In Part I of The Interim’s look at the testimony presented to the equality rights hearings, I showed how they were dominated by the views of feminist, homosexual and pro-abortion groups. (See “Equality hearings – soapbox for Sodomites,” October issue.) The public hearings conducted by the parliamentary sub-committee on equal rights have now ended. They had been extended past their first August [...]
Over the last hundred years there have been many changes in the position of women in society. But there have been changes in the place of men (and children) as well. In general they seem to have kept pace with one another. If, for example, it took women in Britain till 1928 to win the right to vote on the same basis [...]
When Section 15 of the Charter (the “equal rights” section) came into effect in April, the federal government set up a parliamentary sub-committee to conduct public hearings. In cities across Canada, special interest groups appeared before the Committee to promote their views as to how “equality” should be interpreted. In every city, the hearings were dominated by homosexual, feminist, and pro-abortion groups. [...]
Involuntary sterilization of the mentally retarded is stirring bitter controversy and resentment among mentally handicapped people. The recent sterilization of “Infant K,” a ten-year-old mentally handicapped British Columbia girl, appalled the Canadian Association for the Mentally Retarded. In an effort to protect the mentally handicapped and their right to have children, the association has gone to the Supreme Court of Canada. The [...]
The situation struck me as ironic. I was at a meeting on women’s rights, attended mostly by older women, women wealthy enough that they had been able to stay at home to raise their children (and to have nice homes to raise them in). Yet they were sitting around me discussing how today’s young mothers could get out of [...]
Tuesday April 17, 1985, was the date when the equality rights provisions of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms went into effect. Stated the Hon. Flora MacDonald (Minister of Employment and Immigration) speaking for the Government: As of today the Constitution of Canada guarantees that every individual in Canada is equal before and under the law, and has [...]
On April 16, 1985, Margaret Mitchell, NDP (Vancouver East), requested the Minister of Justice to “celebrate equality” (according to the Charter of Rights): by designating major funding for an independent endowment… through a credible organization such as the Legal Action and Education Fund, so that women may fight equality cases under the Charter. The Minister of Justice pointed out [...]
When I decided, about two months ago, to find out about the United Nations “Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women,” I little realized what a can of worms I was opening. I read as much as I could on the Convention itself (it could be quite a challenge to find anything). I ploughed [...]
The number of United Nations’ Conventions on human rights that have been ignored by ratifying governments when it suits is legion. Canadians then, should be concerned with the United Nations “Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women,” explained elsewhere in this issue. It appears that the Canadian government is, indeed, taking seriously its obligations under [...]
On March 1, 1985, Secretary of State Walter McLean (PC Waterloo), Minister in charge of the status of Woman, appointed NDP-worker Sylvia Gold to a seven-year term as president of the Canadian Advisory Council on the Status of Woman. The appointment was highly lauded by pro-abortion feminists. Sylvia Gold It was hailed by MP Lucie Pepin, head of the [...]
The Federal Government has turned down an application for a grant made by the Real Women of Canada on the grounds that the organization’s aims do not meet the “spirit” of the Women’s Program. A letter from the Department of the Secretary of State to Real Women stated that “the promotion of a particular family [...]
In April this year two “equality clauses” will come into effect in our Charter of Rights. In essence, these clauses state that nay laws which discriminate between the sexes are invalid under the Charter. Admirable as this may be at first glance --- there surely are very few Canadians (male or female, pro or anti feminist) who would [...]
Film Studio D, the Women’s Studio of the National Film Board has done it again. Their latest project, viewed for the first time, in Toronto on December 1, 1984, is called “Behind the Veil.” Willing participants who provided fuel from within the ranks for this attack upon the “Male, Patriarchal, Sexist” Catholic Church were Sisters Ann Carr, [...]
Since our press conference, February 1, 1984, the news media has been most obliging in featuring news stories on our new national women's organization - R.E.A.L Women of Canada. A recent example was a Globe and Mail article (March 1, 1984), written by an investigative reporter. He had scurried to the main pro-life offices in Toronto, "unearthing" a few selected R.E.A.L Women's [...]
In July of 1983, I was doing supply work in St. Patrick's P. I almost passed it but then I saw, The Autobiography of Alf Saltarelli as told to arish, Markham. One day I was glancing through the books on the rack in the lobby of the Church and my eye caught the title, To Be Alive Jim Jalsevac. Jim is a [...]