ARCC Annual General Meeting, February 25, 2013 

  • 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 2012 AGM minutes
  • Adoption of 2013 agenda
  • Reports from the Provinces and Synergy:
    • PEI
    • New Brunswick
    • Quebec
    • Ottawa
    • Toronto and rest of Ontario
    • BC and Synergy
  • Executive Director’s Report
  • Membership Report
  • Financial Report
  • Election of Board of Directors 
  • Adjourn meeting 

Minutes of the Annual General Meeting

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

Monday, February 25, 2013, Via teleconference (Skype)

Present:  Joyce Arthur (Executive Director). Board: Peggy Cooke, Josie Baker, Pat Powers, Julie Lalonde, Carolyn Egan, Stephanie Shea, Allison Webster, Tara Paterson.
Members at Large: Stephanie Corbett, Jennie Donovan, Janelle Leblanc, Merewyn Hines

2012 Minutes: Attendees have no questions or comments.  Motion: Pat moves to adopt the 2012 minutes. Seconded by Josie. All in favour. Passed unanimously.

Adoption of 2013 agenda: Attendees have no additions. 


Point of Order: New members Stephanie and Jennie affirm that their cheques are in the mail for purposes of voting and running for Board of Directors.

Provincial Reports:

  • Report from PEI prepared by Josie and Kandace, read by Josie.
  • Report from New Brunswick prepared and read by Alison.
  • Report from Quebec prepared and read by Pat.
  • Report from Ottawa prepared and read by Julie.
  • Report from Toronto prepared and read by Carolyn and Peggy.
  • BC and Synergy report prepared and read by Tara

Membership Report: Prepared by Lesley Hoyles, read by Joyce. As of Feb 15, 2013, ARCC has have 196  paid-up members, 58 of whom are monthly donors (30%). About 43 members lapsed in 2012 (i.e., they received a renewal notice but did not renew).

Financial Report: Read by Stephanie Shea. ARCC received $18,399 in donations and member fees during 2012. We spent $21,119, for a deficit of $2,720. See the full Financial Report (PDF).  Allison moves to adopt the financial report. Seconded by Janelle. Passed unanimously.

Election of Board of Directors:  Standing for the second year of a 2-year term are: Josie Baker (Charlottetown), Pat Powers (Montreal), Julie Lalonde (Ottawa), Carolyn Egan (Toronto), Peggy Cooke (Toronto), Tara Paterson (Victoria), and Stephanie Shea (Vancouver).  Jane Cawthorne, Alison Brown, and Judy Burwell resigned during 2012.  In 2012, Allison Webster (Fredericton) and Kandace Hagen (Charlottetown) were appointed to the Board. New people running for a 2-year term to Board: Stephanie Corbett (Calgary) and Jennie Donovan (Halifax).  Joyce moved to elect Allison, Kandace, Stephanie C, and Jennie to a two-year term. Seconded by Tara. Passed unanimously.

Executive Director’s report from Joyce Arthur.

Joyce moved to accept all regional reports and ED report. Carolyn seconded. Passed unanimously.

Meeting ended at about 6:30 pm Pacific time.

Report from PEI

by Josie Baker and Kandace Hagen, Charlottetown

2012 was a full year of prochoice action in Prince Edward Island. Thanks to the work of local activists, and researchers, and to the help of regional and national organizations and media, PEI has become widely recognized as the only province in Canada that does not have access to abortion.
 
