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Dear CFUW Ontario Council Members
Welcome to News From Ontario Council, the Dates & Data issue containing reports from the January 24, 2015 Standing Committees meetings. Also included are Ontario Council updates. We invite your comments. |
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January 24, 2015
Standing Committees Reports
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Plenary Presentation
Topic: Integrated Public Transportation
CFUW Stratford has been actively advocating in its region for affordable, integrated public transportation through its Stratford Transportation Advocacy Group. To learn more about their work, consult the website Getting There, www.gettingthere.ca. This session was planned to promote this issue to all of Ontario Council, as many regions in Ontario have experienced similar cutbacks in services or have been generally underserved. It should be emphasized that this is a social justice issue and attendees were asked to keep in mind the following questions:
- Should a person's independence be limited due to age, disability or financial constraints?
- Should the availability of family or friend support dictate your mobility?
- Do the environmental benefits of mass transportation help justify the infrastructure investment?
Two guest speakers offering different perspectives and from different sectors offered stimulating and informative presentations:
- Chris Burke, MetroLinx, an agency of the Ontario Government, Building Transit in the GTHA (Greater Toronto Hamilton Area).
- Peter Miasek, from the advocacy group TAO (Transport Action Ontario), Intercity Public Transportation in Ontario: Benefits, Challenges, Solutions
Chris Burke, Director of Policy and Planning, Metrolinx
MetroLinx, www.metrolinx.com, is the regional transportation authority for the GTHA which spans a large, heavily populated area from Durham in the east, York region in the north, up to Lake Simcoe, and south west over to Hamilton. It manages a multimodal transit network which includes as partners local transit operators plus connecting partners such as Barrie Transit and Peterborough Transit.
The GTHA is the 5th largest agglomeration in North America, soon to catch up with Chicago, and predicted to continue to grow at a rapid rate. It is a dynamic, contained region with dispersed employment and citizens with high expectations. Toronto is also the 4th 'most livable city' and worth investing in! Congestion has its social impacts, not to mention environmental.
Planning is nested in two government plans that designate urban growth areas: the Green Belt Plan and the Greater Golden Horseshoe Growth Plan. MetroLinx has named the current mega transportation project, The Big Move which aims to have 80% of the population within 2 kilometers of rapid transit, such as rail, light rail, subway or rapid bus transit. Chris outlined nine strategies, one being stable and predictable funding. The Ontario Government has committed 15 billion dollars for the GTHA over the next ten years. Other strategies include the renovation of Union Station, the express train to Pearson Airport, plans to enable more walking and cycling, and of course the Presto Card which allows one to use one card for access to all transportation routes across the GTHA.
Progress is being made. Already trains have been added on some of the corridors. Planning is underway for the Spadina - Downsview - Vaughan subway line extension.
It was encouraging to learn of the plans and progress for the GTHA and that MetroLinx is networking with peer cities such as Montreal and Vancouver to share best practices.
Peter Miasek, President, Transport Action Ontario
TAO, http://transport-action-ontario.com is an advocacy organization working towards improved intercity train and bus service. Peter moved the focus out of the GTHA to more broadly, Ontario. Both the rail network and the bus network, which also can serve as a feeder to train service, are shrinking. There was a drastic change when VIA Rail cut its service in 2012. There is no longer train service from North Bay to Toronto and train service from Sarnia to Toronto has been reduced from five to one per day. The map he showed comparing the train network in 1962 with that of today really emphasized the contrast. There is no longer train service linking Sudbury and North Bay directly across the province to Ottawa!
Passenger transportation in Canada is underfunded compared to other G8 countries, even the United States. There is no federal mandate, legislation or standards for VIA Rail. The more lucrative freight service is expanding and taking capacity away from passenger service. In the US, AMTRAK is controlled by federal legislation so passenger service is an enforced service.
The playing field is not level. The government pays for highways, but the transportation industry must pay for the tracks. Also, VIA Rail, which is national, and GO (rail and bus), which is provincial, do not work together. GO is subsidized, unlike private carriers.
