Oh Canada! Oh feminism!

This guest post comes from FemRev Collective, a collective of feminist activists in Winnipeg, Manitoba committed to changing political and social structures in order to improve womyn’s lives.

As is the case globally, the majority of Canadians question the relevance of feminism. There is a major misconception that feminism is extraneous.  This could not be further from the truth. Today in Canada, womyn’s rights are under attack. Canada is a country where funding to feminist and womyn’s organizations has been cut, where Indigenous people still face oppression, immigrant and refugee womyn are not valued, where many womyn still do not have full control over our bodies nor reproduction, where womyn and girls are hypersexualized and face obscene amounts of violence, where our environment is threatened to the point where humanity itself is in peril. For a country that was among the first to recognize womyn’s right to a vote, we still have a long way to come. Feminism certainly still has a purpose to serve.

Currently womyn’s rights and feminism are taking a brutal beating at the hands of Stephen Harper’s conservative government and face the vicious opponent of mainstream apathy. This year alone was rife with disasters for the women’s movement and human rights in general in Canada: the national embarrassment  that was the Toronto G20 Summit; bill C-510, which would make it a criminal offence to ‘coerce’ a woman into having an abortion, putting health care providers in a precarious position; the infamous ‘advance consent’ debacle; and the continued lack of accessible abortions for womyn in certain provinces and in rural areas.  If the Harper government’s goal was to leave a legacy of blatant anti-feminism , it seems it will be fulfilled.  Since their rise to power in 2006, they have accomplished the following:

  • the elimination of “equality” as an objective in the Status of Women Canada’s (SWC) mission statement;
  • 100 percent cut in funding for advocacy, lobbying, and independent research projects funded by SWC;
  • dozens of feminist organizations had their funding severed and had to close their doors. In the past few months, nine groups have been defunded by the Conservatives, including: the Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women, the New Brunswick Pay Equity Coalition, and Réseau des Tables régionales de groupes de femmes du Québec;
  • cancellation of the pan-Canadian childcare funding ($1.2 billion);

Canada’ only national feminist umbrella organization, The National Action Committee, dissolved due to lack of government funding and nothing stepped in to take its place. Currently, the feminist movement lies almost solely in grassroots movements and organizations. It is incredibly encouraging to see the uprising of young feminists who are passionately fighting the patriarchy, colonialism, and oppression so prevalent in our country. In October 2008, 500 of these young feminists gathered in Montreal for the first Pan-Canadian Young Feminists Gathering, under the theme Toujours RebELLEs – Waves of Resistance. The gathering was  inspiring; it helped us to begin creating connections to build a national movement, reinforced our local feminist struggles, and gave us a shot of adrenaline to organize back home. This gathering marked the beginning of a nation-wide network of young feminists who could call on each other to participate in mass action, provide support, and to keep the feminist fight alive. There will be a second gathering in Winnipeg this May, which will surely build on the momentum built in 2008.

While perhaps many American feminists dream of the land where the polar bears roam free and abortion is legal (although not always accessible), Canada is no feminist’s refuge. However, it is being revitalized by amazing young womyn fighting with love and rage and who will not shut the fuck up! RebELLEs everywhere are rising up against patriarchy, capitalism, racism and all forms of oppression. Proving, indeed, the feminist revolution is now.

FemRev Collective is a collective of feminist activists in Winnipeg, Manitoba committed to changing political and social structures in order to improve womyn’s lives.  They are eagerly anticipating hosting kick-ass feminists from across Canada in May. Jodie Layne is a member of the FemRev Collective and super stoked to be a part of planning the next RebELLEs gathering.

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