In February 2019, West Coast LEAF re-affirmed our support for Jeremy Matson’s petition under the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) regarding sex discrimination in the way status is transmitted under the Indian Act. West Coast LEAF argued that proposed amendments to the Indian Act will not fully … Read more Letter of support for Jeremy Matson’s petition to the CEDAW Committee regarding discrimination in the Indian Act
Read our 2018 Annual Report. to learn about West Coast LEAF’s work for gender justice in the 2017/2018 fiscal year. Publications
On December 6th, 2018, the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence against Women, West Coast LEAF released our 10th annual CEDAW Report Card, grading BC on nine issues impacting women’s human rights, including child protection, a new section introduced this year. The Report Card assesses BC’s record in 2018 in relation to obligations set out … Read more 2018 CEDAW Report Card
VANCOUVER – Today, West Coast LEAF released its 10th annual Report Card on the rights of women in BC. The report card shows that although BC’s grades have improved in six areas, further progress is needed for the province to satisfy its international obligations to women’s human rights. Advancements in areas such as child care are encouraging, but … Read more Release: Report card on gender equality in BC released
VANCOUVER – West Coast LEAF has filed a response to the Province’s and the Legal Services Society’s efforts to bring our case challenging BC’s family law legal aid regime to an end. Last year, West Coast LEAF sued the BC government and the Legal Services Society (“LSS) for the harms caused by BC’s family law legal aid regime to women leaving abusive … Read more Release: Legal aid case must proceed despite the government’s attempt to stop it
I’m passionate about voting. I vote wherever and whenever I have the opportunity. What I don’t love is feeling like my vote doesn’t count or feeling forced to vote “strategically,” not for who I want to win, but against the person I definitely hope will lose. If you’re in a riding that’s considered “safe,” perhaps … Read more The Feminist Argument for Proportional Representation
VANCOUVER – Today, West Coast LEAF released a report about why women often do not report sexual assault through the criminal justice system – in women’s own voices. We Are Here: Women’s Experiences of the Barriers to Reporting Sexual Assault centres women’s experiences of the devastating impacts of sexual assault, which are all too often deepened by the legal system’s … Read more Release: New report details why women often do not report sexual assault through the criminal justice system – in their own words
Tomorrow, October 4, is the annual Sisters in Spirit Vigil. This is a day to honour and remember Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women, Girls, Two-Spirit, and gender-diverse people; those we have lost to ongoing colonial and misogynistic violence across Turtle Island (otherwise known as North America). The Native Women’s Association of Canada describes the vigils as a … Read more One Mouth and Two Ears: Setting Intentions for the Sisters in Spirit Vigil
West Coast LEAF has long been a trans-inclusive organization – to some extent. Since 2003, we have explicitly defined “women” as encompassing all those who define themselves as women, whatever their sex assignment at birth. The hard part for us in recent years has been whether and how to include people who don’t define themselves as women; … Read more The Feminist Tent
VANCOUVER – West Coast LEAF welcomes the Supreme Court of Canada’s judgments, released today, in two cases concerning admissions to a proposed law school at Trinity Western University (“TWU”), an Evangelical Christian university located in Langley, BC. The Court ruled that the mandatory Covenant at TWU creates inequitable barriers to entry to their proposed law … Read more Release: Supreme Court Says No to Discriminatory Law School Admissions
