Dates & Data 

CFUW Ontario Council Newsletter

 

  

 

 

  

 

Dear CFUW Ontario Council Members
Welcome to the  D&D issue containing the programs for the January 24th, 2015 Standing Committees meetings and Ontario Council updates.
We invite your comments. [email protected]
January 24, 2015 
Standing Committees

 

Joint Morning Session

Topic:  Getting There:

Integrated Public Transportation for Ontario

Speaker: Guest Panelists

A strong network of public transportation throughout Ontario is essential to healthy and safe communities by providing both urban and rural citizens with access to services, employment and leisure activities. Whether it is through Ontario wide networks, such as train service, or regional networks requiring multiple means of transportation, integration and accessibility are key.

This morning's session is intended to build on CFUW Stratford's campaign You Can't Get There from Here www.gettingthere.ca.

Situated in the South Western Ontario Region where there are many smaller cities and multiple employment, cultural, education and health service hubs, the CFUW Stratford team has been advocating at the regional level.

Speakers from organizations with different mandates have been invited to form a panel for the morning session. It is hoped that through their brief presentations and responses to questions, we will learn more about issues, challenges and strategies offered by the different players.

Ministry of Transportation (Speaker TBA)

The session would not be complete without a representative from the Ministry of Transportation. With a majority government, and a new Minister, Steven Del Duca, we hope to learn more about the government's 'big picture' policy and plans for public transportation in Ontario.

Peter Miasek, President, Transport Action Ontario (TAO)

Transport Action Ontario http://transport-action-ontario.com is a non government organization advocating for sustainable public and freight transportation. TAO advocates for sustainable public and rail transportation, including many improvements such as: improved intercity passenger rail service, expansion and improvement of urban transit in cities and towns, and effective regional transportation systems.

Chris Burke, Director of Policy and Planning, Metrolinx.

Metrolinx www.metrolinx.com, an agency of the Government of Ontario, is the regional transportation authority for the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA). It is best known for The Big Move, a huge ongoing project aiming to ensure at least 80 % of the population will be within 2 kilometers of rapid transit.

The panel guests will offer brief presentations followed by an opportunity for questions, moderated by Sheila Clarke, CFUW Stratford.

Sheila Lacroix

Chair, Legislation 
 


January 24, 2015
Afternoon Sessions 
Legislation Committee

Topic:  Getting There:

Integrated Public Transportation for Ontario

Speaker: Guest Panelists 

The afternoon session will be facilitated by Sheila Clarke and Anne Carbert, CFUW Stratford, You Can't Get There From Here Campaign. This will be a debriefing of the morning meeting to capture what we have learned. Sheila and Anne will update us on their activities and successes, and provide direction to our members on what we might be able to do within our own regions.

Sheila Lacroix

Chair, Legislation 
 

Status of Women &
Human Rights Committee 

Topic: Countering Exploitive Images of Children

Speaker: Alyssa Blais 

What is the impact of the media on young girls and young women? This conversation will discuss how popular culture and technology is inundating our children with many mixed messages. Products are being marketed aggressively to young girls to emulate, and teaching young boys, to see girls as objects of desire. I will also share with you Cornwall's resolution:  HYPERSEXUALIZATION: COUNTERING EXPLOITIVE CHILD IMAGES, actions we have taken and what others can do. This is a disturbing trend that is impacting girls in many negative ways and we need to take action to reverse this negative trend.

As Executive Director of Cornwall's largest hunger relief organization, The Agap� Centre, Alyssa has devoted herself to reducing the impact poverty has on the Cornwall community. Prior to accepting her position at The Agap� Centre, Alyssa applied her business sense as a Business Consultant at Cornwall Economic Development. Not one to shy away from becoming involved in issues she is passionate about, Alyssa remains active in the volunteer community. She devotes many hours to supporting some of her core values, such as health, equality, culture, and the arts. She is a member of the Cornwall Canadian Federation of University Women (CFUW), Director of Aultsville Theatre, Board Member of The Seaway Valley Community Health Centre and a past member of the Culture Plan Committee.

