Realwomen of BC - Archives - August2003

THE REAL NEWS The R.E.A.L WOMEN of BC Newsletter August 2003, BOX 39068, Point Grey RPO, Vancouver, BC V6R 4P1, Tel/Fax: 604- 463-1611, website: http://www.realwomen.bc.ca, e-mail: lgeschke@almatree.net Back to contents
National Conference At the beginning of April I was fortunate enough to attend the National REAL Women Annual General Meeting and Conference in Ottawa with another member and Board Member from BC, Sharen Frewing. I want to thank the members of the Provincial Board for sending two of us this year. It was well worth the investment in time (for us) and money (for the Board in BC). Our conference speakers were two Professors and two Lawyers. They each spoke clearly and convincingly on their stimulating and thought-provoking topic and had well-researched information to bring to us on that day. Their topics were "The Death of Men" by Professor Jeffrey Asher of Ottawa, "Defending Heterosexual Marriage — Good Arguments in an Era of Rights and Freedoms" by Professor Katherine Young of Montreal, "Religious Freedom Under Siege" by Philip Horgan, LLB of Toronto and "Family Freedoms Under Attack" by Gwen Landolt of Richmond Hill. The REAL Women Award was presented to Bev Hadlen who traveled several hundred miles in treacherous icy conditions to receive it, and then had to leave again to get back to her schedule. The benefit of traveling as a pair became obvious to me as Sharen and I were able to talk together from a BC perspective about what the speakers had said. Also when meeting with MP’s and Senators, they were all visibly impressed that we came all the way from BC to see them in our National Capital Region. As we met with the Liberal MP who made himself available to us (Paul Steckle from an Ontario Riding) it became clear to me that we have a clear duty to communicate with our MP’s on pertinent social topics of the day. Mr. Steckle was a dedicated elected representative, who felt in his heart that there must be a better way to go than current policy on Child Care, Income Tax and families, and other issues, but based on the information and research he was getting from his party, "there was nothing else he could do" but tow that party line. If this MP was given information from us and other pro-family organizations by one of his constituents, he would be able to be much more effective in Parliament. That’s what he wanted to be when be got elected. It also because easy to see how some MP’s become tired and lose their heart for being effective as much of what we saw in the House of Commons seemed to be ineffective cage rattling, Party-promoting and unanswered questions. It became clear to Sharen and I that the important work of MP’s and Senators is done in House Committees, to which they are all assigned. Anyone in Canada can speak to a House Committee on the topic they are considering at that time. REAL Women of BC has spoken to several Parliamentary Committees since 1994, included our most recent opportunity on April 1 with the Justice Committee (looking at the definition of Marriage). However, REAL Women of BC and the volunteers who have spoken to the committees have always spoken to them when they traveled out here, which is not very often. (It costs approximately $10,000,000/day for a committee to travel, we were told.) In Ottawa we discovered that Parliament will reimburse travel costs for Canadians invited to speak before a Parliamentary Committee. How does one get invited? If you have a good rapport with your MP (or an MP), you suggest yourself and the MP thinks of you when there is an opportunity! It’s that easy. So start communicating with your MP right away. The first issues to write about are the definition of marriage, and Bill C-250, to be voted on as early as September 17, 2003! Write a separate letter for each topic and request a response. If you know of any other town hall meetings with your MP or with an MLA, let me know and if the timing is right, we’d like to put notices in the newsletter, like the one above. We also publicize them to our email list. Contact us at the numbers and addresses on the front page.
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