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Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Memories — Highlights from the 1980's

1.  First newsletter
Summer 1983       

2.  First Members meeting
May 10, 1984 at North York Public Library in Toronto attended by 70 people.

3.  Analysis of 'equality rights'
January and fall 1984 newsletter  warned that sections 15 and 28 of the Charter of Rights would allow abortion on demand, and extend rights for homosexuals, i.e. marriage, tax benefits and right to adopt children.

4.  First submission to Parliamentary Standing Committee March 15, 1985
Margaret Goodier and our consultant Mr. Lyman MacInnis of Touche and Ross presented our response to the “Child and Elderly Benefits Consultation Paper”.  REAL Women stated a woman should have an option to remain in the home if she so chooses, and called for an increase in family benefits.
       
5.  National lobby of MP's in Ottawa November 18, 1986
Presented MP's with “Who We Are” brief and pink cupcakes.

6.  Spring 1987 Reality: What you can do for Real women. 
Have a coffee party.  Start your own local chapter.  Write letters to newspapers and magazines.  Write your M.P.  Organize a fund-raising project.  Display our literature at your church, community event or wherever appropriate.

7.  First Supreme Court case
Joe Borowski, former NDP Minister in Manitoba, began a legal challenge in 1983 to obtain protection for preborn children under the Charter of Rights.  Granted Intervenor Status by the Supreme Court in the Borowski vs. the Attorney General of Canada case, which was heard  on October 3, 1988,  our lawyer Angela Costigan was eloquent on behalf of women and their unborn children.

8. What the papers said about our April 1989 conference
Pro Family Group Polishes Its Image: Members don't fit Sterotype says the headline of a full-page article in the Montreal Gazette, complete with a large photo of ten REAL Women from Quebec who attended.

Women's Voices: An editorial in the Thunder Bay Chronicle/ Journal: “The feminist movement represents one side of the women's movement...the other side, espoused mainly by REAL Women is just as determined and has just as much right to help (from the government) to put its case.  But the feminists would deny this fundamental tenet of Canadian democracy...All women need active and well-financed representatives in Canada.  And that includes REAL Women as well as the feminists”.

Contrary Women's Views Not  Accepted. A column by Claire Hoy in the Ottawa Sun: “REAL Women's crime, according to the National Action Committee (NAC) among others is that it does not accept the left-wing liturgy on the so-called women's issues of day care, abortion and equal pay for work of equal value
 
9.  Fall 1989 Reality: Concern about The Human Rights Commission and Tribunals.
These bodies which have been given power to interpret the Charter of Rights, and to impose their decisions on Parliament, are composed of appointed individuals who may not have any particular qualifi- cations for the job. Their bias is shown in their decisions.

Other problems are:  1. Conflict of roles - the commission is both investigator and prosecutor for the complainant.  2.  The members make arbitrary decisions which affect our lives, but unlike MP's, they are not answerable to anyone for their decision.  Members were asked to express concern to their MP.

10.  Fall 1989 Reality:  The Court Challenges Program
On October 3rd Real Women made a presentation to the Parliamentary Committee reviewing the Court Challenges Program, which has handed out millions in legal aid to radical feminists, homosexuals, and pro-abortion groups, but refused to help us in our intervention in  the Borowski case.