In This Issue:
 President’s Report
 Project Updates
 Changing
Public Services
 FemNorthNet
 CRIAW and the UN
 58th Session
of the CSW

Women’s
Participation in all
Levels of Education

Volunteering with
CRIAW
 Workplace
Harassment
 What CRIAW
Members are up to
 What has CRIAW been
up to
 New
Publications
 Conferences
 Info on the AGM
 Donations
CRIAW Newsletter, Vol. 34, No. 1, July 2014
PRESIDENT’S REPORT
Marion Pollack
There are many words I use when I talk about CRIAW. These include important,
strong, feminist, and intersectional. All these words underscore the need for
CRIAW to continue.
In September 2013 CRIAW published our Fact Sheet on Violence against
Women. This Fact Sheet has been used by anti-violence organizations,
academics, teachers, and unions. I recently went to a meeting of Union women in
Vancouver and was pleased to see that our Fact Sheet was part of the materials
being distributed. It reinforced to me the importance of the work we do.
Our FemNorthNet project continues on its powerful and amazing trajectory. Every
time I listen to some of the women working on this project my heart swells with
pride and my brain stretches. I have learned so much about what partnerships
really mean from these women. When we partner with people, both parties have
to get something out of the process. We don't partner out of charity but because
working together allows for sharing, learning, and growing opportunities for
everyone. A very recent result of this wonderful work is our new toolkit, produced
in collaboration with DAWN Canada "Diversity through inclusive practices: A toolkit
for creating inclusive processes, spaces, and events"
Our Changing Public Services project is moving ahead. We are taking on
comprehensive literature reviews and grappling with the importance and
complexities of this project. We know that public services play very different roles
in women's lives and these services add to the richness of our lives, keep some of
us from extreme poverty, help us learn, keep us healthy, and assist some of us
with our children. But these services are changing rapidly and we need to learn
what this means for diverse groups of women. I am excited, humbled, proud, and
a touch scared to be part of this project.
 New Members!
 Congratulations
 Stay Connected
The CRIAW Board recently decided to increase our fundraising activities. Current,
lapsed, and future donors should expect to hear from us through email, phone
calls and letters.
CRIAW needs your support and donations to stay strong. In this day and age
when there are so many important organizations asking you for money,
sometimes research does not seem to be a priority. But, I have learned the exact
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opposite is true. We need research and we need
evidence to continue to improve women's lives.
reality is they were produced with little or no
money. Your donations will help us.
CRIAW is working on other Fact Sheets to continue
our work. This includes Fact Sheets on Immigrant
and Refugee Women, on Women and Racism, and
on Women and Employment Insurance.
The CRIAW staff, volunteers and Board are
amazing and inspiring. Their commitment,
dedication, and passion help me carry on.
Thank you.
While these Fact Sheets look and sound like they
were produced with large amounts of money, the
CRIAW PROJECT UPDATES
Changing Public Services
Leah Levac
It has been a very busy first year for Changing
impacts of precarious employment on women with
Public Services: Women and Intersectional
marginalized social positions.
Analysis project. Funded for 3 years under
SSHRC, we are well-positioned to move into the
Jessica Rumboldt, funded through University of
project’s second phase.
Guelph, is working on an intersectional statistical
analysis of women and employment.
Janine Bertolo is settled in and doing excellent
work as our Project Manager. Jackie Neapole has
Sohrab Rhamaty, funded by the SSHRC grant, is
done a great job in taking up her role as the Admin
working with several undergraduate students who
Officer.
are part of the Community Service Learning
Program at the University of Ottawa, to conduct a
The Guiding Group is established; we have hired
systematic literature review of the impacts of
hired regional coordinators in all four regions, and
changing public services on women across the
added a co-initiator in the Atlantic region.
country.
Our regional coordinators are: Kristel vom
Scheidt (Atlantic); Sarah Baker (NCR); Lisa
Worobec (Prairies); and Tahia Amhed (BC/Lower
Mainland). We have most recently welcomed
Michelle Cohen from CUPE as a co-initiator for the
Atlantic regional cluster. We look forward to
continuing the work of the project with all of our
newly added team members.
The CPS Guiding Group Summer Gathering took
place July 3 and 4 in Ottawa. It was a great
opportunity to share experiences and plan for the
second phase of the project.
The regional clusters are in the process of
identifying their particular points of concern and
building community relationships.
