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Every Canadian woman, mother, grandmother, sister, aunt, niece, daughter and granddaughter who is not already suffering from the reign of cuts to social programs and health care is about feel the sting of those cuts,” says Donalda MacDonald, CUPE Regional Vice-President from Prince Edward Island. MacDonald is referring to the latest federal government wave of cuts to resources for women and children by Canada’s Federal Conservative Government.

The Regional Vice-President of Canada’s largest union representing hundreds of thousands of Canada’s working women will join representatives of leading women’s and human rights organizations, representatives of the private sector and key Parliamentarians at a roundtable on women’s human rights taking place in Ottawa on Monday, December 11th 2006.

The roundtable sponsored by The Canadian Feminist Alliance for International Action (FAFIA) highlights the 25th anniversary of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).

The group discussion and planning session comes on the heels of severe cuts to many previously funded women’s programs including the Status of Women Canada. The closure of twelve important regional offices, amendments, to the funding guidelines for women’s groups, now prohibiting advocacy and lobbying using federal funds are just two ways in which recent Conservative Government cuts are working to stop women’s groups from continuing to demand systemic change in Canada.

CUPE has called on the federal Government to reverse it’s policy decisions on childcare, pay equity, the court challenges program, Status of Women Canada and the Women’s program and to respect the CEDAW Committee recommendations by improving all Canadian women’s equality and human rights.

The roundtable will take place between 3:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m., Room 112-N Centre Block on Parliament Hill, in Ottawa. A reception will follow in the Commonwealth Room, 238-S Centre Block.

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Information:
Donalda MacDonald, CUPE Regional Vice-President PEI, 902-969-9074 (cell)
Darcie Beggs, CUPE Equality, 613-237-1590 ext. 273