In her free time, Alyssa scuba dives in the St. Lawrence River, reads voraciously and loves learning new fundraising technologies. Newly married, she lives in Cornwall with her two step children and husband. Her daughter Kassandra, a student at the University of Guelph, is currently in Ottawa working her dream job at a vet clinic as part of her journey to becoming a veterinarian.

Linda Gill

Chair, Status of Women and Human Rights

Education Committee   

Topic:  Finding Her Voice: How Single Gender Education Empowers Girls

Speaker:  Cheryl Boughton

This talk will focus on how all-girls schools not only give girls an academic advantage, but also help them to become strong, confident and resilient women ready to make a difference in their workplaces and their communities. 

Specifically we will focus on: 

  • How do girls and boys learn differently?
  • What is a 'girl-centric' learning environment?
  • How do you stretch girls' minds and 'balance brains'?
  • How do girls' schools get girls in 'the zone' and keep them there?
  • Relationships matter: why do connected girls learn better?
  • Why does it matter? 

Cheryl Boughton is the Head of Elmwood School, Ottawa's premier school for girls from Junior Kindergarten to Grade 12. Elmwood was founded in 1915 and its mission is to 'inspire each girl to reach her full potential.

Cheryl has a rich and diverse background in independent education having held progressively senior roles managing single-gender independent schools in the United Kingdom. She is passionate about education, especially the education of girls believing, "when you create an environment where girls feel at home, when they can truly be themselves, they unlock their intelligence, their passion and their greatness."

Prior to joining Elmwood in 2008, Cheryl served as Deputy Head at Bedford Preparatory School in Bedfordshire, United Kingdom, an independent boarding and day school for 1,100 boys. Before Bedford School, Cheryl spent eight years working in all-girls' schools in the United Kingdom. Canadian by birth, she began her career teaching English and History in the Ontario public school system near Hamilton, Ontario. Cheryl has a Bachelor of Arts in English and a Bachelor of Education degree from Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario where she attended the Concurrent Education program. She also holds a Certificate in Boarding School Management from the University of Surrey, United Kingdom. 

Kathy Wosnick
Chair, Education
President's Message
January 2015 
  

"Hope 
Smiles from the threshold of the year to come,
Whispering "it will be happier..."
- Alfred Tennyson 

 

 

The new year stands before us, like a chapter in a book, waiting to be written.  We know there will be highlights and challenges, as that is life.  The calendars will soon be full (if not already), plans for reunions will be energized, holidays will be booked to near and far.  The day to day family stories start to unfold.  So the first few pages are now being filled. "The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is "New Year's Day."  Edith Lovejoy Pierce

Among those pages you may consider a New Year's Resolution.  Always lots of comments on doing this each year.  But whether you write one or not, setting a goal can be beneficial.  I see goals as being set at any time you have a thought or need in mind not just at the beginning of January.  My thought is to keep these attainable and worthy of my time and attention. (Some do take much longer than hoped, but the achievement is sweeter for it.)

As educated women we have or have had careers where goal setting was integral for that which we worked. As educated women in the Canadian Federation of University Women, we continue with goal setting within our clubs, our provincial councils and national organization.  Many clubs have begun strategic planning or revising the one from a previous year.  This maybe a good time to reflect on what has been accomplished and what priority has your attention next.  You may consider reviewing "What Makes a Healthy Club" survey to assist you in this endeavour. Or contact your Regional Director for the Strategic Planning Guide and Templates.

CFUW Ontario Council supports and encourages clubs and members in their efforts to promote the values and goals that we believe to be of importance: Human Rights, Empowerment, Respect and Caring, Trust and Cooperation, Equality, Integrity.  May the coming year shine a brighter light on each of these.

As with anything we do, many hands makes lighter work. Let us be there for one another, with our neighbour, in our community and in our CFUW family.

