2 May 2024
May 2, 2024
NAWL receives 2023 Women, Peace and Security Civil Society Leadership Award from Government of Canada
National feminist law reform organization recognized for its work advocating for better protections for victims of domestic violence in gun control legislation Anishinaabe Territory/OTTAWA, May 2, 2024 Today, the National Association of Women and the Law (NAWL) was awarded the 2023 Women, ...
16 April 2024
April 16, 2024
Budget 2024 Policy Wins for Women
New funding for free contraception, creation of more $10-a-day child care spaces and investment in gun control buyback program Anishinaabe Territory/OTTAWA, April 16, 2024 – The National Association of Women and the Law (NAWL) is pleased to see funding in Budget 2024 ...
22 June 2023
June 22, 2023
The fight to defend reproductive rights and gender equality continues
On the anniversary of the overturning of Roe v. Wade, NAWL joins 128 other equality-seeking organizations in calling on all levels of government to do more for gender equality and for women and 2SLGBTQIA+ people’s sexual and reproductive rights and bodily autonomy. ...
15 June 2023
June 15, 2023
Open Letter to Ministers re: Upcoming meeting of Forum of Ministers on Human Rights
NAWL joins group of civil society organizations and individuals urging Ministers to consider open letter in advance of the upcoming meeting of Forum of Ministers on Human Rights, to be held on June 20, 2023 in Halifax, Nova Scotia. “As the fourth ...
7 March 2022
March 7, 2022
NAWL endorses LEAF’s Federal Budget 2022 written submission to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance
The Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF) submitted February 24, 2022 makes three recommendations in their written submission to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance for sustained and adequate funding of the Canadian movement for women’s and gender equality. ...
7 January 2022
January 7, 2022
“Federal law banning conversion therapy is the first step toward dismantling heteronormative views” Opinion by FLR/RDF law student Sumaya Sherif
Opinion published by the Ottawa Citizen on January 7, 2022. Read full article here. It has been long overdue. Conversion therapy practice is now a criminal offence. It only took Parliament three tries to pass the Bill — I guess third time’s ...
6 January 2022
January 6, 2022
“Forced evacuation of pregnant Indigenous women must stop” Opinion by FLR/RDF law student Carolina Maass
Opinion published by Toronto Star on January 6, 2022. Read full article here. Pregnant Indigenous women are being forced to travel hundreds of kilometres to give birth alone and away from their communities. Health Canada has a birth evacuation policy that requires them to ...
4 January 2022
January 4, 2022
“Supreme Court must keep women’s rights at the forefront when it rules on ‘extreme intoxication’ defence” Opinion article by Kerri A. Froc and Elizabeth A. Sheehy
KERRI A. FROC AND ELIZABETH A. SHEEHY CONTRIBUTED TO THE GLOBE AND MAIL PUBLISHED JANUARY 4, 2022 Read original Opinion article here. Three significant cases have arrived for consideration at the Supreme Court of Canada, each challenging Section 33.1 of the Criminal Code. That section, added by ...
7 December 2021
December 7, 2021
“The Canada Health Act is failing people with mental illness” Opinion article by Yasmin Khaliq
Opinion article published by the Ottawa Citizen on December 3, 2021. Read the full article here. In this opinion article on mental health written by Yasmin Khaliq in her Feminist Law Reform class at the University of Ottawa taught by Professor Martha ...
1 November 2021
November 1, 2021
Community Call to Action: Conversion Practices Legislation
Read the media release. We, the undersigned, call on all Parliamentarians to affirm the inherent dignity and human rights of all Canadians, including those from the 2SLGBTQI+community, to live free from discrimination, prejudice, and harm. We call on the 44th session of ...
26 October 2021
October 26, 2021
NAWL Support for MLA Lynne Lund’s proposed Non-Disclosure Agreements Act
PEI Legislative Assembly 165 Richmond St. Charlottetown, PEI C1A 1J1 Dear Members of the P.E.I. Legislative Assembly: Re: Letter of Support for Proposed Non-Disclosure Agreements Act The National Association of Women and the Law is proud to support MLA Lynne Lund’s proposed ...
18 June 2021
June 18, 2021
NAWL congratulates Justice Jamal on his SCC appointment
NAWL’s NSC chair Martha Jackman, a professor of constitutional law at the University of Ottawa, spoke with Toronto Star reporter Tonda MacCharles, on Maumud Jamal’s appointment to the Supreme Court of Canada. Jackman said, it’s clear Jamal is “highly qualified as a jurist, as a scholar” ...
10 June 2021
June 10, 2021
Open Letter to Ministers Bennett and Miller on behalf of gender justice and human rights organizations in solidarity with the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation and all First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Peoples
The Honourable Carolyn Bennet, Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations The Honourable Marc Miller, Minister of Indigenous Services Government of Canada Dear Ministers, On behalf of national, regional and local gender justice and human rights organizations, we are in solidarity with the Tk’emlúps ...
10 March 2021
March 10, 2021
Open letter in support of Bill C-15, An Act Respecting the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
“The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is the framework for reconciliation at all levels and across all sectors of Canadian society.” – Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, Principles of Reconciliation, Principle # 1. Parliament has an historic ...
17 November 2020
November 17, 2020
NAWL signs joint letter to the Prime Minister and Minister Freeland re: Taskforce on Women and the Economy
The Right Honourable Justin Trudeau Prime Minister The Honourable Chrystia Freeland Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance House of Commons Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6 Re: Action Plan on Women in the Economy Taskforce Dear Prime Minister Trudeau and Minister Freeland, The ...
18 September 2020
September 18, 2020
Joint letter by Feminist Groups including NAWL to Minister Freeland, calling for her to host a roundtable with Women’s Rights organizations and feminist leaders as part of the net federal budget consultations
The Honourable Chrystia Freeland Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance House of Commons Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6 Re: Roundtable with women’s rights and equality-seeking organizations for Federal Budget 2021 Dear Minister Freeland, In this unprecedented moment in history, federal budget priorities ...
20 August 2020
August 20, 2020
NAWL letter to the Prime Minister and Minister of Justice on SCC nominations
NAWL letter to the Prime Minister and Minister of Justice dated August 20, 2020, calling for the nomination of women and/or men who are Indigenous, Black, racialized, and/or from other equality seeking communities, to fill the two forthcoming Ontario vacancies on the ...
12 August 2020
August 12, 2020
Open letter to the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of Canada: There is no time like the present to build a pan-Canadian system of child care
Now is the time to lay the groundwork for the construction of a system of child care, as you promised Canadians in the last federal election. You and other federal ministers have publicly acknowledged the importance and centrality of child care. In ...
7 August 2020
August 7, 2020
NAWL Written Submission for the Pre-Budget Consultations in Advance of the Upcoming Federal Budget
The NAWL pre-budget submission was submitted to the Finance Committee on August 7, 2020. Read full submission here. List of endorsing organizations Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights Barbra Schlifer Memorial Clinic Canadian Council of Muslim Women Canadian Research Institute for ...
22 May 2020
May 22, 2020
Canada must protect the rights of sex workers during COVID-19 by ensuring access to emergency income supports
Thank you for your steadfast commitment to women’s rights and gender equality, including your prompt action to mobilize funding to address the gendered impacts of the pandemic. We write at this time to urge that—further to your mandate to ensure that GBA+ ...