Il  Register of Good Practices of Language Preservation dell'Unesco ha inserito il Winnipeg Women's Reading Circle nella sua lista, dando cosi' riconoscimento ufficiale a questa attività curata in prevalenza da donne.

 

 

The Reading Circle was started in the wake of the rediscovery of Yiddish women’s literature at a local library event in Winnipeg. In the circle, female members of the local Yiddish community meet regularly once a month to read and discuss texts by female Yiddish authors. Since the start of this library event, the Reading Circle activities have resulted in the revitalization of Yiddish language competence in its members.

“It’s taken a few years to get listed,” says Jeanette Block, one of the reading circle’s founders. “Ours is one of just eight groups and the only Yiddish group listed on the registry so far. The registry is getting one million hits a month.”

Block notes that Yiddish women’s reading circles have a long tradition in Winnipeg.

 While Block notes that there are other Yiddish reading circles in the United States and Canada, what sets the Winnipeg group apart is that it meets in a permanent location. She also believes that an anthology the group published two years ago was an important factor in its being listed by UNESCO.

The book, Arguing with the Storm, is a compilation of short stories written in Yiddish by female authors and translated into English by several ladies in the group. Block’s daughter, Rhea Tregebov, a creative writing teacher at the University of British Columbia, served as the anthology’s editor.

http://www.cjnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=16683&Itemid=86

 

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The Sisters are a high-energy, all-female sextet that brings to life Yiddish swing, klezmer and roots music; inspired by the Barry Sisters of the 1930s-40s old time radio era. The band's original music and arrangements of both traditional and jazz material combine serious musicianship, complexity and intricate musical thought with a fun approach to performance. 

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A Montreal-based group that would like to see fewer religious symbols in Quebec is calling on the provincial government to draw up a new "social contract" making the province secular and banning religious garb for anyone working in the public sector.

They don't want people wearing hijabs, kippahs, crosses or other religious items on the job and think buttons and pins that show political leanings should be banned, too.

"To maintain the neutrality of the state we must remove all religious symbols," said Marie-Michelle Poisson, president of the MLQ.

http://www.montrealgazette.com/more+religious+symbols+group+urges/1617902/story.html

«Les immigrants ne sont pas plus religieux que la moyenne des Québécois, disons, de souche», prétend Mme Poisson, du MLQ.

Ces femmes se rangent derrière la position du Conseil du statut de la femme, qui suggère au gouvernement Charest d'interdire le port de tout signe religieux ostentatoire dans la fonction publique, ce que stipulerait une éventuelle «Charte de la laïcité». 

http://www2.canoe.com/infos/quebeccanada/archives/2009/05/20090521-070100.html

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Come accade spesso ad una buona parte del movimento per i diritti delle donne anche chi si batte per il rispetto delle persone gay perde di vista la causa principale mettendosi a sostenere cause del tutto fuori luogo. In Canada è esplosa la polemica. Riporto anche la risposta dei gruppi ebraici gay.

John Greyson, a leading filmmaker of gay-themed cinema, had verbally accepted an invitation to premier one of his films in June at the Tel Aviv International LGBT film festival, organized by TLVFest.

Last month, Greyson sent organizers a cancellation letter saying "Israeli apartheid week" - an annual series of anti-Israel events in Canada - "helped clarify" his thoughts. Not joining the "growing boycott movement against Israeli apartheid," he said, "is unthinkable, impossible."

Hochner noted Geryson had asked his help in arranging a screening in Ramallah's PA-funded film house. Homosexuality is a crime in the Palestinian Authority, and sodomy carries a ten-year jail term. Hamas, which rules Gaza, has an overtly anti-gay stance based on Islamic law.

When asked whether the legal status of gay people in Ramallah and Gaza could deter him from showing his works there, Greyson said: "I haven't been invited to show my work in Gaza so this hypothetical question is irrelevant. There are plenty of places where I have not been invited to show my work," he added.

"As an outspoken Israeli gay and civil rights activist, I am puzzled at Greyson's ability to so slickly sidestep the blatant gay apartheid in Gaza," said Jonathan Danilowitz, an activist in the gay support group Tehila, who immigrated to Israel from Johannesburg in 1971.

 http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1078916.html

 http://www.xtra.ca/public/Toronto/Pride_Toronto_distances_itself_from_politics-6851.aspx

members of the Jewish gay communities in both Toronto and Montreal have voiced concerns over the increasing presence of virulent, anti-Israel political messaging that has sprouted up at the parade since the middle part of the decade.

In recent years, anti-Israel groups in Toronto have slipped into the parade without permission from organizers, their members bearing signs denouncing Israel as an apartheid state.

But current Jewish registrants and some potential parade attendees remained fearful for their safety, as well as disappointed and skeptical of Pride’s decision last week to allow QuAIA to participate.

Wendy Lampert, Canadian Jewish Congress’ director of community relations, said she hoped the Pride organizers understand the potential “discomfort” they would cause Jewish community members by including the group.

“There is an irony in that the LGBT community that was marginalized for so long… would now, in this moment, permit other communities to be marginalized at one of its own events,” Lampert said.

“I think that people who wish to demonstrate against Israel have every right to do so, but not in the Pride Parade. I don’t think they should be allowed to manipulate Pride in this way, to turn it into an ugly, scapegoating spectacle,” Peters said.

http://www.cjnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=17102&Itemid=86

A group of prominent gay opinion-shapers from around the world are to visit Israel to grapple with the country's sexuality issues on a five-day seminar centering around Tel Aviv's gay pride parade

"We know that gays around the world are liberal usually and they tend to identify with the Palestinians," explained Meir, "and we find it a bit ironic because you can't really be gay in the Palestinian territories."

"We're hoping to show that Israel is a liberal country, a multicultural, pluralistic country," emphasized Meir. "That is a side of Israel we are very proud of and that we think should be shown around the world.