Ann Denis and Leah Levac presented a paper on
preliminary results from the systematic literature
review at the Intersectionality conference in
Vancouver at the end of April.
We have three baseline research projects
underway whose work will complement that of the
regional clusters as well as taking some direction
from them.
Fiona Meyer Cook, funded through a Mitacs
Internship, with matching funds provided by the
Canadian Union of Public Employees, the
Canadian Labour Congress, and the Canadian
Union of Postal Workers, is researching the
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In addition, we had some knowledge mobilization
opportunitiesin the spring that allowes us to discuss
our work more broadly:
At the end of May, Leah reported on our research
progress on the impacts of changing public
services on young women at the Canadian Political
Science Association conference, and Fiona Meyer
Cook reported on the results of the women and
employment precarity project at the inaugural
conference of the Canadian Association for Work
and Labour Studies.
(www.ChangingPublicServices.ca)
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FemNorthNet
It has been a busy new year
for FemNorthNet. As the
project moves into its final
year, much of the research
and work is wrapping up and
being released in upcoming
materials.
Our theme groups have been busy, the Community
Inclusions and Exclusions theme group recently
launched Diversity through Inclusive Practice –
An Evolving Toolkit for Creating Inclusive
Spaces, Processes & Events in partnership with
the Disabled Women’s Network of Canada (DAWNRAHF). This toolkit was launched in Vancouver on
April 25 at the Intersectionality Conference.
FemNorthNet has also launched an initiative called
Building Links Among Women to foster and
support an alliance among women in Atlantic
Canada. The Alliance will initially focus on building
understanding and links between women in the
Atlantic provinces around the massive hydroelectric dam at Muskrat Falls in Happy ValleyGoose Bay, Labrador.
Finally FemNorthNet released Developing
Women’s Leadership in the North: A key
resource a full-length report in French and English
looking at women’s leadership and the different
models the five communities used to develop
northern women’s leadership capacities. A series of
interviews with various community leaders from
those communities were released throughout the
month of June and are available on our website
http://criaw-icref.ca/femnorthnet/leadership-work .
CRIAW and the UN
A Brief Overview of the 58th Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women
Nayyar S. Javed
The 58th session of the United Nations Commission
redistribution of unpaid and paid care work, and
on the Status of Women (CSW58) ended on March
references to macroeconomic policies and trade
21, 2014 in New York with consensus on the
agreements. However, attention to women and
“agreed conclusions” after two weeks of fiercely
climate change, natural disasters, militarism, and
contested negotiations.
such “extra state actors” as financial institutions and
multinational corporations were all lacking. And
The negotiated “agreed conclusions” related to the
many civil society representatives felt that CSW58
three themes of this session: “Challenges and
has rolled back the previous gains of Indigenous
Achievements in the Implementation of the
women.
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for Women
and Girls”; the assessment of “Access and
Participation of Women and Girls in Education,
Training Science and Technology, including the
Promotion of Women’s Equal Access to Full and
Decent Work”; “Women’s Access to Productive
The passion and hard work by the representatives
Resources” (the primary, review and emerging
of the equality-seeking women’s organizations from
themes respectively).
around the world was evident. Through lobbying,
and sharing knowledge and strategies they
The MDGs are supposed to be achieved by 2015,
demonstrated their determination to achieve equality
and deal with such issues such as poverty, hunger,
for all women. More than three thousand women
gender discrimination, maternal health, and
attended, making over three hundred presentations.
environmental sustainability. Progress in the
Regional caucuses gave opportunities for
implementation of these goals has been “uneven”,
discussion about issues relevant to our respective
with most being far from achieved.
regions, and empowerment from sharing strategies.
Many representatives of various Canadian women’s
In some respects the “agreed conclusions” were
NGOs organizations and the Canadian Labour
“transformative”, notably about women’s
Movement participated - presenting, playing
reproductive and sexual rights, the elimination of
leadership roles, networking and lobbying. The
harmful cultural practices, “decent work”,
official Canadian delegation organized events on
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“The Prevention of Child and Force Marriage” and
cyber-space sexual harassment. The daily briefings
organized by the UN NGO Committees on the
Status of Women and UN Women helped us
connect with what was going on in the “closed”
official sessions. The team of civil servants
responsible for negotiating on behalf of Canada
briefed Canadians daily despite their very busy
schedule.
