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In the wake of the attacks of September 11, 2001, Canada adopted an Anti-terrorism Act. NAWL spoke out against adoption of the Act. We argued that as women and as feminists, we understood the need to take action against terrorism. Indeed, we ...

Coalition pour l’égalité des femmes The Coalition for Women’s Equality (CWE) works with all political parties to create mechanisms that will ensure that the government delivers on the equality guarantees for women set out in the Canadian Charter, the Canadian Human Rights ...

In 1999, NAWL presented a Brief to the Canadian Human Rights Act Review Panel. We underlined the need for a better, faster way of processing human rights complaints. We urged the Task Force to recommend inclusion of social condition as a protected ...

The Problem More than 25 years the adoption of the Canadian Human Rights Act, women working full-time still earn 71% of men’s salaries, regardless of our age, occupation or education. For women of colour, Aboriginal women and women with a disability, the ...

In close collaboration with the Coalition for Women’s Equality (CWE), NAWL encourages women and women’s groups to get involved in federal elections and ask questions about women’s issues. During the Federal Elections in 2004 and 2006, NAWL helped the CWE develop a ...

Gosselin v. Québec… a disappointing Supreme Court decision on the right to social assistance. This case is about a Québec welfare regulation that provided drastically reduced benefits (170$ a month) for persons under thirty years of age who were considered able to ...

Québec has them, so why can’t the rest of Canada? Mothering a child is associated with a significant drop in income. It has lifelong consequences for a woman’s earning capacity and employment-related benefits like pensions. And that’s above and beyond feeding and ...

Along with abolition of mandatory minimum sentences of imprisonment for murder and offences involving a firearm, NAWL recommends abolition of the defence of provocation. 71% of all women who are homicide victims are killed by an intimate partner. Men are most likely ...

In December of 1999, NAWL presented a Brief to the Canadian Human Rights Act Review Panel. We recommended inclusion of social condition as a protected ground of discrimination under the Act. We also told the Review Panel that if the Human Rights ...

Over the past three decades, some 500 Aboriginal women have disappeared or been murdered in Canada. A 2004 Amnesty International Report documented the systemic killing of indigenous women in Canada, particularly those who were young and impoverished. The Report concludes that Canadian ...

Canada adopted the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in 1976. Countries like Canada that have signed the International Covenant must submit progress reports to an International Committee. Groups like NAWL can also present alternative reports to the Committee. In ...

Today, 73% of women with children aged 0-6 years are in the paid workforce. If women are to have equal access to the work force, education and professional training, good, affordable child care is essential. Women shouldn’t have to assume responsibility for ...

In 1995 the government implemented the most significant spending reductions in contemporary Canadian history. Following these reductions, many women suffered significant economic hardship. A time of economic prosperity then ensued for the federal government. However, federal spending policy in the last ten ...

How should much-needed human rights protection be extended to transgendered people? Existing grounds that have been invoked include sex, sexual orientation and disability. Some advocates have suggested that the addition of ‘gender identity’ would better protect trans people. However, the idea of ...

In 2000, the Canadian Women’s March Committee’s published a document called “It’s Time for Change”. This document set out a list of demands for the Federal Government aimed at ending poverty and violence against women. However, few of these demands have been ...

On June 16, 2009, Saskatoon-Wanuskawin Conservative Party MP Maurice Vellacott introduced Bill C-422 to the House of Commons. This Bill is the latest incarnation of a series of Bills, Motions and other legal and political maneouvrings that have attempted to eliminate the ...

Brief submitted by Susan Russell of the Canadian Federation of University Women and the National Association of Women and the Law to the Standing Committee on the Status of Women. Our concern over the Public Sector Equitable Compensation Act begins with the ...

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NAWL evaluates the federal government on its responsiveness to national issues: budgeting and fiscal management, jobs and well-being, participation of Canadians, Crime and Safety, Building Stronger Government Institutions, and Promoting Equality for Girls and Women. See the Report. Budgeting and Fiscal Management: ...

Public income security programmes for individuals can take three forms. Each kind targets different kinds of beneficiaries and requires a different type of financing. Here the different kinds of programme will be defined relative to the objective of providing maternity, paternity, adoption ...