Advocacy Archives

We encourage CFUW members to bring about change by advocating on issues such as violence against women, early learning and child care, education, economic prosperity and the empowerment of women as leaders and decision-makers. CFUW also works on a global level for the adoption and implementation of international agreements that will protect and benefit all women and girls.

CFUW's current national policy priorities are: violence against women and gender-based violence, Indigenous peoples and reconciliation, long-term care, early learning and child care, and environment and climate change. We also have a national pay equity initiative.

CFUW's BC Council and BC clubs engage in advocacy on these and other issues including access to education, healthcare, housing, childcare, drinking water, long term care and elder rights, free birth control, harm reduction and overdose prevention, liveable wages, employment and pay equity, prevention of violence and exploitation, our environment and climate change, reconciliation and Indigenous rights, and supports for newcomer and refugees, including from war in Afghanistan and the Ukraine, and more.

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CFUW Advocacy Archives

Sign Petition e-4185 to House of Commons

CFUW Orillia, with support of their Simcoe North Member of Parliament Adam Chambers, created an online petition urging the Federal Government to take action to Tighten Bail Laws to Protect Victims of Intimate Partner Violence. Please consider signing as soon as possible and pass the petition link to interested friends and family with a personal note requesting they sign. Petition closes December 7th.

Watch now on YouTube: Invisible No More. A Continuum of Care for Elder Rights & Long-Term Care Justice in Canada. Co-presented on May 4, 2022 by CFUW, HelpAge Canada, the Canadian Health Coalition and Ontario Health Coalition. See event flier with speaker bios. #InvisibleNoMore #ElderRights #LTCJustice #CFUW

Watch now on YouTube: The Pay Gap and the Gendering of Care Work. Women's Economic Insecurity amid the Covid-19 Crisis. A panel discussion moderated by Kadie Ward, featuring Valerie Frey, Karen Jensen, Deena Ladd, Rachael Vickerson and Katherine Scott. Hosted by CFUW on March 30, 2022.

Watch it now on YouTube: May 4, 2021 National Town Hall: Long-Term Care & Elder Rights. CFUW Day of Action public event.

Join concerned Canadians from across the country as we take action for long-term care and elder justice. Featured speakers include the BC, NB, & NL Offices of the Seniors' Advocate. #LTCJustice

CFUW Long-Term Care Day of Action Toolkit.pdf

April 13, 2021 - Ready to take action on elder rights? Use CFUW's LTC & Elder Rights 2021 Toolkit. Your club can adapt and send the Template Letter to MP on LTC Standards & the Canada Health Act.

Sign CFUW's open letter to the Minister of Seniors & Minister of Health in support of LTC standards and placing LTC under the Canada Health Act. Share widely! Sign by completing the form here [CLOSED]: https://forms.gle/M1bYjtfYHGAGxzgR7

March 31, 2021 - Global - Message from Joy Hurst, VP International Relations

For two weeks, "27 CFUW delegates joined over 25,000 activists from around the world at the virtual United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. Even on a virtual platform, this event is life-changing. The reality of our global interconnectedness was on full display along with the resilience and strength of women. CFUW hosted an event "Mobilizing for Impact" and co-sponsored another event with Women-Graduates USA & the Mexican Federation of University Women, "Reclaiming Our Humanity: The Urgent Need for Women's Leadership in Addressing Migration Issues". CFUW delegates attended government briefings and high-level events that addressed the progress and gaps in the status of women across the world. Read the final Agreed Conclusions of the Commission (CSW65). CFUW's VP of Education, Kathy Wosnick, and VP of Advocacy, Jeannette Mergens were both featured in the media for attending the forum. Read the articles: Kathy in Newmarket Today & Jeannette on Castanet. Stay tuned for the delegation's final report and ways in which you can participate in the movement!" - Joy Hurst, VP International Relations.

