December 6, 2007- National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women

Despite our booming economy, women and their children in BC are experiencing growing inequities.

The BC Liberal government has:

- cut funding for legal services and victim assistance programs, affecting women's safety and access to justice;
- closed the Ministry of Women's Equality;
- cut funding for BC women's centres;
- attacked wages and working conditions for jobs primarily held by women;
- cut funding for child care.

Compounding these problems, the federal Conservative government has:

- cut funding to the Status of Women and changed funding guidelines forcing feminist research and advocacy organizations to close or reduce programs;
- eliminated resources such as the Court Challenges Program that support the advancement of equality;
- eliminated national early learning and child care funding agreements.

These assaults on women's rights and supports have cumulative impact. British Columbia continues to have the highest number of women and children in poverty, in Canada.

Poor women and their families are often more vulnerable to violence and exploitation. Women continue to be murdered or go missing from the infamous Highway of Tears in northern BC, and the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver.

At the recent BC Federation of Labour convention, BCGEU members and other delegates voted on important resolutions that address violence against women and threats to women's equality. We remain committed to raising public awareness of and mobilizing political action on these issues.

Please see www.bcgeu.ca/Women for the BCGEU and Canadian Labour Congress National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women 2007 posters, and a message from Public Services International.

You can download, email and print this information. Or, contact your local BCGEU area office to get colour copies of the posters for your workplace and community.

In solidarity,
Judi Filion, BCGEU Secretary Treasurer
Chair, Women's Committee

For pdf of alert click here.

For pdf of poster click here.

For more information click here.