Canadian Women’s Rights Groups Welcome the Report made by Ms. Dubravka Šimonovic, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, to the Human Rights Council

 

Please see the PDF version with all background information. 

June 27, 2019, Ottawa

Where

Press Conference, Thursday June 27, 2019 11:30 a.m.
135-B Press Conference Room
The 135-B Press Conference Room is located in West Block on Parliament Hill.

Who

The Feminist Alliance for International Action (FAFIA) is joined by the Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Clinic (BSCC), the Ontario Native Women’s Association (ONWA), Women’s Shelters Canada (WSC), Women’s Sexual Assault Centre Renfrew County, the National Association of Women and the Law (NAWL), Dr. Pam Palmater, Chair in Indigenous Governance at Ryerson University, Myrna Dawson, Director of the Canadian Femicide Observatory for Justice and Accountability in welcoming the Report of the United Nations Special Rapporteur (SR) on violence against women, its causes and consequences on her visit to Canada.

Why

As national women’s rights experts, we were consulted during the April 2018 visit by the Special Rapporteur, during which she gathered evidence for her report.

We welcome the SR’s Recommendations to Canada for improving its record on violence against women prevention and response. And echo the urgent tone struck by her finding that “Indigenous women from First Nations, Metis and Inuit communities face violence, marginalization, exclusion and poverty because of institutional, systemic, multiple intersecting forms of discrimination not addressed adequately by the State.”

What

Canada has a long and well-regarded role in international legal circles for its stated commitments to gender equality and its history of commitment to international human rights standards. As the SR notes in her report,

“Canada has a long-standing record of support at the United Nations to issues related to violence against women, including the establishment of the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences as the main sponsor of the mandates founding resolution of 1994. The first mandate’s official visit to Canada to gather first-hand information on the situation of violence against women coincides with the commendable decision by the Government to proclaim itself as a feminist government and to adopt feminist foreign and international assistance policies. Despite such commitments the mandate holder notes that women lives’ in the country are still marked by systemic gender-based violence, especially concerning Indigenous and other women who encounter multiple forms of discrimination” [emphasis added].

Media Contacts:

Cyndia Mondésir, 613-804-2963;  [email protected]

Amanda Dale, Director, FAFIA, 416-453-1916; [email protected]