Canada is a signatory to a number of international declarations and conventions that commit our governments to advancing the equality rights of women in BC. One such international treaty is the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). CEDAW provides a comprehensive code of what women’s equality means in marriage, … Read more 2016 CEDAW Shadow Report
The project aims to identify strategies to reduce barriers in the justice system for sexual assault survivors through dialogue among key…
In November 2016, we wrote to Burnaby’s City Councilors and Mayor Derek Corrigan to urge them to take into account the possible consequences of displacement from rental housing for vulnerable residents, particularly women and their children, as they consider the Metrotown Development Plan. We explained why women and children’s safety and economic security are at … Read more Letter to Burnaby about the Metrotown Development Plan and women’s housing security
VANCOUVER – Today, West Coast LEAF and the Coalition of Child Care Advocates of BC (CCCABC) are at the United Nations in Geneva to participate in a review of Canada’s federal and provincial progress under the international bill of women’s rights. West Coast LEAF and CCABC are meeting with the UN Committee on the Elimination … Read more Release: Canadian child care system under the international microscope
In October 2016, West Coast LEAF partnered with the Coalition of Child Care Advocates of BC on a submission to the United Nations about the essential role of child care for fulfilling Canada’s obligations under CEDAW (the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women). Our Director of Law Reform traveled to Geneva, Switzerland … Read more Joint submission to the UN on child care and CEDAW
West Coast LEAF has issued a press release jointly with the BC Civil Liberties Association, Pivot Legal Society, BC Public Interest Advocacy Centre, and Community Legal Assistance Society calling on the BC government to raise social assistance rates and address the resulting epidemic of food insecurity and the dire consequences for human health and safety. The press release coincides with … Read more Release: Human rights groups call for increased welfare rates, protection of right to food
For the 8th year in a row, West Coast LEAF has issued our CEDAW Report Card which grades BC’s progress in nine key areas in women’s rights, including access to justice, economic security, affordable housing and child care, and women’s health and safety. BC’s actions and inactions are assessed against the obligations set out in the UN Convention … Read more 2016 CEDAW Report Card
VANCOUVER – Today, West Coast LEAF released its eighth annual report card on women’s rights in BC. While there have been minor improvements in some of the nine key areas this year, the overwhelmingly low grades reveal that BC has once again failed to deliver on its responsibilities towards women. In particular, the Province has … Read more Release: BC gets low marks on report card assessing women’s equality
In September 2016, West Coast LEAF wrote to the BC Ministry of Justice in response to two consultation papers about property division and guardianship under BC’s Family Law Act. We spoke out against proposed amendments to the Act that would give guardianship to all biological parents without requiring significant involvement in caring for a child. This change would lead … Read more Submission to the BC Ministry of Justice Regarding the Family Law Act
In September 2016, West Coast LEAF submitted a letter to Status of Women Canada in response to a call for feedback on the development of a federal strategy on gender-based violence. To respond to the alarming rate of serious violence against women in relationships, including violence leading to death (intimate partner homicide), West Coast LEAF … Read more Submission to Status of Women Canada on the Federal Strategy on Gender-Based Violence