2014 Roundtables

Just wanted to send out a reminder that our roundtable with Professor Busby is on Thursday, January 23rd, at 12:00 and will be held in room 205.

The roundtable is titled “What Should Happen Next in the Lori Douglas Inquiry?”

In September 2012 the FLF co-hosted an event on the Douglas Inquiry with the Centre for Human Rights Research. Anyone who wants to read the write-up about that event can do so here: https://feministlegalforum.wordpress.com/2012/09/14/douglas-inquiry-discussion-at-robson-hall/

It should be an interesting topic! Please come out and join us for the first roundtable of 2014!

Second, we have another roundtable planned for Thursday, February 13th, at 12:00 (no room yet). The tentative title for this event is “Judy Wasylycia-Leis talks power politics and feminism”

The speaker for this event will be Judy Wasylycia-Leis, a former MLA, MP and 2010 Mayoral Candidate.

The topic for this roundtable is still being worked out, but women in politics/positions of power has been discussed as a possible topic, as well as possibly Ms. Wasylycia-Leis’ experiences training women in Pakistan. So once we have more solid details on this event we will let you all know.

So, for now mark your calendars!

As always everyone is welcome to bring their lunches to the roundtables. There may also be some tasty treats provided. We hope to see a big turnout for both events!

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Joseph Gordon-Levitt is a Feminist

Saw this on Youtube, while I was trying to find “studying” music. I loved Joseph Gordon-Levitt before, but knowing he’s a feminist makes me like him even more!

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Volunteer Opportunity at the MB Law Courts

Hello FLFers,

The RH Community Outreach has a great volunteer opportunity that I thought I would share in case anyone is interested:

Community Outreach has partnered with the Elizabeth Fry Society and are currently seeking Court Support Volunteers who have an interest in assisting women and their families at the Winnipeg Law Courts.

For more Info see this FB event page:

https://www.facebook.com/events/409515985850943/?ref_dashboard_filter=upcoming

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Religious Freedom or Sexism?

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/education/religious-accommodation-or-accessory-to-sexism-york-students-case-stirs-debate/article16246401/

I came across this article last night. A male student taking an online course had to do some coursework in person where he would meet with a group of students also enrolled in the online course. The student asked to be excused from this component of this course on religious grounds (he stayed his religious beliefs would not allow him to interact with female students in the group). The professor of the course denied the request “arguing it would give tacit support to a negative view of women. But the dean of the faculty of arts disagreed and has ordered him to grant the accommodation.” One of the reasons the Dean has said the professor needed to grant the request was because the professor exempted another student who is taking the course abroad from doing the group work, so the student requesting an exemption based on religious grounds needed to be treated the same as the other student who got an exemption.

So Flfers religious freedom or fostering negative views of women, which opinion do you think is correct?

Here is a follow-up article we posted as well: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/what-york-university-forgot-gender-equality-is-not-negotiable/article16278726/

These two pieces got some good comments on FB Page, so be sure to check it out and chime in with your own thoughts:
https://www.facebook.com/feministlegalforum

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Bedford Decision

A video that was posted on our FB Page before the Bedford Decision had been made.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/supreme-court-strikes-down-canada-s-prostitution-laws-1.2471572

Here is a CBC article summarizing the decision in Bedford. “The Supreme Court of Canada has struck down the country’s anti-prostitution laws in a unanimous decision, and given Parliament one year to come up with new legislation — should it choose to do so.”

Thank you to Elizabeth Mitchell for the link to the full Bedford decision: http://scc-csc.lexum.com/decisia-scc-csc/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/13389/index.do

Although the FLF is pleasantly pleased with the Bedford decision Co-Chair of the FLF Rhea Majewski says she “a little bit afraid of what the government will do with this however.” So, it will be interesting to see what happens in the following months.

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Feminist Moments of 2013

http://www.policymic.com/articles/76145/28-most-iconic-feminist-moments-of-2013

One of my favorites on the list is probably the Mindy Kaling comment. I won’t spoil things for you though you should just go read the article. There are a lot of good feminist moments in 2013!

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Rehab Instead of Jail Time

http://jezebel.com/rape-victim-gets-rehab-instead-of-jail-on-burglary-char-1484708780

“A Los Angeles woman convicted of burglary was given a sentence of rehab instead of jail time because of the lifetime of sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of her father — abuse that left her pregnant with three of his children.”

It is an interesting decision for sure and hopefully the woman can be rehabilitated and become a productive member of society. I was surprised how positive the comments on the article were, but considering the article is from Jezebel maybe it is not surprising? I wonder what sort of comments this decision would have received if it were on the Winnipeg Free Press or CBC?

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The Constitutional Rights of Mothers in Prison

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/babies-born-in-jail-belong-with-moms-b-c-court-says-1.2466516

“Imprisoned mothers have the constitutional right to care for their newborn babies, a B.C. Supreme Court judge has ruled.”

This is an interesting decision and it will intriguing to see whether the decision or appealed or not. I feel like it will be, but you never know.

Thank you to Elizabeth Mitchell for giving us the link to the article and the entire case from CanLII: http://www.canlii.org/en/bc/bcsc/doc/2013/2013bcsc2309/2013bcsc2309.html

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Update on the Shoe Box Fundraiser

Update on the Shoe Box Project Fundraiser:
The Shoe Box project was started by the wife of the Dean of Sciences. This year her goal was to have a box for every woman in the three women’s shelters in the city. This would require about 60 boxes. With the help of the FLF donations the project has received enough goodies to make up 900 boxes. These boxes will be shipped all across the province to various women’s shelters and transition homes. Some of the Shoe Boxes are even headed to Thompson!
Big thanks to FLF members and the Robson Hall Community for your kind donations.

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How to Talk to Congress(wo)men

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/analysis/GOP-101-cut-the-logic-ladies-235445191.html

“As a result of the gender gap that plagued GOP candidates and Mitt Romney in the 2012 elections, the National Republican Congressional Committee is now teaching male candidates running against female challengers or incumbents about how to discuss rape, for instance. “Multiple sessions” have evidently been devoted to linguistic skills training.”

Some of the ideas promoted in this linguistic training is a little misguided (to say the least) and the article expresses this sentiment as well.The article is amusing and I recommend you go read the full piece.

Thanks to Reannah Jade for sending us the article!

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