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  • People

    grandmothers to grandmothers

    by Frances Rooney | Dec 1, 2008

    On March 7, 2006, the Stephen Lewis Foundation launched its Grandmothers Campaign to respond to Africa’s AIDS epidemic. Today, there are 220 Grandmother groups with more than 8,000 members in Canada. They work to support “grandmothers from Africa, who have humbled us with their super-human responses to unbearable sorrow and hardship” – women who nurse their dying adult children, and raise grandchildren with little help. “A continent in tatters was being stitched back together by grandmothers.” read more

  • News

    remaining RebELLES

    by Patricia Enborg | Nov 24, 2008

    The idea was to attract feminists with different political views, identities, cultures and languages, then to discuss ways to reinforce the young feminists’ movement. “All of the things that we are still fighting for in terms of being equal and in terms of having fair services or fair anything, we need a movement and a generation to carry it on,” said Jessica Yee. At the end of Toujours RebELLES, participants created a document meant to take their actions and concerns into the future. read more

  • Reviews

    Toujours RebELLES from the inside

    by Sarah Ghabrial | Nov 19, 2008

    Writer, student and Miss G___ activist Sarah Ghabrial reports from the floor of October’s Waves of Resistance conference in Quebec. According to the manifesto created during the event, “Our struggle is not over. We will be post-feminists when we have post-patriarchy.” According to Elsa Beaulieu, one of the conference organizers, “Our struggles and our solidarity are local, national, and global.” read more

  • Reviews

    Regent Park Film Festival, community cinema from distant lands

    by Frances Rooney | Nov 5, 2008

    For decades, Toronto’s Regent Park has been considered one of the toughest neighborhoods in Canada. In 2003,a student teacher who had recently arrived from India lived just up the street from The Park. She had a pretty clear idea of the realities of her students’ lives. With the support of others, she founded the Regent Park Film Festival. The festival brings the world to Regent Park and puts The Park in the world. This year, it runs from today to Saturday November 8, 2008. read more

  • People

    Rita MacNeil, “I’m no rabble-rouser.”

    by Frances Rooney | Oct 20, 2008

    For decades, many Canadians thought of Rita MacNeil as their own gentle, shy, legendary singer songwriter. Then, last August, recently declassified documents from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police revealed that, in the early 1970s, she was part of a group that the RCMP infiltrated and spied on. The group? Women. Whooo, scary!  read more

  • Reviews

    exploitation in Canada: human trafficking, exotic dance and temporary visas

    by Jenna Owsianik | Oct 8, 2008

    The majority of temporary workers are labourers and nannies. Visas for truck drivers, factory workers, cleaners and food services have risen significantly during the past two years. Yet, over the last few years, the plight of exotic dancers has been a focus in the House of Commons. According to Janet Dench, executive director of Canadian Council for Refugees, “Parliamentary time would be better used to address the broader problem of the exploitation of non-citizens in Canada.” read more

  • News

    the Pan-Canadian Young Feminist Gathering: catch a Wave of Resistance, October 11–13, 2008

    by Sarah Ghabrial | Oct 1, 2008

    On the weekend before Canada’s federal election, young feminist women will get together in Montreal. Participants are expected to come from every province and territory, and represent a wide diversity of experiences and backgrounds. Waves of Resistance is “a call to young women from all over Canada to meet each other and see that they are not alone, and that feminism is not only pertinent but vital to our generation.” Registration is allowed until the first day of the conference. read more

  • People

    part one of choice in Canada: access to abortions

    by Sarah Ghabrial | Sep 16, 2008

    Beyond recent bills, beyond Henry Morgentaler – beyond all the rhetoric for and against choice – many women still face huge barriers when it comes to getting safe abortion procedures in this country. “There is an assumption that, as long as we’ve got the legislation, the work is done.” It is the wrong assumption to make. read more

  • Reviews

    stacked: Emergency Librarian, celebrating the history of a radical feminist Canadian periodical

    by Frances Rooney | Sep 1, 2008

    In 1973, Sherrill Cheda, Phyllis Yaffe and Barbara Clubb thought it was odd that most librarians were women, but most people who ran libraries were men. They decided to publish something that would take women seriously. In Emergency Librarian, lesbians, women with disabilities, and women of colour wrote articles and had their books reviewed. And library workers wrote about how to break the glass ceiling. Snap! read more

  • News

    report: homeless women in Canada

    by Sierra Bacquie | Aug 22, 2008

    Two recent reports shed new and disturbing light on the unique circumstances and particular hardships faced by homeless women in Canada. Rarely is the public given the insight into the specifics of homeless women’s daily lives that these documents provide. read more

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