Peter outlined some opportunities to advocate for change. Private Member's Bill C-640, the VIA Rail Canada Act will give the federal government more control over VIA. The Canada Transportation Act is under review and TAO has made a submission. TAO has joined with CFUW Stratford and other organizations to advocate for a Southwest Ontario transportation network. There has been mention of a Toronto - London - Windsor high performance rail. However, laying the designated track will take years. TAO favours improving the conventional, existing rail networks.
Peter and TAO will be pleased to present in your region.
Sheila Clarke from CFUW Stratford led the question/answer period to close the session. Of course, there wasn't time for all of the questions, but both Peter and Chris graciously stayed to answer questions.
Peter's presentation is now available to view on the TAO website. Please contact Sheila Lacroix if you would like a copy of Chris Burke's presentation. For additional information, it is also recommended that you read UNIFOR's recent report, Passenger Rail in Canada. It is available on the UNIFOR website, www.unifor.org, in the Take Action Campaign section.
Sheila Lacroix
Chair, Legislation
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Legislation Committee - Afternoon Session
Topic:
Getting There: Integrated Public Transportation for Ontario
Continuing the Discussion with:
Sheila Clarke, Anne Carbert and Leslye Glover, CFUW Stratford Transportation Project.
The afternoon meeting continued the morning transportation theme. The CFUW Stratford Project is one of the partners, along with TAO (Transport Action Ontario), of SWOTA (South Western Ontario Transportation Alliance),www.swota.ca. There is a strong network of support in this region and the Stratford team has hands on experience to share on advocating and building support through partnerships. Creating and maintaining an engaging website is definitely one important strategy used by the Stratford group and you are encouraged to visit the site, www.gettingthere.ca to read about the activities and the level of involvement.
Sheila introduced the session by emphasizing the importance of framing public transportation as a social justice issue. For many, a lack of integrated, affordable, public transportation is a barrier to accessing school, family and friends, work, health care, social services and recreation. At a broader level, a good transportation network promotes healthier communities, both environmentally and socially.
Sheila told about the history of Getting There. It all started in 2012 when VIA withdrew the commuter train service from Stratford. It was decided to tackle the issue regionally. Sheila offered the following guidelines for getting involved in a transportation campaign like this.
- Connect with elected representatives, but remain nonpartisan.
- Constantly revise your goals.
- Create a website to promote your cause and activities.
- Prepare Educational PPT presentations to have on hand for public meetings.
- Focus on a region, not a single route or destination.
- Be involved in promoting a formal plan. SWOTA's plan is called Network Southwest.
- Be persistent!
We broke into small discussion groups to brainstorm and record answers to three sets of questions. Groups often had both transportation 'haves' and 'have nots' in terms of accessibility to a good transportation network. Final thoughts were also recorded.
All of the comments and answers to the questions by the individual groups have been meticulously recorded in a summary document. Here are selected, sample responses.
First Set, relating to transportation consumers.
Who needs / wants public transportation in your community?
Those on social assistance; Commuters of all kinds; People without a car, who either cannot afford a car or who choose not to own a vehicle.
Where are they?
Everywhere: rural areas, small towns, cities.
How do they travel now?
Friends, family, neighbours; Wheel Trans; Cycling
Who can advocate for transport?
United way; Elected representatives; University / College Student Organizations
What are potential resources / action networks in your area?
Public forums; Unions; Advocacy groups - CARP, TAO, SWOTA
Other Thoughts
The urban / rural contrast was noted. We must be aware that thriving vital communities, that have had transport removed or reduced, exist beyond urban areas. Do we want everyone to move to the city? Does everyone want to live in the city?
Transportation affects many aspects of life: where to live; where to work; where to attend school; how to access medical services; how to visit friends and family.
The exercise definitely got one thinking about how transportation is so integral to our lives and the lives of others.
If you are interested in receiving the Discussion Groups Summary and / or the one page handout, Getting There: CFUW Advocacy Action in Support of Integrated Public Transportation which has action suggestions, please let me know. A special thank you to Sheila, Anne and Leslye for organizing this session and sharing your knowledge.
