ARCC Annual General Meeting, January 24, 2012 

  • Agenda
  • Minutes
  • Regional Reports: PEI, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ottawa , Toronto / Ontario, Alberta, BC and Synergy Report
  • Executive Director’s Report
  • Financial Report (goes to PDF)

Note: Here are the minutes and reports from previous ARCC AGMs: 2008  •  2009  •  2010  •  2011  •  2012   

Agenda

  • Welcome and Introduction
  • Adoption of 2010 and 2011 AGM minutes
  • Adoption of 2012 agenda
  • Reports from the Provinces and Synergy:
    • PEI
    • New Brunswick
    • Quebec
    • Ottawa
    • Toronto and rest of Ontario
    • Alberta
    • BC and Synergy
  • Executive Director’s Report
  • Membership Report
  • Financial Report
  • Fundraising discussion
  • New business
    • Pro-choice app for iPhone
    • NAF conference
  • Election of Board of Directors 
    • Thank you’s to Lorne Balshine and Lianne McTavish
  • Adjourn meeting 

Minutes of the Annual General Meeting

Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada / Coalition pour le droit à l’avortement au Canada (ARCC-CDAC)

Tuesday, January 24, 2012, Via teleconference (Skype)

Present:  Joyce Arthur (Executive Directorr). Board: Josie Baker, Judy Burwell, Pat Powers, Julie Lalonde, Carolyn Egan,  Peggy Cooke, Jane Cawthorne, Tara Paterson, Stephanie Shea.  Members at large: Kim Zander, Jennifer Burgess, Karen Mendell, Laura Dunbar.

The fifth Annual General Meeting of ARCC was conducted via teleconference, over Skype.

2010/2011 Minutes: Attendees have no questions or comments.
Motion: Pat moves to adopt the 2010-2011 minutes. Seconded by Judy. All in favour. Passed unanimously.

Adoption of 2012 agenda: Attendees have no changes or additions.
Motion: Judy moves to adopt the 2012 agenda. Seconded by Jane. All in favour. Passed unanimously.

Provincial and Coordinator’s Reports:

  • Report from PEI prepared by Josie Baker was read by Josie.
  • Report from New Brunswick prepared by Judy Burwell was read by Judy.
  • Report from Quebec prepared by Patrick Powers was read by Pat.
  • Report from Ottawa prepared by Julie Lalonde was read by Julie
  • Report from Toronto prepared by Carolyn Egan was read by Carolyn.
  • Report from Alberta prepared by Jane Cawthorne was read by Jane.
  • BC and Synergy report from Tara Paterson
  • Executive Director’s report from Joyce Arthur

Membership Report: Prepared by Lesley Hoyles, read by Joyce. As of Dec 31, 2011, ARCC has have 157 paid-up members, 43 of whom are monthly donors. 39 members lapsed in 2011 (i.e., they received a renewal notice but did not renew). There are a total of 113 expired members in our database from the beginning of ARCC (2005).

Financial Report: ARCC received $15,127 in donations and member fees during 2011. We spent $16,455, for a deficit of $1,328. See the full Financial Report (PDF).Motion to accept the financial report: Josie moves. Seconded by Karen. All in favour. Passed unanimously.

Fundraising Discussion: Use uprising of activism and media coverage in PEI as a fundraising opportunity. Take advantage of social media as we need to be mindful that mail-outs and such are expensive. Suggestion of a one-pager around what’s going on in PEI and use that as a jumping-off point for highlighting our work.
Bonus for Joyce Arthur: Judy moves that we provide Joyce with a bonus of $715 (based on 10% of fundraised amount in 2011). Jane seconds it. All in favour. Passed unanimously.  Joyce will prepare ARCC’s Case for Support this year.