"Unfortunately it's a side that doesn't get enough attention… As far as a lot of people are concerned, Israel is Gaza and the West Bank and tanks, and they don't see the beautiful culture and the liberal side."

 http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1244371033880&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

 

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E poi raccontano la favoletta che tutte le religioni sono oppressive alla stessa identica maniera nei confronti delle donne. Certo, come no. E la terra è piatta. E il sole gira attorno alla terra. Attualmente sono quattro le donne vescovo nella chiesa anglicana del Canada: Linda Nicholls, vescova suffragana della diocesi di Toronto, Susan Moxley, vescova della diocesi di Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, Jane Alexander, vescova della diocesi di Edmonton, e la neo-vescova Barbara Andrews. Rev. Barbara Andrews, executive director of the Sorrento Retreat and Conference Centre in B.C. for seven years, has been elected suffragan bishop for the Anglican Parishes of the Central Interior (APCI). ““I’m very excited and somewhat scared at the moment,” said Bishop-elect Andrews. “It is certainly a great privilege but it comes with even greater responsibilities.” She will leave Sorrento to be based at St. Paul’s cathedral in Kamloops and said resigning as director of the Sorrento Centre after her election was “heart-wrenching….. I have loved being the director at Sorrento Centre…. but I’ve tried to be faithful to what I believe God is calling me to next. And so it’s nice to have had such a good time here and I’ve been in a privileged position to get to know the people of APCI who have been my neighbours.” http://www.anglicanjournal.com/100/article/sorrento-director-approved-as-apci-bishop/?cHash=7d5e0b2590 http://www.episcopalcafe.com/lead/anglican_communion/barbara_andrews_bishopelect_in.html

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Canon Alyson Barnett-Cowan has been appointed director for Unity, Faith and Order for the Anglican Communion.

Ms. Barnett-Cowan is currently director of faith, worship and ministry of the General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada, a post she has held since 1995

 “It means that the Communion is willing to have ordained women in positions of responsibility,” she added. “I feel that I’ve put my head out into the wind and it’s blowing strong there now.”

http://www.anglicanjournal.com/100/article/canadian-woman-priest-appointed-to-prestigious-communion-position/?cHash=77742646ac

http://aco.org/acns/news.cfm/2009/8/14/ACNS4645

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Participants also flew Israeli flags in which the blue was replaced by the rainbow colours associated with the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) people’s movement.

Members of a multicultural dance troupe joined in with the Ga’ava entourage, some of them picking up its flags to wave, swelling its ranks to about 70, said Abby Shawn, chair of QJC’s human rights committee, who rode on the Ga’ava float.

This was the first time QJC participated in the parade, but Shawn said this decision was made before the controversy over the anti-apartheid group began. “Congress has a history of protecting and promoting the rights of gay people,” she said. “We are very pleased with the way the organizers responded us, giving us a place so near the front…The organizers distanced themselves from QAIA and did not allow them to hijack the celebration to disseminate their propaganda.  They did their best to pre-empt any type of distortion.”

QJC was also invited to a VIP cocktail reception before the parade, she added.

She also felt the spectators “responded to us very well; there was absolutely no hostility.”

Elsewhere in the parade, one man held signs reading in French “5 countries = the death penalty/ Iran, Sudan, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Yemen,” an apparent critique of the intolerance of homosexuality by certain Islamic regimes.

http://www.cjnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=17481&Itemid=86

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Rev. Georgina Bassett became the first Anglican deacon from the Slavey people when she was ordained on Sept. 6 at St. Andrew’s Anglican Church in Hay River, N.W.T.  The Slavey are native people who live mainly south of the Mackenzie River, in communities such as Fort Simpson, Fort Providence, Fort Smith and Hay River.

http://www.anglicanjournal.com/100/article/first-anglican-priest-ordained-from-slavey-people/?cHash=8c2ebfe8f9

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Irshad Manji, la cui foto è nella presentazione del mio sito, è una vera femminista, le cui idee non sono contaminate dal relativismo culturale. Nel suo sito Moral Courage riporta di un'organizazione che aiuta le persone omosessuali a scappare dall'Iran.

After nine years of activism, Arsham still receives regular threats against his safety and reputation. However, he points out that while dealing with backlash is a constant part of his work, the negative messages “are nothing” compared to the supportive messages that he receives.

Arsham says that while negative attacks are personal, he tries to take them in stride: “It’s not all about me anymore; it’s about all of those who are looking forward to my activities in order to have a little bit more freedom. I can tolerate it when some people say something harmful against me. Because it is not just my rights, it is everybody’s rights.”

While IRQR operates without any paid staff, it boasts an impressive success rate. More than 70% of IRQR’s clients have gained refugee status or are in the middle of the resettlement process. IRQR is quite successful in assisting refugees with financial support from private donations.

http://www.moralcourage.com/get-involved/moral-courage-champion-fights-for-iranian-gay-rights/

http://www.irqr.net/

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The Muslim Canadian Congress (MCC) is asking Ottawa to introduce legislation to ban the wearing of masks, niqabs and the burka in public.

Farzana Hassan, communications director of the MCC said, "Islamists are defending the burka as if it was the central pillar of Islam. They consider Muslim women who do not cover their heads and faces--the vast majority -- as sinners or lesser Muslims.

"It is of utmots impritance that the Canadian government take the lead and end this medieval misogynist practise once and for all," Ms. Hassan added.

The MCC statement regretted that while the rest of the world is moving toward the goal of gender equality, right here in Canada Islamists are pushing back the clock, convincing educated Muslim women, they are no more than sexual objects and a source of sin, if they reveal their faces in public.

http://www.muslimcanadiancongress.org/20091008.html

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Una piccola grande buona notizia dal Canada. 

