Ottawa RebELLEs Newsletter / Infolettre

Hi wonderful feminists,

Here is some information on upcoming International Women's Day events and our upcoming RebELLEs panCanadian gathering in Winnipeg in May. You'll also have some opportunities to contribute to the events, so read on!

In Solidarity,

Milena

Ottawa RebELLES

Bonjour féministes!

Voici de l'info concernant des évènements pour la Journée intérnationale des femmes (JIF) et notre prochain Rassemblement canadien des rebELLEs à Winnipeg en mai. Vous auriez des opportunités à vous impliquer!

Solidairement,

Milena

RebELLEs d'Ottawa

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1. International Women's Day Event 1: I Might Be a Feminist, But... // 1er évènement journée intérnationale des femmes: Je suis peut-être féministe, mais...

Mardi/Tuesday, 8 Mars/March 8 · 6:00pm - 10:00, National Archives Canada, 395 Wellington

GET INVOLVED // IMPLIQUEZ-VOUS

1a-Nominate a feminist friend for the Femmy's before the 18th of February/ Présentez des candidatures pour les prix annuels des Femmy's avant le 18 février

1b-Enter the Art Contest before the 15th of February/ Concours de création pour la Journée intérnationale des femmes avant le 15 février

1c-Be part of a short feminist film! / Faites partie d'un court film féministe!

*When: *February 15th, any time between 10am -4pm

*Where: *151 Slater Street, Suite 704 [offices of the Canadian Feminist Alliance for International Action]

*What: *We are making a short film about feminism, that will be shown at

the March 8th, 2011, “I might be a feminist, but...” event in Ottawa.

This year we’ll be filming your feet – so wear your best shoes—we’re going

to ask them how they feel about the recent debate on second wave vs. third

wave feminism.

1d-Volunteer at the event! contact milena.jlf.gioia@gmail.com // Devenez Bénévole! contactez milena.jlf.gioia@gmail.com

2. International Women's Day Event 2: Women's Event Network Presents: 100th Anniversary Celebration of International Women's Day

Sunday March 6, 12noon - 4pm; Bronson Center Mac Hall

featuring:

-Celebrating 100 years of IWD; 1911-2011: How much has changed?

-Women's Marketplace

GET INVOLVED // IMPLIQUEZ-VOUS

2a-Volunteer at the event! contact communityevents@wiseottawa.ca // Devenez Bénévole! contactez communityevents@wiseottawa.ca

2b- Send your nomination for the 'everyday woman' who inspires you by February 22 // Présentez des candidatures pour une femme 'de tous les jours' qui vous inspire avant le 22 février

2c- Have something to sell, trade, or give away? Dig up those things that you don't use anymore and make them available to someone who needs them. Or bring your crafts or baked goods to sell.

3. The time has come for …

the 2nd RebELLEs Pan-Canadian

Young Feminist Gathering!

May 20-23, 2011, Winnipeg Manitoba

We invite you to be part of the

RebELLEs feminist movement!

FEMINISTS, UNITE!

This is an invitation to all young women, between 14 and 35 years of age with diverse political views and identities, from all regions, cultures and languages, with an interest in feminist issues and struggles.

Discounts on travel to the gathering (WestJet) and affordable lodging are available.

GET INVOLVED
3a- To raise money for this event, we’ll meet Wednesday Feb.9 @ 6 @ the Earl of Sussex (St.Patrick) to discuss the design of the shirts and buttons we'll sell at the IWD events.

Check out this site: for tshirt inspiration:

3b- we're also planning an inter-generational feminist dinner fundraiser, to come in april. We could use your help!

//

Le
Mouvement RebELLEs vous invite au

2e Rassemblement pancanadien des jeunes féministes

du 20 au 23 mai 2011 à Winnipeg, Manitoba

Nous

vous invitons à vous joindre au

Mouvement RebELLEs!!!

Féministes,

unissons-nous !

Nous invitons toutes les jeunes femmes de 14 à 35 ans intéressées

aux enjeux et aux luttes féministes à participer au

rassemblement. Quelles que soient vos origines culturelles, votre

langue, vos opinions politiques et la façon dont vous vous

définissez, vous êtes invitée à participer

au 2e rassemblement pancanadien des jeunes féministes!

Rabais pour le transport vers le rassemblement (westjet, viarail) et hébergement pas cher, disponibles ici.

IMPLIQUEZ-VOUS

3a- Pour collecter des fonds pour le rassemblement, on va se réunir le mercredi 9 février à 18h au Earl of Sussex (St.Patrick) pour discuter à propos du design des tshirts et boutons qu'on va vendre aux évènements JIF.
Pour des idées de tshirt visitez ce site.

3b- On planifie aussi un souper-causerie féministe inter-générationnel en avril. Aidez-nous!