New Business:  Pro-choice App: Jane suggests that we create a ‘Pocket Pro-Choice Debater’ app that would be built on the ‘Pocket Atheist Debater’ app. Rounds of voting: Joyce (yes), Karen (abstain), Julie (yes), Judy (abstain), Carolyn (abstain). Decision: Not to go ahead at this time.  NAF conference: Have to join NAF to go, otherwise you pay higher non-member fee. It’s in Vancouver so no hotel or travel fee for Joyce. $300 membership fee and $520 for conference. Unanimous agreement for Joyce to attend. Joyce will seek out whether or not we can get a reduced rate.

Election of Board of Directors:  Standing for a 2-year term are: Josie Baker, Judy Burwell, Pat Powers, Julie Lalonde, Carolyn Egan, Alison Brown, Peggy Cooke, Jane Cawthorne, Tara Paterson, and Stephanie Shea.  Motion to re-elect the slate of existing members for a 2 year-term. Moved by Joyce. Seconded by Karen. All in favour. Passed unanimously.

Meeting ended at about 6:35 pm Pacific time.

Report from PEI

by Josie Baker, Charlottetown

The past year has been incredibly eventful for the abortion rights movement on PEI. Dr. Colleen MacQuarrie’s action research project on the effects of lack of access to abortion can be credited as the catalyst that caused the resurgence of the pro-choice movement in PEI. Dr. MacQuarrie’s project received some additional attention this fall when she spoke to local and national media in November, in the lead up to the first pro-choice rally in recent memory. The research project has conducted 40 interviews to date, and the advisory committee will review the coded transcripts and co-create strategies to bring the research findings to the community through community education and advocacy.

The PEI Reproductive Rights Organization, formed in October, met with the Ad-Hoc Abortion Rights Committee. The Ad-Hoc Committee has since changed its name to the PEI Abortion Rights Network so as to acknowledge that it includes PRRO, Dr. MacQuarrie’s Research Project, individual activists, ARCC members, and representatives of different women’s organizations. The members of this network have worked together to mobilize and strategize the pro-choice movement in PEI.

The dramatic events of this year began when PRRO first broke the media silence on November 8th, announcing they the rally which was be held on November 19th. The story was immediately picked up by the national media, and although the women of PRRO were not initially expecting the flood of attention, they were up to the challenge. Aside from the successful rally which attracted about 200 supporters (and almost the same number of detractors), they challenged the lack of access at the Health PEI AGM, met with the Minister of Health, coordinated a strategic and prolific media campaign, and have begun investigating potential legal action. Support and help has flooded in from across the country, from ARCC, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, the BC Civil Liberties Association, the National Abortion Federation, among others.

The elected officials have continued their long standing inaction, both the PEI Health Minister, Doug Currie, and Premier Robert Ghiz has pronounced their support for the Status Quo. ARCC and PRRO have both recently called out Premier Ghiz on his hypocritical stance on the provision of abortion given his recent appointment as co-chair of a national premiers working group aimed at developing ideas and methods to improve health service delivery across the country.

In early January, the PEI Right to Life Association held a press conference announcing that they were mounting a year-long “education” campaign to show what they consider to be the “truth” about abortion. To date, they published a full page ad in the Charlottetown Newspaper which was subsequently de-bunked by the CBC. They also plan mail-outs to several PEI ridings. The UPEI Students for Life group is also more active than ever before.

The PEI Abortion Rights Network, including PRRO, have agreed to avoid legitimizing “debate” on the subject and are avoiding direct responses to the actions of pro-life groups. Judging by their success thus far, the behind the scenes work, and PRRO’s strategic use of the media are the most effective tactics at this time. There is no identifiable policy preventing abortions being performed in PEI, and PRRO is currently working behind the scenes with a doctor from another province and NAF to arrange for abortions to be performed at any of the islands’ hospitals.

There are several successes already achieved. Information about how to access abortion is now available on Health PEI’s website. Also, the federal Liberal party has recently passed a resolution to penalize provinces who do not provide access to this service, and the federal liberal party may pressure the provincial liberal party to step up and provide access. The media attention has also broken the silence on this issue, so that there is less of a cultural prohibition against discussing abortion. This will help to break down the stigma and isolation experienced by women in PEI. We anticipate that 2012 will continue to be an active and exciting time for choice in PEI.

