OTTAWA – The Canadian Labour Congress is asking Canadians to send 20 postcards in 20 days to the prime minister telling him to take action now to end violence against women.

“On December 6th it will be 20 years since 14 young women were murdered in Montreal simply because they were women,” says Barbara Byers, Executive Vice-President of the Canadian Labour Congress. “Ironically, as this anniversary approaches, our government is trying to eradicate the firearms registry, the one concrete measure taken to reduce gun violence against women.”

Byers says the CLC and its affiliate unions have distributed thousands of postcards and have asked people to return them to Prime Minister Stephen Harper between November 16th and December 6th. The cards urge him to keep the gun registry, and also contain messages asking that Canada improve the lives of women by: improving the funding of shelters for women and children; investing in new social housing; setting a national standard for welfare rates; providing equal pay for work of equal value; and improving services, including a nationally-funded child care program, better public pensions and access to Employment Insurance.

Byers says, “Rather than promoting women’s equality, the federal government is severely limiting women’s capacity to organize, advocate and lobby. They won’t support women’s equality in the workplace and have limited women’s rights to challenge discrimination before the courts. We will not accept an erosion of our hard-won equality rights and we will not be silenced by a socially conservative government agenda.”

The 20 Days 20 Ways postcards are available on the CLC website. The Canadian Labour Congress, the national voice of the labour movement, represents 3.2 million Canadian workers.

The Manitoba Federation of Labour Women’s Committee will be hosting a Day of Remembrance-Empowerment Fair on Friday, December 4th.  This Fair is in remembrance of all the women who have died by violence.  The evening will feature a memorial service, guest speakers and displays by various organizations who assist people affected by violence.

For more information, please contact the UWFA Office at 786-9430.

December 4th Day of Remembrance Poster

The annual Day of Mourning observances will be held at noon tomorrow at a ceremony organized by SAFE Workers of Tomorrow, a Winnipeg based organization that is dedicated to promoting workplace health and safety, particularly among young workers and high school students who are in, or about to enter the paid workforce.

The Day of Mourning was first observed in 1984 by the Canadian Labour Congress, mainly through the efforts of the CLC’s then Executive Vice-President and former MFL President, the late Dick Martin. It is a day set aside to remember and mourn for workers who have been killed or injured in our workplaces.

On December 28, 1990, the Parliament of Canada passed a private members Bill, sponsored by Churchill NDP MP Rod Murphy, officially declaring that day a national Day of Mourning. It was first held under that status on April 28 1991.

Since then, the Day of Mourning has spread to more than 80 countries around the world and has been officially adopted by the AFL-CIO and the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions.

Under the leadership of the SAFE Workers of Tomorrow, tomorrow’s event will see leaders from the political and labour communities joining students in a walk from the Union Centre at Broadway and Smith, along Broadway to the Legislature distributing tags to members of the public to remind them of the need for safe workplaces. The walk will begin at 11:55 am.

At 12:15 pm, a news conference will be held on the main floor of the Legislature in front of the Grand Staircase to recognize the significance of the day and to expand on the theme “Walk to Remember: Unite for Safety” to highlight the importance of workplace safety legislated rights in preventing injuries and death.

For more Information contact Ellen Olfert at 797-3485