May the new year 2015, be a fresh start, a year of delights and discovery, a year of success and happiness.

Brenda Robertson

Ontario Council Advocacy 
Each of the following can be read on the OC Website.
  • OC Response sent on the Ontario government Poverty Reduction Strategy, Raising our Potential
  • Letter to Premier Wynne requesting an Ontario-wide Action Plan on combating Human Trafficking and asking for a meeting
  • Brief sent  on the 5 year review of the Child and Family Service Act
  • Response sent on consultations on the Ontario curriculum for Health and Physical Education 
Ontario West Has a New 
Regional Director 

It is my pleasure to introduce to you the new Regional Director for Ontario West, Cheryl Ambrose.

Cheryl has previously been Chair of the Ontario Council Status of Women and Human Rights, serving in this capacity in the past Biennium, and as co-Chair until November 2014, when she was officially appointed to her new position.  You may have met Cheryl at the 2014 AGM K-W in her role as Chair of the CFUW Charitable Trust Boutique.  Cheryl brings her enthusiasm, her engagement with people and commitment to CFUW.  

CFUW Ontario Council is very pleased to have Cheryl on the Ontario Council Board in the capacity of Regional Director Ontario West. 
Articles by Margaret Binek
CFUW Kitchener-Waterloo
 

How the Equality Effect and 160 Girls are making Human Rights "Real" in Africa  

In 2010 Kenya ratified a progressive constitution and laws with serious penalties for rape. But that changed nothing. Women and girls were still being raped, at the rate of one every 30 minutes, by their fathers, grandfathers, uncles, neighbours, teachers,

clergymen - with total impunity. Laying complaints was useless - the police ignored, humiliated or raped the girls.

As a doctoral student at Osgoode Hall, Fiona Sampson, together with colleagues from Africa, discussed how best to counteract this scourge. Fiona knew that the hard-won 1999 court victory by Jane Doe against the Toronto Police, for failing to protect her

from rape, should carry weight in the courts of other Commonwealth countries. These discussions gave birth to Equality Effect (EE). 

Fiona tramped through the Kenyan bush to interview young rape victims in their homes. Their horrifying accounts strengthened her resolve. After two years of research and consultations with African partners, a class action was filed on October 11, 2012. On May 27, 2013, the High Court at Meru, Kenya, determined that police inaction violated the girls' equality rights and ordered the police in Meru to investigate their complaints or

face sanctions. Since then, rapists of the "160 Girls" in Meru are being convicted. 

To ensure police compliance throughout Kenya and to change entrenched views on rape , EE and its Kenyan partners put together the 2-year pilot "160 Girls" Kenya

National Implementation Project. It involves training approximately 12,000 police and 8000 community members and will be extended to Malawi and Ghana.

To this end they have obtained pro bono services from:

* Vancouver Police, to train Kenyan counterparts. 

* BBDO Advertising (Toronto), to develop a media campaign (billboards,posters, radio, marathons), as well as a phone app for police with a checklist and paperless capacity to send evidence to the prosecutor.

* Rotman School of Management (Toronto), to develop measurement criteria. 

* A professor at Duke University, to provide behavioural economics expertise.

* Local NGO rape shelters, to monitor and to document police treatment. 

* The Kenyan National Commission on Human Rights, to help implement police training and public education.

The Kenyan court decision has spurred advocacy groups worldwide to ask EE for help. Native women in B.C. are considering their options too. 

Fiona Sampson indicates that tackling the global rape problem "is epic but doable." However, funders are reluctant to engage in radical litigation and right now EE doesn't have the staff to focus on more than the three initial countries. Thus far, her team has carried out over $1 m. of pro bono work.

The Canadian and Kenyan lawyers involved in this project gave an impressive presentation in Toronto on October 14. 

To learn more, visit www.theequalityeffect.org a

registered charity, worthy of CFUW support. 

Google Fiona Sampson, a champion

for the disabled and for native women as well.