Go to page 3 of the pdf document to read about the news.

http://www.montreal.anglican.ca/pdfs/ma/MA091001.pdf

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Il fatto che dei giudici di una nazione come il Canada debbano soppesare il pro e il contro della poligamia è decisamente inquietante. Significa che l'uguaglianza tra uomini e donne è praticamente irrilevante rispetto ai cosidetti diritti religiosi. E questo è il risultato nefasto del multiculturalismo, corrente di pensiero secondo la quale tutte le culture e tutte le religioni sono da considerare alla stessa maniera. Anche se  i diritti delle donne sono calpestati.

There is a paradox in Canadians' prized tolerance -- taken to its extreme, we inevitably will be asked to countenance the intolerable. Where that line is between tolerance and the intolerable is something that the courts are dealing with on several fronts. Polygamy is the most recent.Polygamy is the most recent. Last week, B.C. Attorney-General Mike de Jong asked the Supreme Court of British Columbia to determine whether banning polygamy is a justifiable limit on the constitutional guarantee of religious freedom. It was provoked by fundamentalist Mormons in Bountiful, who believe that having multiple wives is essential to their religion and have continued that practice despite the 110-year-old Criminal Code sanction against it.

The chief justice has been asked to appoint a lawyer to make the case for polygamy being a justifiable religious practice.

"Invoking religious freedom to conceal one's identity and promote a political ideology is disingenuous," the Muslim Congress said in a press release that noted Egypt's highest Muslim authority and dean of al-Azhar University, Sheik Mohamed Tantawai, has already issued an edict against wearing them.

Why this reluctance to set limits? Fatah says it's not because Canadians are tolerant. It's because we're stupid.

We'd rather be run over by others than stand up and tell the truth to everyone who lives in Canada or wants to come here.

And the truth is that there are some customs and religious practices that are simply intolerable.

 http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Limits+tolerance+needed+multicultural+Canada+work/2167717/story.html

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A group of 14 female ski jumpers appear before the B.C. Court of Appeal on Thursday in their final bid for inclusion in the 2010 Winter Games.

The women claim Vancouver's Olympic organizing committee, known as VANOC, is discriminating against them by not staging their event.

B.C. Supreme Court Judge Lauri Ann Fenlon ruled while it was discriminatory to exclude the female ski jumpers from the 2010 Games, it was not VANOC's decision but that of the International Olympic Committee.

The IOC, Fenlon said, is not subject to Canadian human rights law.

But the lawyer for the ski jumpers told CBC News that he would argue that the pivotal fact is that Canadian human rights law does apply to VANOC.

"What we're asking for and have always asked for — and I think the judge confused this in her reasons — is a declaration that VANOC cannot proceed under the Charter [of Rights and Freedoms] hosting a men's event without hosting a women's event," Ross Clark said.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2009/11/11/bc-women-ski-jumpers-appeal.html

 

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Che dire? Era ora!

Canada's revamped citizenship guide warns newcomers that "barbaric cultural practices" such as honour killings will not be tolerated, marking a stronger tone against importing beliefs that clash with Canadian values.

"In Canada, men and women are equal under the law," the document says. "Canada's openness and generosity do not extend to barbaric cultural practices that tolerate spousal abuse, ‘honour killings,' female genital mutilation or other gender-based violence. Those guilty of these crimes are severely punished under Canada's criminal laws."

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Vancouver Olympic organizers didn't violate women ski jumpers' rights because they had no power to include their event in the 2010 Winters Games.

The British Columbia Appeal Court provided written reasons on Friday for its decision last week to dismiss an appeal filed by female jumpers seeking to overturn a lower court ruling that allowed organizers to hold a men's ski jumping competition but not a women's event. The women argued that violates Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The women had asked the courts to rule that the organizing committee, known as VANOC, must either include a women's ski jumping event in February's games or cancel the men's event.

The three-member appeals panel unanimously rejected their appeal last week, but only provided their reasons for doing so on Friday.

Ski jumping is the only Olympic sport without events for both men and women since the IOC voted earlier this year to include women's boxing in the Summer Olympics.

The IOC voted in 2006 to not include women's ski jumping at the games, saying the sport had not met the required technical criteria.

It will be on the program for the 2010 Youth Olympic Games, and the international body that governs ski jumping has said it will press for its inclusion for the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.

 http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i4DOHLP3M7Ta51OWsbSG16x5KgwAD9C3HUO00

 

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Le 11 décembre 2009, la ministre de la Justice, Procureure générale du Québec et ministre responsable de la lutte contre l’homophobie, Mme Kathleen Weil a rendu publique la première Politique québécoise de lutte contre l'homophobie. « Par le geste qu'elle pose ce matin, la société québécoise démontre une fois de plus qu'elle est à l'avant-garde en matière de droits des personnes de minorités sexuelles. » a déclaré Mme Weil.

http://www.justice.gouv.qc.ca/francais/ministere/dossiers/homophobie/homophobie.htm

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 Sofer Irma Penn is one of five women who has been invited by the Kadima Reconstructionist Jewish Community in Seattle, Wash., to complete a Torah scroll.

According to the Kadima community, this is the first time a Torah scroll will be written and embellished by an international community of women.

She will be writing the Torah with Shoshana Gugenheim of Israel, Rachel Reichhardt of Brazil, and Americans Linda Coppleson and Julie Seltzer (who completed her portion earlier this year).

“By being part of this project, I can contribute something positive, while working with many other caring, dedicated, artistic, women,” Penn said. “I can do something with meaning, and it’s a way of connecting with God.”

http://www.cjnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=18294&Itemid=86

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Winston Blackmore, the leader of a polygamous community in southeastern British Columbia who has admitted to having multiple wives, is suing the provincial government for violating his rights when he was charged last year.

Mr. Blackmore and James Oler, both leaders of separate factions in Bountiful, B.C., were arrested in January 2009 and each charged with practising polygamy, two decades after police first starting looking into the community near the United States border.

The charges were thrown out last fall after the men's lawyers successfully argued in court that the decision of a previous special prosecutor not to lay charges was final.

