Crisis & Intake:
1-855-687-1868

CEDAW Report Card 2013

Oct 21, 2013 | Battered Women's Support Services, Reports

CEDAW enshrines important protections for women in international human rights law. The UN CEDAW Committee is an international body of independent experts who are charged with monitoring state parties’ compliance and implementation of the Convention. Every four years, each country that has signed on to the Convention must report to the CEDAW Committee about how well it is measuring up to the CEDAW standards of women’s equality. Non-governmental organizations may also submit what are called “shadow reports”, expressing their views on that country’s CEDAW compliance.

Canada ratified CEDAW on December 10, 1981. In October and November of 2008, the CEDAW Committee considered the sixth and seventh reports from Canada, along with reports from local NGOs, and issued its observations on Canada’s compliance and implementation of the Convention. The BC CEDAW Group, a coalition of women’s organizations in BC including West Coast LEAF, produced a shadow report about the situation for women in BC.

The Committee was very concerned about a number of issues concerning women’s rights in Canada, and singled out some issues of significance in BC especially. The Committee took the unusual step of requiring Canada to report back to the Committee in a year on its progress on two issues of particular concern:

(1) establishing and monitoring minimum standards for the provision of funding to social assistance programs, and carrying out an impact assessment of social programs related to women’s rights; and

(2) examining the failure to investigate the cases of missing and murdered Aboriginal women, and to address those failures.

The Government of Canada submitted its response to these questions in February 2010, and the BC CEDAW Group submitted a shadow report entitled “Nothing to Report.” The UN Committee has not yet responded to these reports. Canada is due to make its next submission to the CEDAW Committee in December, 2014.

This Report Card measures how well BC is measuring up to some of the CEDAW obligations that fall within provincial jurisdiction, including these two areas of urgent concern to the Committee. For more information on our methodology and grading scheme used, please turn to the back cover of the Report Card.

So… How is BC measuring up to international legal standards of women’s equality?

West Coast LEAF's CEDAW report card

The goal of West Coast LEAF’s CEDAW Report Card project is to raise public awareness about the shortcomings and successes of BC in meeting its international obligations on women’s rights, and to advocate for adequate responses to the CEDAW Committee’s concerns.
West Coast LEAF distributed a draft of the report card to a number of community organizations and representatives. We sought their written input and feedback, and engaged in telephone and in-person conversations as well. The feedback we received was extremely valuable in formulating the final version of this report card.

Imagining Courts that Work for Women Survivors of Violence

Nov 26, 2012 | Battered Women's Support Services, Reports

Written by Darcie Bennett
on November 26, 2012

British Columbia’s justice system is at as critical juncture on the path to developing an effective system response to violence against women. With the exception of a small pilot program in Duncan, British Columbia is one of the few jurisdictions in Canada without specialized courts mandated to hear cases involving violence against women in relationships. Vulnerable women in BC have been disproportionately impacted by cuts to legal aid, and BC has been without a Minister for Women’s Equality since that position was eliminated ten years ago. However, in 2012 the Provincial Government took some actions that offer important entry points into a renewed discussion about meaningful access to justice for women who have experienced violence. The Premier created a new Provincial Domestic Violence office and the Minister of Justice and Attorney General initiated a large-scale review of the justice system. While the focus of these moves has not been adding resources to our beleaguered legal system or addressing poverty among women and children, there is a now a lot of talk about reforming BC’s justice system to better handle the large number of cases involving violence against women in relationships.

This report began in 2009 with an informal conversation among anti-violence workers about whether specialized courts could better meet the needs of the women we work with. At that time, it was neither envisioned as submission to the Provincial Domestic Violence Officer nor as a response to the Justice Reform Initiative, however it now offers a timely critique of the current justice system response to violence against women.  It also offers an extensive look at programs from other jurisdictions and raises key questions that must be considered if BC is to move toward specialized courts for cases involving violence against women. Finally, this report offers recommendations for achievable reforms and effective program development, grounded in the perspectives of women who have been though the justice system as survivors of violence and the agencies that work with women every day.

Click here to download the full report.

BLUEPRINT FOR AN INQUIRY

Nov 20, 2012 | Indigenous Women, Missing Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, Reports

Learning from the Failures of the Missing Women Commission of Inquiry

From the perspective of the hundreds of marginalized women who protested the Missing Women Commission of Inquiry (“the Inquiry”) every morning for the first month of hearings, the Inquiry was an absolute failure. This perspective is shared by the B.C. Civil Liberties  Association, Pivot Legal Society and West Coast LEAF, the human and democratic rights organizations that produced this report.

The Inquiry was set up to examine the problems arising from investigations of the disappearance and murder of dozens of women in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside (“DTES”), and particularly the investigation of serial murderer Robert William Pickton. Out of the failures of the Inquiry, which are well documented and understood in the affected communities, the hope of the authors is that a positive legacy can still be uncovered.

If nothing else, this Inquiry demonstrates what should not be done in conducting a public inquiry involving marginalized communities. It therefore functions as a useful lesson for similar inquiries in the future, no matter where they take place. This report does not focus on the nuances of B.C. provincial law, but instead on broad trends and procedural approaches that future commissioners of inquiry and their staff may usefully adapt to the particularities of their own jurisdictions.