Follow up to the Kenyan court case and the 160 girls making Human Rights "Real" in Africa 

Meru is an eastern province of Kenya, mainly agricultural and poor. 
The girls insisted on attending at the filing of the claim in court, even though this act would disclose to the community that they had been raped. Not something raped females would normally advertise as their raped status is a cause of shame for them, eliminates the chances of a good match for marriage and proper dowry for the parents.  
After arriving in buses, over a 100 girls marched down the street towards the court house waving placards and singing freedom songs.
 
When the police guards at the court house  saw them they were startled and then shut the gates so the girls couldn't enter the court house. The girls' reaction was to start laughing at the police and making remarks that the roles were now reversed, since the police was afraid of them. Following some phone calls the gate was opened

and the girls entered the court house.
Club Advocacy 
CFUW Southport Receives Excellent Media Coverage 

We received excellent coverage from our local newspaper, the Shoreline Beacon, when one of our Executive, Pat Sanagan, went to the Town Council, to advertise our Dec. 6th Vigil and highlight the need for more attention to the issue of Violence Against Women. 

Here is the Link:   

http://www.shorelinebeacon.com/2014/11/12/speaking-for-voiceless-victims-of-womens-violence 

To the Editor and Staff of Shoreline Beacon

From CFUW Southport

In the Tuesday November 18 edition of the Shoreline Beacon, support for women's issues was clearly represented - from the reporting of CFUW Southport's presentation to Town Council concerning the December 6 Vigil against Violence, to Frances Learment's editorial "Giving Victims a Voice" to the op-ed piece by staffer Christine Bennet, "Really, Time Magazine, you want to ban the word 'feminist'? 

We were pleased to see your focus on the ongoing concerns about harassment, and sexual assault which still confront women, as well as on re-inforcing the need to support these women so they are able to tell their stories without fear of re-victimization. 

Bennett's keen reflection on Time magazine's attempt to denigrate the terminology which supports gender equality  - feminism - is a welcome addition to the current discussion about systemic misogyny and ways we must fight this.

We applaud your stance - and we really hope you receive other accolades for "saying it like it is".

Sincerely,

Pat McCutcheon - Pres. CFUW Southport

Pat Sanagan - Secretary CFUW Southport


 
CFUW Guelph Hosts Community Forum -

"Child Care - We Need to Get This Right!"

If you are interested in learning how to make a difference and influence child care policy in our communities, join CFUW Guelph members as they host a Community Forum on child care: 

Thursday, February 19, 2015, 7pm-9pm

YMCA-YWCA Guelph

130 Woodland Glen Drive, Guelph 

Guest Panelists include:

Lorna Reid, Director, Childcare and Learning Centre

University of Guelph

Zeenat Janmohed, School of Early Childhood Education

George Brown College

Martha Friendly, Executive Director, Childcare Resource and Research Unit, Toronto

Tickets are Free but Limited

For further Information contact

[email protected]

Ontario Council AGM and Conference
Ottawa, May 29-30, 2015 
 Hello All Ontario Clubs!

CFUW-Ottawa is hosting the 2015 Ontario Council AGM and Conference this year. It will be held at the beautiful Hilton Garden Inn near the Ottawa airport. The advantage of this hotel is that it can be accessed from the 416 without having to go near the Queensway or downtown Ottawa. No matter what festivals and events are taking place that weekend, you can circumvent them all! 

This year's conference theme is 

"Defying the OddsOne Step at a Time" . 
We have a wonderful speakers' list comprised of top name speakers who have achieved excellence by defying the odds themselves, or who are providing more advantaged conditions so that others can succeed, against all odds.

Our keynote speaker, Sue Holloway, is an Olympian (two medals) and a motivational coach. She is the first woman in the world to have competed in both winter and summer Olympics. She is modest, funny,  energetic and she works very hard to achieve her goals.

