The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Real Women Have you ever heard of an organization called "Real Women Of Canada"? They are a relatively recent, privately funded national organization that claims to provide an alternative to the various and vocal feminist groups, and are being heard more and more, most particularly with the issues of gay marriages and abortions. The group Ñ"Realistic, Equal, Active, for Life" Ñ state they are a non-denominational, non-politically partisan organization of independent women who give a collective voice to those who believe in what is obviously social-conservative values. They promote equality for all women but insist this equality is solidly committed to the most important part of Canadian life Ñ the family. The group's motto is: "Women's Rights, But Not At The Expense Of Human Rights." This motto, along with their five main objectives, tell us a lot of what this organization is all about. Their objectives are: 1. The family is society's most important unit. 2. To promote equality, advancement and well-being of women 3. To promote and defend legislation which upholds traditional marriage and families. 4. To support government policies that allow women to stay as homemakers. 5. To support the right to life. Real Women have published several of their beliefs as position papers, which to no surprise support their stated objectives. On marriage their view is that permanent marriage is possible, desirable and badly needed in Canada. They are, of course, writing of traditional marriages. On divorce, they are opposed to Las Vegas types of divorces, and support their argument with statistics and information about the negative effects on women and children. They are opposed to permissive divorce legislation and propose tax-deductible subsidized marriage counseling. Dealing with abortion, which they oppose, they claim you can't be pro-family and allow attacks on an unborn child any more than you can on the aged and disabled. This organization, while supporting that women must have equal opportunity in employment, remain opposed to quotas and affirmative action for women, claiming this is reverse discrimination on men and minority groups. They insist that jobs and appointments should be on the basis of merit not gender. They state several other positions, including an interesting approach to child-care. As we know, the Liberal's 2005 budget included $5 billion for child care Ñ or did it? Child-care programs in Canada are a mish-mash of public and private plans, and expansion of care has long been promised by the Liberals. Costs are very high, estimated in Winnipeg to be $7,280 per year for an infant and $2,836 for a school-age child. In this budget, Manitoba will get $180 million over five years to expand and improve child care programs. The Federal government wants to set up a national framework with the obvious bureaucratic costs that will follow. Alberta and Quebec want the cash but no direction on how to spend it. Manitoba's NDP government will only expand day-care in the non-profit sector. What do Real Women Of Canada say? They say a lot, and make a lot of sense! First, they believe that the ideal situation is when every family looks after their own children in their own home, and they propose that child-care funds be paid directly to the parents who then can choose the care they want Ñ home care or other. They do not believe that every woman by right deserves day-care, but rather it should be available on a basis of need. Another position paper from Real Women deals with the need for pension and tax reform in Canada to protect families with a stay-at-home-mom, as they point out that of the 3.5 million full-time homemakers, most families have a much lower income than if mom works. They propose a number of changes; giving such families a homemaker's tax credit according to income, child tax credits paid directly to parents, increased tax exemptions for dependents, a lower tax rate for single-income families (who now pay higher rates than two-income families.), full, not partial pensions for surviving spouses, and also providing tax credits for those who look after elderly parents or disabled members of the family. Real Women hit the press in February with a couple of somewhat shocking releases. One claims the Federal Liberals are lying in regards to the same-sex marriage bill, as they have no authority to protect religious groups from performing same-sex marriages, as the Supreme Court has ruled they are under Provincial jurisdiction. As well, they say the Feds know full well that the Court will choose homosexual rights over religious rights, and give a number of examples. In a follow-up release, the group announced an analysis of funding of gay activists and their legal challenges, shows the taxpayer is footing the bill while family organizations must raise their own money. Lawyer costs for gay challenges were paid by the Federal treasury as were most of the costs of EGALE (Equality for Gays And Lesbians Everywhere.) They also claim that prominent Canadian Unions such as the Auto Workers and CUPE are financially backing homosexual activists (EGALE lists them as gold sponsors on its website.) Real Women demands that Justice Minister Cotler cut off the flow of tax money to homosexual advocacy groups. It didn't come from Real Women, but from the head of Canada Family Active Coalition, requesting a boycott of Famous Player's Theatres. Why? Because in the half hour or more before the movie there are free advertisements for same-sex marriages, donated by the president of Famous Player's theatres. The coalition was refused equal time for pro-marriage ads. They claim that captive audiences, including children, should not be subjected to such indoctrination. Anyone who has suffered through these endless pre-movie ads and previews may agree, or at least show up late as many people already do.
