Advocacy

Advocating for Women and Girls Beyond our Walls

To reduce exclusion and social and gender inequality, as well as all forms of violence against women and girls, we must reach beyond our daily and individual actions for women and girls. That is why we have organized, collaborated, and participated in many events and campaigns to promote mobilization, engagement, and awareness around women’s issues.

HOMELESSNESS, SAFE AND AFFORDABLE HOUSING

Participation in various mobilization campaigns to ensure that the National Housing Strategy takes women’s needs and their homelessness into consideration:
- Letter-writing campaign directed at the Minister of Families, Children, and Social Development.
- YWCA Canada Day of Action on Parliament Hill.
Participation in the conference Issues and Feminist Perspectives on Housing for Women to present our housing services model and organization at the YWCA Canada Day of Action on Parliament Hill.
Participation in the 4 murs ce n’est pas assez! campaign organized by FOHM and RAPSIM to request an additional 7 million dollars to support social community housing in Montreal.
Participation in a demonstration organized by FRAPRU to request subsidies for the Accès-logis program.
Helped the residents residents register with the census of Montreal homeless, since women in temporary shelters are without permanent, affordable housing and are at risk of remaining homeless.
Participation in workshops on health, poverty and integration during the Fighting Homelessness forum organized by RAPSIM.
Participation in a letter-writing campaign directed at the Federal Minister of Families, Children, and Social Development and in the assembly organized by RAPSIM to finance a Homelessness Partnering Strategy, which uses a global and community-based approach.
Participation in the consultation organized by the Fédération des coopératives d’habitation inter-municipale du Montréal métropolitain (FECHIM) on the role of women in housing cooperatives.

SEXUAL EXPLOITATION AND HUMAN TRAFFICKING

Participation in the follow-up meeting on human trafficking – Regulations and security measures, organized by the United States Consulate General Montreal.
Drafting and newspaper publication of an open letter to the Prime Minister of Canada against the resolution adopted by the Liberal Party of Canada in support of decriminalizing the sex trade.
Participation in consultations of the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights on human trafficking and submission of a brief.
Meeting with the Economic Development Agency of Canada to discuss sexual exploitation during the Montreal F1 Grand Prix and measures to prevent and address this problem.
Member of the Too Big a Prize for Women and Girls Committee and a partner in the implementation of this three-part campaign:
- Memes campaign on social networks and in transit shelters directed at girls.
- Advertisement in a special F1 Grand Prix booklet and videos in bars and on YouTube directed at potential buyers.
- Advertisements in the media and at fast-food restaurants directed at the general public.
Collaboration with the University Women’s Club of Montreal to collect bras to contribute toward the economic independence of female survivors of human trafficking in Mozambique and El Salvador.

SOCIAL AND GENDER EQUALITY

Organization of a number of activities for International Women’s Day.
- Thanks to a partnership established between our foundation and Microsoft Canada, the CEO of the YWCA Montreal presented a brief called #SommesNousÉgalité to the company’s employees.
- Presentation of the IntersectionElles documentary, the photography exhibit Des femmes et des ~~maux~~ mots and the open mic event #SlamTon8Mars, organized and presented by Strong Girls, Strong World participants.
- Launch of our list of top ten reads entitled 10 livres dont les héroïnes valorisent la diversité (heroines who value diversity), a reading
  list targeted at readers aged between 5 and 16.

Meetings with elected officials from all levels of government to introduce them to the YWCA, raise awareness of the issues affecting women, and the importance of gender-based analysis when developing public policies.
Participation in the School Perseverance in Montreal committee organized by Montreal Hooked on School to develop awareness of female drop-outs, and at a conference on this subject.
Presentations to two student groups at the University of McGill on the impact of gender-based socialization on girls.
Talk on the current situation of girls and young women during the Peace Medals Gala Dinner held by the YMCAs of Quebec.

VIOLENCE

Participation in the drafting of a letter to the Quebec Minister of Education and in organizing a press conference on raising awareness of the problem of sexual assault in primary and secondary schools.
Participation in meetings to raise awareness of issues linked to violence against women and girls, organized by the Peace Grantmakers Network and attended by ministers Hélène David and Lucie Charlebois, member of Quebec National Assembly Manon Massé and Mrs. Louise Cordeau.
Participation in a discussion in Ottawa organized by Public Safety Canada regarding the fight against sexual exploitation of children on the Internet.
Participation in a discussion on the federal Strategy to Prevent and Address Gender-Based Violence with the Canadian Minister of Status of Women.
Participation in the development and implementation of the 12 Days of Action to Eliminate all forms of Violence against Women campaign, focusing on systemic violence.
Supported the activities of the Coalition for Gun Control.
Participation in a discussion with the Quebec government with respect to developing the next governmental action plan on the topic of domestic violence.
Participation in discussions with the United Nations Special Rapporteur on domestic violence in Quebec.

MENTAL HEALTH

Participation in Bell’s Let’s Talk Day via an awareness and information campaign on mental health.
Organization of a week of awareness and action to promote mental health as a part of CMHA’s national Mental Health Week.
Participation in the first Salon des ressources en santé mentale et dépendance du Centre-Ouest.

COMMUNITY ACTION

Participation in the Quebec Forum sur l’accès à la justice civile et familiale.
Participation, in numerous committees of the Peter-McGill Community Council, on issues affecting the district.
Participation in Centraide’s March of 1,000 Umbrellas.
Collaboration with Option consommateurs to develop a workshop on potential solutions for women wishing to get out of a financially abusive relationship.

This list is by no means an exhaustive one. It includes the primary 2017-2018 initiatives, collaborations and events we have taken part in. We have also participated in numerous awareness campaigns organized by our partners or collaborators concerning issues that the YWCA considers top-priority, including social and gender inclusion and equality, as well as those promoting the elimination of violence against women and girls.

To find out about YWCA Canada’s advocacy priorities, click here.