====================================================================
NEWSBYTES - DEC. 6, 2008
=====================================================================
The Advisory Council on the Status of Women is the provincial government agency that promotes equality, fairness and dignity for women, by bringing forward concerns and advising the Minister Responsible for the Status of Women Act. Through research, policy, education, and partnerships, the council works to ensure women have an equal voice in society, fair pay and pensions, freedom from violence, and good health and well-being.
Newsbytes is a free bi-weekly e-mail newsletter with links to stories and contacts.
You can also read the newsletter and about coming events at the Advisory Council's website: <http://www.women.gov.ns.ca>.
Also, visit our online catalogue at http://women.gov.ns.ca/library.asp or come visit our library!
CONTENTS AT A GLANCE
/1/ Updated Fact Sheets on Violence Against Women in NS
/2/ Event Reminders: 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence
/3/ Putting a Face on Abuse
/4/ Send Your MP a Rose to End Violence Against Women and Girls
/5/ UN: Canada must Report on Poverty and Murdered Aboriginal Women
/6/ Learn Without Fear: the Global Campaign to End Violence in Schools
/7/ Reducing Gaps in Health: Socio-Economic Status in Urban Canada
/8/ Green Mobility Funding Available
/9/ La Fédération Des Femmes Acadiennes De La Nouvelle-Écosse En Assemblée Générale Annuelle
/10/ Did You Know?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
/1/ UPDATED FACT SHEETS ON VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN IN NS
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
• Two-thirds of spousal violence incidents are not reported to police.
• Aboriginal women are at least three times more likely to have experienced spousal violence than non-aboriginal women.
• About 88 per cent of sexual assaults in Canada are not reported to police. In more than two-thirds of reported cases, victims know the accused. Forty-four per cent of all victims are younger than 25.
• About two-thirds of calls that come in to the Nova Scotia Senior Abuse line are from women.
• Between 1975 and 2007, there were 90 spousal homicides in Nova Scotia. In 66 of these cases (73 per cent), the victims were women.
Read more at http://www.women.gov.ns.ca/pubFactSheets.asp .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
/2/ EVENT REMINDERS: 16 DAYS OF ACTIVISM AGAINST GENDER VIOLENCE
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Canada's National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women is Dec. 6, a Saturday this year. The ceremony at Province House will take place on Friday, Dec. 5, at 10:30 a.m. Carolyn Bolivar-Getson, Minister Responsible for the Advisory Council on the Status of Women, will be joined by a Panel on Violence Against Women. For details see http://women.gov.ns.ca/Dec6_08.asp .
Public Lecture: The War on Women – Brian Vallee, author of the War on Women, will speak at a free public lecture on Dec. 4, at 7 p.m. at Potter Auditorium, Kenneth C. Rowe Management Building, 6100 University Avenue, Halifax.
Commemoration in Cape Breton Regional Municipal – Police Service is holding Victims of Domestic Violence Commemoration Ceremonies on Friday Dec. 5 at 11:30 a.m. at the Central Division, 865 Grand Lake Road in Sydney. Contact Helen.Morrison@cbrps.ca or at 902-563-5173.
Purple Ribbon – t is customary for women and men in Nova Scotia to support the elimination of violence against women by buying and wearing purple ribbons. MLAs take a lead role in supporting this campaign run by the
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
/3/ PUTTING A FACE ON ABUSE
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
See masks created by survivors of violence and abuse. Read about this Transition House of Nova Scotia project at http://www.thans.ca/Content/Mask%20Project . Contact THANS for purple ribbons at 429-7287 or admin@thans.ca .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
/4/ SEND YOUR MP A ROSE TO END VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
YWCA Canada's Rose Campaign calls for a national action plan on violence against women and girls. Visit http://www.rosecampaign.ca to send your MP a virtual rose that tells the federal government it's time to create lasting change for women in this country.
For more information about the Rose Campaign, please visit http://www.ywcacanada.ca/ .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
/5/ UN: CANADA MUST REPORT ON POVERTY AND MURDERED ABORIGINAL WOMEN
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) reviewed Canada’s compliance with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, and issued its Concluding Observations.
The Committee asked Canada to report back in one year on steps taken to address inadequate social assistance rates across the country and the failure of law enforcement agencies to deal with the disappearance and murder of Aboriginal women and girls.
The Committee also noted the lack of affordable child care spaces and housing, insufficient access to civil legal aid, inadequate services and shelters for women and girls experiencing violence, the cancellation of funding to the Court Challenges Program, the poor representation of women in public life, continuing labour market inequality particularly for racialized women, the mistreatment of federal women prisoners and girls in detention, and the elimination of Status of Women funding for advocacy by women’s organizations.
The CEDAW Committee’s concluding observations on Canada are available at: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cedaw/docs/co/CEDAW-C-CAN-CO-7.pdf .
