada, significantly just prior to the court's hearing on the same-sex marriage issue (August 24), etc. REAL Women of Canada was invited to appear on most major television and radio broadcast stations and interviewed by major print media to explain our position on crucial family issues.

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