Report from New Brunswick

by Judy Burwell, Fredericton

The past year has seen no major changes on the access to abortion front in New Brunswick.  Dr. Morgentaler’s lawsuit against the province has not been officially closed but it won’t be moving forward.

The N.B. doctor’s complaint to the Human Rights Commission, launched in 2008, has prompted the province to use the same arguments it used against Dr. Morgentaler, claiming that the doctor in question is not herself affected by the regulation that requires the approval of two doctors for an abortion and must be performed in a hospital setting by a gynecologist.  Note that N.B. is the only province that does not allow representatives to file a human rights complaint on behalf of someone else.  Nothing further can be done until a judicial review is completed, a process that could take months.  A New Brunswick law professor, offering legal advice from the sidelines, thinks it is possible the case will cross over to the courts.  This raises another problem as the costs involved would be prohibitive given the government’s ability to put up road blocks at every turn.   However, neither the doctor nor her supporters are giving up, but there is no expectation that the case will move forward quickly.

On the political front, the Liberals will be electing a new party leader later this year.  The first to throw his hat into the ring was Mike Murphy, the former Liberal Minister of Health.  He stands a good chance of winning which will not be good news for abortion rights.  Murphy stands strong with the anti choice groups in this province, privately and publicly.

The move by UNB to endorse and provide funding to a pro-life group has been challenged by a pro-choice student, but the University claims the funding does not contravene UNB policies.  The publicity around this has led to a UNB recognized feminist group on campus.  There is a lot of support for this new group, led by a member of the UNB Women’s Centre.  She also volunteers as an escort at the clinic and says they will be watching the activities of the pro-life group closely, ready to act if they step over the line.

The Morgentaler Clinic continues to be very busy.  We have learned that Bathurst, one of the two hospitals performing abortions, will only see women from the Bathurst area.  These would be the women most likely to come to the clinic for reasons of confidentiality.  As far as we know, there is now only one doctor performing abortions at the Moncton hospital and the waiting time is usually four to five weeks.

Report from Quebec

By Patrick Powers, Montreal

February: Began planning with Ainsley Jenicek for a general meeting of the FQPN to take place on March 7th with Dawn Fowler

March: On the 7th of March, meet with the FQPN (the Abortion Watch Committee and other members), where Dawn Fowler provided an overview of the situation of access; she delivered her message in French, and both her content and her choice of language were most appreciated by all present. (I forwarded a summary of the day to Alison Brown for The Activist.) We spent some time discussing the upcoming federal elections. The FQPN is a registered charitable organisation, and Nathalie Parent, the General Coordi nator at this time, offered a guarded analysis of what role we might play. We also learn that the Prime Minister had communicated his “anger” at women’s groups who complained about his governance, etc.

April: I am invited to write an essay in French for “L’Agenda des femmes 2012”, a collective feminist publication. The topic is: “Being pro-choice”. The provincial health minister, Yves Bolduc mistakenly provides $1,000 to a Pro-Life (anti-choice) group, and quickly retracts his error…and leaves a wake in the press.

May: I submit the essay, and it is accepted and published. The federal elections take place. Harper achieves his majority, and the NDP “orange wave” sweeps Québec.

June: I decide to join in the “Marche de solidarité avec les femmes congolaises” slated for June 30th. I distributed several of my ARCC-CDAC business cards, and marched for about an hour with them in downtown Montréal. Heavy duty stuff. Nathalie Parent decides to retire from her coordinator’s job at the FQPN. She and I had worked together for about 15-20 years, and she had been a driving force in the province’s pro-choice community.

August: I met with “Claris”, a pro-choice Israëli activist referred by Joyce. She is doing graduate work here at McGill in law.

September: I met with Rachel Johnstone, who was a presenter at the Concordia conference in the fall of 2010. We had a fruitful exchange. On the l5th of September, the Abortion Watch Committee (of the FQPN) had another meeting.