Sheila Lacroix
Chair, Legislation
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Status of Women & Human Rights Committee - Afternoon Session
Topic:
Countering Exploitive Images of Children
Speaker: Alyssa Blais
Alyssa Blais, whose club, CFUW Cornwall & District prepared the resolution on 'Countering the Hypersexualization of Children', presented media evidence of the forms prevalent images are taking: images of girls photoshopped as big-chested, glamorized, anorexic, often white, often too young, sexual objects. Increasingly images in fashion magazines, music videos, video games and Internet visuals present very young girls, usually two to each boy (who also is also expected to be 'buff and sexy') wearing clothing shouting sexual messages (e.g. thongs for 6 year old girls with "Get Lucky" or "Who Needs Credit Cards"). These images sell what passes as normal, namely heightened sexuality, degradation and violence. Most troubling is the fact that children accept that these images are normal. They are easily available on mobile devices and cannot be regulated.
A very animated discussion left us with three key messages:
1) these images don't represent reality, but they do hurt,
2) we as individuals and as groups must speak out, complain and advocate loudly against the $100 billion ad industry that profits from this, and
3) women and men must provide education for girls and boys to prepare them for the onslaught, through advertising, of false role models.
There are many resources on this pressing issue but highly recommended is the documentary called
Miss Representation and the TEDx talk by Caroline Heldman, "The Sexy Lie".
A FACT SHEET and suggested ACTIONS are on the CFUW Advocacy website
Submitted by:
Louise Beaulieu-Steiner, CFUW Leaside/East York
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Education Committee - Afternoon Session
Topic:
Finding Her Voice: How Single Gender Education Empowers Girls
Speaker: Cheryl Boughton
Cheryl Boughton is the Head of Elmwood School in Ottawa, serving students Kindergarten through grade 12, with the mission to 'inspire each girl to reach her full potential'.
Cheryl's presentation began with an exploration of current research into how girls and boys learn differently. Boys generally like a more physical and competitive environment with a clear leader. Girls are more collaborative and enjoy learning in a cooperative environment without clear leaders. Girls generally have better hearing so like a quieter room, like to be faced directly, are less impulsive and are risk averse. While teaching to their strengths (language, memory, vision, emotions), Elmwood also stretches girls through "against the grain learning" using gross motor activities, spatial tasks, strategy building and promoting leadership skills. Girls are valued as individuals and those with strong connections learn better; this is thought to be better facilitated in a girls only school, helping to build friendships and establish strong relationships among students and with teachers.
The High School Survey of Student Engagement (HSSSE, 2009) found that students in an all-girls school have higher aspirations and motivation, are more engaged in the learning process, feel more challenged to achieve, are more participatory, feel more comfortable in expressing their ideas, show greater academic gains and feel more supported in their endeavors. Elmwood's outcomes for 2013 show 100% of graduates attending university, 97% offered scholarships and 49% in Science and Engineering (well above the 20% average). Teaching girls that they have enormous potential and power, and giving them advantages to help become strong, highly skilled confident women needs to also be promoted in our public education system.
The Education committee provides a forum for discussion and continued learning for our attendees.
As an organization CFUW:
- Promotes high standards of public education in Canada, advanced study and research by women, and a sound concept of lifelong learning.
- Advocates for the advancement of the status of women, human rights, and the common good locally, nationally and internationally.
- Promotes cooperation, networking, support and understanding among women.
- Encourages and enables women to apply their knowledge and skills in leadership and decision-making in all aspects of the political, social, cultural, educational and scientific fields.
Kathy Wosnick
Chair, Education
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Ontario Council Advocacy
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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
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Ontario Club Anniversaries in 2015
Congratulations!!
CFUW Ottawa 1910 105
CFUW London 1920 95
CFUW Hamilton 1925 90
CFUW Chatham Kent 1945 70
CFUW Oshawa & District 1945 70
CFUW Guelph 1945 70
CFUW Brantford 1945 70
CFUW Orillia 1955 60
CFUW Leaside/East York 1955 60
CFUW Cornwall & District 1955 60
CFUW Perth & District 1970 45
CFUW Orangevill & District 1975 40
CFUW Saugeen 1985 30
CFUW Southport 1990 25
CFUW Kanata 1995 20
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CFUW Central Ontario Partners with CARP - The Power of Women Working Together
There was a buzz in the air around the CFUW booth at the Zoomer Show at the Direct Energy Building last October 25/26 in Toronto. The Clubs of Ontario Central had the opportunity to staff the booth and/or send their brochures. The event was organized by Diane Johns, Past President of UWC North York and Regional Director of Ontario Central Patricia Joyce. The purpose was to increase the profile of CFUW and the membership of the Clubs. The group received the new membership grant from Ontario Council to help defray some expenses. Through negotiation and National's relationship with CARP, sponsor of the show, the booth was free.
