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
In September 2016, we submitted a briefing note to the BC government calling for changes to the Employment Assistance Act and the Employment and Assistance for Persons with Disabilities Act that would support women’s financial independence, self-determination in relationships, and ability to flee abusers. We called for revisions to the current broad definitions of “spouse” and “dependent” in the … Read more Briefing note on amending social assistance legislation to support women’s financial independence
In August 2016, West Coast LEAF wrote to post-secondary institutions in British Columbia about the implementation of legislation requiring them to adopt sexual violence and misconduct policies. We’re encouraged that the BC government is taking initiative to protect the rights of survivors on campus with Bill 23, the Sexual Violence and Misconduct Policy Act (“the Act”), which will … Read more Letter to Post-Secondary Institutions Regarding Sexual Misconduct Policies
Coast Salish Territory/Vancouver, B.C. – Today a Coalition on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls responded to the Federal Government’s announcement of the national Inquiry. The Federal Government has released the names of the Commissioners and the Terms of Reference (TOR) for the Inquiry. The Coalition continues to demand justice for missing and murdered … Read more Release: Coalition calls federal plan for national inquiry too vague
VANCOUVER – Today, West Coast LEAF calls on all levels of government to commit to addressing violence against Indigenous women and girls through a robust, effective national inquiry. Following decades of advocacy by Indigenous and women’s activists, the federal government finally committed to an Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls in Canada. Earlier … Read more Release: Federal inquiry into missing, murdered Indigenous women lacks provincial commitment
In July 2016, West Coast LEAF wrote to Michelle Stilwell, Minister of Social Development and Social Innovation, to call for an end to the clawback of maternity leave and parental leave EI benefits from assistance payments for parents who are designated as Persons with Disabilities (PWD). Deducting maternity leave and parental leave benefits from disability assistance has … Read more Letter opposing the clawback of maternity and parental leave benefits from disability assistance
Vancouver – On July 12, 2016 West Coast LEAF will release a new report entitled High Stakes: The impacts of child care on the human rights of women and children. The report concludes that the rights of women and children are being violated in complex and wide-ranging ways as a result of the shortage of affordable, … Read more Release: New report finds that inadequate child care violates the rights of BC women and children
Our July 2016 law reform report High Stakes: The impacts of child care on the human rights of women and children is the culmination of our Right to Child Care project. The report calls on BC to take immediate steps to adopt and implement the $10aDay Plan to make child care significantly more affordable for … Read more High Stakes: The impacts of child care on the human rights of women and children
VANCOUVER – Today, a national coalition of women’s organizations including West Coast LEAF was granted intervener status in the inquiry into the conduct of Justice Robin Camp while he presided over a sexual assault trial in Alberta in 2014. Justice Camp asked the complainant, an Indigenous woman who was 19 years old and homeless at … Read more Release: Coalition intervenes in inquiry into judge’s conduct during sexual assault trial
