International Women's Day 2001 - working women celebrate the World Women's March and pledge our determination to remain strong and united to win equality for all women.

Through the World Women's March, Canadian women put our issues on the political landscape. Across the country we walked, talked, wheeled, bicycled, rafted and gathered to make our point. Governments must take concrete action to end poverty and violence against women.

What we did in the World Women's March!

The World March of Women took Canada and Québec by storm throughout the year 2000. Never before have so many women been involved, from IWD 2000 to October 2000 in city after city, in town after town across the country. October 14, in Montreal - 30,000; October 15, in Ottawa - 50,000, October 17, in New York at the United Nations - women from Québec and Canada were the largest of all the contingents.

We are the women of Canada, strong and determined. We are union women and women of colour, women living in poverty, Aboriginal women, environmental activists, and francophone women. We are lesbians and mothers, women of faith, and students. We are women with disabilities, women of the north, and friends. We came together to demand equality, to demand an end to poverty and violence against women. And, we have just begun.

On Parliament Hill October 15th, we demanded equality and the elimination of poverty and violence. Thousands and thousands of union women were on the Hill, many of us had travelled across the country to participate. Thousands came from Québec to celebrate the culmination of five years of work and inspiration. Women of colour and Aboriginal women were front and centre in our celebration. The March brought out hundreds and hundreds of young women, who we were told had given up on feminism. Women from across Canada brought flags and banners, quilts and placards, t-shirts and buttons to form a dynamic, multi-coloured, loud, and determined show of women's strength.

On October 16, union sisters joined over 200 women gathered at a Speak Out on Parliament Hill to provide personal testimony about poverty and violence in our lives. We heard about the impact of government policies in health care, lesbian rights, immigration policies, education, housing, social assistance, childcare and unemployment insurance.

Women spoke of the importance of democracy to ensure our voices are heard. We talked of our struggles for equality and of the need for sustained and core government funding for our organizations to make democracy real for women.

On October 17, women descended on Parliament Hill for National Women's Lobby Day. Women from Newfoundland & Labrador, British Columbia, and everywhere in between, women from our unions, rape crises centres, factories, day care centres, secretaries and hospital workers, met together and then set off in teams to meet with MP after MP. We brought the message of the March and of the Speak Out.

Many women who came to Parliament Hill on October 17 had never lobbied before. But, we found we sure had plenty to say. Women committed to keep on talking and raising the issues of the March in our communities and with our elected representatives when we return home. Two union sisters realized during the lobby that in fact they knew more about the issues and what Canadians need from the government than the MP s they lobbied, so they went home and ran for Parliament as NDP candidates in the election!

Canadian women's movement leaders, including Terri Brown, NAC President and the CLC's Nancy Riche, also met with the Prime Minister. It had been fifteen years since the last Prime Minister had met with us! Jean Chrétien certainly never had. And, he didn't agree this time because he thought it proper to have the ladies in for tea. The meeting resulted from pressure from the Canadian Women's March, a letter writing campaign by women, unions and women's groups, an intensive lobby of the federal Liberal Women's Caucus, NDP and Bloc support and because it was becoming evident from across the country that the Women's March was growing into a force to be reckoned with.

What we learned from the meeting was no real surprise. The Prime Minister came to the table with nothing to offer and no vision for women's equality in Canada!

Meetings with Cabinet Ministers were not much more successful. Again, because of an aggressive pressure campaign, meetings were secured with the Ministers responsible for Finance, Health, Human Resources Development, Immigration, Indian Affairs and Northern Development, International Cooperation, Justice, Labour and Homelessness, Status of Women and Treasury Board. While the Ministers conceded very little, they were impressed by the strength, knowledge, vision and commitment of our lobby teams.

We won a handful of commitments to improve accountability to women's communities in the areas of health and housing. And, we got a commitment from the Minister of Justice to undertake a review of federal pay equity legislation to make it effective and just.

The Canadian Women's March had much more success working with the New Democratic Party and the Bloc Québeçois. In fact, a Bloc motion was passed by the House of Commons committing the House to "work immediately to provide the means needed to fight poverty and violence against women as demanded by the World March of Women, particularly in the areas of income protection, health, international aid, violence and wage parity, so as to ensure a fairer distribution of wealth between women and men." We need to hold them to it!