In February of 2012, the Atlantic Council for International Cooperation hosted the 3rd annual ACTIVE-8 online campaign by profiling the community engagement and social justice activism of eight young Atlantic Canadians. The ideal was to have 16 youth ranging in age from 16 – 30 collectively inspiring acts of change in individuals from all localities. Kandace Hagen from Prince Edward Island was nominated and selected to represent her province in the campaign based on her provincial activism involving reproductive justice within her province:. An attempt to sabotage this youth leadership campaign came from PEI’s Right to Life Spokesperson, Ann Marie Tomlins. The Right to Life Association selected another Active8 spokesperson, Tara Brinston and asked the pro-life community to make pledges with Tara, in an attempt to undermine Kandace’s campaign and ensure that a pro-choice advocate would not be celebrated for her community activism. Tara Brinston was not involved with the Right to Life Organization and was unwilling to have her role as an advocate for the disability movement used to further the gains of an organization that did not reflect her personal beliefs. Tomlin’s interference did not have the outcome she had intended, and the conclusion of the Active8 Campaign saw both women celebrated for their community activism, receiving international attention.
 
In early March, students, professors, and community members met at the University of Prince Edward Island to create a pro-choice presence on campus. The UPEI Students for Life had been garnering more and more attention through inaccurate postering campaigns and playing host to the “Silent No More Awareness Campaign” – An exploitative campaign that brought two American women speak to about their regret over having had an abortion. The university found itself without a voice to combat these gross mistruths. The Campus Alliance for Reproductive Justice was formed, and been growing more and more active over the past year. They organized a collaborative film screening with Cinema Politica of “I Had An Abortion” on March 24th. The Alliance then screened “The Abortion Diaries” on October 25th. They have become very involved with the Pro-Choice community and we look forward to seeing what the coming year will bring.

The PEI Abortion Network (ARN) received a grant from the Interministerial Women’s Secretariat for media training, and with the help of a local independent media studio, we bought video and audio recording equipment, and we held two trainings for our members in how to record and edit audio and video.

On April 26th, the evening of the Woodworth debate in the house of commons, the ARN held a speak-out featuring local women’s experiences with abortion. MP Megan Leslie also attended and spoke at this event. The Radio Canada and CBC were in attendance and the event received national news coverage. Jane Ledwell made a short film with footage taken at this event, and it is available on Vimeo.

 On May 5th, a Rally for MidWifery on PEI took place. Michelle MacCallum from Women’s Network was invited to speak, and highlighted different barricades the women of PEI face when it comes to their reproductive rights, including lack to access of abortion services.

On June 15 and 16th the members of YWCA gathered to hold their 120th Annual Membership Meeting in Guelph Ontario. The key focus being, “What Does Leading for Women’s Equality Look Like? Conversations, Dialogues & Perspectives”. The Association wished to have a speaker that would reflect the topic of exploring women’s, young women’s and girls’ leadership and invited local activist, and current board member, Kandace Hagen to give the closing speech. Hagen spoke of her own personal struggles in obtaining an abortion within a province that holds a record of silencing and limiting women’s reproductive justice, and her commitment to changing the status-quo.

 On September 25th, the first PEI Women’s Health Expo was held. A table was set up by the Prince Edward Island Reproductive Rights Organization providing information on abortion services, and how to obtain one as resident of Prince Edward Island.

On October 18th, Kandace Hagen was invited to partake in the first NDP Women’s forum in Ottawa hosted by NDP Women’s critic Niki Ashton. Kandace was apart of a panel discussing women’s equality in society. She addressed the importance of advocacy within society to ensure equality among women, and spoke of how Island women are at a large disadvantage in terms of their reproductive health care, due to the fear mongering of the anti-choice that has dictated the terms of what is made readily available for those seeking to terminate a pregnancy.

The National press conference for the National Day of Action for Reproductive Justice was held in PEI, Featuring Joyce Arthur and members of PRRO and ARN on Oct 19th. On October 20th, a well attended march ended in a fun, social, and interactive information forum.

On the same day, (October 20th,) the PEI Right to Life Association published a full page, full color ad in the Charlottetown guardian. Joyce Arthur’s complaint to Advertising Standards Canada resulted in a ruling that the as was inaccurate and misleading. Advertizing Standards cancelled their decision because of the publicity this received. The PEI pro-choice community considers this an important victory none-the-less.

