Judy Anderson, national president of REAL Women of Canada has accused Joe Clark, Minister of Constitutional Affairs, of excluding from the constitutional Affairs, of excluding from the constitutional process the organization which represents some 50,000 Canadian women.
Mr. Clark is defrauding the Canadian public by stacking the constitutional conferences now under way with feminists, Mrs. Anderson stated in Toronto in early February. She cited Judy Rebick, current president of the National Action Council on the Status of Women (NAC), who was allowed to make an extended appearance before the Dobbie-Castonguay Committee in 1991, and who was a prominent delegate at the Halifax Constitutional Conference in January.
In contrast, REAL Women’s repeated requests to participate in the constitutional debate, both before the Dobbie-Castonguay Committee and in regional conferences, have been ignored.
“If 66 per cent of Canadian women do not describe themselves as feminists (Decima poll, July 1991), Mr. Clark is ignoring the views of the majority of Canadian women,” Mrs. Anderson noted. “Mr. Clark is insulting the intelligence, integrity and independence of Canadian women.”
