tireless, courageous and sue-ped up

Sue Bannon from the Midland Area Reading Council has been talking to her Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) and here is what happened. Last Thursday Garfield Dunlop, the Progressive Conservative MPP for Simcoe North, stood up in the Ontario Legislature and made this motion:

"I move that, in the opinion of this House, the government of Ontario should provide adequate funding to community-based literacy and basic skills programs so that the agencies can properly address the growing enrolment."

His speech in support of the motion sounded kind of like a literacy worker speaking. Mr. Dunlop either has experience in community-based literacy or he is a good listener. Perhaps a little of both. He brought this issue to his colleagues with passion, compassion and complexity.

You can download a transcript of his complete speech and the comments of the MPPs who spoke to the motion here (PDF 100 KB). Not everybody spoke like a literacy worker. Some kept their politician hats firmly on their heads. Some spoke in support but still have a little listening to do. But many spoke of community-based literacy as we understand it: hard work that takes courage and commitment, where the rewards can be difficult to quantify but are deeply felt, and that continuously creates huge and tiny reward ripples for individuals and communities.

Here is a list of who spoke and some excerpts:

Garfield Dunlop: Progressive Conservative (Official Opposition) Member of Provincial Parliament for Simcoe North.

"...in order to have about 115 learners in their organization [Midland Area Reading Council] right now-and most of the learning is provided by volunteers in our communities - these groups operate on funding of about $60,000 a year. That's for staff time, hydro, heat, computers - $60,000. So basically they're poverty organizations as we would stand today."

Andrea Horwath: New Democrat Member of Provincial Parliament for Hamilton Centre.

"The important piece of this member's motion is to acknowledge that government has a role. Government has a role to make sure that people are prepared and able to engage not only in the economy and economic activity but in the broader social and political activities that a civil society has to offer. ...It is not a matter of inability; it's a matter of lack of access."

Bob Delaney: Liberal (Current Government) Member of Provincial Parliament for Mississauga Streetsville.

"I think it's an important subject that does deserve discussion in the Legislature."

Robert Bailey: Progressive Conservative Member of Provincial Parliament for Sarnia Lambton.

"I was very disappointed to learn, when I met with this organization [Organization for Literacy Sarnia-Lambton], that they have been struggling and operating for a number of years with only $63,000 in core funding. This $63,000 covers rent, administration and wages, which as we know is just not realistic in this day and age. In fact, the executive director, who is a retired school teacher, bless her heart, has not even been drawing a wage for the last number of years in order for the program to keep functioning."

Cheri DiNovo: New Democrat Member of Provincial Parliament for Parkdale High Park.

"I hope this valuable motion is taken up by the government, not just in a vote today-which seems inevitable now-but in actual adequate funding."

Mike Colle: Liberal (Current Governement) Member of Provincial Parliament for Eglinton Lawrence.

"There are some very good teachers and some very good volunteers teaching literacy and numeracy."

Peter Shurman: Progressive Conservative Member of Provincial Parliament for Thornhill.

"I want to underscore something else. Literacy does not mean that you're stupid or lazy or incapable. It usually means you just plain need a leg up. So that's what these programs are about, and it is extremely important. ... I myself have had the privilege of standing before 100 people and talking to them about my background and why I developed literacy skills and looking at their backgrounds and finding out that there's an array of reasons why they didn't, and watching them so hungry to suck up the knowledge they were getting from that literacy centre, that was teaching them to be as good as they could be by having these basic skills."

Ted Chudleigh: Progressive Conservative Member of Provincial Parliament for Halton.

"I would like to bring the attention of the House to the tireless workers and volunteers who tutor these students and what a wonderful job they do. As the member who brought this bill forward mentioned, there are 265,000 hours of volunteer work every year. That's an amazing number. I'd also like to commend the courage of the students. It's not an easy thing to walk into a library or walk into an organization and say, "I can't read and write." That takes a great deal of courage. I would commend those people who do that, particularly later in life."

Garfield Dunlop: Progressive Conservative Member of Provincial Parliament for Simcoe North.

