Advocacy

Issues & Actions

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Action Alerts

Take Action on Violence Against Women

Each year, violence and abuse drive over 100,000 women and children out of their homes and into shelters. Take action to change their lives. Send a message to your MP on changes needed to support women and children from www.rosecampaign.ca.

Take Action to Preserve Gun Control in Canada

YWCA Canada sees gun control as women’s safety issue and a public safety issue, and has a long history working to establish, strengthen and preserve Canada’s gun control legislation. Keep up to date on the issue through the Coalition for Gun Control website.

Take Action on Women in Prison

YWCA Canada is concerned about the impact of increased incarceration on women, and about massive increases in spending on prison and incarceration through the federal government’s “law and order” agenda. This is money better spent on violence against women, mental health issues, homelessness, addictions, and services that enable women and children to escape violent situations. Send a postcard to your MP and keep up to date on the issue through the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies.

Issues for Change

To improve the lives of women and girls, YWCA Canada has recently made recommendations on the following issues:

Gender Budgeting

YWCA Canada calls on the federal government to apply a transparent gender audit process on all policy and budget decisions to ensure women benefit equally in government investments: March 4, 2010 press release in response to the 2010 Federal Budget.

Homelessness

YWCA Canada calls for national action to end women’s homelessness that recognizes the link to violence against women, the impact of trauma, and the need to address mental health and addiction issues: www.rosecampaign.ca

Housing

YWCA Canada calls on the federal government to adopt a national housing strategy with emergency, second-stage and permanent housing on the principles of equality and non-discrimination, including self-determined strategies for Aboriginal, First Nation and Inuit women: Life Beyond Shelter Recommendations.

Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women

YWCA Canada supports the demand for an immediate national inquiry into missing and murdered Aboriginal women through YWCA Canada’s Rose Campaign.

Pay Equity

YWCA Canada supports the implementation of the recommendations of the 2004 report of the federal Pay Equity Task Force, Pay Equity: A New Approach to a Fundamental Right, Broad Investments: Counting Women in to the Federal Budget.

Poverty

YWCA Canada supports creation of a national poverty reduction strategy and recommends federal government investments in training and education for women, social infrastructure, affordable housing, and child care services: Broad Investments: Counting Women in to the Federal Budget, YWCA Canada Report on the Status of Women and Girls in Canada.

Violence Against Women

YWCA Canada has called for coordinated policies on violence against women at all three levels of government and across parallel jurisdictions: Life Beyond Shelter: Toward Coordinated Public Policies for Women’s Safety & Violence Prevention. The report’s policy recommendations apply to all levels of government, and include the implementation of women’s advocates in all jurisdictions: Life Beyond Shelter Recommendations.

Women with Disabilities

YWCA Canada, in partnership with the DisAbled Women’s Network of Canada, calls for a coordinated government response to ensure that shelters and services across the country are accessible for women with disabilities: For our disabled sisters, The time is now