Last October, de Jong announced the government would ask the B.C. Supreme Court for an opinion on whether the federal law barring multiple marriage violates the religious protections under the charter.

Mr. Oppal, who left politics last year after he was narrowly defeated in a provincial election, declined to comment.

Mr. Blackmore and Mr. Oler are leaders of two separate factions of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a breakaway sect of the mainstream Mormon Church, which renounced polygamy more than a century ago.

Mr. Blackmore is reported to have more than 100 children.

The RCMP first investigated the community in 1990, and there have been subsequent investigations into allegations including polygamy, sexual abuse, and trafficking young girls to sister polygamous communities in the U.S. to be married.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/british-columbia/polygamist-leader-suing-bc-government/article1430320/

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Twenty-nine mostly Reform and Conservative rabbis in the greater Toronto area have signed an open letter to senior Israeli diplomats in Canada expressing deep concern about recent events involving two women who were wearing tallitot at the Kotel.

The letter to Miriam Ziv, Israel’s ambassador to Canada, and Amir Gissin, Israel’s consul general for Toronto and Western Canada, appears as an advertisement in this week’s CJN. It refers to the Nov. 18 arrest of Nofrat Frenkel for wearing a tallit and carrying a Torah, and to the Jan. 5 police questioning and fingerprinting of Anat Hoffman, chair of Women of the Wall, which has organized women’s prayer services at the Kotel for the past two decades.

Frenkel and Hoffman were informed that they had violated an Israeli Supreme Court ruling that, citing concerns about public safety, denied women the right to read from the Torah in the regular women’s section of the wall. The ruling resulted in the designation of a nearby site, Robinson’s Arch, as the place for women to pray as a group with a Torah scroll.

“If this kind of police action had taken place in any other country, the world Jewish community would have accused the state of anti-Semitism and violation of basic human rights,” the rabbis wrote.

They ask what steps the Israeli government will take so that “all Jews will be welcome to worship according to their own tradition” at the Kotel.

 

“We thought this was such an important issue that we needed to put an ad out there,” said Rabbi Wise. “People need to be aware of it, and become involved.

“A woman was arrested,” he stressed. “For wearing a tallit. For us, in the context of pluralism and women’s rights… that was like a punch in the stomach.”

 http://www.cjnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=18479&Itemid=86

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Assolutamente corretto il fatto che Irene voglia parlare dello sport e non della sua fidanzata. Peccato solo che le atlete eterosessuali non si debbano minimamente preoccupare se casualmente raccontano del marito o del fidanzato alla stampa. In ogni caso Irene è una grande atleta la cui vittoria dimostra l'impegno ed il sacrificio oltre, il che non guasta, ad essere una bella ragazza. E le due cose assieme fanno crollare al suolo tutti gli stereotipi sulle lesbiche.

"Pulling all the pieces together, I'm so proud and happy. I can't describe how happy I am. I don't have words for it," said Wust, who broke down crying on the medal podium while the Dutch national anthem was played. "I think I'm the happiest person on Earth right now."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/21/AR2010022103839.html

Yes, Wüst came out in the interview, but I don’t think she regrets doing so, I believe she regrets the amount of attention that fact got instead of her high chances of winning medals opposite other favorites from the Czech Republic, Germany and Canada.

Then again, why should we have to think about the consequences when all someone does is mention you’re in a loving relationship with your partner? The only difference here is that this partner is of the same sex.

http://eurout.org/2010/02/14/dutch-ice-skater-ireen-w-st-wants-talk-about-her-job-not-about-her-girlfriend

 

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Canada won't be winning many medals next month when the United Nations takes stock of women's equality around the world, according to a new report that charts "systematic erosion" in the status of Canadian women since 2004.

Women have lost ground due to the elimination of funding for advocacy groups, the scrapping of a national child-care program and a widening wage gap between men and women, the report notes.

The report was released Monday by Canadian Feminist Alliance for International Action and the Canadian Labour Congress and was billed as a "reality check" on the Harper government's submission to the UN.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government, in its own report card submitted for the UN session, argued "there are many positive stories" to tell about "women and their place in Canadian society."

It said progress had been made in getting more women into universities and the workforce, for instance.

The submission by the labour congress and women's groups takes aim at the Harper government for closing 12 of Canada's 16 Status of Women offices, on the grounds that women's and men's issues do not need to be separated, and reallocating funding from organizations that support advocacy for women's rights to those that provide front-line services.

She says the slashing of government revenues, by political parties of all stripes, has made a real, negative impact on the status of Canadian women. She also says that there are "deep, cultural" forces operating against women's equality – as evidenced by the fact that any progress is difficult to maintain.

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/769954--canadian-women-s-rights-in-decline-report-says

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Evidentemente la signora crede di essere superiore agli altri e che per lei si debbano applicare regole speciali.

After months of balancing a woman's religious beliefs with her desire to learn French, the Quebec government stepped into her classroom to offer an ultimatum: take off the niqab or drop the course.

The woman opted to keep her Islamic face-covering and has filed a human-rights complaint against the government.

The college was initially willing to accommodate her, but eventually balked as her demands escalated.

According to a report in a Montreal newspaper, she was allowed to give an oral with her back to the class and asked men to move so they wouldn't face each other.

The breaking point occurred when the woman again refused to take off the niqab, though teachers had stressed it was essential they see her face to correct her enunciation and facial expressions.

Several groups, including several teachers' unions, applauded the government for drawing a line in the sand. So did moderate Muslim groups.

"When people come to Canada we're not coming to the Islamic Republic of Canada," said Raheel Raza, a Muslim women's-rights activist who has argued for a public ban on religious face coverings.

"We are coming here because we want that freedom, we want the separation of church and state."