October: A local group, VOIX-VOICES, scheduled a conference at the Marriott Hotel. I pitch in with them, and offer an impromptu overview of the issues of choice and access. We (Joyce and I) will maintain a collaborative working relationship with them. Darren Shore is the main driving force. The group is all volunteers.

December: The last meeting of the year of the Comité de veille of the FQPN took place on December 5th. On this occasion, we were introduced to Sophie de Cordes, the new Coordinatrice générale, who has replaced Nathalie Parent. Along with Ainsley Jenicek, she will be the primary contact person for us at ARCC-CDAC.

N.B. We are still in “recovery” from Jack Layton’s death. The party itself is gathering its forces. I am hopeful that we will be able to work more in synch with them. In Québec we have no choice…

Report from Ottawa

by Julie Lalonde

Carleton University situation: The Carleton University Students’ Association’s council is currently reviewing a referendum question out forward by a student which seeks to symbolically ban clubs that use false information and violent images to limit a women’s right to choose.

Currently, CUSA’s discrimination policy states that no CUSA resources, space, recognition or funding will be allocated for the purpose of promoting actions that seeks to limit or remove a woman’s right to choose her options in the case of pregnancy.

The student has brought forward this referendum question in response to groups such as Lifeline and the Genocide Awareness Project who operate on campus and wear t-shirts and distribute pamphlets with violent images apparently of aborted fetuses. The presence of these images triggers students and makes them feel unsafe. As well, the student works with Canadians for Choice, and sees a dramatic increase of calls from students who have gotten false medical information when these groups are on campuses.

This question may be amended by the council on Monday, January 23rd but will be included in some form on the ballot in February.

Since the question has been served on January 10th, lifesitenews.com, Sun News and the campus paper The Charlatan, to name a few have all run features on this, mostly citing the referendum question as a breach of freedom of speech on CU’s campus.

Currently, the question reads, “Are you in favour of banning groups such as Lifeline, the Genocide Awareness Project, Campaign for Life Coalition and other organizations that use inaccurate information and violent images to discourage women from exploring all options in the event of pregnancy from Carleton University?”

Because of the controversial nature of this referendum question and the controversy surrounding it, CUSA has decided to have an entire meeting re: referendum questions that will be held tonight (Tuesday).

Ottawa wide activity: There hasn’t been much public agitating in Ottawa lately from the pro-choice community. There seems to be a lot of ‘in the shadows’ work being undertaken by groups like Canadians For Choice who are actively moving towards a ‘reproductive justice’ framework. There are a few tiny grassroots groups who have popped up who are working with this model and who are working to bring numerous organizations, including sexual assault support centres, support worker organizations, campus-based organizations and others to work under this umbrella of ‘reproductive justice’. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out when planning begins for ‘March for Life’ and ’40 Days for Life’.

Report from Ontario

By Carolyn Egan, Toronto

Report from the Ontario Coalition for Abortion Clinics (OCAC) to the ARCC AGM:

OCAC has been quite active in the last year training and providing escorts for the Women’s Care Clinic in Toronto. Every Saturday morning escorts are on duty.  Often there are a couple of anti-choice protesters across the street but at other times there are more aggressive “side walk” counselors trying to speak to women who are using the service.  We have done training sessions at the Ryerson Student Centre and it has been a good access point for many young women who are interested in getting involved in the pro-choice/reproductive justice movement.

OCAC/ARCC held a press conference before the federal election at the Morgentaler Clinic warning of the Conservative’s “hidden agenda” to restrict access to abortions. It got excellent coverage in the Globe and Mail, Toronto Star and TV media. Points were raised about the funding re International Planned Parenthood, the history of private member bills, Harper’s maternal health policies which provided support only to countries where abortion is illegal, and the refusal to intervene and support the funding of the New Brunswick Clinic. Representatives from Women’s College Hospital, the Canadian Federation of Students, Planned Parenthood, the Morgentaler Clinic in New Brunswick, the Immigrant Women’s Health Centre spoke.

