By C. Gwendolyn Landolt
National Vice President
REAL Women of Canada
The Conservative Federal government changed funding criteria in September, 2006 so that core funding for feminist groups would cease, as well as funding for their research and advocacy by way of Status of Women Canada. Nonetheless, in 2006-2007, this department did receive $11,592,766, according to Public Accounts Transfer Payments records http://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/201/301/public_accounts_can/index.html. This generous sum was increased to $15,217,326 for 2007-2008, http://www.tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca/recgen/pdf/44.pdf. This money was now to be used only to cover grants to women’s groups to provide financial assistance from them to carry out “projects” which would directly affect women. According to the Status of Women web site, their total department spending estimate for 2007 – 2008 was $30.8 million which included the above grant money.((In short, feminists continually whine about funding cuts, but their very own Status of Women’s annual funding for grants was increased by the Conservatives last year by $3.6 million.
Even with cuts to Status of Women feminist research, this research is continuing undiminished in other government-funded circles, despite the difficult economic times. That is, other organizations continue to crank out left-wing “research” which the feminist groups continue to use. These other organizations providing research receive federal funding which is a part of the federal government’s annual $26 billion hand-out to special interest groups.
Feminist Alliance for International Action (FAFIA)
FAFIA is a coalition of over 75 “equality seeking” (feminist) groups. FAFIA has received funding from Status of Women since its formation in 2000. FAFIA advocates an increase of the Status of Women budget to $50 million from the present $30 million (no doubt to increase its share of the take) and further recommends gender budgeting, which would address every government budgetary and fiscal measure by way of a feminist lens, under the pretense that this would advance women’s equality. Sure!
FAFIA has received the following recent funding from the Status of Women:
2006 – 2007: $330,000 2007 – 2008: $180,470
The current year funding of FAFIA was scheduled to end in September, 2008. It is not known as yet whether it received further funding for the 2008-2009 fiscal year. REAL Women will be following up on this to see if this is the case. Altogether, FAFIA has received $1,522,311 from the Status of Women since 2000, supposedly to carry out its “projects” on behalf of women. One of its “projects”, apparently, is to use the UN as a tool to promote the feminist cause at the UN and in Canada.
FAFIA’s Feminist Activities at the UN
One of FAFIA’s major activities is to use the United Nations as a tool to pressure the Canadian government to further so-called feminist “equality” rights of women in Canada.
This is carried out by FAFIA appearing before select UN monitoring committees to report to them on the Canadian government’s many alleged failures in regard to women. FAFIA claims that Canada is in violation of women’s rights as set out in the UN Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
How the UN Serves FAFIA’s Objectives
Pushing the feminist cause with these UN Committees is made easy for FAFIA due to the fact that, in December 1996, in Deep Cove, New York, feminist groups met with representatives from all of the UN agencies, e.g., The World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Family Planning (UNFPD), etc. and decided that the way to impose feminist policies at the UN was by “re-interpreting” the six UN human rights treaties to make them accommodate the feminist agenda. This was to be done by way of the so called “Monitoring Committees”, which are set up under the six human rights treaties to receive reports every few years from ratifying countries in order to determine whether these countries have complied with the provisions of the treaties. These monitoring committees, however, are comprised of NGO representatives – mostly feminist individuals or employees of international feminist organizations, who re-interpret or read into these treaties provisions in accordance with their own agenda, to attempt to force the implementation of feminist policies around the world. That is, even though feminist policies are not written into the treaties at all, they are interpreted as such by the committees.
Whenever a reporting country is scheduled to appear before a monitoring committee (as Canada most recently reported to the CEDAW monitoring committee, in October 2008) feminist groups submit reports (called “Shadow Reports”) to the monitoring committee explaining how their government has failed in its obligations under the treaty. These feminist monitoring committees then issue criticisms of that country, based on these feminist reports. As a result of this process, for example, over 65 countries have been pressured by the CEDAW Committee to liberalize their abortion laws, even though the CEDAW treaty does not mention abortion.
UN Committee Decisions Are Not Binding
The criticisms of a government by the treaty monitoring committees are not legally binding on a country, but are used for propaganda or political purposes by the feminist groups, to embarrass and pressure the government to implement the feminist agenda. For example, FAFIA appeared before CEDAW’s monitoring committee in 2003 and again in 2008, when Canada presented its reports on the Convention. In its 121-page report to the CEDAW Committee in October 2008 http://www.fafia-afai.org/files/FAFIA_Canada_Cedaw_2008.pdt), FAFIA included 34 recommendations. To present this report, FAFIA sent no less than four representatives to Geneva to “expose” the federal Conservative government’s many failures. The expenses of these four representatives were, of course, paid for by the Canadian taxpayer out of FAFIA’s grant from the Status of Women. FAFIA’s report included the usual feminist demands.
