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PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

Just as there has been a major change in our federal government, so too there will be a minor change in REAL Women of Canada. It was four years ago that I became President of REAL Women of Canada, and while for me it has been a wonderful and humbling experience, it is time for a change. A new President will be chosen at our annual Board of Directors meeting in June of this year.

I think one of the most rewarding aspects of my role as President was the opportunity to have contact with so many members across Canada. So often we hear that this country is fragmented, and that Canadians in Atlantic Canada likely have little in common with those from the West Coast, or that English-speaking Canada is at odds with Quebec. My experience as President of REAL Women of Canada has clearly shown that this is not the case. Across the country all Canadian women and men desire the same rights to life, liberty and health. Our organization believes that these rights include respect for all human life from conception to natural death, and the liberty to publicly promote the traditional Judaeo-Christian values on which this country was founded.

We have a new leader and governing party in Canada and we are hopeful that this government will make a real difference and that the tide of anti-family policies will be turned, but this will require vigilance on the part of all concerned Canadians.

The noted religious philosopher, Thomas Merton, was right on the mark when he made the following statement:

The experience of twentieth-century dictatorships has shown that it is possible for some Christians to live and work in a shockingly unjust society, closing their eyes to all kinds of evil and, indeed, perhaps participating in that evil, at least by default, concerned only with their own compartmentalized life of piety, closed off from everything else on the face of the earth.

In many of my "messages" I have urged you to be pro-active by becoming involved in the political process. It is not easy for some of you, who understandably find politics distasteful, to become politically involved. Please at least continue to offer your prayers for a good government. I know your prayers have made a real difference!

Thank you also for your wonderful support for REAL Women of Canada. I cannot tell you how proud I have been to act as your President, and certainly I plan to stay involved. God bless you, every one!

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