STANDING COMMITTEES

Education | Legislation | Status of Women & Human Rights

For Members only: Registration Form and Travel Form

Ontario Council Standing Committees in Legislation, Education, and Status of Women and Human Rights were developed to keep members aware of current issues in Ontario. The Committees meet three times a year - in September, January, and March in downtown Toronto - for a day with speakers, workshops and discussion. All Club members are invited to attend these meetings.

New for 2005-2006: The Toronto Clubhouse catering facilities now necessitate pre-registration. Registration at the door can no longer include lunch; however, there are many restaurants in the vicinity.

March 4th, 2006

THE HIGH SCHOOL DROP OUT RATE and THE SAFE SCHOOLS ACT:
A Panel Discussion

At the joint morning session, two speakers addressed the related issues of the high school drop-out rate and the Ontario Safe Schools Act. Both speakers have serious issues with the Act, and feel it exacerbates the dropout problem

Selwyn Pieters is a lawyer, specializing in education issues, working with parents and students in areas of human rights, safe schools, expulsions and suspensions. He also has an interest in refugee issues, and is a member of many professional and community associations.

Liz Sandals, MPP for Guelph-Wellington and Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services responsible for the Safe Schools Act Review, is a former chair of her local school board and president of the Ontario Public School Boards' Association from 1998-2002.

.Full Report

January 14th, 2006

The joint Standing Committee morning session was treated to detailed and fact-filled presentations on Health, Safety and Welfare, focusing on response to disasters and the implications of the recent Supreme Court Chaoulli decision.

EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT

Tracey Croft, Emergency Management Coordinator, County of Dufferin, described the wake-up call for the need for local emergency planning offered by recent local disasters, notably the ice storm of 1998, and the perceived Y2K emergency.

MAKING WOMEN SAFER

Dr. Joni Seager is Dean of Environmental Studies at York, and an expert in feminist environmentalism. Her talk countered the notion that disasters are gender neutral.

CHAOULLI v QUEBEC UPDATE

Dr. Colleen Flood, New Zealand-born associate professor of law at University of Toronto and a student of comparative health care policy, gave a scathing critique of the recent Supreme Court Chaoulli decision overturning Quebec's ban on private health insurance.

Full Report

September 17th, 2005

WILL TOMORROW BE BETTER?
A Discussion about Women and Violence

Pam Cross, Legal Director, Metropolitan Action Committee on Violence against Women and Children (METRAC)
Eileen Morrow, Executive Director, Ontario Association of Interval and Transition Houses
Ciara Adams, Amnesty International.

At the morning session members were treated to an up-date on Violence against Women, featuring a panel of activists: Pam Cross, legal director with METRAC, Eileen Morrow, executive director of the Ontario Association of Interval and Transition Houses, and Ciara Adams, representing Amnesty International.

Discussion revolved around the government's Domestic Violence Action Plan, announced in 2004, which is intended to attack the problem in four ways: increased community supports, more training of judges and police, prevention, and justice reform. There were to be changes to the Family Law Act, and more funds were to be allocated, but since then, nothing has happened. Dollars allocated to the program were funds that had been announced previously - there were no new funds; there was no action on child custody, and use of a promised risk assessment tool promised for women in abusive relationships has been severely limited on being challenged by defense lawyers.

Full Report

March 5th, 2005

PUBLIC EDUCATION TODAY

         Kathleen Wynne                             Annie Kidder

Kathleen Wynne, Parliamentary Assistant to Gerard Kennedy, Minister of Education addressed a gathering of Ontario Council CFUW members in the Toronto Clubhouse. Ms. Wynne reported she notices an improved tone in schools since the election of a new government, sensing that educators feel the government is at least listening to their concerns. She told the group that the Liberal Government is working hard to establish a "different way of doing business". Gone is the "fortress mentality" in which a maze of offices led to one closed door after another. The Liberal government intends to reach out and get feedback from constituents.

Also speaking to the group was Annie Kidder of People for Education who spoke of the real issues concerning education, of real children, finances and high school.

Full report

Jan. 15th, 2005

ARBITRATION ACT PANEL

At the January Standing Committee, Hon. Marion Boyd, Chair of the Arbitration Act Review Committee, Nuzhat Jafri of the Canadian Council of Muslim Women and Annie Bunting, Professor in the Law and Society Program at York University gave their views on the proposed revisions to Ontario’s Arbitration Act.

Sept.18th, 2004

WOMEN AND ELECTIONS

In the morning, the speakers, Chi Nguyen, founder of Young Women Vote 20,000 and Peggy Nash of Canadian Automobile Workers Union and member of the Board of Equal Voice, spoke about women and politics.

Full report