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada/breakingnews/que-government-forced-woman-from-classroom-for-refusing-to-remove-face-covering-86006777.html

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La tolérance consiste à négocier à la pièce avec chaque groupe. Exactement comme le fait la Société de l'assurance automobile du Québec avec ces religieux qui réclament de ne pas être servis par une femme. Elle consiste plus précisément à négocier avec les «communautés», du moins celles qui sont suffisamment fortes pour se faire entendre.

La semaine dernière, les ministres canadiens Lawrence Cannon, Jason Kenney et le chef de l'opposition Michael Ignatieff nous ont offert un portrait assez révélateur. Interrogés par Le Devoir à propos du débat français sur la burqa, ils ont aussitôt invoqué, comme un réflexe, la tolérance et la liberté. Pas le moindre mot sur la laïcité ou pour faire remarquer que la burqa est une pratique pour le moins rétrograde. Pas question de froisser les communautés auxquelles l'État canadien semble avoir sous-traité ses prérogatives. Les femmes, à qui l'on impose ce voile intégral, sont renvoyées à leur communauté. L'État n'en a rien à faire!

 On ne m'en voudra pas de conclure en citant un homme qui a réfléchi à la question. «La tolérance n'est pas la laïcité, écrit le directeur du Nouvel Observateur, Jean Daniel. La première est passive, la seconde active. La tolérance s'accommode de toutes les manifestations publiques des religions. La laïcité défend l'individu contre son groupe d'origine, la femme contre le père oppresseur et garantit que l'on peut changer de religion ou se déclarer athée. Avec la tolérance, on installe des communautés. Avec la laïcité, on construit une nation.»

http://m.ledevoir.com/societe/ethique-et-religion/282943/tolerance-ou-laicite

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delegates from 16 native communities in the diocese of Keewatin’s northern Ontario region elected Archdeacon Lydia Mamakwa as their first area bishop on March 6.

Bishop-elect Mamakwa is an aboriginal priest from Kingfisher Lake, an Oji-Cree First Nation located north of Sioux Lookout, Ont. She has been serving the Anglican Church of Canada at local, diocesan and national levels.

A member of the Anglican Council of Indigenous Peoples (ACIP), Bishop-elect Mamakwa has been a member of the Anglican Church of Canada’s eco-justice committee. A non-stipendiary priest, she has worked with the Kingfisher Lake First Nation band council and as a mental health counselor.

http://www.anglicanjournal.com/100/article/oji-cree-archdeacon-elected-first-area-bishop/?cHash=8adb75e46e

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Federal immigration officials say there’s little they can do to stop “child brides” from being sponsored into Canada by much older husbands who wed them in arranged marriages abroad.

Muslim men, who are Canadian citizens or permanent residents return to their homeland to wed a “child bride” in an arranged marriage in which a dowry is given to the girl’s parents. Officials said some of the brides can be 14 years old or younger and are “forced” to marry. The practice occurs in a host of countries including: Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan and Lebanon.

William Hawke, of immigration’s Permanent Resident Unit, said the young brides won’t be allowed in Canada.

“Sponsorship applications submitted for a spouse under 16 will be refused,” he said.

http://www.torontosun.com/news/torontoandgta/2010/03/11/13201531.html

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"From now on, for a woman who is veiled with a niqab or a burka and comes to our office asking to be photographed by a woman, the answer is no," said Marc Lortie, spokesman for the Régie de l'assurance maladie du Québec. "Line up again, or come back another day."

 "If you want to integrate into Quebec society, here are our values," Immigration Minister Yolande James told reporters last week. "We want to see your face."

 After the health-insurance board sought its expertise on the niqab issue, the rights commission published its opinion on Monday that requiring a veiled woman to briefly expose her face to a male employee is not a significant breach of her rights.

A group calling itself "Intellectuals for secularism" published a declaration on Tuesday arguing for a completely secular government. No government employee should be allowed to wear any religious symbol, and the crucifix that hangs in the National Assembly should be removed, the group, which includes former premier Bernard Landry, argued.http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=2690763

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In no uncertain terms, Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon yesterday ruled out any kind of family-planning programs being included in Canada's "signature" initiative at June's G8 summit - a strategy to improve the health of mothers and young children in poor countries.

Maternal-health advocates worry that the government's desire to steer clear of the abortion issue - and therefore not upset part of its political base - is also pushing it to rule out all other family-planning programs, like distributing contraceptives.

"This is really playing to the base in tractor-loads rather than with shovels," said Katherine McDonald, executive director of Action Canada for Population and Development.

"I'm very concerned that they're equating family planning with abortion."

She argues that no maternal-health policy can be effective without providing ways for women to space out pregnancies, because many childbirth deaths are caused by complications from having too many pregnancies too quickly or from unsafe abortions.

The International Planned Parenthood Federation used to receive funding from the Canadian International Development Agency, but its nine-month-old request for a renewal of its $6-million-a-year grant has so far gone unanswered and funding stopped in December.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/birth-control-wont-be-in-g8-plan-to-protect-mothers-tories-say/article1502796/

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Al momento la legge proposta proibisce alle donne che indossano il burqa ed il niqab di accedere ai servizi amministrativi e sociali del governo. Un primo passo.

A bill tabled Wednesday will not allow government services to women wearing the niqab.

The government last week ordered that every niqab-clad woman must uncover her face to confirm her identity when applying for her medicare card. Wednesday's bill will be the first such step in North America to curtail any religious dress.

According to the bill, women seeking medical and auto insurance services will have to remove their veil, adding that face coverings will not be tolerated in people's dealings with government officials.

Speaking to the media, Quebec premier (equal to chief minister in India) Jean Charest said the step was needed for maintaining gender equality and secular character of public institutions. 

"An accommodation cannot be granted unless it respects the principle of equality between men and women, and the religious neutrality of the state,'' the premier said.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/rest-of-world/Niqab-for-Muslim-women-banned-in-Canadian-province/articleshow/5721316.cms

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Anche se sicuramente il razzismo ed il sessismo giocano un ruolo nella questione, la tematica è decisamente ben più complessa ed un'analisi attenta potrebbe richiedere di tenere in considerazione anche altre tematiche.

