11 October 2004
October 11, 2004
Should Feminists Care About Equal Marriage for Same-Sex Couples?
Equal marriage for same sex couples developed as the wedge social issue in the June 2004 federal election. We witnessed Liberal politicians proudly waving the rainbow flag, a sharp contrast to a year earlier when most of them had trouble saying “lesbian ...
11 October 2004
October 11, 2004
Women’s Rights and Freedoms: 20 Years (In) Equality: NAWL & West Coast LEAF National Conference
West Coast Legal Education and Action Fund (West Coast LEAF) and the National Association of Women and the Law (NAWL) are hosting a national conference in Vancouver from April 28 to May 1, 2005 at the Hilton Vancouver Metrotown Hotel. The Conference ...
8 October 2004
October 8, 2004
Letter to Irwin Cotler, Minister of Justice, on Custody and Access and the Reform of the Divorce Act
Minister of Justice Irwin Cotler has recognized on more than one occasion that “women’s rights are human rights”. Yet he was ready to consider re-introducing Bill C-22 to amend the Divorce Act without any analysis whatsoever of the impact of proposed changes ...
11 August 2004
August 11, 2004
Gender Sensitive Budget Policies
NAWL has called on the federal government to ensure that all women have access to decent housing, quality health care, adequate income security, improved maternity and parental benefits and universal, publicly funded childcare. These measures require federal funding. NAWL wrote to the ...
5 May 2004
May 5, 2004
Women’s Groups Say Feds Must Act Now on Pay Equity
OTTAWA – “The Federal government must act now and adopt legislation to guarantee pay equity for all women, as was recommended by the Pay Equity Task Force in the excellent report that it tabled today. Current pay equity provisions are just not ...
1 May 2004
May 1, 2004
Pay Equity Task Force Final Report 2004
The federal government appointed a Pay Equity Task Force that issued its Report in the May 2004. The Report recommends adopting a new, stand-alone pay equity law that will cover women, as well as workers of colour, Aboriginal workers and workers with ...
14 February 2004
February 14, 2004
Dear Prime Minister….
Cet article est disponible uniquement en anglais. The Coalition for Women’s Equality sent this letter to the Right Honourable Paul Martin in response to his government’s initial Throne Speech on February 2, 2004 and after he responded to that speech in the ...
14 February 2004
February 14, 2004
WFF Campaign 2004 Is On!
Cet article est disponible uniquement en anglais. The Women’s Future Fund is pleased and proud to announce the launch of Campaign 2004. Building on the success of last year’s campaign, this year we hope to raise $50,000 in cash and pledges to ...
14 February 2004
February 14, 2004
Legal Aid in Nova Scotia
Cet article est disponible uniquement en anglais. Through a series of provincial meetings and focus groups conducted by the Nova Scotia Coalition of Women for Justice between 2000 and 2002, women in Nova Scotia identified access to adequate legal representation and legal ...
14 February 2004
February 14, 2004
Race(ing) Family Law?: The Challenges
Cet article est disponible uniquement en anglais. The process of responding to the proposed amendments to the once “live” Bill C-22 sparked a series of continued conversations across Canada among Aboriginal women, women of colour, and immigrant and refugee women as to ...
14 February 2004
February 14, 2004
Disability and Family Law
Cet article est disponible uniquement en anglais. My life as a single parent began shortly after a motor vehicle accident that left me a quadriplegic. My husband was not able or willing to make the commitment to having a wife with a ...
14 February 2004
February 14, 2004
Sharia as Family Law in Canada?
Cet article est disponible uniquement en anglais. Some Canadian Muslims are proposing the implementation of sections of Shariah (Muslim law) to settle family disputes outside the court system through arbitration committees or tribunals. Due to provisions of the Arbitration Act, the arbitrated ...
14 February 2004
February 14, 2004
Common Law Partnerships and Marital Property: Time for a Change?
Cet article est disponible uniquement en anglais. Introduction Every family law lawyer is aware of the pervasive, but mistaken, belief that long term common law heterosexual partnerships are now treated in law in the same way as marital partnerships. They can all ...
14 February 2004
February 14, 2004
Bill C-22: Where Now?
Cet article est disponible uniquement en anglais. When Bill C-22, An Act to Amend the Divorce Act, died in November 2003, a long chapter in NAWL’s work on reforms to custody and access legislation came to a close. We now find ourselves ...
25 October 2003
October 25, 2003
Faith-Based Arbitration
In 2003, the Ontario Islamic Institute of Civil Justice announced that it would be offering a “Sharia Court” to Ontario Muslims. The “Sharia Court” would conduct binding arbitrations according to Islamic law. Why People Are Talking About Faith-Based Arbitration In 2003, the ...
22 October 2003
October 22, 2003
Custody and Access
Women remain the primary caregivers of children. Women are more likely to abandon professional and economic benefits in order to facilitate that relationship. When they separate or divorce, women are far more likely to end up in poverty than their former male ...
17 October 2003
October 17, 2003
Women’s Human Rights on Indian Reserves
On Indian Reserves, women’s human rights can be violated without any legal remedy. NAWL’s working group on Aboriginal Women’s Rights urges the federal government to take immediate action to ensure that women’s matrimonial property rights are fully recognized and respected on Reserves. ...
17 October 2003
October 17, 2003
Matrimonial Property on Indian Reserves
On Indian reserves, provincial law that usually applies to matrimonial property in case of separation or divorce does not apply. When women separate or divorce, they are left without the protection of the law. NAWL’s working group on Aboriginal Women’s Rights has ...
17 October 2003
October 17, 2003
Same-Sex Marriage
Not allowing lesbians to marry sends the message that lesbian relationships are not valuable or worthy of support. Lesbians want the ability to marry to obtain the benefits of marriage and also to change that historical message of exclusion. They also want ...
14 October 2003
October 14, 2003
How Fair is the MBM to Women?
Cet article est disponible uniquement en anglais. On May 27, 2003, Human Resources Development Canada released its new approach to measuring low income, the so-called Market Basket Measure (MBM). This method calculates the cost of food, clothing, shelter and other essentials deemed ...
