1. ADVOCACY REPORT TO THE 2016 CFUW ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Teri Shaw
Vice President , Advocacy

2. WORKING WITH GOVERNMENT and PARTNERS WORKING WITH CLUBS and MEMBERS
WHAT WE DO
WORKING WITH GOVERNMENT and PARTNERS
WORKING WITH CLUBS and MEMBERS
Advocacy has been very exciting this year, and much of it due to the election, both pre and post.

3. THE ELECTION ______________________________________
UP FOR DEBATE
Election Bulletins
Some highlights:
Government Work:
The Election:
Up for Debate
Election Bulletins,

4. SUPPORT FROM CLUBS ________________________________________________________________________________
CFUW SASKATOON
CFUW SOUTHPORT
and support from clubs Grandma Asked Me to Vote campaign, CFUW Saskatoon

5. POST ELECTION _________________________________________________
Fall package on:
Adopted Resolutions
Briefs on Women’s Equality and on Education
Women’s History Month and the Suffragists
Post-election:
For the clubs: traditional fall package on the adopted resolutions, and Briefs prepared for Women’s Equality, for Education

6. POST ELECTION __________________________________________________
Climate Change Brief for the Pre-Budget consultations Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women End Violence Against Women, Nov.25-Dec.6
Climate change
Brief for the Pre-budget consultations
Work on the National Initiative on violence which included updated information concerning the murdered and missing Indigenous Women and the End Violence Against Women

7. POST ELECTION ________________________________________________
Meetings among others:
Patti Hajdu, Minister Status of Women
Status of Women Canada
NDP and Conservative Critics and/or their staff
Support to Private Member’s Bills
Non-State Torture, with updated materials
Maternity assistance program
Motion on climate change
Bill C-14 Assisted Dying
Meetings with Status of Women Canada, Patti Hajdu, Minister Status of Women, as well as both NDP and Conservative Critics
Support to Private Member’s Bills on Non-State Torture, with updated materials, and maternity assistance program and Motion on climate change
Bill C-14 Assisted Dying

8. SUMMER ___________________________
For the first time ever action during the summer:
Child Care: Telling Our Stories
Sexual Assault on Campus research project
Meeting with MPs before the fall on some important topics
For the first time, we are having summer campaigns to build for the return of Parliament in September:
Child Care and Sexual Assault on Campus, also the suggestion of meeting with MPs before the fall on some important topics.

9. WORKING WITH CLUBS AND MEMBERS _________________________________
Your support is vital – and we thank you for it.
TAKE ACTION
Member
Resources
website
For and with the membership:
Most of the work with the government is handled in Ottawa by our Advocacy Coordinator, Maddie Webb, and our Executive Director, Robin Jackson.
Advocacy for CFUW involves more that talking to governments. It also involves you, our membership, to encourage with knowledge and to TAKE ACTION.

10. WORKING WITH CLUBS AND MEMBERS _________________________________
The CFUW Advocacy Toolkit
Series of handouts and booklets
Found in the Member Resources website
To this end, we have had, and are continuing, four major endeavours this year:
CFUW Advocacy Toolkit
One of the recommendations from the 2013 New Beginnings survey was the “development of training initiatives to assist Clubs in addressing advocacy Issues at the local level”, including “community partnerships and coalitions.” This January we published the online Advocacy Toolkit. It is an ever-evolving set of handouts and booklets.

11. WORKING WITH CLUBS AND MEMBERS _________________________________
Sexual Assault on Campus Research Project
Women in Universities
relook at 1992 CFUW study
Early Learning and Child Care
Study of the holes in service
Indigenous Study & Resources
Found on Tools & Resources
WORKING WITH CLUBS AND MEMBERS _________________________________
The
Study
Group
The other major endeavor was The Study Group initiated by Kathryn Wilkinson, VP Education and myself. The aim was to provide for individual members across Canada something similar to what is available in clubs – an excuse to study a topic and share it with others.
Studying is not necessarily our strong suit, action is – three projects have sprung from this:
Sexual Assault on Campus – a research project …..
Women in Universities 1992
Early learning and Child Care

12. WORKING WITH CLUBS AND MEMBERS _________________________________
NATIONAL
INITIATIVES
PREVENTING AND RESPONDING TO
VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
Advocacy Support to the National Initiative on Women and Violence and the new one on Early Learning and Child Care.
Child Care is continuing to expand over this year thanks to the work of the team of the National Office, Terry Hamilton of the Study Group, Margaret McGovern and the Toronto Caucus and CFUW Guelph. Following on the very successful BC Council project, we have started a Telling Our Stories campaign to build an advocacy base for both National and individual clubs
EARLY LEARNING AND CHILD CARE

13. AGM 2015 _____________________________
Ian Morrison
Friends of Canadian Broadcasting
Child Care
Has become a National Initiative
Including a 2016 summer campaign of “Telling Our Stories”
Town Hall on Resolutions
Proposed Resolutions:
Eleanor Scarth
Policy Book reboot:
Feedback:
Proposed committee to review and study the Policy Book
AGM 2015 followup
Child Care – from Ian Morrison’s talk mentioned
Town Hall on Resolutions – Eleanor Scarf will talk more about that when she gives her report.
Concerning the Policy Book, based on your feedback, the Standing Committee on Advocacy is recommending to next Board that a committee be established

14. To close:
Being an organization, with informed knowledgeable members, that extends from coast-to-coast is our strength.
We don’t have any special expertise; we’re not single issue; what we have is our network, and
it is you.
To close:
Being an organization, with informed knowledgeable members, that extends from coast-to-coast is our strength. We don’t have any special expertise; we’re not single issue; what we have is our network, and it is you.

15. THANK YOU!
Every one of you is important to us – you may not do any advocacy, or follow any issues, but you are all knowledgeable and informed in your own world, and I would guess you’re all voters. And you are and have been supportive for our advocacy work, and for that I say, after 6 years of being VP Advocacy, thank you very, very much.
And much thanks to the rest of the advocacy team – Maddie Webb, Doris Mae Oulton, Kathryn Wilkinson, Cheryl Hayles and Robin Jackson.