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Candidates aren’t the only ones campaigning: women want political parties to Step it Up! For Immediate Release: September 7, 2011 The Ontario provincial election race is officially on, but political hopefuls won’t be the only ones on the campaign trail this month. Women’s anti-violence activists have their own campaign to have women’s voices heard on the hustings. Read our full release HERE .
The Step it Up! Campaign calls on all parties and candidates to endorse the “Platform for Parties” put together in consultation with women’s shelters and rape crisis centres, anti-poverty advocates, Labour, educators and equity groups. Campaign representatives have already met with party officials of the three sitting parties in Ontario and will meet soon with the Green Party of Ontario. “We want to see our platform in their platform, but often party documents are too general and don’t address the specific needs of women who experience violence,” said Eileen Morrow, Coordinator of the Ontario Association of Interval and Transition Houses, one of the Step it Up organizers. Step it Up! has created tools that groups can use across the province during the next month to talk to local candidates and organize events and other strategies to get their issues heard. The campaign can also provide some financial support to local groups who want to organize all-candidates meetings or events to promote the Step it Up! platform but don’t have resources to pay expenses. “We’ve had great response from women, especially because September is traditionally the month when women raise awareness of sexual violence and an ideal time for communities to raise the issue of violence against women with the women and men who want their vote come October 6th,” said Nicole Pietsch, coordinator of the Ontario Coalition of Rape Crisis Centres (OCRCC), a provincial network of sexual assault centres from all across Ontario. Some areas already planning Step it Up! campaign activities are: Red Lake, Carleton Place, Ottawa, Sault Ste. Marie, Kingston, London, Brampton, Kitchener-Waterloo, Durham, Aurora, Mississauga, Whitby, Pembroke, St. Catharines and Hamilton, with a larger event being planned for September 29th
at Queen’s Park in Toronto. When times are hard, times are harder for women and children facing violence and poverty, especially in already marginalized communities. Most party rhetoric so far has focussed on impacts from global economic issues that have the greatest negative impact on these communities. But we’re hearing little about how economic strategies will focus on women and marginalized Ontarians or about specific measures to strengthen or sustain social programs needed to ensure women and children won’t be left out or abandoned. The Step it Up! action plan calls for steps that a new government can take over four years on economic security, equity and accessibility, action on sexual violence, housing, publicly funded child care, training,
access to justice, funding for women’s community services and survivor involvement in policy development on violence against women.
“We are hoping that media will cover the campaigns of the parties, but also of the people in Ontario who typically are not heard from before voters decide who will form their government for the next four years,” said Morrow. For more information about the Step it Up! Campaign, see the attached “Platform for Parties” or visit us at www.stepitupontario.ca and on Facebook. Media contacts: Eileen Morrow, Ontario Association of Interval and Transition Houses, Toronto Office: 416-977-6619 Cell: 416-277-6125
Nicole Pietsch, Ontario Coalition of Rape Crisis Centres, Toronto Cell: 905-299-4428 Some local media contacts: Leighann Burns, Harmony House, Ottawa
Office: 613-233-5990
Erin Lee-Todd, Lanark County Interval House, Carleton Place
Office: 613-257-3469 Ext. 26
Kathy Campbell, New Starts for Women, Red Lake
Office: 807-727-2820
Dani Bartlett, CAW Local 27, London
Home: 519-644-1075
Cell: 519-860-9031
Dale Kenney, Women in Crisis Algoma, Sault Ste. Marie
Office: 705-759-1230 Ext. 202
Michele LaMarche, Kingston Interval House, Kingston
Office: 613-546-1833 Ext. 35
Judith Lodi, CUPW Local 560, Kitchener-Waterloo
Home: 519-584-2037
Paula Valois, Chadwic Home, Wawa
Office: 705- 856-2848 -30- |