All four members of the CRIAW’s UN Committee
attended CSW58. We became very aware of the
need for a network of grass roots feminist
researchers: Beijing + 20 is a critical historic event,
which can create a window of opportunity for
advancing women’s equality. We hope that, as with
Beijing 1995, CRIAW can play an important role in
facilitating Canadian women’s participation. We can
start this work by collecting data to input into the
shadow report that Canadian NGOs will be
presenting for the preparation of the 20th
anniversary of the Beijing (Fourth World)
Conference. Since the next session of the CSW is
supposed to be a landmark transition in the UN work
for women’s equality, it is imperative that CRIAW
develop capacity to stay engaged in the UN
processes.
This report is based on my observations and does
not represent CRIAW’s position on CSW58.
Following the 58th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW58), CRIAW-ICREF joined with over 25
other women’s organizations and women’s human rights defenders to call on the Government of Canada to implement the
outcomes from the CSW58. Here is an excerpt of this call to action. The letter in its entirety can be found at Action
Canada for Population and Development’s website: http://www.acpd.ca/index.php/archives/1151#more-1151
In implementing outcomes from the CSW, we call on the Government of Canada to:
1.
Take a leadership stance on, and encourage other states to support a stand-alone goal on gender equality, and
the integration of gender equality into targets and indicators of all new goals, especially those related to
education, health, economic justice, and the environment, of the new development framework.
2. Take into account the views of women’s, youth and other relevant civil society organizations in the elaboration
of the post-2015 development agenda, including participating in the upcoming 47th session of the Commission on
Population and Development with the full and effective participation of Canadian civil society organizations,
including through holding consultations, and the inclusion of women’s and sexual and reproductive rights
advocates on the Canadian delegation.
3. Meaningfully engage in the review of the 20 year anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and PfA [Beijing
Platform of Action] by:
a.
Meaningfully engaging indigenous women, youth, women human rights defenders, and other civil society
organizations in the review process,
specifically through their inclusion on the Canadian delegation for the
th
full
59 session of the CSW in 2015, and establishing a civil society advisory committee for the duration of the
review process,
b.
Undertaking a comprehensive national review of the progress made and challenges encountered in the
implementation of the Beijing Declaration and
PfA, and
c.
Participating
in the
Beijing
‘Women’s
Participation
inregional
all Levels
ofDeclaration and PfA review meeting.
Education’
Ann Denis
(The following are excerpts from a presentation in a
panel discussion organized by the Women
Ambassadors of Ottawa for International Women’s
Day 2014 on the overall theme of ‘Equality for
women is progress for all’. This short presentation
concentrates, as requested, on women’s education
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in Canada, and on the recent United Nations
Commission on the Status of Women (CSW).
The theme ‘Equality for women is progress for all’
reflects the assumption that women’s equality
benefits not just women themselves (as a human
right), but also societies as a whole (as a social and
economic benefit). However, even the goal of
universal primary school attendance, one of the
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Millennium Development Goals, has not yet been
achieved for girls’ education. Moreover, the Agreed
Conclusions of this year’s CSW stressed the
importance of women’s secondary and tertiary
educational enrolment in order to promote women’s
economic empowerment, autonomy and
independence. This more ambitious goal is
consistent with the goals of the Beijing Platform for
Action, adopted almost 20 years ago, and still not
realized.
these issues remain, after being identified some
twenty years ago. This problem of Canadian culture
and social structure negatively affects young
women’s options for post-secondary studies, for
employment and for the assistance that they can
give children they may be bringing up.
In science (especially physics), technology and
engineering, in addition to women’s math
aversion/fear, the way they are brought up and
informally taught by family and friends can also be
In Canada virtually all women now complete
a disadvantage for them: they are less likely than
primary school and, by law, remain in high school
young men to take mechanical things apart, to build
at least until the age of 16. During the past century
them, or to become familiar with the tools required
there have been important increases in women’s
to do so. Again there remain (erroneous) and
school attendance, and, especially since the 1960s,
discouraging gender stereotypes about what are
also in their numbers at
‘feminine’ and ‘masculine’ past times. Classrooms
colleges and universities. These
often are macho or sexist: women are excluded,
increases reflect changes in Canada’s economy.
harassed, or directed to the literary parts of
The first shift was to an industrial economy and
assignments, not the hands-on, more technical or
more recently to a knowledge-based
mechanical parts, thus
one. Both of these types of economy
depriving them of invaluable
emphasize the importance of
learning experiences. Some
credentials and of competence in
professors and administrators
numeracy, literacy and the use of
consciously try to change
information technology.
these attitudes and practices,
and some women students
Notable changes since the late 20th
actively oppose them –
century are the increasing proportions
demanding that they not be
of Canadian women among university
limited to writing up
(http://talentegg.ca/)
students in law and in medicine.
assignments, for instance.