In addition we have three workshop presenters from which you will choose two. This is going to be a difficult choice. We encourage you to choose and register early in order to make sure that you get your choices. 

Here are the speakers:

Denise Chong - an internationally published author and two-time finalist for the Governor General's literary award is best known for her book, The Concubine's Children.

Tina Fedeski - Tina learned about a music program for disadvantaged children in Venezuela. Fascinated, she went to Venezuela to take a look and returned to Ottawa convinced that it would work here too. That was in 2007and the program OrKidstra was born. 

Sadiqa Basiri, an international student from Afghanistan who is currently a graduate student at the University of Ottawa, is the final workshop presenter. Ms Basiri is the co-founder and executive director of a non-profit agency in Afghanistan which delivers education to women.

What else is there to do?

Have you ever visited Ottawa during the tulip festival? If not, it must be on your bucket list. This is your opportunity to see Ottawa's thousands of tulips, enjoy the cruises along the Rideau Canal and the Ottawa River, take a walk around Parliament Hill (bring your camera) and the Byward Market (have a latte on one of the many outdoor patios.) The sky is the limit! Since the conference is over around 4 p.m. on Saturday you could see the city on Saturday evening and Sunday morning and be home later Sunday. 

The Hilton Garden Inn is offering a conference room rate of $139 per room (two queen beds). This is quite reasonable, especially given the size of the rooms. This rate will end on April 29, exactly one month before the conference begins. After April 29, attendees will pay the regular rate which fluctuates between $149 and $199 per room. So get your room mate and reserve a room in April. To see pictures of the hotel, go to www.ottawaairport.hgi.com

Heads up - When reserving the room (1-866-235-1060) use the code CFUW to ensure you get the conference rate.

The Friday evening reception will be a "meet and greet" with background music and a few speakers welcoming us to the conference and to the hotel. The greetings from the City of Ottawa will come from Mayor Jim Watson.  And as for the background music by two talented musicians - a violinist and a pianist - we are keeping their identity a secret. But you will recognize one of them! 

If your club would like to reserve a table for displays/sales, please contact OC President Brenda Robertson to identify your interest and any questions you may have

We are asking members to try to register no later than May 15. In fact we have decided to put the names of all those who have registered by May 15 into a draw for some prizes. So, in this case, the early bird gets a chance at some prizes, not the worm!

You are all welcome to come and, after a long winter, it is always fun to greet each other again and form friendships with those from clubs across this province. 

Registration forms will be on the Ontario Council website www.ontcouncil.ca  and on the CFUW-Ottawa website www.cfuw-ottawa.org February 2015.

Nancy DeVillers, Co-Chair, [email protected]

Nancy Vrooman, Registrar, [email protected]

Circle your calendars. See you on May 29 and 30, 2015

2015 AGM Conference and Convention
Information 

CFUW ONTARIO COUNCIL

AGM and Conference

May 29 & 30, 2015

Hilton Garden Inn - Airport

OTTAWA

CANADIAN FEDERATION OF UNIVERSITY WOMEN

AGM and CONVENTION

June 18 - 21, 2015

Hotel Chateau Laurier

QUEBEC CITY 

For More Information Visit

www.cfuw.org 

Ontario Council 
Club Anniversaries 2015
Congratulations!
CFUW Ottawa                    1910         105
CFUW London                    1920         95
CFUW Hamilton                  1925         90
CFUW Chatham Kent        1945         70
CFUW Oshawa & Dist.       1945         70
CFUW Guelph                     1945         70
CFUW Brantford                  1945         70
CFUW Orillia                        1955         60
CFUW Leaside E. York       1955         60
CFUW Cornwall & Dist.      1955         60
CFUW Perth & Dist.              1970         45
CFUW Orangeville & Dist. 1975         40 
CFUW Saugeen                   1985        30
CFUW Southport                  1990        25
UWC Toronto                        2000        15
Upcoming Meetings

Standing Committees Meetings
January 24, 2015 
March 14, 2015