Why we did it all?

The Women's March was fighting for a set of demands that reflects the real needs and concerns of women. We know this because during spring and summer of 2000 women across the country were consulted.

The Canadian Women's March Committee circulated an initial set of 59 demands and asked: Were we missing anything? Was there not enough attention in one area? Too much in another? Had we presented the case for our demands with clarity and precision?

Women developed our demands at national meetings, at community and union meetings, at kitchen tables and we got feedback - we got lots and lots of feedback. From the response, we knew we had really hit a chord. At the end of this process, we had 13 demands or immediate first steps to eliminate poverty and violence - the "Feminist Dozen". And, we had a Platform for Action "It's Time for Change" - 68 demands for long term positive changes.

What we achieved?

The World March of Women was a tremendous success in Canada. The March renewed and strengthened the women's movement. Thousands and thousands of women presented a unified voice to the federal government - a feat never before accomplished in this country. The alliances between women of Québec and women in the rest of the country was critical and unprecedented. Our organizing brought union women together with anti-racist activists, students, community activists, Aboriginal women, lesbians, women in the faith community and young women in ongoing solidarity.

Women in hundreds of communities, in individual and unique ways, respected and promoted our diversity while maintaining a common political approach. The largest ever women's demonstration in Canadian history; the meeting with the Prime Minister of Canada for the first time in fifteen years; the resurgence of women's groups and committees in our communities and in our unions - all highlight our strength, our determination and our potential impact over the long term.

We know we have a tough battle ahead. Despite all our efforts in 2000, we have not yet won our demands. But, we knew it wasn't going to be that easy!

What we do know, and what the government does not yet realize, is that the Canadian women's movement is now stronger, and broader, and deeper and more committed than ever before. They just have to catch up.

Where do we go from here?

The World March of Women created tremendous enthusiasm around the world. For women's organisations worldwide, the goals of the World March of Women have become long term objectives. Many of the 110 national committees built to organize the March will continue their work nationally and internationally. The Canadian Women's March Committee will join with these sisters to ensure gains of the March in Canada are not lost.

We know women in Canada are committed to continuing efforts to end poverty and violence against women. We need to let the government know we are still here and we are not going away!

Lobby, Lobby, Lobby

The Canadian Women's March Committee plans to continue our lobby with all Cabinet Ministers who have power to make decisions about our demands. We want to know what the new Parliament intends to do to eliminate poverty and violence against women. We want action now.

You can help. You can have your local union send letters to the government. You can organize a meeting with your recently elected MP. Let them know the women's movement is here to stay and they have a responsibility to answer to the women of Canada. Contact some of the women you worked with during the March. You can focus on any one of the demands or you can raise them all.

Your "meeting" can take many forms: a discussion, a sit-in, an extended visit, a demonstration at the constituency office. If your MP won't meet with you, why not organize an activity anyway? Make sure the local media knows what you're planning. Have fun and keep up the pressure.

International Solidarity: Women Say "No" to Free Trade!

Elimination of poverty and violence against women worldwide was and is the goal of the World Women's March. It was and is critical for women in Canada to be part of this international struggle.

In April, we will have a chance to demonstrate our passion for international justice. The heads of state of all the countries of the Americas (except Cuba) will be meeting in Québec City in April 2001 to discuss the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas.

Women must be there in force to combat the corporate and government neoliberal vision of globalization. We need to learn about what globalization and the free trade agenda mean for women here and internationally. Women will be part of the People's Summit (April 16 - 21) organized to protest the imposition of free trade in our countries. We are planning a Women's Forum and will involved in all parts of the Summit. Women will join in the teach-ins, demonstrations, sit ins, street theatre in Québec City and in communities across the country.

On Saturday, April 21st, there will be a large popular protest against the proposals for a free trade of the Americas agreement. The Canadian Women's March Committee is working with the FFQ to build a large, strong and determined women's contingent. Help by encouraging women to come to Québec City or plan solidarity actions in your community for the same day.

Now is the time for us to show our strength and determination. We need to continue the struggle and build on the gains we made during the Women's March. We need to continue to pressure our government to act positively for women in Canada and around the world. The Government of Canada has not heard the last from the women of Canada.