Proliferation of Private Members’ Bills

The November 30, 1998 changes to the rules for introducing private members’ bills into the House of Commons have resulted in a proliferation of undisguised regressive criminal justice-related bills. Given the limited amount of human and fiscal resources of most national voluntary sector groups, the development of formal responses and appearances before the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights significantly impacting the nature of the CAEFS’ workload.

CAEFS continues to encourage Canadians to demand that these bills be vetted and required to meet at least the same minimum standards as government-sponsored legislation in order to make it to the floor of the House of Commons. While many Members of Parliament have expressed private and personal support for such a requirement, none have yet to introduce same.

Women's World March 2000

CAEFS and other national and international equality-seeking women’s groups launched the Women’s World March on March 8, 2000, International Women’s Day. The internationally shared objectives are to end violence against women and woman’s poverty world wide. Canadian women’s groups have developed a list of demands for social, economic and political equality for women in Canada. For copies of these, please refer to the Pan-Canadian March Committee’s home page http://www.clc-ctc.ca/campaigns/womensmarch/index.html.