From Carol.Adams at bcgeu.ca Tue Mar 9 08:36:54 2004 From: Carol.Adams at bcgeu.ca (Adams, Carol) Date: Tue, 9 Mar 2004 08:36:54 -0800 Subject: [LabComm] ANOTHER e-card to save women's centres -- please forward to Ida.ChongGHOffice@leg.bc.ca Message-ID: <517DADDBB3EDAF44A2620DCB53689BD6020D1E51@exchange.bcgeu.bc.ca> -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Outlook.bmp Type: image/bmp Size: 179638 bytes Desc: Outlook.bmp URL: From Carol.Adams at bcgeu.ca Tue Mar 9 08:57:34 2004 From: Carol.Adams at bcgeu.ca (Adams, Carol) Date: Tue, 9 Mar 2004 08:57:34 -0800 Subject: [LabComm] ANOTHER e-card to save women's centres -- please forward to Ida.Chong.GHOffice@leg.bc.ca Message-ID: <517DADDBB3EDAF44A2620DCB53689BD6020D1E58@exchange.bcgeu.bc.ca> -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Outlook.bmp Type: image/bmp Size: 179638 bytes Desc: Outlook.bmp URL: From Carol.Adams at bcgeu.ca Mon Mar 15 17:23:36 2004 From: Carol.Adams at bcgeu.ca (Adams, Carol) Date: Mon, 15 Mar 2004 17:23:36 -0800 Subject: [LabComm] CALLING ALL WOMEN ACTIVISTS Message-ID: <517DADDBB3EDAF44A2620DCB53689BD6020D1F79@exchange.bcgeu.bc.ca> Please forward this message on to your contacts... thanks! CALLING WOMEN ACTIVISTS Tired of watching the Campbell Liberals cut women's jobs and dismantle every program women need and value?? Interested in planning a campaign for a better deal for BC women.? Come out to a meeting of women activists from advocacy organizations, unions and the academic community who are interested in creating an "umbrella project " to shelter, encourage and support events over the next 12 months that can advance a wide range of demands for equality, social and economic justice and hold any provincial government accountable. MEETING DATE Wednesday, March 24, 6:30 -8:30 pm Prior/Sutherland room BC Teachers' Federation 550 West 6th Avenue, Vancouver If your women's organization is already planning an event in the next 12 months this meeting is for you. If you're interested in organizing an event in the next 12 months on any issue of concern to women, please join us. Carol Adams BCGEU Communications Tel: (604) 291-9611 Cell: (604) 319-4363 carol.adams at bcgeu.ca -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From lleclair at cupe.ca Wed Mar 17 20:25:32 2004 From: lleclair at cupe.ca (Louise LeClair) Date: Wed, 17 Mar 2004 20:25:32 -0800 Subject: [LabComm] Bring on the Clowns -- Support the Britannia 9 Message-ID: March 17, 2004 From: The Committee Working in Support of the Britannia 9 Re: Political freedom to speak out against injustice Dear Sisters and Brothers: On October 3, 2003 Gordon Campbell was invited to open a P3, known as the Canucks Family Literacy Centre, in East Vancouver. Several groups, including the public education coalition Save Our Schools, called for a demonstration to protest both the P3 and the BC Liberals? cuts to public education especially those aimed at the poor. A small group of people showed up to protest that day. The crowd reached about seventy-five at the height of the demo. They were matched by about forty-five Vancouver police officers. The event turned into a melee when a United Church Minister, wearing a clown nose, was physically attacked by the police while he was speaking-out. George Feenstra, the clown-nose-wearing minister, along with Murray Bush, a well-known radio journalist and labour activist, two youths and several other anti-poverty activists were taken by police paddy wagon to a parking lot where they were threatened before being strip searched and held in jail without recourse to legal aid for 27 hours. The Britannia 9, as the group have come to be called, have been through a number of court appearances during the last year and legal costs for the group are mounting. They anticipate another 30 or more days in court. The current trial period began March 8, 2004, and is scheduled to run until the end of March. The Committee in Support of the Britannia 9 is writing to ask if your organization will purchase a table of 10 tickets for an evening entitled ?Bring on the Clowns? scheduled to take, place at the Ukrainian Cultural Centre in Vancouver on March 27, 2004 from 8:00 p.m. onwards. In addition we are asking you to purchase a clown nose for each of your guests. ?Bring on the Clowns? aims to draw public attention to the serious threat against political protest posed by the large police presence at this small event and the subsequent silencing of these protesters through the legal system. George Feenstra, for example, was instructed not to wear disguises until his court case was complete. We are asking people to wear their clown noses in public whenever possible throughout the trial to demonstrate their demand for the