Previously women’s ability to succeed
Despite this, the climate
in these fields was questioned, and there were both
remains chilly for women, and proportions of
informal and systemic barriers to their admission.
women in engineering remain low.
There have been conscious and effective decisions
to eliminate these barriers.
In addition, indigenous women in Canada
experience negative effects of discrimination,
Significant, and concerning, gaps remain, however.
violence and a lack of access to quality education.
In mathematics, after succeeding very well in their
Living in isolated regions, the general underfunding
first years of studying maths, girls’ performance in
of indigenous education and conflicts regarding the
this subject often deteriorates during high school,
control of this education all compound the
and many drop out of these courses. Rather than
disadvantages indigenous women experience, with
being caused by girls’ biological inability, as is
negative effects on their employment opportunities,
sometimes claimed, it often remains ‘unfeminine’ to
thus increasing their vulnerability.
like – or succeed - in maths, and ignoring this
pressure can result in girls’ social exclusion.
Finally, Canadian adolescent mothers who are
Furthermore some teachers continue (it seems) to
single parents often have difficulty completing their
assume that girls cannot do well in maths, and
studies (even at secondary school) after the birth of
therefore do not encourage them to do so.
their child, due to the lack of facilities which allow
Additionally examples in maths may be geared to
them to combine child care with studies. Yet
boys’ interests (such as computations based on
economic autonomy is particularly important for
sports scores), again marginalizing girls. Many of
these women. It is, of course, also important for all
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mothers who are (or want to) continue their study,
given the lack of affordable child care and the fact
that childcare remains, predominantly, the
responsibility of women.
I have provided a taste both of Canada’s successes
and challenges regarding women’s education, as
well as an overview of the importance of education
for women and girls in all their diversities that was
highlighted in the Agreed Conclusions of the
recently concluded session of UN Commission on
the Status of Women.
Volunteering with CRIAW
Sarah Fulham
It is my first year of University and I’ve tried as hard
as possible to delve into the women’s groups on and
around campus to learn as much and as quickly as
possible utilising all the resources Ottawa has to
offer.
CRIAW has made me realise that I may not be able
to join every single one but I’ll certainly have a big
enough selection that will keep my hands full for my
next 3 years at University. The opportunities to help
are never ending and hugely desired as your
excitement to help is responded to so positively by
all the women who work very hard to keep their
organisations running, so they can continue to help
and support those who need it and to change
policies to better the environment around them.
The weeks I spent volunteering with CRIAW has
showed me that there is a never ending amount of
work to be done. Attending events for International
Women’s Day (IWD) as a CRIAW representative
highlighted that all the hard work is certainly not in
vain. Our hard work is recognised not only
internationally but locally.
I really appreciated being able to represent CRIAW
at these events, being a part of something much
bigger than myself was certainly an exciting
opportunity and seeing behind the scenes the
passion the women have for this organisation as
many take the time out of their busy lives to
contribute to CRIAW.
Still a Problem:
Let’s Talk About Workplace Harassment
Marion Pollack
It gained a recognized name in the late 70's and
early 80's, but had been around for many decades
before that. And sadly, it still exists in many
workplaces today. I am talking about sexual
harassment.
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Sarah Fulham tabling for CRIAW at the IWD event in
Ottawa
IWD is really the time to get together and celebrate
our achievements at the thousands of events
nationwide and I certainly wished I could have
forgotten about my midterms and attended all the
local events (but that would have benefited no one).
This year’s IWD was a blast and I’ve learned so
much in the span of a couple days. I’ve seen all the
efforts groups around Canada and the world are
doing to improve lives and it made me proud to call
myself a feminist. I hope to attend more events next
year as they are truly inspiring and motivating for
women of all ages to get involved in Canada and
around the world.
Thank you CRIAW for the opportunity
The purpose of this article is to outline some of the
key elements and concepts for discussing sexual
harassment. This is not legal advice, and anyone
seeking more information on sexual harassment
should talk to their Union, their student services,
their University offices, or other advocates.
