REAL Women of Canada has been around since 1983, when we were federally incorporated. We represent a vast cross-section of Canadian women-- Métis women, immigrant women--many, many women across Canada. One thing we've found is that the most discriminatory agency against us has been the Status of Women, because the Status of Women only represents, not women in general, but those having an ideology, that of radical feminism.
You gave out $1.5 million between 1992 and 2002 to the organization CRIAW to research for feminist objectives, and they are not a reflection of what Canadian women want and need.
Canadian women have other agendas than the Status of Women, and we are very offended that this agency has existed since 1973, never ever reflecting the needs of Canadian women. For example, I'll give you the most pertinent example today. Canadian women are in all the major professions. We have equal opportunity, but one of our major problems today is how to balance our work life with our home life and commitments. The Status of Women has not the slightest bit of interest in what women think in these areas. Women need to be treated equally, and there has never been equality with the Status of Women. It has been a blemish on the face of Canada.
In fact, we're looking through some of the previous speakers.... It's the end of democracy. Women are not being funded. REAL Women has never received money. We're obviously an advocacy group and we've managed to survive very well because we have grassroots support. We reflect what women in Canada want. They pay money, and they're not wealthy. Some are on pensions, some are single mothers, but they support us simply because they care about what we reflect.
REAL Women is an NGO with consultative status with the United Nations. As such, we've attended over 34 United Nations meetings. We have been working internationally, promoting women and the care of women. We have equality, which is in our objectives of incorporation, yet we have been able to do all this work simply because women care for what we're doing. We're not fronts; we're not phoney, putting up artificial creations by the government, which is supposed to represent women but doesn't.
For example, a very important point is this. One of the previous speakers suggested that Canada won't have equality until all the CEDAW committee accepts us and says we're equal. Perhaps they're not aware of the fact that the committee monitoring CEDAW is under severe surveillance because it's coming up with theories and positions that are not in the CEDAW agreement. For example, we have them promoting the word “abortion” 37 times, yet it's not in the CEDAW at all.
As for pay equity, how many people here know that when Canada actually ratified the CEDAW document, it put a reservation against pay equity, simply because the provinces would not go along and were not interested in this equal pay for equal value? In fact, I hear again and again that there's no pay equity, yet the International Labour Organization convention has never implemented it because there's no international agreement on that.
The point is that times have changed. We have to move into the 21st century. We have to deal with what women want. We have to listen to women—I've heard that again and again—but women are not all feminists. A few are, and they're perfectly entitled to be, but the vast majority of women do not accept those bylines and guidelines out of the Status of Women. The changes that are taking place are long overdue.
You've had the Status of Women operating for 34 years, and yet you still say women are discriminated against, that we're victims. What victims? Some women are victims--they may be Métis women, they may be immigrant women--but women as a whole are not discriminated against. We're perfectly capable, competent women, able to make decisions with our life, and it's deeply troubling that the government is putting out $11 million each year to a variety of feminists—not women's groups, feminist groups—to promote an agenda that is not a reflection of what Canadian women want or need.
Thank you very much.