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The year 2008 marks the 25th anniversary of REAL Women. It has been a 25-year journey of ups and downs, twists and turns. It has been a very fulfilling journey, and one which has brought us much joy and satisfaction in working to preserve the traditional family: a journey with no regrets.

Our Early Years

The first years were the most difficult ones for us. The media were shocked that there were women who actually did not blindly fall in line with contemporary feminist thought and policies and even dared to publicly raise their objections to them. The media coverage given to REAL Women in those days heaped scorn on us in the belief that we would skulk away, hide, and then quickly disappear. Little did they know or understand the tenacity of REAL Women!

Feminists Alarmed

The feminists, however, were, in this regard at least, a little more astute, and realized that REAL Women could and would undermine their supremacy as their single “voice” of Canadian women. They were alarmed. Consequently, the feminists, especially the National Action Committee on the Status of Women (NAC), serving at that time as the umbrella group for all feminist organizations in Canada, made an all-out effort to destroy REAL Women’s credibility, not only in the media, but also within the government.

We know this because, under the Access to Information Act, REAL Women uncovered documentation in the 1980’s revealing, for example, that the public servants in the Women’s Programme Secretary of State, several Cabinet Ministers, Robert Rabinovitch Under-Secretary of State (who has just retired as President of the CBC, 1999-2007), the Assistant Under-Secretary Richard Dicerni (currently Deputy Minister of Industry Canada) held private meetings with the President of NAC, Chaviva Hosek (who subsequently became Director of Social Policy under Liberal Prime Minister Jean Chretien). They agreed to shut REAL Women out of any recognition and to continue a policy to recognize and fund only feminist groups. (REAL Women has retained these documents for historical purposes).

When REAL Women attended a meeting, in July 1985, at which Robert Rabinovitch was in attendance, he made the extraordinary statement that he had never met anyone like the members of REAL Women before. It is too bad that Mr. Rabinovitch didn’t get out of Ottawa more often. Perhaps if he had acquainted himself with the real aspirations of the Canadian public, his term at the CBC would not have been quite so disastrous, as only 7% of the viewing public watch CBC TV ­ and that is mainly because of the hockey!

At a subsequent meeting at which Mr. Dicerni was in attendance, as well as the then Minister Responsible for the Status of Women, Conservative David Crombie, REAL Women was shown by Mr. Crombie a document, which was headed “Talking Points.” This document was written by the officials in the Secretary of State and contained statements about REAL Women. We subsequently requested a copy of this document under the Access to Information Act. However, Mr. Dicerni denied to the Information Officer that such a document ever existed. So much for the integrity of Mr. Dicerni!

Naively, we had initially assumed that the Women’s Programme represented all Canadian women, not just those with a feminist philosophy. However, we soon were concerned that there was a deliberate attempt by the government to exclude REAL Women. This became especially apparent when the Women’s Programme would not even forward to us the application forms for funding. In order to ascertain whether this was the case, we notified the Programme that a group of women were organizing a new group called “The National Association of Lesbian Mothers” and we requested application forms to apply for a grant. Within a week, the requisite application forms, together with the funding guidelines, were forwarded to us. Included with these documents was a hand-written note, dated March 1, 1984, signed by Tamara Levine, National Projects Officer, in which she warmly welcomed us, and stated: “Please feel free to contact me once you have had a chance to look over the material and I will be pleased to discuss projected ideas with your group”.

We knew then that REAL Women would never be accepted by the feminists and other officials in the Women’s Programme. In the following years, despite all our efforts, successive governments (including Prime Minister Mulroney’s so-called conservative government) continued to fund feminist groups only, with only a few minor grants to REAL Women. It was government funding that sustained feminist groups over the years. They did not represent Canadian women, nor do they now. This funding enabled feminists to dominate and influence government policies - a situation not duplicated anywhere else in the world.

It was not until September 2006 that the Conservative government, under Prime Minister Harper, had the courage and integrity to call a halt to this insanity of using taxpayers’ money to fund the advocacy (lobbying) and “research” efforts of the exclusive special interest group of feminists.

Present Position of Status of Women Funding

The Secretary of State’s Women’s Programme is still continuing under the Harper Conservative government, supposedly to provide only “hands-on” assistance to women’s groups in matters of violence against women and to assist women in projects to promote their economic and social well-being. We do not know what this means exactly - especially under the current Minister Responsible for the Status of Women, feminist Josée Verner. We are keeping a close eye on this agency and will include our analysis of it in a future issue of REALity. (See article “Tax Money Still Tossed Around” .)

However, none of this bigotry and discrimination against us ever deterred us. Throughout all the turmoil over the years with the media, the government and the courts (the latter by way of our numerous court interventions) REAL Women has continued to focus on its objectives. We have never swerved from our determination to protect the natural family of mother, father and children. We’ve simply tossed off the criticism and have single-mindedly pursued our journey, undeterred by the hurdles thrown in our path.

REAL Women of Canada Today

REAL Women has achieved both credibility and respect from the media, government and the courts. Whenever the voice of respected conservatives is required, REAL Women has been a prominent choice. Part of the acceptance of REAL Women is due to the excellent quality of our research. Because of this, we frequently receive requests from the media and the public on current issues, and our web site serves as a popular resource.

REAL Women has been extremely busy over the past 25 years. (The “A” for Active in our acronym was well chosen!) We have made approximately 250 appearances before government committees ­ both federal and provincial. We have become a Non-Government Organization (NGO) with consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. In that capacity, we have attended 35 UN meetings in New York, Cairo, Beijing, Lisbon, Rome, Istanbul and Geneva, always promoting the pro-life, pro-family cause.

REAL Women has made many TV and radio appearances and has written literally hundreds of articles on issues relating to the family. We have also spoken to a great many groups over the years and have produced a video on REAL Women, which discusses many of our activities and concerns.

REAL Women has intervened in the Canadian courts in approximately 20 different legal court challenges ­ again, always promoting the family and traditional values. Although the courts have certainly not followed our well-researched arguments, our factums have been a challenge for them to navigate around! The courts can never claim that they didn’t hear “the other side.”

All of this work has been done mostly by volunteers without government financial support. REAL Women’s existence, then, is actually a tribute to our wonderful members who have sustained us over the years ­ financially, morally, and prayerfully. Without you, we would not exist. Our deepest and humblest thanks to all of you who have so valiantly stood by our side during this on-going struggle. Our 25th anniversary, therefore, is really a tribute to each of you.

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