Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/988313
Heritage Matters 6 In November 1980, it submitted a brief on "Women, Human Rights and the Constitution" to the Special Joint Committee on the Constitution. It set out a series of recommendations focused on the proposed Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The Charter of Rights and Freedoms of 1982 guaranteed rights and freedoms "equally to male and female persons" [s.28] and equal protection under the law [S.15]: "Every individual is equal before and under the law and has the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination and, in particular, without discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability." The discussion continued through the work of a range of national and provincial commissions and organizations. In the 1980s, the National Action Committee on the Status of Women was a major voice in the Canadian women's movement and a political advocate for women. The Native Women's Association of Canada was founded in 1974; the Congress of Black Women of Canada was launched in 1975; Women's Legal Education and Actions Fund was founded in 1985; the Canadian Women's Foundation was created in 1991; and the National Council of Women of Canada continues its work, as do many other vital organizations. Women have been fighting for generations to hold the same rights and privileges as men, to hold equal voice in decision making, equal status under the law. Where are women today in the political scene? According to Equal Voice – a national, multi-partisan organization dedicated to electing more women to political office in Canada – women continue to be underrepresented in every federal, provincial and territorial legislature in Canada. Only 26 per cent of elected members in Canada's national Parliament, the House of Commons, are women – and women's representation in provincial and territorial legislatures ranges from 9 to 37 per cent. Clearly, there is still a lot of work to do. The #MeToo movement has brought to light the treatment of women that has always been unacceptable and will no longer be tolerated. Add current data from the Status of Women Canada that identifies the high rate of sexual violence against women as "one of the most pressing human rights issues facing Canadians today" and the horrific issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women. Even on issues of pay, Statistics Canada reports that women earn $0.87 for every dollar earned by men. How do we get to equality? Almanda Walker-Marchand (c. 1928). Formed in Ottawa in 1914 at the outset of the First World War, the Fédération nationale des femmes canadiennes-françaises was the first francophone, secular society of women established outside of Quebec. Almanda Walker-Marchand served as its president for 32 years and saw the group expand from Ottawa to other parts of Ontario, the Prairies and British Columbia. Ph52-40. Université d'Ottawa, CRCCF, Fonds Fédération nationale des femmes canadiennes-françaises (C53).