The recent rise in homelessness and detention rates during the pandemic has raised concerns about the interconnectedness of race, prison and homelessness in Canada. Reallocating funds from police budgets to social housing budgets has the potential to address this issue.
One year after the 2020 mass shooting in Portapique, Nova Scotia by Gabriel Wortman politicians recognized the tragic day with moments of silence, tweets of remembrance and kind words, and speeches honouring the victims. Yet, none of these acts have significantly shifted either public policy or the societal normalization of intimate partner violence. This lack of action stems from the masculine nature of the state, which has a tendency to subvert feminist issues and voices.
This International Women’s Day the United Nations celebrated under the theme of “Women in Leadership: Achieving an Equal Future in a Covid-19 World.” The Canadian government followed suit by promoting the hashtag #FeministRecovery on March 8, 2021 in recognition of the uneven impacts the covid-19 pandemic has had on women. Specifically, the current pandemic has seen women exit the labour market in large numbers. Without women in the labour force, there is less chance that women will advance to leadership roles as there will be gaps in their resumes and skill depreciation over time. The issues that are preventing women from re-entering the labour force and progressing in their careers and achieving leadership roles urgently need to be addressed.
Despite Justin Trudeau being a self-proclaimed feminist and avid supporter of women’s rights, the province of New Brunswick has continued to undermine access to abortion without significant repercussions from the prime minister. Rather, the issue is being brought to the court system by the Canadian Civil Liberties Association. This article will argue that this has been a missed opportunity for the prime minister to make significant feminist change.
The significance of having a place to call home has been heightened in the past year. With government officials advising citizens to stay at home to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus, attention was appropriately turned to those who were visibly homeless. Individuals experiencing homelessness, however, do not simply exist in visible places such as sidewalks, alleys, parks, and emergency shelters. A portion of those who are homeless experience hidden homelessness, which occurs in private settings: on the couches of friends and family, in overcrowded apartments, in the homes of an abusive partner, or any other form of private residence where tenancy is insecure. This situation raises important questions: Who experiences hidden homelessness? Why are individuals experiencing hidden homelessness? And how is covid-19 impacting the experience of hidden homelessness? The answers to these questions will make clear that there is a need to ensure that all forms of homelessness are adequately addressed and eliminated.
With the anniversary of the École Polytechnique massacre and the National Day of Remembrance and Day of Action on Violence Against Women on December 6 and the Global 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence Campaign having run from November 25 to December 10, now is a good time to reflect on domestic violence in Canada and what can be done to provide better supports. With a focus on domestic leave policies in Canada, this article comments on the gap in equality between women in lower and those in higher paying positions and the implications arising from this gap.
The shift from a Keynesian welfare state and the Canadian Assistance Plan to a neoliberal governance and the Canada Health and Social Transfer (CHST) model in the 1980s and 1990s and then the implementation of the current Poverty Reduction Strategy has had numerous implications for poverty in Canada. With a focus on single mothers in Canada, this article will assess the impact of each of these policy shifts to determine whether or not poverty has in fact been reduced.
The formal definition of a vulnerable child or youth used by most Canadian provinces points to factors such as age, disability and, more vaguely, the general risk of abuse or neglect. But these factors do not encompass indigenous women and girls. Consequently, to fully understand the meaning of vulnerability and it’s relationship to colonialism, racism, misogyny and sexism, there is a need to use an intersectional lens that takes Indigenous feminist thought into account.
The achievement of greater equality requires that we go beyond simple reforms. First, we must critically examine how patriarchal gender roles, built into capitalism, have been accepted in the past. Second, we must then collectively envision a path forward that leaves the capitalist-patriarchal gender norms behind.
Heightened attention has been given to the problems of homelessness and housing insecurity across Canada. Under present conditions, eviction is closer to reality for many due to the lifting of eviction bans.