OCAC/ARCC held another press conference before the provincial election in Ontario after having done a lot of work on the Conservative leader Tim Hudak’s anti-choice position.  Michelle Landsberg, Clayton Ruby, Judy Rebick and the Native Youth Sexual Health Network all spoke along with us. The Liberals won a minority government and the fact that Hudak signed an anti-choice petition supporting the defunding of abortion was an issue in the election.

Campaign Life Youth called a rally at the provincial legislature demanding that the provincial government defund abortions.  OCAC/ARCC called a counter rally that drew over 150 pro-choice activists.  We did a flash mob, had radical cheerleaders and great speakers.  It was positioned in such a way that passersby noticed us and not them and we had good coverage and a lot of support from passersby.

We had a table with literature and buttons, including ARCC materials, at the recent Ontario Federation of Labour Convention staffed with volunteers and got quite a few signatures on a petition supporting the provision of abortion services in PEI.

We have done quite a lot of speaking in high schools and on university campuses with excellent response from students.

We have also recently refurbished our office in Trinity St Paul’s United Church and are planning a strategy and training day in the near future.

Report from Alberta

by Jane Cawthornve


2011 saw continued anti-choice activities, most of which seem to originate from the CCBR. Here, picketing is a year-round event with an increase during the forty days campaigns. The CCBR has begun picketing outside the Kensington Clinic. There was an anti-choice conference in Calgary in November at which a goal was set that every Calgarian sees the images the CCBR produce at least once a week and that abortion is ended within twenty years. Abortion remains a commonplace topic in local papers in southern Alberta. A brief and admittedly unscientific comparative scan of the Edmonton Journal and the Calgary Herald in 2011 on the topic of abortion finds over double the number of items related to abortion in the Calgary Herald. These are, for the most part, anti-choice in nature.

In 2011, the results of a poll about social attitudes in Alberta were released. (see http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/Redneck+Alberta+shifting+shade+pink+poll/5672985/story.html) According to the poll, 84 percent of Albertans are pro-choice. As the article notes, this defies the image of Albertans often put forward in media, and may show a softening of hard line attitudes. The election of Alison Redford as Leader of the Conservative Party seems to support this. There will be an election in the spring. If Danielle Smith of the farther right Wildrose party wins, she has promised to de-insure abortion services. Her victory currently seems highly unlikely. Redford seems to want to maintain the status quo.

I continue to administer the Calgary Pro-Choice Coalition page which has about 215 members and now have a co-administrator, Jennifer Burgess. We sent a call out to see if anyone was interested in having a spring event, but the interest is not there at this time. Instead, we are hoping to co-host an event with the Calgary Sexual Health Centre (formerly Calgary Birth Control Association) focusing on reproductive rights. They are having their 40th anniversary this year and hosting an event each month.

Finally, the Kensington Clinic is happy to report that it has finally been allowed by the College to do Rh typing and can now join the ranks of every other abortion clinic in Canada in offering women all pre-operative care on site.

BC and Synergy Report

by Tara Paterson

B.C. Report

B.C. has been pretty quiet in recent months. Kelowna Mayor Sharon Sheppard made headlines in September when she declared a week the “Protect Human Life Week.” 40 Days for Life also expanded including several B.C. cities and Victoria for the first time. In response, pro-choice activists organized a “Rock for Reproductive Justice” that our own Joyce Arthur spoke at.

Synergy:

A lot has been happening at Canadian campuses in recent months. SFU and UBC both had GAP come to campus with very successful resistance organized against it. UVic also had a CCBR presentation “Choice Chain” which elicited over 90 complaints about the anti-choice club. The blog has been slowly expanding. One of our posts was re-posted on gender focus and an upcoming post will be cross-posted on Rabble.ca. We have re-done the layout of the blog to make it more professional as well. Still having a hard time growing members however. At Carleton, students are circulating a petition to have a referendum to ban the anti-choice club. This is following a lawsuit on the part of anti-choice students against the University for “discrimination” and “wrongful arrest.” The judge amended or dismissed the majority of their complaints (with one remaining unaltered).

