Congratulations to the winners of our 50th-anniversary essay contest: The winning submission was from Tess Moffat from the University of Ottawa for her essay, The State as a Primary Perpetrator of Violence Against Indigenous Women.  Veronica Kiang, from Toronto Metropolitan University, was ...

“Parental alienation” is a concept used in parenting time disputes to criticize one parent, often the mother, when the other parent, often the father, does not have a relationship with the child. NAWL is leading a campaign, endorsed by 250 feminist organizations ...

On January 31st, 2024, NAWL submitted a brief to the Committee on Labour and the Economy of the National Assembly of Quebec concerning Bill 42, an Act to prevent and fight psychological harassment and sexual violence in the workplace.   A Statistics Canada ...

Yesterday, the Court of Appeal of Quebec rendered its decision on the Act respecting the laicity of the State, commonly known as Bill 21. Bill 21 was adopted with the preemptive invocation of the Charter’s notwithstanding clause, which the Quebec government intends ...

Today, the National Association of Women and the Law (NAWL) announced it will present its inaugural Shirley Greenberg Award for outstanding leadership in feminist law reform jointly to Nathalie Provost and Heidi Rathjen, two national gun control activists who have been at ...

The Right Honourable Justin Trudeau,   The Honourable Arif Virani,  The Honourable Pierre Poilievre,   Jagmeet Singh,   Yves-François Blanchet,  We write to you as feminist and equality-seeking organizations to urge you to take action to address a crisis of dramatic proportions ...

The National Association of Women and the Law (NAWL) welcomes the passing of Canada’s new gun control legislation — Bill C-21, An Act to amend certain Acts and to make certain consequential amendments (firearms) – at third reading in the Senate of ...

As Bill C-21 progresses through the Senate, Suzanne Zaccour, Director of Legal Affairs for the National Association of Women and the Law (NAWL) and Aja Mason, Executive Director of the Yukon Status of Women Council, have written an op-ed emphasizing that gun ...

The National Association of Women and the Law submitted a brief on Bill C-21: An Act to amend certain Acts and to make certain consequential amendments (firearms) to the Standing Senate Committee on National Security, Defence and Veterans Affairs.  NAWL’s overall position ...

A publication ban is a court order which, in the context of a criminal trial, prohibits anyone from revealing the identity of a victim, witness or justice system participant. One of the aims of this order is to enable victims of sexual ...

On March 23rd, 2023, Suzanne Zaccour, our Head of Feminist Law Reform, published an op-ed in The Hill Times with our partners from the #Women4GunControl Coalition Erin Whitmore (Ending Violence Association of Canada) and Paulette Senior (Canadian Women’s Foundation). The op-ed criticizes ...

Open letter welcomes the NDP leader’s support for urgent implementation of Nova Scotia mass shooting inquiry recommendations, given the party’s lack of concrete support to date for government’s efforts to ban assault-style firearms and handguns in Bill C-21   Algonquin Territory/Ottawa, Ontario, ...

Mr. Jagmeet Singh, M.P. Leader, New Democratic Party House of Commons Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6 Jagmeet.Singh@parl.gc.ca – Dear Mr. Singh, The #Women4GunControl Coalition is comprised of 33 national and regional women’s and feminist organizations who have come together to work toward securing a ...

On March 28th, 2023, NAWL participated in the Specific consultations and public hearings on Bill 12, An Act to reform family law with regard to filiation and to protect children born as a result of sexual assault and the victims of that ...

Survey finds more than 70 per cent of respondents support permanent ban on new handgun purchases and oppose civilians being allowed to own assault-style firearms  OTTAWA — New polling results suggest most Canadians want stronger gun control laws, and 89 per cent ...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 07/03/2023 Weapons designed for war are a threat to the safety of women and girls, groups say Ottawa, ON: Thirty-one women’s and feminist organizations from across Canada are calling on Prime Minister Trudeau to honour his government’s longstanding commitment ...

To: Justin Trudeau, Pierre Poilievre, Yves-François Blanchet, Jagmeet Singh, Elizabeth May  CC: Ron McKinnon, Raquel Dancho, Kristina Michaud, Paul Chiang, Pam Damoff, Iqwinder Gaheer, Peter Julian, Dane Lloyd, Glen Motz, Taleeb Noormohamed, Peter Schiefke, Doug Shipley (members of the Standing Committee on ...

On February 15th, 2023 NAWL will intervene in a family case before the Court of Appeal for Saskatchewan.   The case, Friesen v Friesen, concerns the recent Divorce Act amendments and their impact on women. We believe that this case has the potential ...

Mothers who have experienced intimate partner violence are often accused of being “alienating” in family court. In December 2022, the National Association of Women and the Law submitted a brief to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights ...

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