In early January, Dr. Colleen MacQuarrie of UPEI publicized some preliminary findings on the results of her research on the effects of restricted access to abortion in a media event organized in collaboration with the Campus Alliance for Reproductive Justice. She articulated the multiple barriers that research participants experienced, the harm that current restrictions cause, and highlighted the disproportional harm on vulnerable women. This community-based, participatory action research project is still ongoing and continues to nourish and motivate the pro-choice movement in the province.

The 25th anniversary of the Mortgentaler decision was marked by a public celebration in Prince Edward Island on the 25th of January. Pro-choice advocates booked a private lounge for the function. The fee was covered by the PEI Advisory Council on the Status of Women. Donations from the event went towards the Prince Edward Island Abortion Rights Network. The event saw 60 participates and invoked a further sense of camaraderie amongst the Island’s pro-choice community. On Monday 28th, a small band of individuals made up from various women’s group on PEI marched with cupcakes, and balloons to bring a satirical party to the Premier, Robert Ghiz’s office. Unfortunately the group found the Premier to be out of province. The event received positive media attention and once again shamed the Island’s government for their lack of action on this pressing matter.

In light of the 25th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision on the Morgentaler case, Marc Babin with Radio Canada, prepared a report for national television (and radio) on the (non) access to abortion in PEI. He interviewed local activists, Dr. Colleen MacQuarrie, women who have faced varying barriers in trying to access abortion services, and a representative from the Morgentaler clinic in Fredericton. He attempted to speak with PEI’s premier, Robert Ghiz but was not granted an interview. Babin’s report for Radio Canada aired January 29th, with the television report airing on the 30th.

Upcoming events include a film screening of the new NFB documentary, Status Quo: The Unfinished business of Feminism in Canada. This event is being put on by the International Women’s Day Committee with support of ARN members and affiliate groups.

Discussions of a collaborative event have begun – a forum on reproductive health for PEI. This could be significant for it would represent a holistic perspective on the lack of reproductive health care services and be the first official collaboration between ARN and the local midwifery advocacy group.

Report from New Brunswick

by Allison Webster, Fredericton
 Not a lot has changed, yet, in New Brunswick but we are cautiously optimistic that there are some potential positive changes slowly making their way through the proper channels.

There is still a pending case with the Human Rights Commission, started by an NB physician, to try and change the lack of access to medicare-sponsored abortion in the province. This process is moving extremely slowly. Just as they did with Dr. Morgentaler’s case against the province of NB, the provincial government is stone-walling as much as they can to drag the process out as long as possible. From what we know here at the clinic, the case is absolutely still open and pending; it’s just not moving very quickly.

The Morgentaler Clinic and the 2 hospitals in NB that perform abortions were targeted  with protests in 2012 during the 40 Days For Life Protest, however, as of right now we are not on the list for the upcoming 40 Days (starting in February).  Interestingly, in Northern NB, the Vitalite Health Network was granted a temporary injunction against protesters at the  Chaleur Regional Hospital in Bathurst on Oct 9, 2012. They were back in court on Monday to apply for a permanent order. We will be following this closely; hopefully it will be granted and set a precedent that could be used here in Fredericton to protect patients at the Morgentaler Clinic.

Due to rising costs, the clinic did have to raise its prices in 2012. The cost is now $700 for an abortion up to 13w6d and $850 for an abortion up to 15w6d. This is still less than half price of what the hospital charges – one international student told us recently she was quoted $4000. for the procedure in Moncton –  but it is obviously still a lot of money, especially here in the economically disadvantaged Maritime provinces.

In Oct 2012, we had a great turnout for our talk on Reproductive Justice Day. Two law professors, a political science prof, the coordinator of the Fredericton Sexual Assault Crisis Centre, myself and a clinic escort all spoke about RJ. The event was held on the UNB campus and then was written up very postively in the campus newspaper. All feedback was very positive, so we would definitely like to plan something again.

