Advocacy 
CFUW encourages its members to use their expertise to bring about change, with particular reference to women’s issues such as violence against women, early learning and child care, education, economic prosperity and the empowerment of women as leaders and decision-makers.
1- Inuit Advocacy Group
This is a new initiative for CFUW/Kanata. The purpose of this group is to educate and inform our members about the history of Canada’s Inuit peoples; to study the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission; to get to know some members of Ottawa’s Inuit community, the largest community outside the North, and to share our stories; to support their dreams and aspirations.
2 - Partner with CARE Canada
CFUW/Kanata has agreed to partner with CARE Canada’s Walk in her Shoes Challenge to be held on International Women’s Day, Tuesday, March 7, 2017. CARE is a leading humanitarian organization fighting global poverty. Women and girls in developing countries must walk an average of 10,000 steps every day to collect water, food and firewood for the survival of their families. We shall walk in solidarity with these women to raise awareness and to help break the cycle of poverty.
3 - Support for Bill C-242 An Act to Amend the Criminal Code (Inflicting torture)
CFUW/Kanata has sent a letter of support for this Bill to each of the members on the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights. A letter was also sent to Karen McCrimmon, MP for Kanata-Carleton. A meeting was held with her on June 30, 2016 to discuss the Bill.
CFUW/Kanata, in collaboration with Jeanne Sarson and Linda MacDonald, instituted a project inviting all CFUW clubs across the country to contact their MPs asking that they write to Minister Monsef, Minister for the Status of Women, requesting that she name non-state torture as a specific form of violence in the Government’s new “Strategy to Prevent and Address Gender-Based Violence”. The letter was sent out to Clubs as part of the sixteen days campaign on violence against women which ran from November 25th to December 6th.
UPDATE: January 16, 2018
Jeanne Sarson and Linda MacDonald, our excellent guest speakers at last year's Fall Gathering, have been working for over 20 years to have non-state torture recognized as a criminal offence in Canada. They have made presentations internationally in support of their work and they are sharing with us their recent article that was published in a peer-reviewed publication:
This is the follow-up to their presentation at the Institute in Spain. It is free to download so Kanata members may be interested. Please do feel free to share far and wide.
Sarson, Jeanne and MacDonald, Linda, No Longer Invisible: Families that Torture, Traffic, and Exploit Their Girl Child (December 12, 2017). Oñati Socio-Legal Series, Vol. 8, No. 1, 2018. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3086626
4 - Support for Local Organizations
CFUW/Kanata continues to support
- Chrysalis House, a women’s shelter; http://www.wocrc.ca/violence-against-women/chrysalis-house
- The Kanata Food Cupboard; http://kanatafoodcupboard.ca/
- and Hospice Care Ottawa. http://www.hospicecareottawa.ca