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Women and the
constitution

Pay te Work
of Lgul Value

What was Axworthy
so worried about?

The gaping holes in the ‘‘Charter:of Rights and Freedoms’’
proposed for the new constitution may give some indication as to
why the government was so anxious to have the conference on
women and’ constitution postponed — at least until after the
Charter is passed by the Liberal majority parliament. ae

Although the proposed charter promises that “‘every indi-
vidual is equal before and under the law and has the right to the
equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimina-
tion ... based on ... sex’’, Canadian women still have good
reason to feel apprehensive. : é ;

This wording is also contained in the Canadian Bill of Rights
and it has not stood the test in the courts. For instance in 1973 the
Supreme Court ruled that it was acceptable for Native women to
lose their Indian status when marrying non-status men. This
same rule does not apply to Indian men marrying non-status
women. The court ruled that the bill’s wording only called for
‘equality in the administration of the law, i.€., a discriminatory
law can be enacted as long as it is administered equally.

In 1978 the court ruled that a woman could be denied un-
employment insurance benefits because she was pregnant. It
reasoned that discrimination against some pregnant women was
all right as long as all pregnant women were not discriminated

. against. 3

Unless these two laws are rewritten or overruled by a Charter
of Rights with teeth they will stand as precedent in the courts.

As the proposed charter stands, the Supreme Court makes the
final interpretation on all our laws, including the new charter. In
the past the court has not been very sympathetic to women’s
needs. Remember the case of Irene Murdock, the Alberta farm
wife of 20 years who on dissolution of her marriage was told she
didn’t have any right a half share in the family farm because her
contribution was only ‘‘that of any farmwife’’.

Although women are 51% of the population there has never
been a woman’s appointment to the Supreme Court. This would
obviously not solve inequalities in law pertaining to women but it
would. indicate an effort.by, our government to rectify this situa-
tion. A more democratic method of judicial appointments is on
the agenda. 4g :
~ Political pressure from women’s groups has had an impact. In

-the last round of amendments ‘‘sex” was added tq the clause
allowing for special programs to be set up to help disadvantaged
groups. Without this affirmative action programs could have
faced endless court battles in order to prove women qualify.
© Disrcimination against the handicapped or on the grounds of

“marital status has’still not been ruled out in the charter.

Other charter wording guaranteeing ‘‘each individual the right
to life’’ leaves open the possibility for the virulent anti-abortion
lobby to challenge the constitutionality of abortion.

Besides the obvious problems with the new constitution as put
forward by the Liberal government, where is the process where-
by Canadian women can have a real say in determining the
fundamental laws that will govern them? ;

‘The farce of the constitutional hearings was highlighted by
remarks made by committee co-chairman Hayes. Following the

’ presentation by the National Action Committee on the Status of
Women, he asked: ‘‘I don’t see anything in this (the brief) about

~ kids. Whose going to be looking after the kids while you girls are

out doing all this stuff?” = :

A very good question Senator Hayes. Where in this constitu-
tion are women guaranteed the right to ajob, to decent affordable
child care, to equal pay, to proper health care, adequate pen-
sions, equality in marriage, etc.

These are the kinds of questions women would undoubtedly
have been asking at the conference on women and the constitu-
tion. And these are the kinds of questions that our government
would have found ‘‘embarrassing’’..

No room on the hill

The Ad Hoc Committee of Canadian Women has been denied
use of Room 200 in the West Block of the parliament buildings to
hold its conference on women and the constitution.

The newly formed group, representing a growing number of
women’s groups, is determined to have a national conference for
women in Ottawa on Feb. 13-14, despite the postponement of a
Meeting planned by the Advisory Council on the Status of Wo-
men. The council was to have held its conference in that room.

Nancy Connolly, special assistant to Lloyd Axworthy, minis-
ter responsible for the status of women, said there were no rooms
available on that date. :

A spokesman for the Committee said the conference would still
go ahead. An announcement will be made as soon as an alterna-
tive location was found.

‘OTTAWA — Four more mem-
bers of the Advisory Council on
the Status of Women have quit
protesting ministerial interfer-
ence in the council’s affairs. This
follows the resignation of council
president Doris Anderson, who
left the post Jan. 20 after the 27-
member body backed the execu-
tive’s recommendation to post-
pone a February conference on
women and the constitution.