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1. Sexual Harassment is never your
fault. Sexual harassment is unwanted attention. It
does not matter what you wear or how you look,
sexual harassment is never your fault.
2. Sexual Harassment is about power.
Sexual harassment is an expression of power over
people.
3. Intent does not matter --impact does.
Many harassers say that they didn't want to hurt or
make someone feel bad. In many cases that is the
case, but it is still harassment. If the person being
harassed feels demeaned, embarrassed, or
humiliated, then it is probably harassment. If the
person who did the harassment stops after being
told this behaviour is unacceptable, we have taken
one step to creating a harassment-free zone.
4. In the Supreme Court of Canada
Decision in Janzen vs. Platy Enterprises sexual
harassment was defined as "unwelcome conduct
of a sexual nature that detrimentally affects the
work environment or leads to adverse
consequences for the victim of harassment".
5. Provincial Human Rights
Commissions have defined sexual harassment
in very similar ways. The Ontario Human Rights
Commission says ‘In the Ontario Human Rights
Code (the Code), sexual harassment is “engaging
in a course of vexatious comment or conduct that is
known or ought to be known to be unwelcome.” In
some cases, one incident could be serious enough
to be sexual harassment. The reference to
comment or conduct "that is known or ought
reasonably to be known to be unwelcome" means
that there are two parts to the test for harassment.
First, we have to consider if the person carrying out
the harassment knew how their behaviour would be
received. Second, we must consider how someone
else would generally feel about the behaviour – this
can help us think from the perspective of a person
who is being harassed.’
6. Courts have generally ruled that
providing a harassment-free workplace is the
Employer's responsibility. In the case of Bonnie
Robichaud vs. the Treasury Board, the Supreme
Court of Canada ruled that only an employer can
remedy the undesirable effects of discrimination
and only an Employer can provide the most
important remedy --a healthy work environment.
7. However, employees and Unions also
have an obligation to keep the workplace
harassment free. Everyone needs to work to make
the work place harassment-free.
8. Not every act of workplace
foolishness is harassment. Arbitrator Heather
Laing said in an arbitration (BC and the BCGEU
(1995) 49 LAC (4TH) 193. that " I do not think that
every act of workplace foolishness was intended to
be captured by the word harassment. This is a
serious word, to be used seriously and applied
vigorously when the occasion warrants its use. It
should not be trivialized, cheapened or devalued by
using it as a loose label to cover petty acts or
foolish words, when the harm by any objective
standard is fleeting. Nor should it be used where
there is no intent to be harmful in any way, unless
there has been a heedless disregard for the rights
of another person and it can be fairly said 'you
should have known better'"
9: If you are being harassed or witness
harassment speak up. It is hard to speak up, but
you need to let the other person know that her/his
behaviour is unacceptable and that you want it to
stop.
10. There are other remedies. These
include using the internal harassment procedure in
your workplace/school, filing a grievance if you are
in a unionized workplace, and talking to the
applicable Human Rights Commission.
We can all take steps to make our world
harassment free.
What Are CRIAW Members Up To?
Board Member, Samantha C. Thrift
In late March, I presented new research with my
collaborator, Dr. Carrie Rentschler, Director of the
Institute for Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies
at McGill University, as part of the work-in-progress
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lecture series hosted by Dr. Krista Lynes, Director of
the newly established Feminist Media Studio at
Concordia University. The lecture series provides
an informal, highly engaging forum for thinking
about the intersection of research, media creation,
and political engagement in feminist work.
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Our talk, “Doing Feminism in the Network: Feminist
Meme Events and the New Infrastructures of Online
Response”, examined feminists’ use of Internet
memes and their hijacking of Amazon.com review
sections to defuse offline misogyny and gendered
gaffes, such as U.S. presidential candidate Mitt
Romney’s 2012 “binders full of women” quip. We
argue that humorous social media-based tactics of
feminist critique constructed in the form of memes
represent an emergent practice of feminist online
media production and distribution that represents
new modes of “doing feminism.” In the process,
these feminist social media tactics disrupt the
feminist killjoy stereotype while exploiting the
feminist “hack value” of playful and political
exchanges online. Our work also discusses how the
feminist hijacking of Twitter feeds and their
production of mock reviews online rapidly mobilize
and make visible feminist networks of resistance in
(often unexpected) online spaces.
