2019 BCNDP Convention - Women's Rights Committee Convention

BCNDP Women's Rights Committee Convention

We started our BCNDP convention experience off by attending the Women's Rights Committee (WRC) convention which occurs prior to the opening plenary. 

We were fortunate to have Rhiannon Bennett, from Delta, give the territorial acknowledgement. She started off by holding up a purse and a scarf, and acknowledged that both of which belonged to Maurine Karagianis. She asked "is it enough to acknowledge these items of Maurine's if I have them, for her to access the economy ?" Nope. We, the NDP need to do better - it's not about shame or guilt, but about acknowledging the privilege of what we've been given. She talked to us about the resilience of indigenous peoples and how they've been able to save their languages in the face of being being jailed for speaking their languages, having needles poked into their tongues in residential school, and other horrific things. Rhiannon brought humour and heart to her teachings and it has stuck with me since.

President of the WRC, Lynn Bueckert, gave her report to the convention floor. She covered the goals of the WRC for the coming year. 

1. ELECTION READINESS - including finding women to be candidates (and then supporting their training), and campaign managers
2. FUNDRAISING - $$$
3. COMMUNITY ORGANIZING - to connect with women in our constituencies

Janet Routledge, the MLA for Burnaby-North Seymour, the deputy Whip (sometimes called the "whippette" by men, yuck) and the MLA assigned to the WRC. Our BC NDP caucus is 50% women and the Cabinet is 50% women. The NDP women's caucus meets once a week to connect and share solidarity. 

I learned that Janet also chairs the government women's caucus which is made of women MLAs from all sides of the aisle focused on issues of shared concerns and opportunities to work together. So have they been able to do anything? The answer is YES! They had a presentation about breast density and the relationship to cancer. The more dense your breasts are, the more difficult it is for a mammogram to pick up any questionable masses. Breast density also wasn't something that was captured in a woman's medical records. When they found this out, they worked for BC to become the first province in the country to have breast denisty noted in medical records and depending on the results, would then trigger an ultrasound right away. 

Janet talked to us about the "right to bare arms" at the legislature. As women from all political stripes organized, the dress code was changed within one month - it removed the draconian rule that women couldn't wear sleeveless shirts and added that culturally appropriate dress would be respected. (Hear that Quebec?!?) She also talked about the decorum of Question Period (or lack thereof) and talked about an upcoming meeting of the women's caucus and the Speaker to talk about changing the tone in the house.

One of the most amazing moments of the day was when all of the women MLAs lined up at the microphones and introduced themselves. I will never tire of hearing my friends say their names and state that they are cabinet ministers or parliamentary secretaries or other roles in government. It's amazing to see these women lead the way for a better BC. As each one took the mic, my heart swelled with pride - this is why I am so proud to be a New Democrat.

Our friend, Adrienne Smith - a transgender human rights lawyer and drug policy lawyer and one of the most inclusive and warm people I know, gave us some much needed education on Trans 101. They took us through the continuums of: sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, romantic attraction and pronouns. They also highlighted three violations of the Human Rights Code when it comes to trans* people. 

1. Misgendering - calling someone by the wrong gender 
2. Deadnaming - using a name that someone does not use anymore (for example, referring to Caitlyn Jenner by the name she used before she changed her name to Caitlyn)
3. Outing - disclosing someone's identity without their consent

Mitzi Dean - MLA for Esquimalt-Metchosin and Parliamentary Secretary for Gender Equity addressed the convention. She acknowledged all of the women who came before her, including Maurine Karagianis, her mentor and predecessor. She told the story of what it was like when she took on the role as Parliamentary Secretary for Gender Equity and how her colleagues in the house were open and eager to work with her on gender issues in their ministries. And it's not about siloing the issue - it's bringing a gender equity lens everwhere - the treasury board, the various boards and agencies to shake up the systems. The Clerk of the Legislature is now ensuring that all publications and materials coming out of that office are gender inclusive. The three pillars of the office are:

1. Empowerment - gender inclusive economic and political empowerment. Childcare, addressing wage/pay gaps, influencing the Ministers Advisory Council for indigenous women, looking at diversity and equality in leadership.
2. breaking down systemic barriers for women in government - bringing a practice og gender-based analysis for public servants and government officials - that all submissions are run through a GBA matrix. We've also seen an increase of women on all public boards and agencies - up from 41.5% to 49%.
3. elimination of gender-based violence - looking at industrial camps in partnership with LNG Canada. 

For the first time in 20 years, all of the Ministers for Women in Canada will be meeting in BC in December. And finally, it took until 2019 for the BC Legislature to have a sexual harassment policy. These things take time but wow - I was pretty impressed that so much has been accomplished in relatively little time.

Our friend Brynn Bourke, the ED of the BC Fed spent some time going over the details about speaking at the microphone on the convention floor. I think a lot of us take it for granted, our comfort of going to a microphone in front of hundreds of people, and it's a good reminder to review the tips and tricks of being an effective motivator. She procured a lineup of great speakers to model best practices. It was a great way to build solidarity so that we could encourage as many womxn as possible to get up and speak.

A resolution came forward to change the name and the membership of the WRC. The proposed change was to go to Women's Rights Committee to Women and Gender Rights Committee. The change was meant to reflect the evolving nature of our membership, to be more inclusive.

The last order of business was electing the next executive of the WGRC.