Resources for Women

Report of on the 40th General Election of October 14, 2008 (2009). The Chief Electoral Officer of Canada released a report outlining concerns and recommendations following the October, 2008 election. These include recommendations on newly implemented regulations requiring proof of identity and address for voters. Find it at http://www.elections.ca/gen/rep/re2/sta_2008/stat_report_e.pdf.

Family Law in Manitoba (2008) is now posted on the Manitoba Justice website. This booklet provides basic legal information on a variety of family law issues, such as common-law relationships, marriage and divorce and child support. You can access the booklet at:
http://www.gov.mb.ca/justice/family/law/englishbooklet/index.html (English)
http://www.gov.mb.ca/justice/family/law/frenchbooklet/index.fr.html (French)

Women’s Inequality in Canada (2008) is a submission of the Canadian Feminist Alliance for International Action (FAFIA) to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). This report outlines FAFIA’s position on Canada’s compliance with the United Nation’s CEDAW. Download the report here.

Know your spousal and custody rights (released 2008): Women's Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF) released an information guide for women which explains in clear language rights and responsibilities under family law. It describes cases that LEAF has undertaken to challenge inequitable family laws which form our current rights under the law. http://www.leaf.ca/education/documents/FamilyLawBook.pdf

Child support maintenance statistics (released 2008): Statistics Canada recently released a report which maintains that, on average, just over two-thirds of cases were in compliance with their regular payment due each month in 2006/2007. Average monthly compliance rates ranged from 54% in the Northwest Territories to 79% in Quebec. Compared with the previous year, the average monthly compliance rate increased, or remained stable, in most jurisdictions. To review the report, visit: http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/080303/d080303c.htm

Diminishing Returns: Inequality & the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (released 2006): To mark the 20th anniversary of section 15 of the Charter, Professor Sheila McIntyre and Professor Sanda Rodgers of the University of Ottawa assembled a Who's Who of Canadian equality scholars, litigators and activists to assess the state of constitutional equality law. The result, Diminishing Returns: Inequality & the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, offers their critical reflections on the rise and decline of substantive equality in SCC Charter jurisprudence. Ordering information is available at: http://www.lexisnexis.ca/bookstore/bookinfo.php?pid=1345.

United Nations Committee on Social Economic and Cultural Rights assesses Canada's progress (released 2006): This report evaluates progress on measures of social, economic and cultural rights for people in Canada. It notes that rights for Aboriginal people have improved in the area of infant mortality and secondary education, as well as low unemployment rates for all. It declares that Canada has not taken sufficient measures to implement changes they committed to under the Covenant on Social, Economic and Cultural rights. Human rights and women's organizations submitted briefs to this committee to update it on the measures that government has taken in regards to social, economic and cultural rights in Canada. http://www.unhchr.ch/tbs/doc.nsf/0/87793634eae60c00c12571ca00371262/$FILE/G0642783.pdf

Assessing the equality of Manitoba's laws (released 2006): MAWL's (Manitoba Association of Women and the Law) report titled Twenty Years Later: Has the Charter Made a Difference to Manitoba Women? The report takes a hard look at Manitoba's laws, regulations, policies and practices to determine if they are compliant with the spirit and intent of the equality sections (15 and 28) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Subjects covered in the report include women and the judiciary, health, the economy, pensions, childcare, education, family law, legal aid, criminal justice, and violence. The report is available online at: www.mccarthy-brown.com/MAWL

Expert panel on women's equality report available (released 2005): The final report from the Expert Panel on Accountability Mechanisms for Gender Equality, entitled Equality for Women: Beyond the Illusion has been released. It recommends a two-fold approach to achieving substantive equality for women in Canada: immediate action on federal administrative processes and on key policy decisions, as well as adopting legislation to implement gender-based analysis and measurement of gender equality outcomes, followed by additional accountability and enforcement measures after five years. The report is available on the Status of Women Canada website at: http://dsp-psd.pwgsc.gc.ca/Collection/SW21-134-2006E.pdf.

Paper on fathers' rights: Equal shares: rights for fathers or recognition for children? is the title of a paper by Carol Smarts, University of Leeds (Critical Social Policy, Vol. 24, No. 4, 2004). Her abstract notes that: "The fathers' rights movement in England has been given a huge boost by the involvement of Bob Geldolf who has become their influential mouthpiece in the media and elsewhere. The movement has also diversified and adopted more high profile tactics more akin to those used in Australia and New Zealand. These tactics have challenged family law to adopt a principle of pure equality between mothers and fathers and demands that, on divorce or separation, children should be shared equally. In this paper it is argued that this demand ignores entirely the experiences of children who have lived an 'equal shares' arrangement for many years and that it reduces children to passive objects who can have no voice in a system designed only to create equality between adults.

ID theft prevention website launched: The website: www.gov.mb.ca/id_theft/index.html provides tips about protecting against identity theft and what to do if it should happen.

Resources on human trafficking: Human Trafficking Databases http://www.humantraffickingsearch.net/ - Human Trafficking Search is a web portal provided by the National MultiCultural Institute "as a service to those individuals and organizations working to eliminate human trafficking."

Calling for Change: Women, Law, and the Legal Profession: Unique in its scope and diversity of perspectives, this collection of original essays investigates the status of women within and in relation to the legal profession in Canada. The contributors to Calling for Change explore a wide range of topics from the status of women in law school, at the bar, and on the bench, to racism within the profession, to the impact of grassroots women's organizations on women's equality, to the governance of the legal profession, to blueprints for political action. The book Calling for Change: Women, Law, & the Legal Profession is available from University of Ottawa Press by phone: 1-800-565-9523, fax: 1-800-221-9985 or e-mail: utpbooks@utpress.utoronto.ca.