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Club Action Newsletter: April 21, 2020
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This publication contains time-sensitive information generally directed to Club Executives and pertains to CFUW activities and events. Please send relevant pieces to all Club Members.
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Condolences to Those Affected in Nova Scotia Tragedy
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On behalf of the Canadian Federation of University Women (CFUW) I wish to extend the sincere condolences of our 7800 members across Canada to the bereaved families of those whose lives were taken in the weekend tragedy in Nova Scotia. Our members feel for you who have to endure such sorrow and pain from the senseless actions of one who has perpetrated such extreme violence.
We recognize violence, particularly domestic violence, as widespread, and in the current situation the effect of such extreme violence is to create a pandemic within a pandemic, a most difficult situation to deal with on an individual basis.
Please accept our sincere sympathy and be assured that CFUW, including our Clubs in Nova Scotia, will continue to work for the elimination of all forms of violence and are standing in solidarity with you at this difficult time.
Grace Hollett
CFUW National President
FCFDU Présidente nationale
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CFUW's 100th Anniversary History Book
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Our One Hundred Years: The Canadian Federation of University Women
By Dianne Dodd
More than one hundred years in the life of a vibrant organization.
Second Story Press, the publisher of Our One Hundred Years: The Canadian Federation of University Women, has informed us that the book will be back from the printers and ready to ship to those you have pre-ordered in May.
To purchase the book, please click here and you will be contacted:
https://secondstorypress.ca/adult/our100years
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Request to Clubs for Local Scholarship Administered Awards
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In preparation for the annual tally of the total amount of scholarships and fellowships funded by CFUW Clubs and the CFUW Charitable Trust, we are asking you to input your Club's total scholarships and donations to the Charitable Trust made between January 1, 2019 and December 31, 2019 on the cfuwmembership.org website by May 15, 2020. A guide on how to submit your 2019 Club education awards and donations is available at this link here. If you have any questions or require your Club's Username/Password, please contact Brittany Sagriff at sagr0008@algonquinlive.com
NEW THIS YEAR - Community and International Outreach Donations
While CFUW publicizes the amount it awards for education, we know that many Clubs make donations to their communities and to some activities and organizations internationally. We suspect that these amounts are quite significant and we would like to give credit to those Clubs and publicize the total amounts given on the community and international levels. In this respect, there are two new sections on the CFUW membership website cfuwmembership.org: one is called Community Outreach Donations and the other is International Outreach Donations. We are asking you to input your Club’s individual Community Outreach Donations as well as your International Outreach Donations made between January 1, 2019 and December 31, 2019 on the website by May 15, 2020. If you need assistance in entering your data, please contact Brittany Sagriff at sagr0008@algonquinlive.com
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Gender Equality and Covid-19 Online Resources
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Many CFUW members have expressed an interest in learning more about how Covid-19 is affecting women and girls around the world. Here are resources that use a gender lens to shine a light on how Covid-19 has impacted the world.
Webinar on Hope for COVID-19 treatment
On April 8, 2020, Dr. Josef Penninger, Director, Life Sciences Institute; Professor and Canada 150 Research Chair in Functional Genetics, UBC Faculty of Medicine, participated in UBC’s second COVID-19 webinar and shared insights into this international cutting-edge research and the hope it offers in the global fight against the virus. To access the recording of this webinar, go to alumni.ubc.ca/covid-webinar.
Covid-19 and Long-Term Care homes, Ontario Health Coalition Press Release:
On April 9th the Ontario Health Coalition released their press release listing recommendations for the government of Ontario's handling of the COVID-19 crisis in Long-Term Care Homes. Click here to access the resource.
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Child Care Plan and Covid-19
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COVID-19 has illuminated the dangerous consequences of not having safe, quality services available to working parents. If licensed child care services collapse, the return to work as we move out of the pandemic will be impeded and economic recovery will be impossible.
CFUW's advocacy partner Child Care Now is one of Canada’s three national child care organizations that have joined together to develop a plan to sustain early learning and child care through the pandemic. CFUW supports that plan and we are calling on the Government of Canada to put the plan into action.
Sign onto a petition to support for the plan.
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CFUW Fundraising Cancellations Due to COVID-19 Survey
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Today we will be sending out separately a Survey to Club Presidents on CFUW fundraising cancellations that took place due to COVID-19. Until this afternoon we had not found a match of Club needs with government relief program. We want to help alleviate for students the loss of scholarship funding from CFUW Clubs, and for the community the loss of funding provided by Clubs in their outreach programs. The purpose of the survey is to get reliable data to use in talking with government and reporting on the effects of COVID-19 on Club fundraising during March to July 2020.
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Generation Equality Forum Postponed
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In light of Covid-19 crisis, the Generation Equality Forum will be postponed until the first half of 2021. The Generation Equality Forum is a civil society–centred, multi-stakeholder, global gathering for gender equality, convened by UN Women and co-hosted by the governments of Mexico and France. In the meantime there will be a series of online meetings to foster continued momentum for the women's rights movement. The organizers have affirmed that "that women are playing a disproportionate role in responding to this disease—as caregivers, frontline healthcare workers, community leaders and mobilisers, often at great risk to their health." Now is the time to come together to support one another.
Please see here the official announcement of the postponement of the Generation Equality Forum to 2021.
Here are other relevant articles related to the Generation Equality Forum postponement:
CSAG Statement in Response to the Generation Equality Forum Postponement
Call for a Feminist COVID-19 Policy Statement by Feminist Alliance for Rights
COVID-19 Highlights the Failure of Neoliberal Capitalism: We Need Feminist Global Solidarity Statement by APWLD
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Water as a Human Right
Vancouver becomes a Blue Community
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A few weeks ago, Vancouver City Council voted to become the second largest Blue Community in Canada – a grassroots community water project co-created by the Council of Canadians more than a decade ago. That means that one in four residents in British Columbia live in a community that has committed to protecting water as a human right, banning bottled water, and saying no to privatization of water and wastewater services.
Now a Blue Community, Vancouver has joined 70 other communities across Canada and around the world committing to guaranteeing water as a human right to all residents. These communities have promised not to shut off residents’ water if they cannot pay, made public washroom facilities more physically accessible and safe to all, including people experiencing homelessness or struggling with addiction, and have committed to keeping water services in public hands.
In more good news, Burnaby, the first community to turn “blue,” reaffirmed their commitment earlier this year. Connecting the dots between water protection and Indigenous rights, the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs also endorsed the project.
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CFUW Perth and District COVID-19 Initiatives
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All of us are impacted by Covid-19 and if we can, we want to help in some meaningful way.
In the last few weeks, Susan Roach has been actively trying to find out how we, as a Club, can do that. In particular, she wanted to provide protective gear for those working in essential services who are providing the services we need to survive.
Initially thought to not be necessary, the current guidance is that face masks for everyone, particularly in a hospital setting, can help slow the spread of the virus.
Working with a local physician, Susan was successful in sourcing hospital grade material and a sewing pattern. Linda Cooke and Elaine Flynn (pictured) volunteered to make the masks and have been busily sewing the past few days. Their masks are destined for hospital staff while other members of the community are also sewing masks to be used for patients and essential service workers.
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The Personal Insurance Announces a Discount for Auto Insurance Clients
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The personal continues to support its clients by announcing a discount for auto insurance clients who are driving significantly less. Read about it here.
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