SOUTH ASIAN WOMEN’S COMMUNITY CENTRE Bulletin février 2017 In Tiohtià:ke (Montreal) on unceded Kanien'kehá:ka [Mohawk] territory Le Centre communautaire des femmes sud-asiatiques SAWCC statement on the mass shootings in Quebec mosque on Sunday 28th January 2017 The South Asian Women’s Community Centre is shocked and stunned by the mass shooting resulting in deaths and serious injuries at a Quebec mosque on Sunday Inside this issue: 28th January 2017. We offer our deepest condolences to the families of the victims Cover page: SAWCC 1 and to the members of the Islamic Community Centre in Ste-Foy, Quebec. And we statement on mass shoot- stand in solidarity with Muslim-identified Quebecers at this time. ings But we are not surprised by the carnage. Even as we stand in solidarity with Que- becers, especially Muslim-identified Quebecers at this time, we call our govern- Centre update, EC meet- 2 ments, politicians and media to account for fanning the flames of xenophobia and ing, bulletin guidelines Islamophobia to score cheap political points. For the past 36 years we have been Canada’s 150th birthday 3 working among South Asian women and their families. And in more recent times we have been tirelessly warning about the dangerous game that is being played, espe- International women’s day 4 2017, Dementia is a femi- cially on the bodies of minority women, and in particular Muslim women. The pro- nist issue posed so-called Charter of Values of the erstwhile PQ government, the current Que- bec Liberal government’s Charter ‘light’ — Bill-62, as well as at the provincial and 15 years after the Gujarat 5 genocide federal level prospective leadership contenders’ spurious harping on so-called ‘Quebec’ and ‘Canadian’ values and the con- The replacement of the 6 tinued focus on so-called ‘honour’ crimes, electoral system reform forced marriage and radicalisation are unsur- Open for me my heart, the 9 prisingly bearing the fruit of fear and ha- sisterhood of SAWCC tred. It must stop now! South Asian women’s sup- 10 port space, member’s Déclaration de la SAWCC sur la fu- news, center news sillade dans la mosquée de Québec Agent 728, City of Montreal 11 le dimanche 28 janvier 2017 Le Centre communautaire des femmes sud Activities and calendar, 12 asiatiques est choqué et stupéfait par la fusil- membership renewal lade à Québec qui a fait des morts et des blessés graves dans une mosquée, le Centre Qu’en pensez-vous? culturel islamique de Québec, le dimanche What do you think? 29 janvier 2017. Nos pensées les plus sincères et nos condoléances aux familles des Let us know your thoughts victimes et aux membres du Centre communautaire islamique à Ste-Foy, Québec. about the bulletin. Nous sommes solidaires avec les Québécois-musulmans en cette période difficile. Que pensez-vous de notre Mais nous ne sommes pas surpris par le carnage. Même en solidarité avec les journal? Québécois, particulièrement les Québécois et les Québécoises musulmans, nous appelons nos gouvernements, politiciens et médias à tenir compte de leurs actions We encourage you to send in en propageant la xénophobie et de l’islamophobie pour obtenir des gains poli- your stories and articles for tiques. Depuis 36 ans, nous travaillons parmi les femmes sud-asiatiques et leurs fa- upcoming newsletters in any milles. Récemment, nous denonçons inlassablement le jeu dangereux qui est joué, language by the 25th of every en particulier sur les corps des femmes des minorités, et en particulier les femmes month to: musulmanes. La Charte des valeurs de l’ancien gouvernement du Québec, la charte [email protected] actuelle du gouvernement libéral du Québec «légère» – le projet de loi 62, ainsi que les prétendues au niveau provincial et fédéral des valeurs «québécoises» et Écrivez –nous à «canadiennes», l’accent continu sur les crimes dits «d’honneur», le mariage forcé et la radicalisation, contribuent créer une atmosphère de peur et de haine. Il faut l’ar- [email protected] rêter maintenant! Page 2 Le Centre communautaire des femmes sud-asiatiques CENTRE UPDATE Centre Hours/heure d’ouverture Monday & Thursday/lundi & jeudi 9am—9pm Tuesday, Wednesday & Friday/mardi, mercredi & vendredi– 9am-5pm The Centre is wheelchair accessible Le centre est accessible aux fauteuils roulants. Volunteers — If you are interested in helping out at the Centre, please contact Juvaria (Ext. 104 or [email protected]) to coordinate a meeting! Next Executive Council Meeting: Monday, February 20th, 2017 at 6pm. All are welcome. Executive Council Meeting Highlights Meeting of January 30th, 2017 We shared our thoughts and feelings about the mass killing in the Quebec mosque the day before and noted the need for much more that must be done to stop the hatred and Islamophobia Noted the arrival the next day of the intern from India International Women’s Day – mark calendars for Sunday 5th and Wednesday 8th (see details further in the Bulle- tin) Work at the centre is going well. Language