Hell hath no fury . . .

(Halifax Herald Feb 15 2007) Halifax women protest funding cuts to equality programs with angry Valentines to PM

Hundreds of valentines sent to Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Wednesday lacked the typical lovey-dovey note most cards include.

Instead, the message on the fluorescent pink postcards was that women are angry and want action.

The national postcard campaign, organized by the Nova Scotia group The Women are Angry, comes on the tail of recent federal budget cuts to women’s rights programs.

On Wednesday, members of women’s advocacy groups across the province crammed into a room at the Gottingen Street YMCA in Halifax to voice their demands.

"Hey! Harper! Leave our funds alone!" a group toting black pompoms and calling themselves the Radical Cheerleaders sang to the tune of Pink Floyd’s Another Brick in the Wall.

The roughly two dozen women in attendance shouted their support, clapping along with the Tory-bashing cheers.

The women say they are specifically upset with a $5-million budget cut to Status of Women Canada, as well as the cancellation of federal-provincial child-care agreements and a national court challenges program.

Stephanie Hunter, co-ordinator of Feminists for Just and Equitable Public Policy, said these changes, which went into effect last year, "will have a direct and negative impact on women."
"
The Conservatives are further dismantling Canada’s social safety net, widening the gap between the rich and poor, increasing job insecurity and failing to address violence against women," Ms. Hunter said in a release Wednesday.
S
ue Wolstenholme, executive director of operations for the YWCA of Halifax, pointed out that by trashing the individual provinces’ child-care agreements, the Conservatives are ultimately attacking women.

"The only choice this will provide women is to stay at home themselves or continue cobbling together inadequate, usually unaffordable, often poor quality and sometimes dangerous care situations for their children," she said to the group.

Rhianydd Bellis, who spoke on behalf of Dalhousie Legal Aid, said the recent cuts have cost many Canadians their access to justice.

The third-year law student was referring to a court challenges program that helps fund court cases challenging laws that could violate basic human rights and equality.

Or at least it used to do that, Ms. Bellis said.

Mr. Harper announced Sept. 26 that the program’s budget would be eliminated.
"Shame, shame," members of the audience called out when they heard this. Ms. Bellis nodded in agreement.

"Those who need to point out the imperfections in our laws, and are brave enough to do so, deserve to be heard," she said. "To many, if not most, Canadians, complex charter litigation is beyond their means. Cancelling the program has created a situation whereby only those with deep pockets will be able to afford to contest laws."

All the speakers Wednesday seemed to tap into the unhappiness many women have with the Tory government. They urged people to sign a postcard and send it along to the prime minister.
Postcards can be downloaded from the website, www.thewomenareangry.org.
( jstewart@herald.ca)