Mr. Speaker, today we are celebrating the achievements of MATCH International Centre, a Canadian women's organization that has been working in the field of women's rights for 25 years.
I wish to honour co-founders, Dr. Norma Walmsley, a former Manitoban and political science professor at the University of Brandon, and Suzanne Johnson-Harvor. At the international level MATCH continues to push for women's rights in various developing countries.
I am proud to share in the 25th anniversary of MATCH. One of the women who led this organization held elected office in British Columbia during the 1970s was Ms. Rosemary Brown, a fellow partner in politics. Given her early stellar career as a human rights activist and provincial politician, Ms. Brown brought a strong presence to MATCH as its executive director in the 1980s. During her tenure MATCH grew to incorporate elements of worker rights and the rights of the disenfranchised.
In the year 2001, MATCH continues to expand on those ideas that were first introduced by Dr. Walmsley, Suzanne Johnson-Harvor and Ms. Brown. Today it is more important than ever that we celebrate the efforts of MATCH and its achievements to lend its voice to millions of poor and disenfranchised women--