Catholic Women’s League of Canada | BC and Yukon Council

Meeting with BC Government

TRAFFICKING OF HUMANS
Sandra Stajduhar

Trafficking of humans is the focus of resolutions 2004.05 End Trafficking of Children (http://www.cwl.ca/resolutions/2004/04-05.htm) and 2008.01 Preventing Human Trafficking at 2010 Olympics (http://www.cwl.ca/resolutions/2008/2008-01.html). We are asking for a concentrated effort from all members to follow the action plans and also to pray daily for guidance as we work against the horrible crime of trafficking.

A delegation from the BC & Yukon Provincial executive met with Liberal and NDP MLA’s on March 25, 2009. A complete report of that meeting will be available after the provincial convention, but for your information and assistance in working on resolution 2008.01 we are providing in full the presentation made on human trafficking by president-elect Nancy Simms.

Nancy’s report:
“I would like to bring to your attention resolution, 08.01 Preventing Human Trafficking at 2010 Olympics. Three years ago we were here and I addressed the Catholic Women’s League resolution 04.05 End Trafficking of Children. I spoke about the increasing problem of human trafficking not only in Canada, but globally. Statistics now indicate that between 700,000 to 4 million people are trafficked yearly. I do believe that within these past three years our society has come to a greater understanding of the reality of human trafficking and we in the Catholic Women’s League know and appreciate the steps the government of British Columbia has made to reduce and prevent trafficking through the opening of The Office to Combat Trafficking in Persons.

Canada signed and in May 2002 ratified the United Nations trafficking protocol, in which trafficking in persons is defined as “the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation.” (end quote)

The purposes of trafficking include: prostitution, entertainment industry, sweatshops, organ transplants, domestic slavery and begging for others.

Because Canada is preparing to host the 2010 Olympics in British Columbia, the global problem of human trafficking, especially at international sporting events, has been brought to the forefront. » Read the rest of this entry »

Submitted by: Sandra Stajduhar

Dear League Sisters and Father Tien,

A brief note to wish all of you a blessed New Year, with the hope that 2009 will truly be a year of peace and hope.  I have received a communiqué from our national chairperson, Barb Dowding, and I quote her introduction:

“To be Women of Peace and Hope, we must first be women who love and are loved.  Remembering who we are in God’s eyes and His plan will enable us to reach out, affect change and help each other believe in ourselves. One of the many aspects of feminine leadership comes in the form of confidence, not necessarily self confidence, but rather the confidence that comes from trusting in God. The quote attributed to Nelson Mandela, “As we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fears, our presence automatically liberates others,” reminds me to use Jesus as the ultimate model of leadership. Called to love and be loved in this world, I must lead with my heart, trust my informed intuition (feminine genius?) and make manifest the glory of God. As Women of Peace and Hope, we cross all barriers when we extend a hand, a hand of comfort and welcome, of friendship, understanding and compassion. Resolutions: Shining our lights as Women of Peace and Hope, how blessed are we?”

The entire communiqué will soon be on the national website – please take the time to read it. » Read the rest of this entry »

Submitted by: Sheila Quinn

In March this year the provincial delegation, Provincial President, Barb Dowding, Past President, Pat Battensby and myself made our way to the Legislature building for our meetings with both Liberal and New Democratic Party members to present and discuss the League’s resolutions.

We were warmly welcomed by the Liberal Caucus whip Mr. Randy Hawes for the first meeting attended by twenty-two members and three interns who were each given booklets listing the resolutions, briefs and recommended action plans in order for them to follow the presentation.

I began by introducing our delegates, giving a brief outline of our organization, and thanking the members for the work they do for our province. The following three resolutions were directed to the federal government, however we were asking that they give support to them:

Government Funding for Police Record Checks – people volunteer, many of them League members so is it fair to ask them to pay for these checks?

Global Accountability for Canadian registered Mining Companies. Mentioning that the League had withdrawn holdings from these companies and inviting them to consider this option.

Hospice Palliative Care, An Integral Component of the Canadian Health Care. To this, one member stated that end-of-life care is ‘spotty’ but a top priority   We were informed that it is a challenge to elected members each year and a struggle to put more monies into health care, but the good news is this year 2/3rd of monies is going into health care.  While they agreed with us we were asked if our organization would support the government to be sustainable in completely different ways of attacking this. » Read the rest of this entry »

Submitted by: Barbara Dowding 

Dear League Sisters and Father Terry,

I hope you have all had a good Lent and I pray that this Holy Week will be particularly prayerful for you. It is such a hopeful time of year with the longer, lighter days and Easter’s promise upon us!

