Shifting the Child Protection System
For decades, Indigenous advocates across Canada have been calling for changes to the child protection system…
For decades, Indigenous advocates across Canada have been calling for changes to the child protection system…
This morning, West Coast LEAF is at the BC Supreme Court to defend our case against the Province of BC (“The Province”) and the Legal Services Society (“LSS”) for their failure to provide adequate family law legal aid for women fleeing violent relationships. West Coast LEAF brought the case on behalf of the Centre for Family Equity (CFE), … Read more Release: Advocacy group: Government is wrong to stand in the way of legal aid challenge
“As a parent of a young child, I find that there are two kinds of opportunities for learning about social justice with kids. The first are the learning moments when an opportunity arises to talk to my kid about the impacts of discrimination and injustice—for example, talking about why we wear orange shirts on Orange Shirt … Read more Kids’ books for social justice: learning and unlearning
VICTORIA – Today, the provincial government released Budget 2019. The budget takes important steps towards addressing poverty in the province. The budget also leaves disappointing gaps in services that will disproportionately impact women and other people impacted by gender-based discrimination. “This budget indicates political will to address poverty and implements some important measures to address … Read more Release: Budget 2019 brings welcome improvements in benefits but falls short on legal aid
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
In October 2018, West Coast LEAF urged BC’s Finance Committee to make gender equality a budget priority for 2019. In particular, we highlighted the gendered dynamics of poverty and called for BC to invest in measures to promote economic security. Read our submissions. Submissions
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