So I'm gathering more news about the Status of Women issue.
This is the latest article from CanWest.
OTTAWA - A leading Canadian women's rights group has been forced to close its office for lack of money and other federally financed organizations fear a similar fate as the Conservative government zeroes in on a promise to cut spending by $1 billion this fiscal year.
This is the line that has to be combatted: that women's groups are closing because of the lack of money from the Women's Program (the program under SOW that funds feminist projects).
The Women's Program funds PROJECTS, not GROUPS. So if a group folds, it's because they are unable to raise money. If they're using project money to run their operations, that means the money is not going where it's supposed to.
UPDATE: Proof of this assertion (as I was doing research on this....) From the SOW website:
What costs are eligible?
All costs directly related to an iniiative are eligible for consideration, except those noted in "Limitations." Funding is not provided for 100 per cent of the total costs of any initiative.
Limitations
What is not eligible?
(...)
initiatives which have already taken place;
recurring activities not directly related to a clearly defined change-oriented strategy.
What costs are not eligible?
Capital expenditures;
travel and other expenses incurred outside of Canada;
costs incurred before a funding decision is made.
By the way, the Liberal Governmetn was the one that decided to fund projects, not groups. So the feminists can thank the Party of Maria Minna, Marlene Jennings, and Belinda Stronach for that.
The Ottawa-based National Association of Women and the Law (NAWL), which has sought yearly funding of about $350,000 to finance its advocacy and research activities on such issues as equal pay for work of equal value, was forced to shutdown earlier this month - and lay off its two paid employees - after it ran out of funds.
Wait a minute. These are lawyers. These are people who make a living convincing people. They earn a substantial amount of money, and they associate with people who earn a substantial amount of money. This group is telling me it can't convince people who are well-off to donate to their organization???
WTF?
I have an idea. Why don't they ask Belinda Stronach for help? She has money. Or the Liberal MP's who're hounding Minister Oda? They each make a substantial amount of money. Get all the Liberal and NDP MP's who support this and have a fundraiser.
NAWL treasurer Alison Dewar said the group, which is still paying rent on its office, hopes to reopen if it gets federal funding.
The money is not supposed to fund operations!
Dewar rejected Landolt's argument that Status of Women Canada is no longer needed.
''All the evidence out there about poverty, about what's happening to women, about domestic violence, about all those things show quite the opposite,'' she said. ''There is still a need for a strong feminist voice to ensure women's rights.''
What about the voices of non-feminists?
Dewar said the group cannot hope to survive on donations. ''Often, the very women we are fighting for are the very women who don't have the money to fund us.''
So solicit women whom you're not fighting for. There are people in the world with money to burn. They spend it on crap and conspicuous consumption. Convince them to give it to you instead. You're a lawyer, you can do it. Assuming there are enough people around who think feminism is important.
If this leftist blogger can be believed, at least one of the feminist groups begging for money finally got a letter saying it was getting its money.
And don't you just love the racist headline: "oda goes yoda".
How feminist of her to insult Minister Oda because of her Japanese background and oriental traits. Typical leftist crap. They're all over righties about being bigots and prejudiced, but they turn around and do the same thing.
so oda caved. late tonight, fafia got word via formal letter from the minister herself that their funding application has been granted. and by tomorrow morning, we'll know who else got rushed letters from the woman who went from oda to yoda after 2.5 days of medium level media coverage. these approvals have not been pending since may. they are a panic change of attack for a government that suspecting it could quietly make disappear an entire sector of equality-seeking groups. yoda got wise, finally, and will close out the week with some talking points about how these applications were never in doubt, the orgs were never in peril.
I don't take this as a sign that funding will be cut or preserved either way. It could be the last of the money being handed out; or it could be a sign that the Program will be retained-- whether it will sustain cuts remains to be seen.
If nothing else, Minister Oda has done a really good job of saying that non-feminists deserve a voice, too. She should be acknowledged for that.
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