But first, special congratulations to the Nelson Diocese on the appointment of their new Bishop, John Corriveau, ofm. This will be an exciting time for your diocese and for Bishop Corriveau too as he begins to see how wonderful the CWL is! Bishop Cooney is in our prayers too for his many years of support and service. » Read the rest of this entry »

Submitted by: Sheila Quinn

Greetings,

Now that clocks have sprung forward next comes March 20th which heralds the first day of Spring, a time of spiritual awakening, a time of new life, trees blossoming, flowers starting to bloom, baby goats and little lambs frolicking around and hopefully sunshine and warmth.

Spring is also the time we think, plan and look forward to our diocesan conventions, a time of learning, sharing and meeting new and longtime League sisters…

Congratulations and thanks to the six diocesan resolutions chairs for their annual reports!

Exciting news – to date two dioceses are currently working on several proposed resolutions, a combined total of eleven. » Read the rest of this entry »

Submitted by: Sheila Quinn

Greetings on this blustery Shrove Tuesday,

First of all I share with you the exciting news, to date I have received titles of nine proposed resolutions from two dioceses.   Should the other four dioceses be contemplating submitting a resolutions(s) the titles must be sent to me right away so that they can be forwarded to National by February 15^th.

New Criteria

From my last communique (with enclosures) you would have received the updated check-list and guidelines for resolutions being presented this year which I trust have been forwarded to parish counterparts.  Parish council committees working on resolutions  must  have these guidelines to follow in order to avoid disappointment and frustration when resolutions are not accepted.

National Resolutions chairperson reminder ‘background material and research must be from original sources, not from newspaper clippings, opinions or website information.   Material cannot be plagiarized and credit must be given to the originating sources’. » Read the rest of this entry »

Submitted by: Sheila Quinn

Greetings,

During Advent let us try to set aside time from our busy lives to pray, reflect and focus on the true meaning of Christmas, the birth of our Lord.

Resolutions 2007.02 Global accountability for Canadian Registered Mining Companies The D & P card given out in parishes recently asking that we sign and send to the Prime Minister is a great way to show further support for this resolution and D & P. I sent a copy of this resolution to the Social Justice co-ordinator in my diocese, please consider forwarding it to the contact person in your diocese mentioning that it will be including in the resolutions presented when both national and provincial levels of the League meet with Federal and Provincial governments.

All 3 resolutions passed at Montreal national convention appeared in the fall issue of the League magazine and it is important that members follow the suggested action plan not only on these three but also on previous resolutions which can be found on the national web-site www.cwl.ca. One suggestion for council resolutions chairpersons could be to set a goal of getting members at meetings to follow action on at least one resolution a month. Action speaks louder than words! » Read the rest of this entry »

Submitted by: Sheila Quinn

The provincial delegation of Marilyn V………, Nancy S…., Gloria G……., and myself arrived at BC Legislative Building for the March pre-arranged meetings.

We checked in, obtained security passes, proceeded to the first meeting with members of the New Democratic Party, the critic for health, critic for mental health and critic for the environment.

Booklets with the 2006 resolutions were given to them in order to follow our presentation. After introductions resolutions addressed were – 06.01 Religious Freedom, 06.02 Legal Protection for All Those who Object to the Solemnization of Civil Marriage for Same-Sex Partners, 06.03 GST Exemption on funeral Services and 06.04 Renewable Energy.

They appeared interested, asked questions and made a few comments. The environment critic pointed out that Canadians are among the highest consumers of energy in the world and suggested we encourage our members to start conserving energy by turning off unnecessary electric devices in our homes. The one hour allotted for our meeting was up, we took our leave feeling things had gone well, quickly made our way to our next meeting where we were greeted by the Liberal Caucus Co-ordinator who distributed our booklets. » Read the rest of this entry »

Submitted by: Nancy Simms

Good Morning ladies and clergy.

In November of 2006 we as the provincial council of BC/Yukon with approximately 9,000 members sent Ms. Shirley Bond, Minister of Education a letter of concern regarding the ministries agreement with two private citizens, Peter and Murray Corren. Whereby, the media had informed us that this agreement gave the Corren’s unprecedented input into the development of new curriculum for our provinces schools. » Read the rest of this entry »

Submitted by: Gloria Gausboel

The last Wednesday morning in March started early for four members of the BC/YK Provincial Council of The Catholic Women’s League of Canada. The delegation consisted of Sheila Q. 1st Vice President and Chairperson of Resolutions, Marilyn V. 2nd Vice President and Chairperson of Christian Family Life, Nancy S. Chairperson of Education and Health and myself, Gloria G. Legislation Chairperson. We arrived at the BC Legislature at 8:15 am to check in and obtain security passes. Our first meeting was with members of the New Democrat Official Opposition. The three members of the NDP caucus who attended listened to our presentation on some of our 2006 resolutions and asked questions. In discussion of 2006.04 Renewable Energy we were informed that Canadians are among the highest consumers of energy in the world, several suggestions as to how we can reduce the amount of energy we use were given. » Read the rest of this entry »