Executive Director’s Report

By Joyce Arthur, Vancouver

Federal Election, May 2011: ARCC was very active during the election campaign, bringing attention to the dangers of a Harper majority. We wrote articles, spoke to the media, and raised awareness amongst our supporters and the public. We wrote and distributed several questions on reproductive rights for people to ask their candidates. Both before and after the election, we updated our comprehensive list of anti-choice MPs, which garnered a lot of attention and was cited often by the media. For the first time last year, we also created a separate list of known pro-choice MPs, those with an unknown stance, and from that list, a short list of those unknowns we think are probably anti-choice.  The lists were compiled using various sources and research. We also extensively updated our list of Anti-Choice Private Member Bills and Motions, and found that at least 43 have been introduced in Canada’s Parliament since 1987, many of them repeatedly. This is important evidence showing that we can definitely expect more PMBs in the future, and some will repeat previous bill attempts. ARCC will continue to fight against them vigorously.

Abortion Funding: Last year, the anti-choice movement decided it would try to get abortion defunded in Canada, or at least in Ontario for starters. Although we feel this is quite unlikely to happen, we felt it was an important opportunity to defend abortion rights and explain why abortion needs to be funded because according to polls, most people do not think abortion should be funded in most cases.  ARCC helped sponsor and participate in a Rally for Abortion Rights in Toronto on Oct 22, the same day as the anti’s Defund Abortion rally. ARCC also prepared an 11-point list of Why Abortion Care Must Be Fully Funded. Basically, defunding abortion would be unconstitutional, discriminatory, and harmful to women. The 11-points were fully backed up with comprehensive arguments, evidence and citations.

Woodworth and Criminal Code: ARCC has been responding in the media to MP Stephen Woodworth’s campaign to have Parliament review the Criminal Code definition of “human being” as he feels it should include fetuses. He plans to introduce a motion or PMB in the spring. In the Waterloo Record, he issued a challenge to the pro-choice movement to “prove the unborn aren’t human”. ARCC submitted an op-ed piece that is still awaiting publication.

Strategizing with Pro-choice Groups: Six major pro-choice groups in Canada are in discussions to reach a long-term vision and strategies for protecting and advancing sexual and reproductive rights, which would be implement over the next few years up to and including the next election period. This partnership arose out of recognition that as a coalition, we are not clear what actions to call for to improve access to Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights, and a desire to be unified in terms of our overall objectives and key strategies. Besides ARCC, the participants include Action Canada for Population & Development (ACPD), Canadian Federation for Sexual Health (CFSH), Canadians for Choice (CfC), National Abortion Federation (NAF), et la Fédération du Québec pour le planning des naissances (FQPN).

Student project updates:  ARCC applies for students to help with projects or research through Pro-Bono Students Canada at UBC, and ARX (Action Research Exchange) at SFU.

Domestic violence against pregnant women research: An SFU student has done a great job on a literature search for research on domestic violence against pregnant women in Canada, and on reproductive coercion against women in Canada (interference with birth control or pregnancy/abortion coercion). The student is still completing the reproductive coercion part of the literature search, but the search on domestic violence is complete – we have a 7-page summary report and a list of about 60 studies, including some American data for comparative purposes. This was Phase 1 of an ongoing project to try and determine what data is out there, what gaps need to be filled, and hopefully designing a research project to fill those gaps. The purpose is to ensure we have good baseline data to equip us for countering future private member bills (PMBs) similar to Bill C-484, Unborn Victims of Crime Act, and to propose more constructive solutions for the problem. Here’s a line from the student’s conclusion: “Disadvantaged women are more at risk for violence during pregnancy, specifically, women who are younger, substance  users, less educated, single, and not Caucasian are more at risk.”