March 18th 2021 - BC - Fostering Change campaign, led by First Call BC

Together many allies of youth transitions made some HUGE headway relevant to the interim measures for youth support during the pandemic. BC government will provide:

Housing until 2022. As a youth in care, you can stay in your current living arrangement after you turn 19.
Continued Agreements with Young Adults (AYA) program and Life Skills program flexibility until September 2021. More learning options also included, like the Cultural Life Skills Opportunity.
With this change, young people transitioning from government care can be on both AYA and Temporary Housing Agreement at the same time. Learn about BC government's Temporary Housing Support and AYA Life Skills Program.

www.fosteringchange.ca @fosteringchangebc

#fosteringchangebc #youthincare #foster #fostercare #fostering #agingout #agedout #bcpoli

March 2021 - BC - Read the two new proposed BC Resolutions:

#kinshipcare #bcpoli #aginginplace

Transforming Child Welfare in BC & Canada - 2022-2019 Resources

Child Welfare League of Canada's Moving Beyond Neglect project produced the March 2022 report Moving Beyond Neglect: Recommendations & Future Directions for Child Welfare Policy & Practice (en/fr).
Children’s Aid Foundation of Canada has launched a Stand Up for Kids Futures Transformed national campaign focusing on children and families at risk, children and youth in care, and youth transitioning out of care.
West Coast LEAF has a Child Welfare Advocacy Communities of Practice project that produced recommendations for shifting the Child Protection System and a 2019 law reform report, Pathways in a Forest: Indigenous guidance on prevention-based child welfare.

February 13, 2021 - GWI Meet and Greet with University Women of Europe

This was an interesting meeting especially hearing how important GWI is in every other country that has it. We heard from Canada, Mexico, Europe, Netherlands and Great Britain to name a few. In Mexico City they have established a Museum of the Woman (Museo de la mujer) and will soon be expanding it. We met the board and members of the University Women of Europe, learned about the structure, purpose and goals of GWI’s Europe Regional Group, and shared CFUW's GWI club structure, purposes, activities and enthusiasm. #GWI #UWE

National Long Term Care Initiative 2021

In October 2020, the National Board approved “Long-Term Care” as CFUW’s fourth National Initiative. The COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020 exposed long-standing, negligence, inadequate care and a lack of preparation in many Canadian long-term care (LTC) residences. These deficits resulted in high rates of infection and death in LTC residents. More than 80% of all COVID-19 deaths in Canada were in LTC facilities, as of June 2020.

CFUW’s work on LTC identifies decisive actions to prevent future infections and improve care in the congregate settings of LTC facilities. The global pandemic has revealed the shocking vulnerability of people living in LTC facilities. As a society, we have ignored the care of these vulnerable citizens who need assistance and depend on the shamefully undervalued work of personal support workers and LTC nurses.

2 national policies on LTC were adopted at the 2020 Annual General Meeting. Find out more information below:

Long-Term Care and the Canada Health Act -- More information from the resolution’s presenters CFUW Stratford & South Shore University Women’s Club (Montreal).
Long-Term Care: Protect the Vulnerable --- More information from the resolution’s presenters CFUW Oakville.

Want to get involved with CFUW’s LTC initiatives? Click here to learn more!

BC Office of the Seniors Advocate website

April 13, 2021: Template Letter to MP on LTC Standards and the Canada Health Act

Access BC Campaign for Free Prescription Contraception

Wow! So we asked you to help us flood BC Premier Horgan's inbox with emails about prescription contraception, and you delivered! Over 180 of our supporters sent in letters this past week. Thank you! Let's keep those letters coming in! If you haven't had the chance to send in a letter for this most recent phase of the campaign (post-election), please pop on our website and fill in the form, you know the drill by now!

January 2021 - BC - Current Advocacy Actions and Projects by CFUW BC Clubs.

2021 UN International Women's Day Theme "Women in Leadership: Achieving an equal future in a Covid-19 World"

2021 IWD theme: #ChooseToChallenge

A challenged world is an alert world. Individually, we're all responsible for our own thoughts and actions - all day, every day.

We can all choose to challenge and call out gender bias and inequality. We can all choose to seek out and celebrate women's achievements. Collectively, we can all help create an inclusive world.

From challenge comes change, so let's all choose to challenge.

"So, hand up high to show you're in."