RebELLEs: Notre Révolution Féministe, Our Revolution is Now

2nd RebELLEs Gathering!

The time has come for …
the 2nd RebELLEs Pan-Canadian
Young Feminist Gathering!

May 20-23, 2011, Winnipeg Manitoba

We invite you to be part of the
RebELLEs feminist movement!

FEMINISTS, UNITE!

This is an invitation to all young women, between 14 and 35 years of age with diverse political views and identities, from all regions, cultures and languages, with an interest in feminist issues and struggles.

You are invited to participate in the
2nd Pan-Canadian Young Feminist Gathering

The 1st gathering, “Toujours RebELLEs, Waves of Resistance” hosted over 500 young feminists in Montréal in October of 2008. For three days, young feminists gathered to share experiences, stories and analysis. We engaged in creative resistance actions in the streets, learned from and with one another, shared our feminist talents, and danced up a storm. We returned to our regions with a strong foundation for a young feminist movement in place, one that RebELLEs all across the country have been building upon for the past two years.

This is a call to all young women, activists, students, workers, un(der)employed women, artists, researchers, mothers, feminists of all tendencies and of all types, and of course emerging feminists, to get involved!

For more information:

Ottawa RebELLEs

OttawaRebelles@gmail.com

2011 Organization Committee based in Winnipeg:

rebelles@femrev.org

Pan-Canadian Secretariat based in Montreal:

info@rebelles.org

In May of 2011, head to Winnipeg to:

* Learn about feminism and what it means to other young women

* Share your reflections and analysis of different issues that affect us as young women from diverse backgrounds

* Learn about and discuss our priorities for action as young feminists

* Share our struggles and discuss strategies to resist and combat patriarchy and other forms of oppression

* Create solidarity and reinforce the RebELLEs young feminist movement in Canada

*Celebrate our struggles and solidarity… Who said feminists don’t know how to party!?

Nominations Open for an NCR Femmy

“I Might Be A Feminist, But…” invites your nomination submissions for the "Femmy” Awards for Outstanding Feminist Achievement in the National Capital Region. Send to femmyawards@gmail.com no later than February 18th, 2011.

«Je suis peut-être une féministe, mais...» vous invite à présenter des candidatures pour le prix annuels «Femmys», pour les réalisations exceptionnelles de féministes de la région de la capitale nationale. Nous le faire parvenir par courriel à femmyawards@gmail.com au plus tard le 18 février 2011.

Thank you! Merci!

____________________

I Might Be A Feminist, But…
Invites your nomination submissions for the
"Femmy” Awards for Outstanding Feminist Achievement in the National Capital Region
To nominate a woman for this award, please see criteria and form below.

CRITERIA FOR THE FEMMY AWARDS

The Femmy Awards are intended to honour women located in the National Capital Region who have made outstanding contributions to the struggle for women's equality.
In order to be considered for the award, a nominee must:

• Identify as a woman
• Identify as a feminist

(We realize that some wonderful women and equality activists do not identify as feminists. However, we maintain the "F-word" has a proud history and we'd like to keep using the word "feminism" to describe the struggle for women's equality for now.)

• Be located in the National Capital Region

(We'd love to honour women located elsewhere, but it is just not possible for us logistically. So we challenge other groups celebrating International Women's Day to host their own Femmy Awards and honour their own feminists across the country! For any inquiries or assistance with this, please feel free to contact us.)

• Have made significant contributions to the struggle for women's equality

(We welcome your detailed ideas about what these contributions might be on the nomination form.)

NOMINATION FORM FOR A FEMMY

Please cut and paste the following and fill in the blanks as directed in your email. Send to femmyawards@gmail.com no later than February 18th, 2011.

I, ________, hereby nominate ________ of (organization, if applicable) for a Femmy Award. She has made a significant contribution to the struggle for women's equality as follows:
(Description - no longer than 1000 words)









Contact Information for Person Making the Nomination (email or mailing address, daytime phone number):
_________________________________________


Contact Information for Nominee (we will notify your nominee that she has been nominated):
______________________________________________

Je suis peut-être une féministe, mais...
Vous invite à présenter des candidatures pour

le prix annuels «Femmys», pour les réalisations exceptionnelles de féministes de la région de la capitale nationale
Vous trouverez ci-dessous les critères de sélection et le formulaire de mise en candidature pour présenter une candidate.

CRITÈRES DE SÉLECTION POUR LES FEMMYS

Ce prix a pour objet de reconnaître des femmes de la région de la capitale nationale qui ont contribué de manière exceptionnelle à la lutte des femmes pour l'égalité. Pour être admissible à un Femmy, une candidate doit:

• S'identifier comme femme
• S'identifier comme féministe

(Nous savons que des femmes et des militantes pour l'égalité extraordinaires ne se définissent pas comme féministes. Nous maintenons cependant que le «mot en F» a de quoi être fier de ses antécédents et pour l'instant, nous souhaitons continuer à décrire les luttes des femmes pour l'égalité en utilisant le mot «féminisme».)