The report shows one in three South Asian, West Asian and Arab women - who together comprise one of the fastest-growing segments of Canada's population - have trouble finding a doctor, getting an appointment or getting referred to specialists. 

The report, released Tuesday, is part of the larger POWER (Project for an Ontario Women's Health Evidence-Based Report) study. The researchers say it is the first to provide a comprehensive overview of women's health in relation to gender, income, education, ethnicity and geography. 

Women, in particular, may have fallen through the health-care cracks because many seek care for their children or adult relatives, said McIntosh. "They are typically placing themselves last."

Among the reports other findings:

-Almost one-third of immigrant women in Canada for less than 10 years report having difficulties getting an appointment with a family doctor for a serious but non-emergency health problem, compared to 18 per cent of those born in Canada.

-Nearly 40 per cent of East and Southeast Asian and 34 per cent of Aboriginal adults reported difficulties in getting specialist care, compared to 22 per cent of Caucasian Canadians.

-More than half of South Asian and West Asian or Arab women reported not seeing a dentist in the previous 12 months compared to one-quarter of Caucasian women.

 http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/100330/health/health_minorities_health_care

 

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Nick Bergamini, 22, vice-president of the Carleton University Students’ Association, said he and roommate Mark Klibanov were leaving Le Volt bar on Promenade du Portage at 1:45 a.m. when a group of about 10 men began yelling in English and Arabic that they were Zionists and Jews.

“These people must have been Carleton students because I recognized one of them,” Bergamini said. “I said I love Israel because I support Israel’s right to exist.

“One of them rolled down the window and said: ‘I am the one who hit you, you f-----g Jew,’ although I am not a Jew,” Bergamini said. “Two guys came out of the car, and one of them tried to kick my roommate.

Len Rudner, director of the Ontario chapter of the Canadian Jewish Congress, said being a Jew or Zionist in Canada should not prompt such an attack.

“Maybe we should consider the impact that words can have in accelerating the argument to the point where people feel that this kind of behaviour is acceptable,” Rudner said.

“If you permit a constant invective and demonization of the Jewish state and people who support the Jewish state, some people will feel that this gives them the permission or responsibility to carry out this kind of attack.”

 http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Machete+used+anti+Semitic+attack+Carleton+students/2766537/story.html

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Continuo a non comprendere come si continui a mettere sempre e comunque tutte le tradizioni religiose sullo stesso piano quando, come in questo caso, c'è un sostegno incondizionato alla libertà femminile ed alle leggi dello stato. Ritengo si dovrebbe mostrare invece soddisfazione perchè una voce che rappresenta un'intera chiesa si leva contro le dichiarazioni oscurantiste dei cattolici e degli evangelici.

Les récents propos du primat de l’Église catholique canadienne sur la question de l’avortement ont provoqué non seulement un remous médiatique, mais également une prise de parole publique au cours de laquelle de nombreux groupes sociaux se sont exprimés contre la réouverture du débat politique sur l’avortement.

L’Église Unie du Canada veut joindre sa voix à cet ensemble de réactions et appuie les opinions exprimées publiquement affirmant qu’il ne saurait être question de régresser de quelque façon dans notre société sur le droit des femmes à des avortements libres, gratuits et sécuritaires.

 L’Église unie veut rappeler qu’elle a été parmi les premières dénominations à prendre une position ferme pour le droit des femmes à l’avortement. Dès le début des années 1970, la réflexion s’est faite au sein de groupes d’études. Puis en 1980, le 28e Conseil général, la plus haute instance décisionnelle de l’Église unie, a adopté une Déclaration débutant par un témoignage sur « l’inhérente sainteté de toute vie humaine, tant celle immature du fœtus que celle exprimée dans la vie de la mère » et concluant alors qu’un avortement, en tant qu’importante question morale, peut être pratiqué comme « alternative responsable » après de soigneuses considérations sur la situation médicale, sociale et économique de la femme.

Devant le débat qui s’étend, l’Église Unie du Canada s’oppose fortement à un quelconque recul sur les droit des femmes à disposer d’elles-mêmes, comme d’ailleurs sur les droits de tout autre groupe de notre société : personnes immigrantes et réfugiées, minorités ethniques, membres d’autres religions ou minorités d’orientations sexuelles diverses, comme nous ne le voyons que trop dans les orientations qui contaminent insidieusement notre espace social depuis quelques années sous les pressions des groupes de droite.

 Enfin, l’Église unie affirme que nul ne peut en aucun cas condamner au nom de la foi chrétienne quelque femme que ce soit de subir un avortement

http://www.united-church.ca/fr/communications/news/general/100521

 

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Ebbene si. Le donne sono capacissime di violenza e crudeltà ai danni di altre donne. E sono le più feroci, a volte, sostenitrici di una cultura tribale e misogina.

Per fortuna la ragazza è riuscita a salvarsi.

The 19-year-old daughter remains in hospital with knife wounds to the head, shoulders and arms.

It’s believed that the daughter came home late, Pentefountas, a prominent name in the Montreal legal community, indicated to the court.

Police based their theory that it was an honour crime on “what we saw at the scene of the crime,” said Olivier Lapointe, spokesperson for the Montreal Police Service, and especially on interviews with people inside the house and the victim herself.

It appeared related to the “behavior of the victim,” Lapointe said.

The woman, 38-year-old Johra Kaleki, faces charges of attempted murder, aggravated assault and assault with a weapon.

According to Amnesty International, there are more than 5,000 honour crimes in the world each year.

They are an “ancient practice” in a number of countries tied more so to culture than religion. Typically the woman is murdered by a member of her own family after tarnishing the family’s honour for ostensibly “immoral” behavior, often in relation to virginity or modesty.

The three other daughters in the family are currently in the custody of provincial youth protection authorities.