Prohibiting display of aborted fetus photos in public: Two UBC students are currently researching federal, provincial, and municipal laws to see what current laws exist that could be used to limit or prohibit these displays on city streets, including in front of schools. We will also prepare a generic package for city councils, that will include a draft bylaw specifically prohibiting the display of fetus pictures in public, along with explanations and justifications for it, including showing how it would withstand a constitutional challenge, and how the fetus displays likely (or at least potentially) contravene Charter rights, human rights codes, and provincial/federal laws.

Adoption coercion research: ARCC is working with Hanne Andersen of the group Justice for Mother and Child, to carry out research on how Canada allowed the unlawful separation of infants from their mothers from the 1940’s to the 1980’s. Hanne is gathering evidence in order to set the stage for a public inquiry in Canada, a class-action lawsuit, and/or a criminal case at the International criminal court. We recruited two UBC law students last summer, and another 3 students last fall. This is a large project with many facets. Right now, the 3 students are researching: who was responsible for mandating and implementing the “Babies for Adoption” protocol in Canada, precedents from other jurisdictions such as Australia that could aid us here in Canada, and grounds for prosecution at the criminal court (e.g, genocide).

Bylaw to compel CPCs to disclose that they don’t refer for abortion or birth control:  We have a volunteer lawyer working on this project and have just applied to PBSC for a student to help her with research. This project involves researching similar bylaws and their outcomes in several U.S. jurisdictions, drafting a bylaw, and preparing a package for Vancouver City Council to justify the need for such a bylaw and showing that it would be constitutional.

Funding sources and funding application:  Last summer, an ARCC member and volunteer at the University of Victoria wrote a report for us that listed 10 possible granting agencies and details on their funding programs that might fit with ARCC’s activities. An SFU student has now signed up to write a funding application for a project. This will likely be to pay a coordinator to expand Synergy through more networking and website updates.

Drafting private member bill to define fetus as body part of woman: We recruited a student last fall to help us with this project, but she did not work out, so we’ll be resubmitting this project to UBC to try again with another student.  Btw, we also had an offer of a full-time unpaid legal internship from a student from NYU who is originally from Vancouver and planned to spend last summer here. But unfortunately for us, he got a great job he wasn’t expecting so he had to withdraw his offer.

Synergy website maintenance and networking: We found a volunteer to help keep up the Synergy site, although she doesn’t have as much time to work on it as she had hoped. We’ll continue looking for a permanent Webmeister to help us with this.

Video Contest: Last summer, we began work on a video contest, because we received an offer of a $1000 anonymous donation as prize money. We launched the contest in September and publicized it widely through all our networks, and also sent the notice to film schools and departments in many parts of Canada. The deadline for entries is Jan 31.

Communications: ARCC has been active in disseminating information via its website, published articles, media releases, our Facebook page, and speaking engagements. In 2011, we issued four press releases and published about a dozen articles, statements, or letters on our website and in the media. Our Facebook is quite active and successful and now has 659 members. We also have a Twitter page, kept updated by our Board member Julie Lalonde.  I did several speaking engagements over the last year, including a debate against Andrea Mrozek in Kingston on the maternal health issue, and a speech at the counter-GAP demo at UBC in March. I also delivered an online course in November on the history of the anti-choice movement and current threats, for the Choice 101 course put on by Canadians for Choice.

Website/Listservs/Newsletter: Our English website had almost 3 times as many hits last year compared to all previous years combined, while our French website had more than 4 times as many (58,000 compared to 22,000 in Nov 2010; and French side – 30,100 compared to 7,000 in Nov 2010). During the federal election in the spring, our website crashed due to heavy traffic and we had to upgrade our capacity. ARCC continues to operate its three listservs for members only: Activist, News, and Friends. We also continue to publish our newsletter The Activist / L’Activiste, and distribute it almost exclusively in digital format now. We found two volunteer translators, both native French speakers, so this is saving us money.

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