Coming up this week, on Feb 28th we are holding the local premiere of Status Quo? The Unfinished Business of Feminism in Canada, the NFB documentary that was, in part, filmed here at the Morgentaler Clinic. This will also be a fund-raiser for ARCC, so I hope we have an excellent turnout! 🙂 It will be held at the UNB campus. About 50 have replied as attending to our Facebook event, with 21 Maybes as of today. There are also posters up around campus, the city, and in the clinic as well.

Our New Brunswick Pro-choice Facebook group continues to be fairly active, and we also continue to have an excellent group of volunteer patient escorts at the Morgentaler Clinic in Fredericton. So, although our provincial government is not helping, we continue the fight to provide safe & affordable abortion to our region.

Report from Quebec

by Patrick Powers, Montreal
I am aware of the status of abortion services in Québec only in my role as an allied member of the FQPN’s Abortion Watch Committee (Comité de veille sur l’avortement de la FQPN).  By “allied”, since only women can be official members of the Fédération itself, I mean that men who are integrated can be “membres sympathisants”, or what I would call “allies”.  This situation, though somewhat frustrating on the surface, is a result of some complicated historical matters, a long story.  Suffice it to say that I just work around this issue to get our important collaborative work done.

There were five committee meetings in 2012 (two in February, one in March, one in April, and one in September) and a couple of “social” gatherings.  In the committee meetings themselves I feel as if I am looking through the “wrong end” of a telescope.  That is, I come from the national perspective of ARCC-CDAC, as we look at the local one in Québec.  The other members of the Comité come from their workplaces and groups to arrive at provincial summaries.  All of us are interested in both provincial and national issues, so the exchanges are quite rich and fairly thorough.  (I have been straddling my responsibilities as both a Québécois and a Canadian for several decades now, so it all seems to others to be more complicated than it is.  Our goals are, however, generally quite in sync.)

In 2012, the FQPN published in French an excellent and thorough “Bottin des resources en avortement au Québec” (Directory of Abortion Resources in Québec), which I purchased for my own professional use.  The wide array of quality abortion services are listed, and a listing of clinics is included and arranged by the maximum weeks of pregnancy treated.

There has been a change of major players recently.  Nathalie Parent left as Coordinator of the FQPN, and Sophie de Cordes has replaced her.  Ainsley Jenecik has left as Programme Coordinator, and has been replaced by Magaly Pirotte.  These transitions have been relatively smooth.  In terms of delivery of services, the year has been pretty unruffled, with no major crises reported.  Magaly has done an excellent job of taking up the “education of Rona Ambrose” dossier in coordination with Joyce.

We gathered for a supper/send-off for Ainsley to thank her for her super work over the past few years.

Report from Ottawa

by Julie Lalonde

[to be added]

Report from Ontario

By Carolyn Egan, Toronto
[to be added]

BC and Synergy Report

by Tara Paterson

Synergy: Heather Latimer has taken over the writing of the blog. The Trent Central Student Association denied the anti-choice club, “Trent Lifeline” status in early February. The Student Association’s Club and Group Coordinator also said that “campaigning for pro-life or pro-choice is not allowed on campus as well since there is so many opinions to this it can lead to a very exclusive group, while all clubs at Trent University must be inclusive.” Lifeline has secured legal counsel and is planning to sue the student association. I have written to the Trent Central Student Association and have not heard back.

In December, the Kwantlen Student Association granted the anti-choice club, “Protectores Vitae,” club status after the club threatened to sue the student society for denying it status in the fall. The Student Association had previously offered to grant the club “recognized group” status which is a special category that does not receive funding. The Justice Center for Constitutional Freedom supported the anti-choice club.

 In October, anti-choice students at UPEI, “UPEI Students for Life” chalked messages on the campus sidewalks including “Life is beautiful,” “Right to life,” “Your mother was pro-life,” and “I’m happy you were born.” The messages were washed off by university staff the next day.