Opposition Parties Attack the Conservative Government Based on Committee’s Response
The CEDAW Monitoring Committee issued its report on Canada on November 19, 2008 and, not surprisingly, the opposition parties quickly and delightedly used the CEDAW Committee’s report to attack the Conservative government for its alleged failure to promote the equality of women in Canada. For example:
November 25, 2008:
Ms Johanne Deschampes (Laurentides-Labelle, BQ) referred to the UN report’s criticism of the government for its lack of shelters for battered women, etc. (Hansard pg. 242).
Mr. Todd Russell (Labrador, Lib) referred to the UN report’s “shocking” criticism of the government ignoring calls for an enquiry into the establishment of a national violence prevention program for women (Hansard pg. 249).
Megan Leslie (Halifax, NDP) referred to the UN Committee’s criticism of Canada regarding Canada’s 510 Aboriginal women who have disappeared or have been murdered since 1980 (Hansard pg. 250).
Mrs. Alexandra Mendes (Brossard-La Prairie, Lib) referred to the UN Committee’s criticism of the Federal government’s failure to stop violence against women and its serious cuts to the Court Challenges Program (Hansard pg. 250).
November 28, 2008:
MP Carol Hughes (Algoma-Manitoulin-Kapuskasing, NDP) referred to the CEDAW’s UN Committee report, citing its criticism of the Canadian government’s record on women’s rights (Hansard, pg. 278). Ms. Hughes stated:
The committee was also concerned about women’s insufficient access to legal aid, affordable housing, childcare spaces, and shelters. The committee was concerned as well about the poor representation of women in public life, inequality in the labour market for visible minorities, mistreatment of women prisoners, the cancellation of the Court Challenges Program, and the elimination of funding for advocacy for women’s organizations.
Canada has an international obligation to address women’s human rights in Canada, as well as an obligation to women in Canada to address the concerns of the committee.
The government needs to take immediate action to advance women’s rights in Canada.
In a response on November 25, 2008 to these criticisms, Helena Guergis, (Simcoe-Grey, Ontario), the recently appointed Minister of State (Status of Women) stated (Hansard, pg. 250) that a commitment had been made in the 2008 budget to develop an action plan that will include further work on violence against women, including aboriginal communities. Ms Guergis further stated, on November 26, 2008 (Hansard pg. 288),
I am also very proud that our government recently joined the UNIFEM campaign to say no to violence. Canada joins 159 ministers and heads of state from 60 governments in supporting UNIFEM’s call to see an end to violence against women.
Conservative Government Weak-Kneed Under Criticism
It seems that the Conservative government has obligingly fallen into the trap set by the feminist group FAFIA to further feminist goals and aspirations by using the UN as its tool. Has the Conservative government no backbone, or is it just not aware of the game that is being played by the feminists? If it is the latter, the Conservative government is pretty gullible.
FAFIA Receives Governor General’s Award
Chair of FAFIA’s Human Rights Committee is Shelagh Day, a feminist – lawyer activist who has spent her entire career being supported financially by the taxpayer. She was once Vice President of the NAC (National Action Committee on the Status of Women), one of the founders of the feminist movement’s legal arm LEAF (Women’s Legal Education Action Fund). She also chaired the Equality Panel of the Court Challenges Program (see REALity January/February 2008, “Dishonesty and Duplicity by the Standing Committee on the Status of Women”). She was also on the Canadian delegation at the UN Conference of Women in Beijing where she headed the lesbian caucus. In these various positions she has been paid a salary, attended conferences, all expenses paid, supposedly representing “women” when in fact she represented only a special interest group of feminists – all paid for by the taxpayer. Obviously, she views her life work on behalf of feminists as an entitlement.
Governor General’s Persons Award Given to FAFIA’s Shelagh Day
On November 27, 2008 (Hansard pg. 355), MP Don Davies (Vancouver Kingsway NDP) proudly announced that Shelagh Day, Chair of FAFIA’s Human Rights Committee, had just received the Governor General’s Persons Award for her “lifetime of work on equality, social and economic rights for all Canadian women”. Mr. Davies stated “because she [Ms Day] has devoted her life to improving respect for women, it is particularly apt to applaud her efforts when we are remembering that we still have a long way to go.”
REAL Women made inquiries on what basis the Governor General’s award is made. We learned that an “independent selection committee” was appointed by the Status of Women to review the nominations for the awards. The selection committee was made up of five individuals reflective of the “diversity” of Canadian society (make that left-wing only) but the names of the selection committee and information on its deliberations “are not made public”.
We were also advised that the award is traditionally presented to the recipient on a date close to Persons Day (October 18).
In short, the Governor General’s award is just another ploy by the Status of Women to promote feminist activists in Canada.
Conclusion
The Conservative government would serve the Canadian public well by shutting down the entire Status of Women apparatus. It does not serve the cause of women at all, only that of radical feminists, all paid for by the taxpayer.
Please write to the following, requesting that the Status of Women be shut down and that the feminist Governor General’s Award be abolished.
The Right Honourable Stephen Harper
Office of the Prime Minister(80 Wellington Street(Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A2(Fax: 613-941-6900
The Honourable Jim Flaherty
Minister of Finance
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6
Fax: 613 996-9880
Your MP
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6
February 2009
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