BPW Canada was a founding member of our international federation of BPW clubs. We have clubs in more than 90 countries, and BPW has a category I consultative status at the United Nations.
We are a volunteer organization that receives no government money. My job as president of BPW Canada is a volunteer job. To make a living, I run my own company. I am one of the almost one million women in this country who own a business or are self-employed.
Like most organizations, BPW Canada's policies and positions are driven by the membership. We have a resolutions process, where clubs bring resolutions on particular issues to our annual general meetings or biennial conventions. They are discussed, debated, and, once approved, become the position of the organization.
In 2004, at our biennial convention in Regina, we endorsed the report by the Prime Minister's Task Force on Women Entrepreneurs, and we urged the government to move forward on its more than 80 recommendations.
One of the recommendations—this is what we're going to talk about today—was to find a way to give self-employed and business-owning women the opportunity to access maternity and parental benefits under the employment insurance program. At our 2006 convention in Toronto, our members again urged the Government of Canada to amend the Employment Insurance Act to correct inequities with respect to people who are business owners or are self-employed, to give them the option of accessing benefits such as maternity and parental leave. We also made a case for giving compassionate leave to caregivers.