#ChooseToChallenge #IWD2021

November 2020 - BC - Mandate Letters confirm what each BC Provincial Minister has agreed to work towards in their Government Roles.

Silent No More Panel Discussion now available on You Tube

National Fall 2020 Advocacy Package. Take Action on newly adopted CFUW Policies! ~ A Message from Jeannette Mergens CFUW VP Advocacy.

Over the years, CFUW has taken a stand on innumerable social issues based on our policies. Advocacy has been important to CFUW since its formation in 1919. The first six clubs that eventually came together to form CFUW had advocacy as a primary pillar in their community work. This year, at our Special General Meeting in August, we passed 8 resolutions that addressed very current issues, among them, two that addressed Long Term Care, into CFUW policies. With the help of the members who presented the resolutions and our Advocacy Coordinator, Charlotte Akin, the package for action on all of these policies is now here for your use. I encourage your club to work on some or all of these policies, making use of the information in this advocacy issue. Thank you for continuing to advocate for a better world for all of us.

CFUW NATIONAL POLICIES ADOPTED 2020

Each policy contains a backgrounder, take action sheet, and a template advocacy letter to guide CFUW clubs in their advocacy work.

Long-Term Care under the Canada Health Act
Long-Term Care - Protect the Vulnerable
Canada Health Act & National Standards for Medically Necessary Care
Payday Loans
Achieving the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action
Climate Emergency – Declarations and Action Plans
Protecting Children from Exposure and Access to Pornography and Sexual Violence
Enforcement of the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act

Review CFUW's "Who Does What?" guidelines to better understand target audiences for advocacy initiatives.

This information is available on CFUW's Member Site under Take Action>>Advocacy tab. Click here to access CFUW's Member site.

July 2020 : STEM Learning Resource Book

June 2020 - BC Health Coalition Report : The Place of Assisted Living in BC’s Seniors Care System. Assessing the Promise, Reality and Challenges by Dr. Karen-Marie Elah Perry. Download full report at: policyalternatives.ca/ assessing-assisted-living

Isobel Mackenzie BC’s Seniors Advocate Statement on 2020 Seniors’ Week (Victoria, BC) — "Each year, the first week of June in British Columbia is declared Seniors’ Week. This is traditionally a time when we celebrate the contributions of those one million British Columbians who are over the age of 65. The impact of Covid-19 has muted to some extent our sense of 'celebration'...."

May 28, 2020 - UN Women - Raising awareness of the shadow pandemic of violence against women during COVID-19

Amid the COVID-19 global health crisis, a huge surge in domestic violence is being reported. This increase in violence is happening at a time of reduced capacity of service providers to cope with the increased demand for support. Women are locked in with their abusers and are isolated from the people and resources that can best help them. At such a critical time for women, urgent action is needed.

UN Women has launched the Shadow Pandemic campaign which gives specific advice on domestic violence with a clear call to action to shine a light on the surge of domestic violence that has accompanied COVID-19 lockdowns. The Shadow Pandemic campaign consists of a comprehensive suite of social assets, including advice from experts on the ground and a Public Service announcement (PSA) film, narrated by Academy Award winning actor Kate Winslet.

Please support the campaign using the toolkit and assets to amplify this work. A 60-second film: The Shadow Pandemic: Domestic Violence in the wake of COVID-19 and a press release have gone live on UN Women channels. Here's a Shadow Pandemic Campaign Toolkit and Alert letter.

2020 BC Women's Rights updates

BC Human Rights Commissioner appointed by BC Government
March 3, 2020 BC Introduces a Bill for five days paid leave in domestic violence cases (Vancouver Sun)

Aging Out of Foster Care - CFUW BC 2017 Resources

Fact Sheet: Aging Out (2017)
CFUW Ideas for Action from the "Aging Out of Care in BC" Study Circles Project pamphlet
Coming to Knowing: CFUW Study Circle Guide
CFUW Action Forum Report of the Aging out of Care in BC Study Circle Project.
2016 Policy BC Youth Aging out of Foster Care Policy
Vancouver Foundation 2017 web edition (Aging out of Foster Care pg. 2)

BC Council Template Letters for Action