Re/Claiming Our Feminist Voices

On September 30, 2004 - the eve of the 75^th Anniversary of Women’s History
Month - women in Newfoundland and Labrador were joined by local, provincial and
national women’s equality-seeking organizations. The Federal/Provincial/
Territorial (F/P/T) Ministers Responsible for the Status of Women were
meeting in St. John’s when women representing the Provincial Advisory Council
on the Status of Women (PACSW), Newfoundland and Labrador Women
Centres / Councils, the Canadian Feminist Alliance for International Action (FAFIA),
the National Association for Women and the Law (NAWL) and the National
Action Committee on the Status of Women (NAC) held a media conference in
the same hotel outlining the state of women’s equality in Newfoundland and
Labrador and in our country.

The media conference launched "Five Demands for Women’s Equality in Canada,"
which were brought to the Ministers’ meeting room. F/T/P meetings are
closed-door sessions where Status of Women Ministers and their officials
discuss and prioritize issues and concerns for Canadian women. Upon the
conclusion of the media conference, Newfoundland and Labrador Persons Award
recipients Dorothy Inglis and Nancy Riche marched uninvited and unannounced into
the meeting of F/P/T Ministers Responsible for the Status of Women. News reporters
and cameras followed close behind while, immediately outside the door, fifty
women joined in solidarity singing a rousing chorus of Bread and Roses. They spoke
to the Minsters and presented the demands. Media reports following the F/P/T
meeting indicate that these Ministers have agreed to take the "Five Demands for Women’s Equality in Canada" back to their respective jurisdictions for discussion
and that the two Ministers co-hosting the meeting would write a response to the
demands.

The Provincial Advisory Council on the Status of Women would like to share
with women throughout the province and country this wonderful story of
women’s strategizing, mobilizing and a delightful re/claiming of our feminist
activism as we await the response from the federal Status of Women
Minister, Liza Frulla, and the Newfoundland and Labrador Status of
Women Minister, Joan Burke.

 in this special edition of our Newsbulletin.

Joyce Hancock
President 

PACSW Newsbulletin - Special Edition October 2004
Five Demands for Women's Equality in Canada
Five Demands for Women's Equality in Canada