Anderson accused the minister
responsible, Lloyd Axworthy of
pressuring the government-ap-
pointed body into calling off the
conference until May because of
possible embarrassment to the
government. The meeting would
have coincided with the parlia-
mentary debate on the constitu-
tion.

Moreover Anderson accused
the executive at a Vancouver
forum on women last week of be-
traying her by deciding to cancel
behind her back. ‘‘Clearly some
decision had been made some-
where else without my pre-
sence’’, she said.

Former council vice-president
Win Gardner, who describes her-
self as a *‘dear and close personal
friend’’ of Axworthy has been
appointed interim president. She,
along with the rest of the four-
member executive, has signed an
affidavit stating that the minutes _

- taken at the meeting where the

decision to cancel was made are
false and omit and misrepresent
some facts. She refused to cite the
omissions and falsehoods. ©

Shelley-Ann Clark, the secret-
ary who took the minutes said
they are ‘‘100% accurate’’ and is
willing to back them up through
legal action if necessary.

As the minutes stand, all the
executive under Anderson, i.e.,
Gardner, Florence Ievers of
Quebec City, Joanne Linzey of
Whitehorse, Hellie Wilson of Ot-
tawa and Lucie Pepin of Montreal
are attributed with varying state-
ments all indicating their support
to postpone to avoid an embar-
rassing situation for the govern-
ment. On the other hand they
have all publicly stated that there
was no pressure put on them by
Axworthy. :

It is likely that this is not the
first time political pressure has
been brought to bear against the
council and its activities. In Oc-
tober last year a Mothers of Con-
federation meet planned for Win-
nipeg was called off when prom-
ised government funding failed to
come through.

The explanation given by the
ACSW for the cancellation was a
translators’ strike. Information
from the translators’ union how-
ever indicates that the union had
let the council know in advance
that they wanted that conference
to go ahead. They had given their
assurances that the conference
would not be picketed and if
necessary the union would supply
it with personnel. It appears that
Anderson would not back down
twice in a row.

The resignations and Ander-
son’s accusations have raised
some serious questions about the
council’s viability and the

\ Material on this page prepared by Kerry McCuaig government’s concerns for wo-

Accusations fly as gov't
meddling comes to light

men’s rights. Both opposition
parties in the house have con-
demned Axworthy’s role, and
Pauline Jewett of the New Demo-
cratic Party has backed Ander-
son’s demand for his resignation.
Nan McDonald, director of
work among women for the
Communist Party, stated in a
press release Jan. 26 that if
financial support from the
government didn’t have strings
attached ‘‘the present situation
would never have occurred.”
She called on women's groups
to take ‘‘a close look at the com-
position of the council’. Noting
that representation from working
women, Native groups and
French Canada is sadly lacking.
The government would obvi-
ously benefit from the confer-
ence’s postponement, she ac-
cused, since the amendments

with respect to women “‘fall far
short of the democratic principles
of equality for women.”

Canadian Labor Congress head
Dennis McDermott called for a
complete restructuring of the
council to include labor
representation. He stated that the
ACSW isn’t anindependent voice ©
for women as it is supposed to be
but ‘‘simply a political instrument
of the federal government”’’.

McDermott revealled that CLC
requests to have women trade
unionists sit on the body made to
both the Clark and ‘Liberal
governments were brushed off.

The CLC leader predicted that
until the council becomes truly
representative of Canadian
society it will only ‘remain a
farce instead of doing the job it

was set up to do’’.

i

CUPE

ON
STRIKE,

—

Sudbury lines solid.
SUDBURY — More than 830 workers at four area hospitals joined the
16,000 hospital workers throughout Ontario when they hit the bricks fora
decent contract Jan. 26. CUPE Local 161 president Justin Legault, at
Laurentian Hospital, where these pickets are doing their duty, noted
when the strike began, “a lot of those high-priced pencil pushers (man-
agement) are going to have to learn how to cook or make sandwiches.”

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FEB. 6, 1981—Page 9

TRIBUNE PHOTO — RICH ORLAND!