classes have good attendance SAWCC Bulletin -- submission guidelines: SAWCC members are encouraged to send submissions to the Bulletin, to share items of interest with other mem- bers. Send submissions to: [email protected] If using the post send to: SAWCC Bulletin, 1035 Rachel est, Montreal, Quebec, H2J 2J3 Submissions should reach by the 25th of the month. Submissions may be original work or reprints (with permission) and can include -- art, reports, photos, information, opinion pieces, short fiction, poetry, announcements, recipes, etc. Publication criteria are guided by SAWCC’s commitment to not negatively discriminate on the basis of physical and mental ability, religion, colour, nationality, age, sexual orientation and identity, caste, and class. Publication is fur- ther guided by the feminist ethos of sis-terhood, and principles of intersectionality*, equality, equity, and transpar- ency. As well, material that may compromise confidentiality of individuals without their consent will not be pub- lished. SAWCC reserves the right to select, reject or edit submissions. When authorship identified, items reflect the views of the authors. Page 3 Before you begin celebrating Canada’s 150th birthday… By Hussan, S.K. https://medium.com/@hussansk/before-you-begin-celebrating-canadas-150th-birthday-e4f32f654bc1#.bbp0e0xj1 It’s begun. Canada’s 150th birthday celebrations. Cities are decked. Facebook has updated us all. At a cost of $500 million, events will be staged across the country to mark this momentous occasion. But what is it that is being cele- brated? What is Canada? Is Canada the magnificence of the Prairies, the sparkling of the Pacific and the Atlantic? Is it the spread of beautiful trees, water and rock? Is it the Salmon or the Loon that are within the borders of the place that is Canada? No it isn’t. Those have existed for millennia before Canada came to be, and largely were in better shape till Canada came along. Is it the people you love? Your friends that you have grown up with? The laughter and joy that is family? No it isn’t. That is your community — and your community does not include everyone that lives here. For there are many inside this place called Canada who you do not love, and many that don’t love you. Canada is a set of laws and policies that govern institutions (schools, prisons, hospitals, border authorities, police, state funded media, etc). It is a system of government where a few individuals develop these laws and policies, never checking back on them with any of us. And this Canada has a terrible history and present of exclusion and oppression. This Canada came to be through the mass murder of Indigenous peoples, a cross country collaborative attempt to destroy Indigenous culture and way of life. A project referred to as Colonialism. And building on this foundational injustice, this Canada has been on a war path against women, migrants, queer and trans people, the sick, wildlife and the land and air itself ever since. This Canada exists to define who is Canadian, and there- fore define who is not Canadian. This exclusion happens at a number of levels — first so many millions are denied the ability to live here or live here permanently. Those that do get permission to live here (citizenship) still face systemic barriers. This Cana- da has a chequered history of increasing war and supporting underdevelopment around the world. But I’m proud of Canada for women’s rights/LGBTQ rights/charter of rights… When women (British national, largely white women) asked to be considered as persons, Canadian government lawyers fought against them in Supreme Court and they were defeated. They were forced to go to the United King- dom to have this ruling overturned. When Dr. Henry Morgentaler provided abortion services, his clinic was raided; he was arrested, taken to court, and sentenced to 18 months in prison. Women’s rights is just one example, every instance of expansion of rights in Canada is a result of communities of people organizing, and Canada, that is the laws, policies and institutions, opposing those changes. Take LGBTQ rights for example, laws for decriminalization were hard fought for and even after they were passed were not up- held. It took riots and protests following Toronto Police raids of bathhouses in February 1981 for significant change in policies. Yet despite it, as recently as November 2016, Toronto Police have been raiding public parks to target largely racialized gay men. One of the most fundamental symbols of ‘Canada’ is the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. This too was not granted by Canada. Modelled after the UN Declaration of Human Rights — which was created, in part, to limit the power of anti-colonial struggles against European and American powers — the Charter of Rights and Freedom was gravely resisted by most of Canada’s provinces and was only passed once it included a clause allowing governments to opt out.