• Être active dans la région de la capitale nationale

(Nous serions ravies d'honorer des femmes qui militent dans d'autres régions, mais des difficultés logistiques nous en empêchent. Nous lançons donc à d'autres groupes qui célèbrent la Journée internationale des femmes le défi de tenir leur propre remise de prix et d'honorer leurs propres féministes dans tout le pays! Pour toute question ou demande d'aide, n'hésitez surtout pas à nous contacter.)

• Avoir contribué de manière significative à la lutte des femmes pour l'égalité

(Faites-nous parvenir vos suggestions sur le formulaire de mise en candidature quant aux formes possibles de contribution.)

FORMULAIRE DE MISE EN CANDIDATURE POUR UN FEMMY

Veuillez copier, coller et compléter le formulaire. Nous le faire parvenir par courriel à femmyawards@gmail.com au plus tard le 18 février 2011.

Je, __________________________, présente la candidature de _________________________ de (organisation, le cas échéant) pour un prix Femmy. Cette femme a contribué de manière significative à la lutte des femmes pour l'égalité en:
(Description des réalisations - maximum de 1000 mots)









Coordonnées de la personne qui soumet une nomination (courriel ou adresse postale ainsi qu'un numéro de téléphone ou nous pouvons vous rejoindre le jour) :
___________________________________________________


Coordonnées de la personne nominée (nous allons communiquer avec la personne en nomination) ____________________________________________

Sharon McIvor will file complaint against Canada at the United Nations

From FAFIA (Feminist Alliance for International Action) via AWID (Association for Women's Rights in Development):

"Canadian Aboriginal woman lawyer, leader and advocate, Sharon McIvor announced today [December 22, 2010] that she will file a complaint against Canada at the United Nations. 'Canada continues to discriminate against Aboriginal women and their descendants in the determination of eligibility for registration as an Indian. Versions of the Indian Act, going back to the
19th century, have given preference to male Indians as transmitters of status, and to descendants of male Indians. Despite amendments made to the Indian Act when the Charter came into effect in 1985, Aboriginal women are still not treated equally as transmitters of status, and many thousands of descendants of Aboriginal women are denied status as a result.'

McIvor said: “I contested this discrimination under the Charter. It took twenty years in Canadian courts, and I achieved only partial success. Now I will seek full justice for Aboriginal women under international human rights law. Canada needs to be held to account for its intransigence in refusing to completely eliminate sex discrimination from the Indian Act and for decades of delay.”

In 1994, Sharon McIvor brought a constitutional challenge to the sex discrimination in the registration provisions of the Indian Act. The B.C. Supreme Court ruled that section 6 of the Indian Act violated s. 15 of the Charter. However, when Canada appealed, the B.C. Court of Appeal ruled that although the Indian Act was discriminatory, the bulk of the discrimination
was justified because the Government’s purpose was to preserve the existing rights of the Aboriginal men and their descendants who had been given preferred status.

Parliament is now poised to pass a new amendment to the Indian Act, Bill C-3, in response to the Court of Appeal decision. But Bill C-3, if passed, will provide only a partial and inadequate solution to the sex discrimination. Bill C-3 will make some female line descendants newly
eligible for status, but they will still have a lesser ability to transmit status than their male line counterparts. In addition, Bill C-3 will still exclude many descendants of Indian women who were unmarried. As long as these Aboriginal women and their descendants continue to be ineligible for registration as Indians, sex discrimination will remain an entrenched characteristic of the Indian Act.

McIvor said: “Because neither Canadian courts nor Parliament have yet granted an adequate and effective remedy for the sex discrimination which has been a hallmark of the Indian Act for more than a hundred years, I will take my case to the United Nations Human Rights Committee.”

“Many people in Canada, Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal, recognize that this long-standing discrimination against Aboriginal women and their descendants is wrong and should end. Before me, Mary Two-Axe Early, Jeanette Corbière Lavell, Yvonne Bedard, and Sandra Lovelace all fought to end sex discrimination against Aboriginal women in the status registration provisions in the Indian Act. I will continue, with the same determination they had, until Aboriginal women enjoy equality,” said McIvor."

-End-

Sources:
http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/November2010/12/c3673.html

http://www.fafia-afai.org/en/news/2010/sharon-mcivor-takes-her-fight-united-nations

-----


Sharon McIvor has devoted her life to improving the conditions of Aboriginal women, and all women in Canada. Sharon is a member of the Lower Nicola Band in British Columbia , a practicing lawyer, and a Professor of Aboriginal Law at Nicola Valley Institute of Technology. She has spent over two decades fighting to end sex discrimination under the status provisions of the Indian Act. At the same time she has been tireless in her work to end violence against Aboriginal women.

