In 1977, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution calling on member states to proclaim a day for women's rights and international peace. Following the United Nations' lead, Canada chose March 8 as International Women's Day. Each year at this time, Canadians celebrate progress toward equality for women and their full participation, reflect on the challenges and barriers that remain, and consider future steps to achieving equality for all women, in all aspects of their lives.

Listing of some
International Womens' Day 2010 events in Canada

Kingston, Ontario
Saturday, March 6, 11:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Memorial Hall, Kingston City Hall
Women’s Day Fair organized by the Kingston International Women’s Week Community Coalition
 
Pembroke, Ontario
Monday, March 8, 6:00 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.
Algonquin College, 315 Pembroke St. E.
LunaFest - Women's Film Festival
 
Barrie, Ontario
Sunday, March 7, 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Fendley Banquet Hall, 565 Bryne Drive, Barrie, Ontario, ON L4N 8X1
ALL ABOUT ME – Annual event to support women entrepreneurs convened by
WINGS- Women In Networking Grow Strong.

 
Toronto, Ontario
Saturday, March 6, 11:00 a.m.
Assemble and rally at OISE, 252 Bloor St. W.
then marching at 1:00 p.m. to Women’s Day Fair at Ryerson University.
 
Newmarket, Ontario
Monday, March 8, 11:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Upper Canada Mall, 17,600 Yonge St., Newmarket
York Region Violence Against Women Coordinating Committee hosts workshops
on prevention of violence against women.
 
Cambridge, Ontario
Saturday, March 7, 1 p.m. – 4 p.m.
U of Waterloo Architecture School Theatre, 7 Melville Street, Cambridge, ON
LUNAFEST - An inspiring festival of short films by, for and about women.
 
Newmarket, Ontario
Monday, March 8, 11:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Upper Canada Mall, 17,600 Yonge St., Newmarket
York Region Violence Against Women Coordinating Committee hosts workshops
on prevention of violence against women.


Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
UFCW Canada Local 1400
Celebrating our Strengths, through our Diversity -
Social and educational event, accompanied by guest speakers
and will also feature a diversity luncheon.
March 12-13, 2010
March 12 — 6:30 p.m. registration, 7-9 p.m. social
March 13 — 9 a.m. - 4 p.m.
UFCW Canada Saskatchewan Education Office
1526 Fletcher Rd
Saskatoon, SK 


Regina, Saskatchewan
Saturday, March 6 – Cocktails at 5:00 p.m., Dinner at 6:00 p.m.
Evraz Place, Regina
HONOUR & GIVE -
A Tribute to the 100th Anniversary of International Women’s Day
Tickets: $50 - Portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Regina Early Learning Centre.
 
Calgary, Alberta
Friday, March 5, 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.
John Dutton Theatre, Central Library,
616 Macleod Trail SE , Calgary, T2G 2M2
CALGARY PUBLIC LIBRARY CELEBRATES INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY
Be inspired by successful Alberta women who will discuss how they create balance in their professional and personal lives. A free lunch and speakers’ panel.
 
Vancouver, British Columbia
Sunday, March 7 from 1-4 p.m. All members of UFCW Canada Local 1518 welcome!
UFCW Canada Local 1518, 350 Columbia St., New Westminster, BC
Come see special guest speaker Sue Hopkins talk about ‘QBQ!’(the question behind the question) – food and refreshments served

Vancouver, British Columbia
Saturday, March 6, 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Vancouver School of Theology, UBC Point Grey campus, Vancouver, B.C.
WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP - CHALLENGES AND STRENGTHS
Speakers and interactive sessions will focus on women’s leadership, with calls for action to improve the lives of women locally and globally.

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UFCW Canada continues Haiti support
through Myriam Merlet Feminist Camp fundraiser

In both Haiti and Canada,
Myriam Merlet was well-loved and known as a passionate author, political activist, and feminist who campaigned internationally to end violence against women and girls. Tragically, on Jan. 12, it was the cruelty of nature that killed her when her home in Port-au-Prince collapsed in the Haiti earthquake.
 
Merlet was 53, and at the time the chief of staff of Haiti’s Ministry for Gender and the Rights of Women. She had come full circle in her career. In the 1970s she fled Haiti and came to Canada to continue her advocacy and to study feminist theory and economics. A decade later, she returned to Haiti after the overthrow of the Duvalier regime.
 
Recently, at the University of Ottawa Law School, UFCW Canada was the event sponsor of a fundraiser reception for the Myriam Merlet Feminist International Solidarity Camp, a resource, health, and communications centre for women being established near the border of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Other sponsors included the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Law; the Alfie Roberts Institute, Montreal; the Canadian Association of Black Lawyers; the Black Women’s Civic Engagement Network; the Shirley E. Greenberg Chair for Women and the Legal Profession; MATCH International; PeaceBuild – Gender and Peacebuilding Working Group; Every Child is Sacred; the Ottawa Coalition to End Violence Against Women; and the Pearson Peacekeeping Centre.
 
The event raised more than $6,000 to carry on the vision and energy that Myriam Merlet brought to her sisters in Haiti, Canada, and around the world.
 
“It was an honour for UFCW Canada to be a sponsor of this event,” says Nancy Quiring, chair of the UFCW Canada National Council Women’s Advisory Committee.

