Montreal – June 21, 2006 – Systemic discrimination against Canada’s aboriginal women is among the many human rights issues addressed in a new information kit designed by Rights & Democracy, Quebec Native Women and The Continental Network of Indigenous Women (ENLACE).
The publication is the second in a series of interactive information kits designed to both encourage native women to share their struggles and stories while presenting the various international legal options available to them in their efforts to address human rights violations.
Ellen Gabriel, President of Quebec Native Women, said the kits are an important resource for aboriginal women in Canada and throughout the Americas , where they remain the most marginalized members of society.
“There is an entire justice system in place which entails numerous forms of discrimination against women, and this system is one of the main offshoots of the oppression to which our peoples have been subjected,” said Ms. Gabriel. “The Aboriginal women in Canada are now experiencing a more insidious form of discrimination, seeing that it is built right into the country’s laws and regulations.”
“This information kit is a product of the important relationship developing between aboriginal women in the North and South,” said Jean-Louis Roy, President of Rights & Democracy. “While exploring the common challenges aboriginal women face, this kit also provides information on the international human rights authorities and instruments available to them when their rights are being violated, including the United Nations and the International Labour Organization.”
In 2004, Rights & Democracy, QNW and ENLACE published the first information kit to educate and train aboriginal women and to highlight the work being done by these women at the local, national and international levels to ensure respect of their rights.
Encouraged by the success of this first edition, Rights & Democracy
developed the second edition, which includes information on Bill C-31 and its
effects on Aboriginal women in Canada . Three thousand copies of this new
edition will be published and distributed in three languages (French, English
and Spanish) throughout the Americas to strengthen the links now being forged
between women from North to South through the ENLACE network.
Please click here to access the
kit.
Partners
Rights & Democracy is a non-partisan organization created by the Canadian Parliament in 1988. Its mandate, international in scope, is to promote and support the universal values of human rights and to foster the growth of democratic institutions and practices around the world. Rights & Democracy works with individuals, organizations and governments in Canada and abroad to promote the human and democratic rights defined in the United Nations’ International Bill of Human Rights.
Quebec Native Women (QNW) is non-profit political organization created in 1974 to defend the rights and interests of Aboriginal women and their families, whether they are living in the Aboriginal communities or in urban centres. Its mandate is to support Aboriginal women in their efforts to improve their living conditions and in all other actions they take to develop their communities.
ENLACE- The Continental Network of Indigenous Women is the result of an initiative that Indigenous women of the Americas embarked on to create links among Indigenous women’s organizations in North, Central and South America and to strengthen the capacities of Indigenous women’s grassroots associations in their work on the issues affecting their lives.