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Women, Constitutions, and Democratic Renewal
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The "Forum on Women's Activism in Constitutional and Democractic Reform" convened on Parliament Hill, February 13-15, 2006, to celebrate the
25th anniversary of the historic 1981 Ad Hoc Women and the Constitution
conference, that led to creation of Section 28, -- the first "notwithstanding" clause in the constitution -- promising that "all the
rights and freedoms" in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms "are guaranteed
equally to male and female persons."
The forum was the first major post election gathering on "the Hill" to focus on women's rights and political participation.
Pour la version française, cliquer sur "Bienvenue" (à gauche) ou ici, SVP.
About 70 Parliamentarians -- across party lines -- joined the re-activated "Ad Hoc" Committee to welcome grassroots leaders, (younger and older), academics, media, and retired Parliamentarians who changed the course of Canadian constitutional history -- along with women activist leaders from Afghanistan, Rwanda and South Africa, plus Equal Voice members and generations of students from across Canada. As a group, they engagee in celebratory retrospection, multidisciplinary analysis, and forward-looking Canadian democratic reform strategies, in a global context.
The Women, Constitutions and Democratic Renewal conference was and is an initiative of the International Women's Rights Project based in the University of Victoria.
Watch this space for more information from the conference, more materials about the 1981 Ad Hoc Women and Constitutions Conference, and more comparative studies with other nations' constitutional guarantees of equality.
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