A consortium of B.C. gender justice and anti-violence organizations hosted a roundtable with the federal minister for women and gender equality on Tuesday afternoon. Groups from right across the province welcomed Minister Rechie Valdez to an office in East Vancouver to share concerns including intimate partner violence, femicide and online harms targeting teen girls. Valdez listened intently, and took diligent notes, as her hosts spoke of the unique challenges for women in B.C. They told her B.C.’s high cost of living and housing crisis can leave women feeling trapped in unsafe relationships with abusive men. Valdez also heard concerns Ottawa’s National Action Plan on Gender-based Violence has not gone far enough. “We’re a little bit nervous about where this country is going around gender, gender equality right now and addressing violence against women,” said Angela Marie MacDougall, executive director of Battered Women’s Support Services. “The signals aren’t looking great. So we wanted to look in her eyes and to make sure that she understood what’s at stake.” MacDougall pointed out that every six days in Canada, a woman is killed by her partner, and said “B.C. has some of the highest femicide rates in the country.” Other issues raised with the minister include the high cost of child care and the slow rollout of $10-a-day daycare. Advocates say a lack of affordable child care can keep women out of the workforce and make it harder for them to escape abusive relationships. “We will not achieve gender equity and gender justice if we don’t have further investment into high-quality, affordable, $10-a-day child care, where the educators are valued and compensated,” said Sharon Gregson, from the Coalition of Childcare Advocates of B.C. Although the organizations that took part in the roundtable say they have serious concerns, they also expressed a sense of optimism in Valdez’s ability to make those issues a priority around Prime Minister Mark Carney’s cabinet table.
