2014 In Review
2014 was a busy year for the Women, Peace and Security Network-Canada. This list is especially impressive given that our Network receives no funding and all contributions are from volunteers and unpaid interns. Thanks to all for your contributions!
Monitoring the Government of Canada’s National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security
- Research and online publication of an analysis of the first 2 reports on the Canadian NAP – Worth the Wait? Reflections on Canada’s National Action Plan and Reports on Women, Peace and Security
- Workshop – Women, Peace and Security National Action Plans – Challenges and Opportunities for Canadian Civil Society. Funded by Carleton University’s Gender Equality Measurement initiative. Organized by Doris Buss (Carleton), Rebecca Tiessen (U of O) and Beth Woroniuk (WPSN-C). (May 2)
- Testimony to the Senate Standing Committee on Human Rights. Jess Tomlin (MATCH International Women’s Fund) presented on behalf of the Network. Marilou McPhedran (Voice of Women) and Liz Bernstein (Nobel Women’s Initiative) also testified. A summary of the testimony is available. (March).
- Research and wrote the Canadian chapter for the GNWP’s Global Monitoring Initiative. Coordinated by Kristine St Pierre. An overview is available.
- 8 members participated in the one-day consultation as part of the Govt’s Mid-Term Review of the NAP. (July 29)
- Members wrote the chapter on ‘women and armed conflict’ for the Canadian shadow report on Beijing Plus 20. The full report is here.
- Participation in a briefing session on gender dimensions in Canadian-funded humanitarian assistance initiatives. This was conducted by DFATD as a follow-up to the July MTR consultation. (October 20)
- 2 Network members (Beth Woroniuk and Marilou McPhedran) were invited to attend Inclusive Security’s National Action Plan Academy, held in Washington, December 2-5.
Participation in the Global Campaign to End Sexual Violence and Rape in Conflict
- 2 Meetings with START officials to discuss Canada’s position in the UK “Time to Act” Summit.
- Several members participated in meetings with the UK High Commission in the lead up to the Time to Act Summit and afterwards.
- Twitter campaign (key demands to Min Baird) and blog series with supporting social media to coincide with the UK-organized summit on sexual violence (June) (report on the social media campaign is available on the members’ only part of the website – under background materials). The open letter to Baird can be read here.
- The Network organized 2 events for the 16 Days of Activism on Violence Against Women:
- A documentary screening (The Invisible War) and panel discussion on sexual violence in the US and Canadian militaries. Co-sponsored by MATCH International Women’s Fund and the School of International Development and Global Studies (U of O).
- An on-line blog series.
Other
- WPSN-C was invited to attend a civil society consultation on NATO’s WPS action plan in Brussels. JO Rodrigues represented the Network. Her report is available.
- On-line membership drive/campaign. This blog series profiled WPSN-C members and their work, and recruited over a dozen new members.
- Participation in the Women’s Policy Network.
- Responded to START’s request for input into the Canadian position for discussions at the UN’s Peacebuilding Commission on “gender-responsive national reconciliation processes”.
- Participation in the Up for Debate initiative. Even though we cannot sign on to this campaign as the Network we have been supportive of the initiative.
- Voices for Change Conversation Series: Young Women Redefining Peace (September 26). Panel Discussion. Sponsored by MATCH International Women’s Fund and Nobel Women’s Initiative. Kristine St-Pierre was a panelist and Beth Woroniuk was the moderator.
Ongoing website and social media
- Our website was possible thanks to the Institute for the International Women’s Rights for covering the annual fee.
- In 2014, there were 22 blog posts plus the 3 online campaigns mentioned above that had numerous blog contributions (membership drive – 10, Time to Act/Global Summit -9 and 16 days – 12) for a total of 53 blog posts. This compares to 23 single blog posts in 2013.
We hosted 3 interns:
- Amber Minnings (joint with Nobel Women’s Initiative and the MATCH International Women’s Fund) January – April
- Tori Roberts (joint with MATCH International Women’s Fund) April – July
- Margaryta Yakovenko (joint with World Federalists Movement – Canada) October – December
Thanks to all three for their excellent and supportive work! Their contributions to the Network are gratefully appreciated.
Meetings
Thanks to the following members who hosted meetings and conference calls: Oxfam-Canada, MATCH International Women’s Fund, Amnesty International Canada, and CUPW.
Steering Committee
The Steering Committee for the year was Julie Lafreniere, JO Rodrigues, Kristine St-Pierre and Beth Woroniuk.
List Serve
The list serve is courtesy of Nobel Women’s Initiative.
Members’ events
Many Network members were active on WPS issues through their ongoing work. In particular members in Winnipeg were active, organizing a number of events and advocacy initiatives.
Membership
We started the year with 38 members and ended with over 60.
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