Women

The year has just rolled by and it will be nice to take a bit of a break before we move into a busy 2012. The year ended with commemorating events across the province on December 6th and December 10th - National Day of Remembrance & Action on Violence Against Women and Human Rights Day.

Here are the Regional Council Members reports presented at the October 2011 RC meeting and the minutes of the April 2011 meeting.

Here are the Regional Council Members reports presented at the October 2011 RC meeting and the minutes of the April 2011 meeting.

The Harper Conservatives are marking December 6 this year by destroying the federal long-gun registry and its more than seven million records.December 6 is the day we remember and mourn the 14 women killed at the École Polytechnique in Montreal 22 years ago.  We take time to reflect on this extreme example of violence against women.

The National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women is a day commemorated in Canada each December 6, the anniversary of the 1989 École Polytechnique Massacre, in which 14 women were singled out for their gender and murdered. It is often marked by vigils, discussions and other reflections on violence against women.

The Supreme Court of Canada ruled in favour of PSAC today in a pay equity case involving women at Canada Post that was originally filed 28 years ago.The union first filed a complaint over unequal pay in 1983. In October 2005, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal upheld PSAC's pay equity complaint against Canada Post and awarded 50 per cent of the wage gap in damages. Since then, the corporation has used every possible legal avenue to have the Tribunal’s decision overturned.

Every three years, the PSAC holds its Triennial National Convention, where delegates from across the union come together, debate issues and set direction for the Union for the next three years.We will be doing something new at the PSAC 2012 Convention: for the first time, delegates will have the opportunity to debate and adopt a “Members’ Plan”.The plan is designed to set the direction for the Union for the next three years.

The pace is picking up and the BC PSAC women are active and involved.  Next week the Women chairs will be meeting and at the end of the month we will participate in a one day think tank on attacking cutbacks to federal public services.  Earlier this month, I participated in the  vigil for Sisters in Spirit in Kelowna.  This is a annual national event and PSAC along with many other organizations issued a heartfelt statement ....  

In May we had elections for the BC Regional Council. It is exciting to kick off the next three years for BC Women. In June, I was lucky enough to attend the Women’s World Conference in Ottawa. While in Ottawa all of the Regional Women’s Coordinators met for a day of planning with Andrea Cote, and Patty Ducharme.

Many thanks to Jennifer Ho, Co-Chair of the Vancouver Regional Women's Committee for this report.UBC student Rumana Monzur was reportedly attacked by her husband during a recent trip home to Dhaka, Bangladesh. She lost her eyesight and had her face badly injured.