“It accomplished two very important goals. By raising funds for the Solidarity Camp, we are continuing to help the people of Haiti in their time of need. At the same time, it gives UFCW Canada the opportunity of being a partner in keeping alive the memory and spirit of a great woman who dedicated her life to equity and a safer, better future for all women.”


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UFCW mourns passing of former
International Vice President Beth Shulman

Former UFCW International Vice President Beth Shulman succumbed to her battle with brain cancer on February 5, in Washington, DC. She was 60.
Shulman led an accomplished life.
For many, she will be remembered as the renowned author, policy analyst, speaker, and commentator who made raising the standards of living for workers across America the cause of her life.

We at UFCW remember the friend, colleague, mother, daughter, and wife.

A native of Los Angeles, Calif., Shulman began her career with UFCW in 1976 as Assistant General Counsel. She later served as the Executive Assistant to the Director of UFCW Central Region.

From 1987 to 2000, Shulman was a UFCW International Vice President, Executive Board Member, and Director of the Health Care, Insurance, Finance, and Professional Employees Division.

From 2000, when she retired from UFCW International, Shulman worked as a consultant, and co-chaired the Fairness Initiative on Low-Wage Work, a project to increase public awareness about the problems of low-wage work and the need for policy change to improve low-wage jobs.

She was also the author of The Betrayal of Work: How Low-Wage Jobs Fail Thirty Million Americans and their Families.

Shulman is survived by her husband and son from Washington, DC, and her mother from Los Angeles.

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New resource for new parents

UFCW Canada members who are new or expectant parents will have some new help this year in trying to figure out what their rights and entitlements are as workers and new parents. The UFCW Canada Guide to Maternity, Paternity & Parental Leaves from Work, initiated by UFCW Canada’s National Women’s Advisory Committee, was recently made available to help members make sense of an often-complicated benefits system.

“As Canada’s most youthful union, many UFCW Canada members are new or soon-to-be parents,” says Nancy Quiring, UFCW Canada’s regional director for the Western Provinces, who also chairs the national committee.

“The committee coordinated the development of this guide in order to help UFCW Canada members understand and ac­cess the benefits that were established to help people create a healthier balance between their home and work lives.”

The guide is available in French and English, and can be accessed here.


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December 6, 2009 - Montreal rally and vigil



 

National Day of Remembrance and Action
on Violence Against Women

Two decades after the Dec. 6 massacre at l’École Polytechnique in Montreal, a gathering organized by the Quebec Women’s Federation was held at Place Émilie-Gamelin in the city’s downtown to mark the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women.

In memory of the 14 young women who were killed that day, 14 white ribbons bearing their names were attached to a rope surrounding the park. Among the more than 500 people in attendance were Bloc Québécois federal leader Gilles Duceppe and Parti Québécois provincial leader Pauline Marois.

UFCW Canada national representative Anouk Collet, pictured in tuque with Quebec federation of labour Vice-President Danièle Casara at the event, recalls, “I was myself a student at the Université de Montréal when the Dec. 6 events happened, and, even though it was 20 years ago, I still remember that day clearly.” Sister Collet is also a member of the UFCW Canada National Council Women’s Advisory
Committee, and sits on the Quebec fed’s committee with Sister Casara.

“I find it discouraging that, a full 20 years after the Montreal tragedy, the Stephen Harper government – which claims it wants to reduce violence – is actually trying to pass legislation that would have the opposite effect,” Anouk says.

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Remembering Patricia Perez

October 4, 2009 — In October we would like to dedicate all of our efforts and triumphs at the AWA to the memory of our sister Patricia Pérez, on the second anniversary of her death.

Sister Patricia succeeded in doing what no one else had ever achieved in Quebec: she organized the first-ever bargaining unit comprising seasonal migrant agriculture workers. That breakthrough came just a week before her death in October 2007 at the age of 52, after a long battle with cancer.

A native of Mexico, sister Patricia fled Mexico to Montreal in 1996 after her social justice activities in her homeland resulted in a masked gunman telling her to leave the country or else. However, Patricia often said she came to Canada for a reason, and that reason was to continue to help her brothers and sisters from Mexico working under the Seasonal Agriculture Workers Program.

Our job is just beginning, but Patricia’s legacy and the seed she planted back then continues today. We continue to follow her footsteps and continue to strive to be just as good as she was in advocating for and helping our brothers and sisters from Mexico. And we continue with that same enthusiasm and courage, and we continue to nurture what she started by always shouting: “¡Si se puede! (Yes, we can do it).”
 

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UFCW Canada participates in Calgary march

February 18, 2009 – Activists in Calgary – as well as in Victoria, Winnipeg, Toronto, and Edmonton – joined Vancouver activists in taking to the streets for a Memorial March for Missing and Murdered Women on February 14, St. Valentine’s Day.

 
It was Calgary’s first annual march, supporting the movement that began 18 years ago following the first of a series of murders and disappearances in Vancouver’s notorious downtown east side.

“It’s about solidarity with women who are victimized everywhere,” says Nancy Quiring, UFCW Canada’s western region director and chair of the National Council Women’s Advisory Committee.
“This movement has spread across Canada because it isn’t something that only happens in Vancouver. It’s universal.”

Nancy is pictured, right, along with UFCW Canada national representative Devin Yeager, left. They joined about 100 participants on a bitterly cold St. Valentine’s Day in Calgary.
 

UFCW Canada 2010 
International Women's Day poster

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