The family, which is Afghan in origin, moved to the neighbourhood in Dorval, near Montreal’s main airport, about five years ago, according to neighbour Emery Dora.

The family was pleasant, but “mostly kept to themselves,” Dora said. For instance, the father and the girls would play together but not with other children in on the street. The father, Ebrahim Ebrahimi, wouldn’t let a younger daughter play soccer with other girls in their backyard, Dora added.

Last summer, after a car was found submerged in the Kingston canal, a Montreal-area couple of Afghan origin were accused along with their son of killing their three daughters and another relative in what was also believed to be an honour crime. Their trial will begin next year.

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/823509--mother-stabbed-daughter-in-honour-crime-police?bn=1

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The summit is the brainchild of Belinda Stronach, a former MP and now executive vice-chairman of Magna International Inc.

Stronach challenged the girls to become a voice for women in the international community as she spoke to the crowded room at the Rotman School of Management in Toronto.

"Girls have to recognize the value that they can contribute. We have to change the mindset of boys and men so they value girls worldwide," said Stronach.

Panellists, some shedding tears, spoke about violence, poverty and lack of education -- all identified as barriers to a woman's success.

The solution, according to the summit's mantra, is the "the girl effect."

It's similar to the old proverb: Give a man a fish he'll eat for one day, but teach a man to fish he'll have food for a lifetime. In this version, the woman gets the fishing rod.

According to Stronach, when a woman earns greater income, she ends up giving 90 per cent back to her children. This translates to healthier, educated children and in turn, a better society.

 The young women's policy conclusions will be sent to the world leaders attending the summit, which runs June 26-27.

http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20100616/girls-summit-toronto-stronach-100616/20100616/?hub=TorontoNewHome

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I suggest you all to read carefully this report, it is compelling and informative.

Highlights from the report:

[C]ulturally driven violence… is condoned and even facilitated by kinship groups and the community.“

 “South Asian culture glorifies self-sacrifice in girls and women and puts a premium on their chastity. In addition, tensions around dowry expectations, the idolization of males and arranged or forced marriages — traditions that run directly counter to Canadian values — all play a role in creating a favourable climate for the abuse of girls and women.“

[T]he most insurmountable obstacle of all: a community-wide conspiracy of silence… Community leaders point to cultural traditions, religious values and norms in defending their way of life. Thus, they consciously exploit multiculturalism-inspired fears of appearing racist or of perpetuating cultural stereotypes” — fears, that is, among members of wider society, from feminists to journalists to police officers to judges. For example:

* “[T]here are more than a few cases in Canada of crimes committed in the name of cultural values where judges imposed lesser penalties on the perpetrator in deference to his cultural motivation.“

http://www.fcpp.org/files/1/Culturally-Driven%20Violence%20Against%20Women.pdf

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operatic lesbians reign supreme in Cambellford as Laurie Tucker joins wife Adrianne Pieczonka in a luscious evening of Sapphic sopranos.

“It’s challenging at times, of course,” says Pieczonka. “My schedule takes me all over the world, but once a year we manage to find time to sing together. It’s really magical to make music with your partner.”

Choosing songs for their concert proved a little tricky for the women. There aren’t a lot of duets written for mezzo and soprano voices.

“We’ve been given carte blanche,” Pieczonka says. “We wanted to keep it light and summery, so we chose things we felt suited us: The Lakmé flower duet from Madame Butterfly, Barcarolle from Tales of Hoffman, and a big scene from the opera Norma, which is a Bel Canto piece that neither of us have performed before. It’s a really great fiery scene.”

It would be understandable if two ambitious and respected singers experienced the occasional frisson of competitiveness between them, but Tucker and Pieczonka remain stalwart fans of each other’s work, and supportive in a way that only another singer can offer.

“It’s challenging, sure, and it’s also amazing,” says Tucker. “I’m inspired by Adrianne’s singing, I always have been. I’m blessed that I get to sing with her.”

The couple met in 2004, during the Canadian Opera Company’s production of Valkyrie. Pieczonka was singing the role of Sieglinde, while Tucker stormed the stage in an army of Valkyries. They were about halfway through the rehearsal process when love struck fast and furious.

“The violins were playing, I always say,” laughs Tucker. “We dated intensely. I was living in the States at the time and she was in England. I went over for a visit and that was it.”

They married in June of 2005, and welcomed daughter Grace a year later. Life is now a busy whirlwind of parenting, travel and work, but the women are ecstatic at the opportunity to share a stage singing the music they both love – even if Tucker remains a little star struck.

“It’s occasionally nerve-wracking,” she admits, “because I keep Adrianne on a pedestal a bit. But to stand next to your partner with whom you share your life, your voices and your bodies vibrating together — how much more intimate can you get outside of the bedroom?”

http://www.adriannepieczonka.com/

http://www.xtra.ca/public/Toronto/Music_Westbens_Concerts_at_the_Barn-8914.aspx"A

drianne Pieczonka's Kaiserin is parhttp://www.adriannepieczonka.com/ticularly lyrical, http://wapedia.mobi/en/Adrianne_Pieczonka

Below Pieczonka with wife and fellow opera singer Laurie Tucker

 

 Pieczonka's Kaiserin is particularly lyrical,  voice very well suited for the Strauss repertoire. Especially intense was also the finale 'ich will nicht' in which she affirms the happiness

ive abandon and total control over the role." (OperaClick, 8 May 201

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Two-time Olympian Mark Tewksbury has been named Canada’s chef de mission for the London 2012 Games.

“I have the amazing honour and privilege of being the chef de mission,” Tewksbury announced on CTV's Canada AM Thursday morning.

“I got the news a little while ago and have been sitting tight on it until today, so finally I can talk.”

The chef de mission is selected by the Canadian Olympic Committee as the official representative and spokesperson of the Canadian Olympic Team.