We examined the Binders Full of Women meme as
a key example, having witnessed social media
platforms, like Tumblr and Facebook, as well as
review sections of websites, like Amazon.com,
explode with humorous visuals and commentary in
response to Romney’s gaffe, which stemmed from
his answer to voter Katherine Fenton’s question
regarding women’s pay inequity during the October
16, 2012 presidential debate. (Romney replied to
Fenton’s question by stating, “I went to a number of
women’s groups and said: ‘Can you help us find
folks,’ and they brought us whole binders full of
women.”) Our analysis frames Binders Full of
Women as a feminist meme event given its ability to
not only concentrate the political focus of the
election campaign on women’s issues, but to
manifest a feminist networked public that creates
connection and expresses a feminist politics of
knowingness through the traffic and trade in jokey
gifs and image macros.
The complete article will appear in a forthcoming
Special Issue of the journal Feminist Theory that
Carrie and I are co-editing on the theme, “Doing
Feminism: Event, Archive, Techne.”
For more information, please visit:
feministmediastudio.ca
Board Member, Cindy Hanson
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Cindy was busy in the March. She was an invited
presenter at “Gender Lens on the Indian Residential
School Claims Process” at Arctic/Northern Women:
Law and Justice, Development and Equality
(Queen’s University, Kingston) as well as on a
panel “Women, healing and the Indian residential
school claims process” as part of the Imagining
Canada’s Future: A First Nations, Métis & Inuit
Research Showcase (University of Regina).
She also presented a paper and workshop. "That
Workshop Changed Me. . . Now What?": Sustaining
Transformation at the Prairie School for Union
Women” at the United Association for Labour
Educators Conference 2014.Related to the Prairie
School for Union Women, she is currently looking
for chapter proposals for an upcoming publication
“Women’s Labour Schools in North America” You
have until October 1, 2014, to submit your 1000
word chapter proposal. Check out CRIAW's website
for more details.
http://criaw-icref.ca/latest/social-billboard
Cindy was involved in a special exhibit, as a part of
her SSHRC study on Mapuche weavers in Chile.
Beading Between Generations at the Mann Art
Gallery in Prince Albert June 17-30. The exhibit
featured
profiles and
works of 8
beaders from
Saskatchewan
who came
together to
laugh, learn
and create as
part of a
http://panow.com/node/457926
SSHRC study
on intergenerational learning in Indigenous textile
communities. The beaders range in age from 24
years to 93 years and use contemporary and more
traditional designs in their works. They include
women of Metis, Cree, and Saulteaux backgrounds.
The show at the Mann Art Gallery opened on
National Aboriginal Day, Saturday, June 21.
Caroline Andrew Appointed as Chair of the
University of Ottawa Taskforce
Interview by Brigitte Ginn
May 5th, 2014
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Following allegations of sexual assault and
misconduct involving the men’s hockey team from
the University of Ottawa; the president of the
University, Allan Rock, announced the creation of a
new Task Force on Respect and Equality. This new
Task Force will be made up of faculty, staff,
students, and outside experts - and CRIAW member
Caroline Andrew has been appointed as the Chair.
Wanting to know more about this initiative, CRIAW
had the opportunity to speak with Caroline Andrew
about her new position, whether this move will help
to raise awareness about rape culture and
sexualized violence, the short-term and long-term
goals of the committee, and how as a feminist, she
feels we are in terms of advancement of women’s
rights and equality.
Caroline Andrew said that “she did not have any
good reason” not to take on this new position as
Chair of the Task Force on Respect and Equality –
given its importance in helping to create “a culture
on campus that encourages respectful behaviour,
prevents sexualized violence and ensures that
members of the community, women in particular,
can learn and work free of harassment and
sexualized violence.” She mentions that there are a
number of policies and practices that have
previously been put into place by the University of
Ottawa, but that now is a very good time to
understand what already exists on campus, what
needs to change and what needs to be added.
Thus, the Task Force is looking into Saint Mary’s
University and the University of British Columbia’s
reports addressing similar problems to get an idea
of their challenges and what worked for them in
regards to these issues.
active; increasing their social media presence,
consulting with students and doing more outreach
on campus and with the broader community in
general. In the fall, “the Task Force hopes to offer
information on rape culture and sexualized violence,
engage people in different ways such as: listening to
women’s experiences, having people talk about their
research, have discussions on particular policies
and practices, and having an intersectional analysis
included but without losing the gender focus. ” The
Task Force’s mandate will be to report back by fall
2014 with specific immediate, short-term, and longterm recommendations to the University’s president.