If there were only one recommendation to come from this report, it would be that commissions of inquiry that intend to work with marginalized populations as witnesses, or inquiries that are called in response to the concerns of marginalized communities, must consult thoroughly at every stage with those communities and the organizations that work with those communities.

Consultation and Collaboration: Voices of the community excluded

The Inquiry excluded the voices of individuals and communities that it should have worked the hardest to include: Aboriginal women, sex workers, women who use drugs, and women living in poverty who were most affected by the Pickton murders and the resulting investigations, and who remain at extremely high risk for violence.

The Commission repeated the very mistakes that led to serial murderer Robert Pickton being able to operate with impunity in the first place – the voices of marginalized women were shoved aside while the “professional” opinions of police and government officials took centre stage. The focus of the Inquiry was directed away from systemic issues, targeting instead individual participants in the system who may not have fulfilled their job requirements as expected.

Please see the report on the Missing Women Commission of Inquiry.

New report critical of Missing Women Inquiry issued weeks before Inquiry’s deadline

Nov 18, 2012 | Battered Women's Support Services, Media Advisory, Missing Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, Reports

New report critical of Missing Women Inquiry issued weeks before Inquiry’s deadline

Media Advisory, November 18, 2012

Vancouver- A new report on the Missing Women Commission of Inquiry (MWCI) will released on Monday morning by three leading BC human rights organizations just weeks before the Inquiry’s Commissioner delivers his final report to the Attorney General of BC at the end of this month.

What:
Release of report on the Missing Women Commission of Inquiry by B.C.
Civil Liberties Association, Pivot Legal Society and West Coast LEAF

Where:
Carnegie Centre Theatre, 401 Main Street, Vancouver (Main and
Hastings)

When:
Monday November 19, 10:00 a.m.

Who:
Kasari Govender, Executive Director, West Coast LEAF
Katrina Pacey, Litigation Director, Pivot Legal Society
Lindsay Lyster, President, BCCLA

For more information, please contact:
Katrina Pacey, Litigation Director, Pivot Legal Society – (604) 729-7849
Kasari Govender, Executive Director, West Coast LEAF – (604) 339-0202
Lindsay Lyster, President, BCCLA – (604) 689-4457

Please see the new report on the Missing Women Commission of Inquiry.

British Columbia Scores a "C-" for Women: West Coast LEAF CEDAW Report Card

Oct 19, 2011 | Battered Women's Support Services, Reports

 

British Columbia Scores a "C-" for Women: West Coast LEAF CEDAW Report Card

 

 

image

For the second year in a row, British Columbia has scored an overall C- in women’s rights. The province is failing to meet its potential due to continued detrimental practices particularly affecting low income and marginalized women.  The grade was awarded in the West Coast Legal Education and Action Fund’s third annual CEDAW Report Card, released yesterday. 

clip_image001

West Coast LEAF CEDAW Report Card is released every year on the anniversary of the 1929 Persons Day victory that established many women as “persons” under the law and eligible for appointment to the Senate.  The purpose of this report card is to grade the Government of British Columbia on its compliance with the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).  Canada ratified the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 1981. 

CEDAW enshrines important protections for women in international human rights law. The UN CEDAW Committee is an international body of independent experts who are charged with monitoring state parties’ compliance and implementation of the Convention. Every four years, each country that has signed on to the Convention must report to the CEDAW Committee about how well it is measuring up to the CEDAW standards of women’s equality. Non-governmental organizations may also submit what are called “shadow reports”, expressing their views on that country’s CEDAW compliance.

Canada ratified CEDAW on December 10, 1981. In October and November of 2008, the CEDAW Committee considered the sixth and seventh reports from Canada, along with reports from local NGOs, and issued its observations on Canada’s compliance and implementation of the Convention.  The BC CEDAW Group, a coalition of women’s organizations in BC including West Coast LEAF, produced a shadow report about the situation for women in BC. The Committee was very concerned about a number of issues concerning women’s rights in Canada, and singled out some issues of significance in BC especially. The Committee took the unusual step of requiring Canada to report back to the Committee in a year on its progress on two issues of
particular concern:

(1) establishing and monitoring minimum standards for the provision of funding to social assistance programs, and carrying out an impact assessment of social programs related to women’s rights; and
(2) examining the failure to investigate the cases of missing and murdered Aboriginal women, and to address those failures.

The Government of Canada submitted its response to these questions in February 2010, and the BC CEDAW Group submitted a shadow report entitled “Nothing to Report.” This Report Card measures how well BC is measuring up to some of the CEDAW obligations that fall within provincial jurisdiction, including these two areas of urgent concern to the Committee.

How BC is Measuring Up In Women’s Rights

Commission on the Status of Women: "Girls are the most crucial constituents for change"

Mar 20, 2011 | Reports

In the Fifty-fifth Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women, it was agreed that although girls suffer severe gender discrimination and abuse, they remain “Crucial Constituents for Change”

Read more about this session’s conclusions, including the assertion that “more be done by States and communities to ensure stronger penalties for perpetrators and legal recourse for victims,” here.