reinforcement of the freedom of political protest. Your purchase of a table and 10 clown noses ($20 per ticket and $5 per clown nose) would be $250.00. The purchase will not only contribute to helping defray the legal costs for the Britannia 9, it will lend your voices to the demand for freedom for all citizens to participate in political protest. The March 27, 2004 event at the Ukrainian Cultural Centre at 805 East Pender Street in Vancouver will feature the Victoria celtic rock group the Mcgillycuddys, DJ Champagne and friends as well as excellent food! You can reserve tickets by contacting Louise at 604-291-1940 or Maryann at 604-8771223. Individual tickets can be purchased at People?s Co Op Books on Commercial Drive. In solidarity Louise Leclair Maryann Abbs PS While this letter is written in hopes that unions or organizations will purchase a table please feel free to contact us about purchasing one or more tickets and/or noses. From Carol.Adams at bcgeu.ca Fri Mar 19 10:13:40 2004 From: Carol.Adams at bcgeu.ca (Adams, Carol) Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2004 10:13:40 -0800 Subject: [LabComm] Save women's centres - please add a personal message and forward to ida.chong.mla@leg.bc.ca Message-ID: <517DADDBB3EDAF44A2620DCB53689BD6020D1FE6@exchange.bcgeu.bc.ca> -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Outlook.bmp Type: image/bmp Size: 240438 bytes Desc: Outlook.bmp URL: From lleclair at cupe.ca Mon Mar 22 15:31:28 2004 From: lleclair at cupe.ca (Louise LeClair) Date: Mon, 22 Mar 2004 15:31:28 -0800 Subject: [LabComm] Stop the farce! Support the Britannia 9 Message-ID: March 22, 2004 Stop the Farce Now Drop the Charges against the Britannia 9! Vancouver?A group formed to support the Britannia 9 will defiantly don clown noses and gather in front of the courthouse at 222 Main Street at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 23. They are gathering to draw attention to the farce taking place inside the courthouse as the sixth week of another Vancouver trial featuring police brutality gets underway. The trial focuses on the five members of the Britannia 9 still facing charges as a result of their participation in a political protest against Gordon Campbell?s cuts to education that took place in East Vancouver on October 3, 2003. The remaining five, all of whom have pleaded not guilty on all counts, are being forced to defend themselves against a number of charges including assaulting police officers. Among the five is George Feenstra, the United Church Minister whose major crime seems to have been wearing a clown nose during the protest. Six charges were recently dropped due to lack of evidence. ?It?s time to drop the rest of the charges in this farce of criminal justice.? says Maryann Abbs spokesperson for the group organized to raise awareness about the trial and to raise money in support of the five remaining defendants in this case. ?Everyone has pleaded not guilty to all the charges.? says Abbs, ??Thousands of dollars have already been wasted on this show trial. The issue is really about freedom to conduct political protest.? Since the 2002 political protest at the Britannia Community Centre, the Vancouver Police have been criticized, and in some cases charged in court, in connection with their chosen methods of controlling activities, particularly on Vancouver?s east side. ?The case of the Britannia 9 is a significant example of why the Vancouver Police seem to be buried in scandal these days,? says Abbs. ? And no amount of public relations will be able to cover up the fact that the Vancouver Police Force is out of control.? The group organizing the protest and other events in support of the Britannia 9 is inviting people to purchase a clown nose to support the Britannia 9 to join the protest on Tuesday (March 23) and to attend other fundraising events. -30- Information: Maryann Abbs 604.877.2233 or Tammy Tupechka 604.258.0229 From Carol.Adams at bcgeu.ca Tue Mar 23 11:56:29 2004 From: Carol.Adams at bcgeu.ca (Adams, Carol) Date: Tue, 23 Mar 2004 11:56:29 -0800 Subject: [LabComm] Save women's centres -- phone/email/fax the Premier Message-ID: <517DADDBB3EDAF44A2620DCB53689BD6020D201D@exchange.bcgeu.bc.ca> -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Outlook.bmp Type: image/bmp Size: 291942 bytes Desc: Outlook.bmp URL: From Carol.Adams at bcgeu.ca Tue Mar 23 12:30:00 2004 From: Carol.Adams at bcgeu.ca (Adams, Carol) Date: Tue, 23 Mar 2004 12:30:00 -0800 Subject: [LabComm] VSW Forum on Women and Poverty Message-ID: <517DADDBB3EDAF44A2620DCB53689BD6020D2024@exchange.bcgeu.bc.ca> Is poverty increasing in your community? Why? Who benefits from poverty? Why are more women living in poverty in the world and Canada? Why are the