Further information is also available on FAFIA’s website at: http://www.fafia-afai.org/ .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
/6/ LEARN WITHOUT FEAR: THE GLOBAL CAMPAIGN TO END VIOLENCE IN SCHOOLS
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Plan International’s new report, a comprehensive global examination of school violence, focuses on three major areas: sexual violence, corporal punishment, and bullying in schools. The first three chapters outline the scale and severity of these forms of school violence, their causes and consequences and ways in which law and policy can be improved. The fourth chapter focuses on what works in tackling school violence, with a particular focus on programmatic interventions. The final chapter contains a call to action, proposing what international organisations, governments, teachers, parents and children themselves must do to stop violence in schools.
The report shows that:
Girls as young as age 10 are being forced to have sex by their teachers to pass exams and are threatened with poor grades and failure if they refuse.
Every year, more than 350,000,000 children suffer some type of violence in school.
Violence against children is an abuse of their rights is not only cruel and unjust but also predictable and preventable. The document discusses local interventions and legal and social mechanisms for curbing in-school violence and outlines a call to action.
Learn more: http://www.learnwithoutfear.org/downloads/Learn_Without_Fear_English.pdf
Source: Plan International, 2008. Contact: info@plan-international.org .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
/7/ REDUCING GAPS IN HEALTH: SOCIO-ECONOMIC STATUS IN URBAN CANADA
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This report provides an overview of links between socio-economic status and health in 15 Canadian census metropolitan areas, representing two-thirds of the urban population.
For the three-year period between 2003 and 2006, the study found that urban Canadians in the lowest socio-economic groups, based on income, education and employment, were more likely to be hospitalized for multiple serious health problems that could be treated in the community.
Gaps in the health of urban Canadians also affect women. The report indicates that:
• Women generally reported lower incomes than men (10 per cent of men and 23 per cent of women aged 65 and over were in the lowest income quartile, while 40 per cent of men and 33 per cent of women between 45 and 64 were in the highest income quartile);
• Lower household income and education were associated with an increased prevalence of poor self-rated health in both women and men; and
• Lower overall household income was linked to an increased reporting of chronic conditions in women—this was not the case with men.
Learn more:
http://secure.cihi.ca/cihiweb/en/downloads/Reducing_Gaps_in_Health_Report_ExecSumm_EN_081009.pdf (Executive Summary).
Source: Reducing Gaps in Health: A Focus on Socio-Economic Status in Urban Canada, Canadian Institute for Health Information, November 24.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
/8/ GREEN MOBILITY FUNDING AVAILABLE
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Green Mobility Capital Grants Program is accepting applications from towns, municipalities and community groups in the creation of community-based sustainable transportation infrastructure. A total of $200,000 will be invested in the program. Applicants can apply for up to $25,000 towards the capital costs of a project to be completed by September 2009. Matching funding of at least 50 per cent of the total project value is required. Project funding can be used to support initiatives such as:
• Purchase of an accessible van, feeder bus, or carshare program vehicle
• Construction of a trail connecting a neighbourhood to a transit terminal
• Infrastructure to support the operation of small-scale passenger ferry
• Purchase of bike racks for transit vehicles
• Installation of bike racks
• Creation of a pedestrian zone, bike lane, or car-free area
• Implementation of share the road signage.
The Green Mobility Capital Grants Program was created and is administered by the Ecology Action Centre. The program is made possible by funding from Conserve Nova Scotia.
The agency is looking for projects that demonstrate both the ecological and social benefits of sustainable transportation that will support small town revitalization and improve safety, costs and access for rural residents.
Application Deadline: 22 December 2008. For details visit: http://www.ecologyaction.ca/trax/grants.html . For more information call 902.429.0924.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
/9/ LA FÉDÉRATION DES FEMMES ACADIENNES DE LA NOUVELLE-ÉCOSSE EN ASSEMBLÉE GÉNÉRALE ANNUELLE
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On October 31, November 1 and 2, La Fédération des femmes acadiennes de la Nouvelle-Écosse had a successful Annual General Meeting in Dartmouth.
La Rencontre des générations under the theme” Éduquer une fille c’est éduquer une génération” helped to link young women and older women in their communities.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
/10/ DID YOU KNOW...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Annapolis Royal, Clare, Port Morien and Tatamagouche were the inaugural winners of the Lieutenant-Governor’s Community Spirit Awards in 2008. Download the entry form and submission details at http://www.communityspiritaward.ca for the 2009 awards. Yours could be one of four communities receiving the 2009 Lieutenant Governor’s Community Spirit Award during a special event suited to your community.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NEXT ISSUE – DEC. 19, 2008
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SPREAD THE WORD! FORWARD NEWSBYTES TO A FRIEND!
To subscribe, send a blank e-mail message to <join-nsacsw@lists.gov.ns.ca> .
Or you can sign up at <http://www.women.gov.ns.ca/medianewsletter.asp>.