CHANGING TOGETHER a CENTRE for IMMIGRANT WOMEN Issues
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CHANGING TOGETHER A CENTRE FOR IMMIGRANT WOMEN Issues of Race, Culture & Identity: “Women and Youth Overcoming Challenges” CONFERENCE At Inn on 7th Hotel Edmonton, Alberta March 16, 2002 Funded by Citizenship & Immigration Canada Canadian Race Relations Foundation Changing Together…A Centre for Immigrant Women 1 MESSAGE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Changing Together…A Centre for Immigrant Women Sonia Bitar Thank you for participating in our conference “Issues of Race, Culture and Identity: Women and Youth Overcoming Challenges”. This conference is a follow-up to the conference we had in 1999, “Immigrant Women for the Millennium: Identifying Issues and Strategies for Change”. This conference would not have been possible without the generous funding from Canadian Race Relations Foundation and Citizenship and Immigration Canada. The women’s movement has made substantial progress on a number of important issues over the past two decades. Changing Together is proud to have contributed to that success and will continue towards a fairer, more just, and more humane world for all immigrant women and their families. Numerous social, political and economic issues continue to challenge immigrant women in their search for an equitable society. Changing Together will continue working together with other institutions, agencies, organizations and individuals until the women’s agenda can be moved forward at a more accelerated rate. I would like to give a big thank you to our speakers and volunteers who made this conference a successful one. God bless you all. 2 KEYNOTE SPEAKER Laurie Blakeman, MLA, Edmonton Centre Alberta Liberal Caucus Critic for Community Development It is always a pleasure to be invited to a conference put on by Changing Together. Therefore, I am delighted that I have been invited to speak to you this morning. The theme of this conference is “Issues of Race, Culture & Identity: Women and Youth Overcoming Challenges”. Some of the challenges that the women’s movement and women in general have overcome are starting to break down established power structures that serve to oppress and control women. We, as women, have been very effective in generating sound social policy and influencing all governments in a positive manner. Sexism in many sectors of society including the media, education, the sciences and the legal profession has been challenged. I would like to remember and summarize some of the achievements that the women’s movement has made during the last 35 years. We should be proud of what we have accomplished. • 1971 – the Canadian Labour Code was amended to give maternity leave to female federal government employees. • 1974 – women became eligible for enlistment in the RCMP. • 1977 – the Canadian Human Rights Act forbids discrimination on the basis of gender and ensures equal pay for equal work. • 1982 – women’s equality rights are entrenched in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. • 1983 – the Canadian Human Rights Act is amended to include provisions on sexual harassment and to ban discrimination on the basis of pregnancy and marital status. • 1985 – the spouse’s allowance is extended to widows and widowers aged 60 to 64. The Indian Act is amended to restore the status and property rights of aboriginal women. • 1993 – stalking becomes a criminal offence. • 1995 – intoxication in crimes of violence including sexual assault is removed as a basis of legal defense. As well, in 2000 the federal government introduced a new policy approving one year’s unpaid maternity leave so women could be at home with their children during their first important year of life. Even though the government of Alberta “says” that everyone is equal, and has passed laws that prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, religion, gender, age, ability and sexual orientation, I challenge their commitment and note they are slow to put this equality into practice. I have a few suggestions on how the government could show leadership in eliminating racism and welcoming new Canadians and immigrants: 3 • strengthen and update the foreign qualifications program, • support programming like the Multicultural Health Brokers, • give adequate funding to schools for ESL training, • work with community based non-profit organizations like the Mennonite Centre for Newcomers and Catholic Social Services settlement agencies to support the programs they already offer. Ask them what else is needed – they are the experts, • continue and strengthen the commitment to education on human rights. It is ignorance that causes much of the discrimination we see. We all need to be vigilant and provide leadership and action to eliminate racial discrimination in Alberta. Alberta is a land locked province and has been slow to accept immigrants, especially visible