poor being attacked? WHO: Sunera Thobani Jean Swanson Window Pain (art display) Nisga'a Ts'amiks Dance Group WHEN: Sunday March 28th, 2004 2-8 pm WHERE: Collingwood Neighbourhood House - 5288 Joyce Street Vancouver, BC (Joyce Skytrain) COST: Sliding scale $0-50 (Sliding scale is an anti-classist concept, which means that those with less pay less and those with more pay more). The main objective of the forum is to increase public awareness around poverty issues and poor-bashing in relation to women within a global, national, and local context. The forum is open to the community: women, trans, men, & families. We welcome you to join us in a day of conversations, art displays (artists impacted by disability benefits cuts), food, discussion groups, performance (First Nations' Dance Group), and more.... Dinner will be provided. Childcare, American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation, and bus tickets will be available, (when registering for the event, please let us know if you require the above accessibility resources). For more information or to register for the forum, email femantipov at vsw.ca or call 604-255-6554. Visit our website www.vsw.ca for more information. REGISTRATION IS RECOMMENDED Vancouver Status of Women is a non-profit, feminist, community based organization with a vision of freedom and self-determination for all through responsible, socially just, healthy and joyful communities both locally and globally. VSW's mission is to work with women to ensure our full participation in the social, economic, and political life of our communities. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: clip_image001.gif Type: image/gif Size: 3062 bytes Desc: clip_image001.gif URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... 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Name: Outlook.bmp Type: image/bmp Size: 367598 bytes Desc: Outlook.bmp URL: From Carol.Adams at bcgeu.ca Wed Mar 31 14:14:19 2004 From: Carol.Adams at bcgeu.ca (Adams, Carol) Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2004 14:14:19 -0800 Subject: [LabComm] BCGEU: Campbell Liberals are slamming the doors shut on women Message-ID: <517DADDBB3EDAF44A2620DCB53689BD6020D20BC@exchange.bcgeu.bc.ca> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Wednesday, March 31, 2004 Campbell Liberals are slamming the doors shut on women The Campbell Liberals have sunk to an-all time low by cutting core funding for B.C.'s 37 women's centres, the B.C. Government and Service Employees' Union (BCGEU) said today. "Since the day they took office, the Campbell Liberals have continued to cut or reduce vital services to women, including child care subsidies, welfare, legal aid, 24-hour rape crisis lines, victim's assistance, Pharmacare, specialized job training for women who have suffered abuse, and much more," said George Heyman, BCGEU president. "But to cut women's centres core funding - that's an all-time low, even for this government. "Today, the Campbell Liberals aren't just closing the doors on women, they're slamming it shut," Heyman said. Heyman called on the government to divert some of the money that's being spent on costly ad campaigns to help the over 300,000 women and girls who receive direct services from women's centres each year. "The $1.7 million needed to keep women's centres in our communities is a drop in the bucket when compared to the millions the Campbell Liberals are spending on new logos or ads to convince us what a great job they're doing on health care. It's less than the amount of fines this government forgave fish farm operators for violating the terms of their licences," Heyman said. "Surely women who are fleeing abusive homes, who have been cut off welfare and have no way to feed themselves or their children, or who are at wit's end because so many services have been cut, are worth the government foregoing a few weeks of slick television ads." As of April 1, the provincial government will no longer provide core funding to women's centres in B.C. This amounts to about $47,000 a year for each of the 37 women's centres, or a total of $1.7 million. The cost translates into just over $5 per woman helped by a women's centre, or 91 cents for every woman and girl in the province, according to the B.C. Coalition of Women's Centres. Women's centres provide a wide range of services, including information and referrals, support groups, crisis counselling, job entry programs, legal aid workshops, child care services, housing registries, stopping violence against women, clothing exchanges, food programs, and advocacy. - 30 - Contact: Carol Adams, (604) 291-9611 opeiu 378 To receive BCGEU news releases by e-mail send the message subscribe news to majordomo at bcgeu.bc.ca