According to Andrew, one of their immediate goals
will be to “set up a website, having a specific group
of people working on what should be included and
then getting it launched.” Caroline Andrew hopes
that following this upcoming report, the University
will be given the opportunity to really look at the
recommendations, make changes and act on them
– because as she states “when there is a problem,
there is always an opportunity for change and
reflection”.
As a feminist, Andrew thinks that this new Task
Force is “a step in the right direction in terms of
advancement for women’s rights and equality; a way
to invigorate the sense of urgency and focus on
intersectional analysis. It is an opportunity to look
back at what the University has done and how we
can improve things and encourage a broader
discussion of these issues.”
We wish Caroline Andrew good luck in her position
and we are proud to have members doing important
work in the greater academic community to foster a
safer and better learning environment for women.
This summer, the Task Force plans to be more
What has CRIAW been up to?
New publications!!
CRIAW’s FemNorthNet project has been busy! You can read their latest reports at
http://criaw-icref.ca/femnorthnet/publications or click on the links below.
The Maritime Link Project: An Intersectional Feminist Policy Analysis
Resource Development and Extraction Framework
Developing Women Leaders in Northern Communities: A Key Resource for Northern Development
Emergency and Disaster Planning in the North - A FemNorthNet Fact Sheet
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CRIAW Newsletter vol. 34 no 1 – July 2014
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CRIAW Newsletter
Conferences
FemNorthNet/CRIAW also attended the Intersectionality Conference at Simon Fraser University in April and
launched “Diversity Through Inclusive Practive: An Evolving Toolkit for Creating Inclusive Processes, Spaces
and Events” in partnership with DAWN-RAHF Canada.
Diversity through Inclusive Practice: An Evolving Toolkit for Creating Inclusive Processes, Spaces & Events
(2014)
Working with organizers from six associations, CRIAW
facilitated the development of four interdisciplinary feminist
sessions at the Congress of the Humanities and Social
Sciences at Brock University, St. Catherine’s on May 27 and
28, 2014.
CRIAW’s Annual General Meeting will take place on September 19th, 2014. Please keep an eye
on your inbox for more information.
Please Donate and help CRIAW continue to do our great work!
Don't wait -- please donate
Do you support social justice and equality for all women?
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Do you think that the only women's organization in Canada focused exclusively on nurturing feminist research
and making it accessible for public advocacy and education needs to thrive and survive?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, please donate to CRIAW.
Donations over $20.00 are tax deductible, but equally as important you will have the satisfaction of knowing
that you have helped keep CRIAW strong.
We gratefully accept all donations.
Welcome New CRIAW-ICREF Members!
Alex Parsons
Amanda Culver
Angel Sumka
Carol Williams
Dawn Hemmingway
Emma Pitman
Erin Seatter
Jacqueline Neapole
Jennifer Jarman
Lauren Power
Lesley Washington
Lois Edge
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Louise Ardenne
Marie-Josée Dorion
Marit Morch
Mary Lou Friesen
Michele Landsberg
Mount Saint Vincent University
Rev Alice Cannon
Sarah Ryan
Sobia Shaikh
Sonja Boon
Sophie de Cordes
Susan Manning
Victoria Osten
CRIAW Newsletter vol. 34 no 1 – July 2014
CRIAW Newsletter
CRIAW Newsletter
Thank you to the generous donations from:
Ann Denis
Canadian Labour Congress
Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions
Canadian Union of Public Employees
Canadian Union of Postal Workers
Carol Dauda
Carol Reader
Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario
Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation
Patricia Webb
Public Service Alliance of Canada
Unifor
CRIAW research associate Gillian Anderson successfully defended her PhD thesis.
Congratulations!!
Stay Connected!
CRIAW would like to invite all members to please send any news that you would like to share with us and
perhaps include in the next newsletter! Stay connected by visiting our Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/criaw.icref
We want to hear from you!
CRIAW continues to be dynamic and produce important research thanks to our wonderful members. We value
your feedback and contributions to help us do our work better.
Big thank you to the Institute of Women’s Studies of
the University of Ottawa for their partnership!
CRIAW-ICREF
Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa
120 University Pvt, FSS 11045, Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5
613-562-5800 ext. 1948
info@criaw-icref.ca
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CRIAW Newsletter vol. 34 no 1 – July 2014