Tewksbury, 42, competed in two Olympics before retiring from competition in 1992. At the 1988 games in Seoul he won a silver medal as part of Canada's relay team. In 1992, Tewksbury beat expectations to snatch Canada's first gold medal of the Barcelona games.

He has since been inducted into the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame, the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame, and the International Swimming Hall of Fame.

His commitment to gays being allowed to compete without discrimination in sport has been a focal point of his post Olympic career. He was an executive of the Outgames held in Montreal.

In 2006, he published his second book, an autobiography entitled Inside Out: Straight Talk from a Gay Jock.

Tewksbury is a public figure in the gay community, working as a motivational speaker, a television commentator for swimming events, and a continued activist.

He is a board member of the Gay and Lesbian Athletics Foundation.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/more-sports/mark-tewksbury-to-lead-canada-at-london-2012-olympics/article1662685/

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Au Canada, Bâtirente et Vancity Investment participent à cette offensive concertée qui cible 54 sociétés dans le monde, dont sept au Canada.

 

Il s'agit du transporteur aérien West Jet, de la société de fonds communs CI Financial, du détaillant d'équipement de sport Groupe Forzani (Sport Expert), du producteur de pétrole et gaz ARC Energy, de la société aurifère Red Back Mining, de la société de technologies industrielles ABB Canada, ainsi que du spécialiste en gestion énergétique Schneider Electric Canada.

Ces entreprises ont toutes un point en commun: leur conseil d'administration ne compte qu'une seule femme... ou pas du tout. La liste n'est pas définitive.

D'autres sociétés pourraient s'y ajouter bientôt.

Il faut dire que les femmes n'occupent que 14% des sièges au sein des conseils d'administration des 500 plus grandes sociétés canadiennes répertoriées par le Financial Post, selon la version 2009 d'une enquête de la firme Catalyst.

Pour l'instant, les entreprises visées ont reçu une lettre de la part de la coalition qui leur demande de nommer davantage de femmes parmi les membres du conseil et de la haute direction. Dans un premier temps, la coalition veut lancer un dialogue avec les sociétés. Mais si les discussions achoppent avec les dirigeants, la coalition pourrait soumettre des propositions directement aux actionnaires lors de la prochaine assemblée annuelle des entreprises.

Les membres de la coalition sont tous signataires des Principes pour l'investissement responsable des Nations unies. Cette initiative découle de l'application des Women's Empowerment Principles qui ont été développés par le Fonds de développement des Nations unies pour la femme (UNIFEM) et du Pacte mondial de l'ONU.

Le débat se déroule aussi au Parlement. En mars dernier, la sénatrice Céline Hervieux-Payette a déposé le projet de loi S-206 visant à assurer la parité entre les hommes et les femmes au sein des C.A. des sociétés par actions, des institutions financières et des sociétés d'État.

http://lapresseaffaires.cyberpresse.ca/economie/201008/20/01-4308139-un-bon-conseil-plus-de-femmes.php

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The B.C. government asked the province's Supreme Court last year to decide if the section of the Criminal Code prohibiting polygamy also contravenes the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The province launched the constitutional question after polygamy charges were dropped against two Bountiful, B.C., religious leaders.

A formal start date for the hearings has not yet been determined, but several affidavits for the case have been sworn in recent weeks.

One of them is from Mohammad Fadel, Canada research chair in Islamic law at the University of Toronto. Fadel was asked by the B.C. attorney general to address the relationship between polygamy and Islam.

But Alia Hogben, executive director of the Canadian Council of Muslim Women, said in her affidavit she occasionally receives telephone calls from women that pertain to polygamy.

She said some of the Muslim women have refused to leave their "oppressive marital relationships" because they fear social stigma from other members of the community.

Hogben said some women have been warned that if they shame their husbands in any way, the Qur'an states the man may take disciplinary action, including causing bodily harm.

"Based on what I have learned through my experience as a social worker and front-line contact for Muslim women in crisis, and through my education as a Muslim, I believe that some men employ the authority of Islam to marry (polygamously) in order to suit their own sexual preferences," she said.

Hogben added not very much is known about the practice or incidents of multiple wives in Canada's Muslim communities.

The provincial government has said the constitutionality of the Criminal Code section that prohibits polygamy is of interest beyond Bountiful. It has said the practice of polygamy is accepted in other cultures, some of which have substantial and growing immigrant populations in Canada.

"The (Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) and these communities are perfect examples about what we're trying to prove (that polygamy is harmful)," government lawyer Craig Jones said in March.

"I still expect the majority of evidence to be outside Bountiful."

Residents of Bountiful are members of the FLDS, a breakaway group from the mainstream Mormon church. The Mormon church renounced polygamy more than a century ago.

http://news.sympatico.ca/canada/court_case_wont_just_look_at_mormon_polygamists_muslims_under_scrunity_too/ae04da45

 

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As human rights activists around the world marked the International Day of the Disappeared by focusing on Peru, Iraq, Nepal and Mexico, Leslie Spillett sat in her office in Winnipeg, contemplating the fate of more than 500 indigenous women who have disappeared in Canada.

The violence, primarily targeting young women from disadvantaged backgrounds over the past three decades, is "truly appalling" according to Amnesty International and, say human rights groups, has not been properly addressed by security forces in one of the world's richest countries.

Most of the disappeared indigenous Canadians are thought to have been killed by sexual predators or serial killers like William Pickton, who was convicted of murdering six women and is thought to have killed dozens more.

But there have been isolated cases of security forces actively attacking indigenous people - hauling them to the outskirts of cities and leaving them to freeze in a process that has become known as the "starlight tour".

When young women leave their families in search of work or a better life, they can become vulnerable to predators, addiction and other forms of marginalisation.

But regardless of the historical roots, not knowing what has happened to their loved-ones is often the hardest part for family members.

"It is a universal phenomenon and something needs to be done," Engelbrecht says. "The families must be able to retain the remains and mourn."

http://english.aljazeera.net/quoteofday/2010/08/201083018253280225.html

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