"I, for one-and I'm passionate about this because I've got some strong stakeholders in my riding that push me. I'm not going to let this drop. Even if you don't put one cent in the budget, it's not going to drop. We're going to keep nagging you and nagging you and nagging you until this funding for community-based organizations is increased."

And the motion carried. It seems that community-based literacy has a new champion in the legislature. Thank you Mr. Dunlop and all the others who supported this motion. Those of us in Ontario will help you as you keep nagging and nagging and nagging. Those of us in other provinces will use your speech to energize our champions and encourage new people to join their ranks.

equal shmequal

Saturday is International Women's Day. Here is what our government has to say about this year's IWD on the Status of Women page:

Canada's theme for International Women's Day/Week 2009 is Strong Leadership. Strong Women. Strong World: Equality.

The theme reflects the government's firm belief that increasing women's participation and access to leadership roles and opportunities will help women and girls thrive, reach their full potential and fulfill their dreams, and help build a more prosperous Canada.

For Canadians, equality means women and men sharing in the responsibilities and obligations, as well as in the opportunities and rewards, of life and work. In Canada, leadership is key across society - from the private sector, to governments, to the general public - for people of all origins, generations and backgrounds to participate fully in our country's economic, social and democratic life, and ultimately, in improving the state of the world.

Now more bad news. For all those, including Bev Oda, our federal Minister of Canadian Heritage and Status of Women* from February 6, 2006 until August 14, 2007, who think this 'fight' has been won...

The current Canadian government’s budget Bill C-10, tabled by the Conservative party and supported by the Liberal party, contains the Public Sector Equitable Compensation Act which threatens women’s right to pay equity. Some people question why this bill is included in the stimulus package as it does nothing to save money, help the economy, or save jobs.

• The Budget Implementation Act, Bill C-10
• The Public Sector Equitable Compensation Act
  (the part of Bill C-10 which refers to pay equity rights)

When this legislation passes:

• Some federal public sector workers will no longer have the right to file complaints for pay equity with the Canadian Human Rights Commission.
• Pay equity will be called "equitable compensation issues," and will become something negotiable with employers rather than a recognized human right. This means that a woman's right to equal pay is now an item on the bargaining table and could be traded away for additional coffee breaks.
• Employers will, for the first time, be able to use "market forces" as a factor in determining whether pay equity will be addressed. Pay equity was originally designed to correct a failure in the market that permits systemic wage discrimination against women.
• The affected federal public sector workers will have the right to file complaints with the Public Service Labour Relations Board, but unions will be fined $50,000 if they are found to be helping or encouraging women to fight a pay equity complaint.

And on and on...

This legislation has gone through second reading in Parliament, with third reading and a vote coming up in early March.

If you would like to contact your Member of Parliament to ask them to vote NO to Bill C-10, you can click on this link to send a letter to your MP: http://petition.web.net/psac/node/26

(In the letter, you need to fill out your MP's name, and type your name at the bottom of the letter. If you don't know who your MP is, his or her (still mostly his :P) name will appear near the bottom of the petition once you fill in your postal code).

Here are some links to news and information on this issue:

• Hansard: Bill C-10 - Budget Implementation Act - Conservatives Attack on Pay Equity for Women - Judy Wasylycia-Leis (Winnipeg North, NDP)
• Pay equity spin gives women the kiss-off - HarperIndex.ca
• The end of pay equity for women in the federal public service - Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC)
• PSAC says “pay equity” bill threatens women's rights
• PSAC to fight budget bill
• What you missed in that budget bill - Toronto Star
• A Blow to Women's Rights in Canada - Embassy Magazine
• Parliament to pass budget at 'lightning speed': MPs - Hill Times
• Woman about to lose pay equity rights- Sudbury Star
• PSAC pressuring Liberals to remove wage, pay equity clauses - CP

* The Status of Women portfolio was transferred to to a Minister of State (junior cabinet minister) on October 30, 2008. The first and current Minister of State (Status of Women) is Helena Guergis.