Clever, Tenacious and Diplomatic Women
Political leader and activist Monique Bégin is among five outstanding Canadian women who will receive the 2015 Governor General’s Person Case Award this month, one of Canada’s highest awards for women. Madame Bégin will be joined April 21, 2016 by Montreal academic and advocate Marie-Thérèse Chicha; Vancouver family physician and community leader Ruth Elwood Martin; […]
Insurance industry warns of price hikes as genetic discrimination bill passes Senate
Canada’s insurance industry is warning of price hikes for consumers if a senator’s bill banning unsanctioned access to personal genetic test results is passed. The Senate public bill (the upper chamber’s equivalent of a private member’s bill) won Senate approval last week with bi-partisan support and is on its way to the House of Commons. […]
Disagree with Peckford’s take on proportional representation
Re: “Canada can do better to get more women elected, right now we’re 60th place in world,” (The Hill Times, April 11, p. 11). Equal Voice’s Nancy Peckford claims “proportional representation is neither necessary nor sufficient to ensure women’s equal representation.” It is difficult to maintain the “necessary” in the face of the easily verifiable […]
Proportional representation ‘absolutely’ necessary for women to achieve higher levels of representation
Re: “Canada can do better to get more women elected, right now we’re 60th place in world,” (The Hill Times, April 11, p. 11). Nancy Peckford’s article seems somewhat confused about the role electoral systems play in balancing representation. Moreover, she doesn’t seem to know that the alternative vote (AV) system is not proportional. If she (and her […]
Canada can do better on getting more women elected, 60th place in world right now
OTTAWA—A special all-party committee is due to be struck in Parliament any day now, as per the commitment of the Trudeau government during the campaign—and as articulated in the recent federal budget—to explore electoral reform options. The committee is expected to conduct cross-country consultations with the public on a variety of options. Many organizations in […]
Meet Jody Thomas, first woman to head the Canadian Coast Guard
OTTAWA—It’s a typical, quiet Friday morning for Canadian Coast Guard Commissioner Jody Thomas. She is getting her daily operations briefing on the status of all coast guard vessels in the country, the weather conditions, and updates on all projects and deadlines. She sits at the front of the large conference table wearing a leather jacket and […]
The stage is set, let’s talk about sex
The Commission on the Status of Women’s #CSW60 Summit took place in New York two weeks ago and Canada is clearly back on the global stage. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s renewed appetite to achieve gender equality and his bold statement that being a feminist shouldn’t “elicit a reaction” but rather “a shrug” garnered international praise. Unfortunately, […]
Grégoire Trudeau a role model for Canadian women: reader
Well done Sophie Grégoire Trudeau for being such a positive role model for Canadian women and not because of what she is wearing. I was so thrilled to hear Ms. Grégoire Trudeau speak to the vital importance of safe, quality education for all, especially for girls in helping to create more peaceful, democratic and economically viable societies. […]
Diversity and inclusion agenda: impact on the public service
OTTAWA—The Liberal government included in its mandate letters to all ministers a “commitment to transparent, merit-based appointments, to help ensure gender parity and that indigenous Canadians and minority groups are better reflected in positions of leadership.” While the focus is clearly with respect to political appointments, this commitment will likely extend to the senior ranks […]
Politics This Morning: Trudeau to talk security council seat at UN
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will be in New York today to meet with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and announce that Canada intends to run for a seat on the security council. The last time Canada did, in 2010, it lost for the first time in 60 years. “We’re looking at a number of windows […]
