This video documents a talk given by Sharon McIvor on the McIvor v. Canada case at the Centre for Feminist Legal Studies, University of British Columbia in 2010. Sharon McIvor is a member of the Lower Nicola Indian Band and Nlaka'pamux Nation. Sharon is known for her activism against sex-based discrimination to Indigenous women and children and reform in Canadian legislation. Notably the Bill C-3: 2011 Amendments to the Indian Act which grant 6(2) Indian status to grandchildren of women who regained status in 1985. This amendment to the Indian Act was the government of Canada's response to the McIvor v. Canada case. Sharon's activism for equality for Indigenous women was recognized by Canada’s Governor General in 2011. Sharon is a lawyer and has taught at the Nicola Valley Institute of Technology in Merritt, British Columbia.
This video documents an interview with Murwarid Ziayee, director for Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan, Kabul. The interviewer is assumed to be [Susan Bazilli? director of the International Women’s Rights Project (IWRP), University of Victoria]. The video was made available on IWRP’s website under the section titled 'Afghanistan' (http://iwrp.org/projects/afghanistan/)
This video documents an interview with Dr. Sima Samar in July of 2011 in Kabul, Afghanistan. The interviewer is Susan Bazilli, director for the International Women’s Rights Project (IWRP), University of Victoria. Dr. Sima Simar speaks on current issues for women in Afghanistan, policies, politics, and principals of human rights. The video was made available on the website for the International Women's Rights Project under the section titled 'Afghanistan' (http://iwrp.org/projects/afghanistan/).
This video documents Margaret Tuhumwire, director of Environmental Women in Action for Development (EWAD), announcing development projects to a small formal gathering of people sitting and standing outside in Entebbe, Uganda. One of the projects announced is part of the Entebbe Women's Association (EWA). EWA is a local partner with the International Women's Rights Project (IWRP), University of Victoria. The description on IWRP's website (https://iwrp.org/news/entebbe-women-association/) reads: "The Entebbe Women Association (EWA) is a non-profit organization based in Entebbe, Uganda, and provide services for children and families in need. EWA takes an interest in community development, seeking to address the impact of HIV/AIDS on children and families, and also working to protect the community-sustaining natural resource of the waters of Lake Victoria." Other women identified in the video are: Doo Aphane(founding national coordinator, Women and Law Southern Africa) at 00:00:22 seconds and Mary Balikungeri (director, Rwanda Women’s Network) at 00:00:46 seconds.
The website Constitute.ca is a multi-media educational resource on citizen engagement and women’s constitutional activism in Canada. The website is a project of the International Women’s Rights Project (IWRP). On Constitute.ca, one could view the documentary film Constitute!, interviews, educational resources or use it as study guide in classrooms or for research. The website is named after the documentary film Constitute! which tells the story a large social mobilization lead by the Ad Hoc Committee of Women and the Constitution which changed Canadian history on February 14, 1981 on Parliament Hill, Ottawa by fighting to insure that equality provisions were entrenched in the newly repatriated Constitution’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms (Sections 15 and 28).
This video documents an interview with Mary Balikungeri, director of the Rwanda Women’s Network. The interview was conducted by Sally Armstrong at the Canadian Forum on Women’s Activism in Constitutional and Democratic Reform on February 14th, 2006, Parliament Hill, Ottawa. In the section titled "The Interviews" on Constitute.ca it reads: "Mary Balikungeri, the Director of the Rwanda Women’s Network, talks about the Rwandan genocide and its impact on women and children and the role at the network plays in reconciliation and building a health society in Rwanda." The video is supplementary interview material for the documentary film Constitute!. Constitute.ca is a project of the International Women’s Rights Project (IWRP), University of Victoria.
This video documents an interview with Malalai Joya, a member of parliament in Afghanistan. The interview was conducted by Sally Armstrong at the Canadian Forum on Women’s Activism in Constitutional and Democratic Reform on February 14th, 2006, Parliament Hill, Ottawa. The description for the video on the Constitute.ca website reads: "Malalai Joya has been called the ‘woman who will not be silenced’ while she exposes the dangerous and difficult situation for the Afghan people." In 2003, Malalai spoke out publicly against warlords in Afghanistan while serving as an elected delegate to the Loya Jirga, the assembly convened to ratify Afghanistan's constitution. In 2005, Malalai became one of 68 women elected to the 249-seat National Assembly known as the Wolesi Jirga. The video is supplementary interview material for the documentary film Constitute!. Constitute.ca is a project of the International Women’s Rights Project (IWRP), University of Victoria.
This video clip documents a portion of an interview with Joanne St. Lewis, a bencher of the Law Society of Upper Canada (now Law Society of Ontario), a governing body for lawyers in Ontario. The interview was conducted by Sally Armstrong at the Canadian Forum on Women’s Activism in Constitutional and Democratic Reform on February 14th, 2006, Parliament Hill, Ottawa. Joanne states in the interview "[...] I am the first Black woman elected in 208 years. Now they talk about gender issues there, and from my perspective, I don't think any of those women, other than my colleague who is the only aboriginal woman, has any sense of what a constant negotiation it is for me to be in there. I don't automatically coalesce with the women. I think I have different ideas of what feminism is about. I think I see a liberation struggle for Black people at a global level, which means Black men, women, and children together to be liberated from colonial regime. [...] " The description for the interview on the Constitute.ca reads: "The marginalization of racialized women still continues in Canada. See what Dr. Carrie Best said in 1981 and Joanne St. Lewis in 2006. We still have a long way to go in Canada to address the racism in our society." The video is supplementary interview material for the documentary film Constitute!. Constitute.ca is a project of the International Women’s Rights Project (IWRP), University of Victoria.
This video documents Lerato Legoabe, Coordinator of GirlsNet, South Africa, speaking at the Canadian Forum on Women’s Activism in Constitutional and Democratic Reform on February 14th, 2006, Parliament Hill, Ottawa. The event was an intergenerational forum on democratic renewal to produce forward looking strategies in a global context for intergenerational women’s equality rights. Lerato states in the video: "[...] I want to end with three challenges and, like I did yesterday, I want to cluster them together. The issue of access to information. The issue of violence against women because I feel violence against women, as a South African and I think, as a young woman of the world, is a very big challenge that many governments, civil society and people in general are struggling to deal with and I feel that, as the young women's movement, we need to be a voice that has a position on this issue. We also need to come up with strategies that will influence some of the activism that needs to happen on the ground on this issue: HIV AIDS and its link to violence against women, child trafficking (it's now called modern day slavery). We need to have a position on that. [...]" The 2006 forum was held in the same room on Parliament Hill as the 1981 Women’s Constitutional Conference twenty-five years prior. The 2006 forum was attended by original members of Ad Hoc Committee of Canadian Women and the Constitution (who organized the 1981 conference) along with parliamentarians, students and other activists over the course of two days.
