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: Sheila Quinn

Here we are about to celebrate Labour day, which signals the end of summer and the beginning of the beautiful season of Fall or Autumn as I know it. As children prepare to go back to school we too plan and prepare for our CWL meetings. I hope you were able to attend a convention and are feeling refreshed, re-energized and full of enthusiasm.

Welcome to second term Legislation Chairpersons from Kamloops, Prince George and Vancouver, and like myself, first term chairperson from Victoria. I notice several familiar names and look forward to receiving your communiques updating me on legislation news in your diocese.  Have you thought of sharing with the other diocesan chairpersons?   If I can be of any assistance at all please contact me.

Legislation – social justice in action.

In the executive handbook the guidelines given under this standing committee are:

• to monitor and study legislation (laws made) at all levels of government.
• the preparation of briefs and position papers on proposed legislation

How do we do this?

By monitoring both current and past resolutions when they become bills and are presented to Federal Parliament through reading the newspapers and accessing both the Federal Parliament web site and also the Legislative Assembly at  and by following Hansard at which is where the official record of motions debated and passed since 1972 in BC are listed. You can also find out what MLA’s said and how they voted.

Do you know who your Federal/Provincial Members of Parliament are?  Contact them requesting to be put on their mailing list, keeps you informed and updated. » 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,

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: Nancy Simms

Dear Sisters in the League,

Now that we are into the Advent season it is my prayer that each of us will take time out of our daily busyness to remember the hope, love and joy with which Advent bestows on us.

“Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.” Is. 122

Bioethics: I recently received the below email from our past national president Marie Cameron and found the recommended website to be an excellent source of information on bioethics and the church’s position on these crucial issues.

“This was sent to me from one of my CWL friends and I am forwarding it as I find his articles very informative. Fr. Tad was here in Calgary at St. Mary’s University College this weekend for some seminars. Marie

Fr Tad is a respected and well known US expert ( Ph.D at Yale and post doctoral work at Harvard) on bioethics and an advisor to the American Catholic Bishops. He writes weekly on Bioethics issues. His writing is absolutely consistent with the magisterium of the Catholic Church and is a good source of formation for you and for me on these very topical and important issues That’s why I am sending you his website. Please read some of his articles. They are short and clear. http://www.ncbcenter.org/makingsense.asp

In case you want to know more type Father Tad Pacholczyk into Google.com,  you will get quite a bit to read.” » 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: Sheila Quinn

Greetings and Happy Valentine’s Day,

As we “Walk Humbly With our God” let us “Love One Another” by continuing to take action on resolutions such as those related to on-going major concerns such as trafficking of women and children, poverty, homelessness to name a few. Many other important issues are stated in previous resolutions and can be found on the League website – click on resolutions and follow the suggested action plan. Encourage parish councils to study one resolution at each meeting, then write letters or arrange another day for coffee and letter writing. What makes a resolution worthwhile? The action – one phone call, one letter!!! » Read the rest of this entry »