minorities, into society. We say we are tolerant, that all people are equal but a lot of Albertans have not figured out how to practice treating all people as equal. I have asked for patience and help from the immigrant communities while political changes are made. You have let me know that your patience has been offered and tested and that the time for change is now. You are right. In my six short years in politics, my version of a reasonable time to get things done has slowed to the speed of molasses. Governments move slowly and legislative change comes very slowly. Politicians are very slow in accepting change and instituting the policies to effect that change. Changes in people come first and then changes to the law come second. We all need to use our voting power to re-elect our leaders and hold them accountable for what they do while they are in office. 4 GUEST SPEAKER IN THE SHADOWS OF BILL C-36 Dr. Anu Bose, Executive Director National Organization of Immigrant and Visible Minority Women of Canada Introduction There was a time when Canadians used to ask each other, “Where were you on September 29, 1972?” For those who are not hockey buffs this was the day that Paul Henderson scored the goal that gave the game to Team Canada. It was in the cold war days and the Soviet bear had been given a punch in the snout. It gave Canadians a warm and fuzzy feeling. Those were happier times. Almost three decades later Canadians ask each other “Where were you on September 11, 2001?” The day Canadians born and Canadians by choice watched with horror as not one but two planes slammed into the twin towers of the World Trade Centre, one crashed into a field in Pennsylvania and yet another one flew into the Pentagon. It was the day that we North Americans lost our collective innocence. It was the day that the dark clouds of suspicion and xenophobia started to gather over immigrants from the visible minority communities in all the countries where we have come as immigrants. New Legislation After 9/11 Bill C36, which was enacted as the Anti-terrorism Act, is the direct consequence of the events of 9/11. It is a far-reaching piece of legislation, an omnibus bill, cobbled together in the wake of the horrifying events of 9/11 when Canada was still in a state of shock and crisis. To quote Calvin White in the October 15, 2001 Ottawa Citizen “the terrorist attacks shook us in the deepest strata in our psyche and we are now desperate to regain control.” It is an act that in the short run may create a false sense of security but in the long term threatens to erode our hard won rights and freedoms enshrined in the Charter. The introduction of such a sweeping and draconian piece of legislation is, according to James Travers of the Toronto Star (November 22, 2001) “worrisome”. In Canada today the tendency is towards concentrating power at the centre. The government has a large majority in the federal parliament. The enactment of the Anti-terrorism Bill only accelerates the centralizing tendency and further marginalizes the role of parliament in the affairs of the country and is symptomatic of the rot in representative politics. I am sure we all agree that it is important to take steps to ensure the safety of our country and of our fellow Canadians against acts of violence both random and planned. Many of us have fled to the safety of Canada from our countries of origin in the face of state inspired or even state driven terror, to be faced with this terrifying piece of legislation. 5 Why terrifying? Because the Anti-terrorism Act forms the basis for many other pieces of federal legislation such as Bills C35 and C42 that affect us most, as well as The Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, formerly Bill C11, and even more importantly, the regulations attached to it. For those of us who do not follow the niceties of federal legislation, Bill C35 extends the definition of ‘internationally protected person’ and grants diplomatic protection to ALL employees, however insignificant, of foreign governments who have cause to attend meetings of any kind on Canadian soil. The RCMP is granted new statutory powers to “ensure the security for the proper functioning of any intergovernmental conference”. Bill C421 would permit the Federal government to declare any area of Canada ‘a military security zone' and exclude the public from it. Taken together, these two pieces of legislation are seen as prophylactic measures or pre-emptive strikes to avoid the anti-globalization demonstrations in Quebec City, the Kananaskis effect on the G8 summit. There has not been a peep from the provinces except from Quebec who objected to the latter bill as a breach of the sovereignty of the Quebec nation. Taken together, all these pieces of legislation would restrict, if not stifle, legitimate political protest and limit political participation of citizens not only at the Alberta resort but also all over our country.