Reclaiming our Bodies: Painting in Resistance *** Réclamer nos corps: peinture en résistance

(English follows)

Dans le cadre des 16 jours d'activisme contre la violence faite aux femmes, les RebELLEs d’Ottawa organisent un événement de collecte de fonds de peinture sur corps. L’événement aura lieu le dimanche 5 decembre 2010, de 19h00-21h00 à Venus Envy (320 rue Lisgar) et les billets peuvent être achetés à la porte au coût de $3 (ou payez ce que vous pouvez).

Il s'agit d'un événement de peinture sur corps pour célébrer et réclamer nos corps contre la violence sexuelle. Notre vision est une de contraste et de résistance à la violence –physique et autrement— perpétué contre les femmes et les personnes qui rejettent la bipolarité du genre. Nous cherchons également à célébrer nos corps à travers la peinture et la photographie dans un espace positif.

Vous pouvez aussi choisir d’avoir votre corps photographié par les photographes professionnels au coût de $5. La peinture sera fournie pour la peinture corporelle et la peinture d'affiches. Comme divertissement, il y aura musique et paroles par Michelle Blackburn.

Vos bobettes sont obligatoires - mais tous les autres vêtements sont optionnels.

Les fonds collectés à partir de l'événement (à la porte et par les photos) seront remis à Coalition for a Carleton Sexual Assault Centre (Coalition pour un Centre d'agression sexuelle à Carleton). Venus Envy se trouve à 2 blocs sud du Transitway vous pouvez vous y rendre par autobus (numéros 1,4 et 7). Venus Envy est accessible par une rampe, mais ne dispose pas de salles de bains accessibles.

Tous sont les bienvenus ! Nous espérons que vous allez nous rejoindre pour nous aider à «réclamer nos corps » et pour peinturer notre résistance contre la violence sexiste.

En toute solidarité,

RebELLEs d'Ottawa

**********************************

“Reclaiming our Bodies: Painting in Resistance”

As part of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence, the Ottawa RebELLEs are hosting a fundraising body- painting event Sunday, 5 December 2010, 7:00-9:00pm at Venus Envy (320 Lisgar St.) $3 at the door or pay what you can.

This is a body painting event to celebrate and reclaim our bodies from sexual violence. Our vision is to contrast and resist the violence- physical and otherwise- perpetuated on womyn’s bodies and bodies that reject gender binaries. Our vision is also to celebrate our bodies through paint and photography in a body-positive and sex-positive space.

You can also have your body photographed by professional photographers for $5.

Painting supplies for body painting and poster painting will be provided. Music and spoken word by Michelle Blackburn will entertain us.

Party panties are mandatory – but all other clothes are optional

The funds collected from the event for the door and photos will be donated to the Coalition for a Carleton Sexual Assault Centre.

You can get to Venus Envy by bus 1,4,7 and is 4 blocks south of the transitway. Venus Envy is accessible by ramp but does not have accessible bathrooms.

All are welcome and we hope you'll come out to help us "Reclaim our bodies" and paint our resistance against gender violence.

In Solidarity,

Ottawa RebELLEs

Women and Retirement

A financial wake-up call for women

"What financial experts and academics told me over and over again was that women aren’t being socialized properly about money... investing for retirement doesn’t begin to be a priority until it is forced. In other words, many women don’t pay attention to investing until they divorce or their spouse dies. Only then do they begin putting together a financial plan."

Obviously, this article is a financial piece and lacks any feminist analysis, but it peaked my interest and I thought I'd share it. Any feminist perspectives on why there would be such a divide between men and women in planning for retirement?

16 days against Gender violence Campaign, November 25 - December 10

The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence falls between the dates November 25- International Day Against Violence Against Women- and December 10- International Human Rights Day- in order to symbolically link violence against women and human rights and to emphasize that such violence is a violation of human rights. This 16-day period also highlights other significant dates including November 29, International Women Human Rights Defenders Day, December 1, World AIDS Day, and December 6, which marks the Anniversary of the Montreal Massacre.The 16 Days Campaign has been used as an organizing strategy by individuals and groups around the world to call for the elimination of all forms of violence against women.

This year in Ottawa, many local organizations will be holding events during the 16 days to raise awareness on gender-based violence. These community actors will come together on November 24th at the Amnesty office to share their events and vision for this campaign. More info on the event can be found on the poster below.
The Ottawa RebELLEs are definitely planning an exciting event for the 16days, in final stages of planning.

We'll keep you posted!!

For more info on the 16 days campaign:
Center for Women's Global Leadership

pour une version FRANÇAISE, cliquez ici.