The new branding pull up banner and flat banner were used to centre the display and draw women to the corner booth. A steady stream of prospective members was engaged by the twenty-two volunteers, working in shifts handing out appropriate Club brochures both local and national. To follow-up, visitors were invited to put their contact information in a draw. The prize was two tickets to the lunch sponsored by the Toronto Caucus (the 6 Toronto Clubs) December 5th at the Faculty Club at the University of Toronto. This event supports the CFUW National Polytechnique Scholarship and has raised over $21,000 to date.
The entries to the contest were organized by postal code. These were mailed or e-mailed to the appropriate Clubs across southern Ontario for the Clubs to invite these women to a November meeting. Using the National directory we were able to connect women to local Clubs outside Ontario Central. We even gave information for the Montreal Clubs! We had over 250 contacts on paper and many more verbally and with the new CFUW National recruitment brochure.
A survey on the process and the results will be tabulated in November. In the spring we will check with the Clubs to see how many new members they netted from this event.
I thank the many volunteers from the CFUW Clubs in Etobicoke, North York, Leaside- East York, North Toronto, Scarborough and Toronto and especially Diane Johns who assisted me in this endeavour. It was a success in many ways!
Patricia Joyce,
Regional Director, Ontario Central
Canadian Federation of University Women's Clubs of Kanata, Nepean, and Ottawa and Ottawa Council of Women
11th Annual International Women's Day Celebration
Monday, March 2, 5:30-9:00 p.m
SPEAKING TRUTH TO HISTORY
Refreshments! Door Prizes! Displays! Artesania!
Featuring: Ottawa's Own Triple Trouble Dancers
Special Guest Speaker: Professor Greta Kroeke
"The Early Modern Witch Hunts and Their Modern Legacy"
in the Council Chamber & Atrium,
101 Centrepointe Drive, Nepean
Still only $25!
REGISTER ONLINE at www.cfuw-ottawa.org
OR CONTACT CO-CHAIRS
OCW: Beverlee McIntosh (613) 728-9770, beverlee.mcintosh@gmail.com
CFUW-Ottawa: Fran Manning (613) 830 3086 fe.manning@rogers.com
CFUW-Nepean: Sharon Carew (613) 257 1747 sharonacarew@yahoo.com
CFUW-Kanata: Carol Fowler (613) 592 1243 cafowler@bell.net
CFUW Orangeville
Indigenous Women Rising
Presented by:
Dufferin County Cultural Resource Circle
"Learning Canada's History Through Wampum Diplomacy"
Saturday May 23 2015
Vendors, Artists and More: 11:30am-1:00pm
Presentations: 1:00 - 4:30pm
Tickets $40.
Westside Secondary School Auditorium
300 Alder Street, Orangeville
To Attend visit:
dufferincountyculturalresource circle.org
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CFUW Ontario Council
Annual General Meeting 2015
May 29 - 30
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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 Odds- One 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 re-serving 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.ontcfuwcouncil.ca and on the CFUW Ottawawebsite www.cfuwottawa.org February 2015.
Nancy DeVillers, Co-Chair, n_devillers@hotmail.com
Nancy Vrooman,
Registrar, navrooman@rogers.com
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CFUW Ontario-Huron October 17, 2015
CFUW Ontario North October 24, 2015
CFUW Ontario Central November 7, 2015
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2015 Standing Committees Meetings
March 14, 2015
CFUW Ontario Council
Annual General Meeting 2015
May 29 - 30
Hosted by CFUW Ottawa
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2015 AGM Conference and Convention
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CANADIAN FEDERATION OF
UNIVERSITY WOMEN
AGM and CONVENTION
June 18 - 21
Hotel Chateau Laurier
QUEBEC CITY
For More Information Visit
www.cfuw.org
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