With the exception of a few debates scheduled with Stephanie Gray of the Canadian Center for Bio-ethical Reform, anti-choice activity with GAP and Choice Chain seems to be lessening on campuses this year. Choice Chain came to UVic for one afternoon but was smaller than last year.

Kelowna anti-choice proclamation: ARCC joined forces with an activist in Kelowna, Dianne Varga, to launch a campaign against the City of Kelowna BC. The city had approved a proclamation for a “Protect Human Life Week” at the end of September, on behalf of the local anti-choice group. Our campaign involved an open letter to the mayor, an online petition (that gathered 631 signatures), press releases and media work, and a daily protest outside City Hall during the week. We did not succeed at getting the city to rescind the proclamation, but raised awareness on the issue and supported local pro-choice women who had felt silenced by the strength of the anti-choice movement there.

Executive Director’s Report

By Joyce Arthur, Vancouver

Motion 312: Conservative MP Stephen Woodworth failed in his attempt to have Parliament examine the Criminal Code definition of “human being” to see if it should include fetuses. ARCC mounted a systematic campaign against the motion beginning February. We prepared counter arguments, asked supporters to write their MPs and send postcards to oppose the motion, we started an online petition, collected paper petitions for Parliament, published various articles exposing the dangers of the motion, engaged in a written debate with Woodworth, collected signatures against the motion from over 50 notable Canadian women, and much more. We publicized our campaign widely, including to pro-choice MPs. Other groups and women launched their own campaigns or actions too, including the Wombswarm knitters, the brilliant Radical Handmaids, and many pro-choice bloggers. The strength of the campaign seemed to catch the anti’s off guard, who never really mounted a strong campaign, except maybe towards the end. The motion was finally voted on in September, after a 4-month wait, and although the Yes vote was higher than we had hoped, 91 to 203, and a third of the cabinet voted in favour including Rona Ambrose the Status of Women minister, it was still the widest margin of victory ever against an anti-choice bill or motion. Because of the ruckus we raised, we’ve succeeded in making Harper even more gun-shy about the abortion issue, as the motion was strongly opposed by the Chief Government Whip in an unprecedented pro-choice speech. Harper was also reportedly pressuring his caucus to vote against it.

Motion 408: Within hours though, Conservative MP Mark Warawa introduced another motion to keep the momentum going. Motion 408 is to “condemn discrimination against females occurring through sex selective pregnancy termination.” ARCC’s strategies so far on that motion have been to publish a couple of articles critiquing the motion itself and exposing it as another attempt to re-open the abortion debate and get a foot in the door to recriminalize abortion. We’ve been working closely with Niki Ashton, NDP Women’s Critic on this issue. At her suggestion, we wrote a letter to the Chief Government Whip to provide him with arguments and evidence that it is a covert anti-abortion motion that is not about discrimination against women. Also, Thomas Mulcair’s office suggested that we write a letter to the Parliamentary Sub-committee for Private Members Business, asking them to deem the motion non-votable, which we have just done, explaining that the intent of the motion does not meet votability criteria. If these measures are not successful, we will need to launch a public campaign against the motion in early March.

Reproductive Justice: Equal Access Now – National Day of Action: ARCC spearheaded a national day of action on October 20, we created a website around the day, and together with other groups and activists, helped coordinate and publicize several events. A kickoff press conference was held in Charlottetown to bring national attention to the lack of abortion services there, as well as access problems in NB. Toronto activists also held a rally and march, and smaller events also happened in a few other cities. The Executive Director of ARCC attended and spoke at the events in Charlottetown. It was a positive experience that helped energize the pro-choice movement in a pro-active way, after fighting back against anti-choice actions.

25th Anniversary celebration: Although this happened this year, not last year, we recently celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Morgentaler decision. ARCC created a comprehensive website http://www.morgentaler25years.ca/ in both French and English, which included many articles covering the history of the abortion rights struggle in Canada, a bio of Henry Morgentaler, a News feed of current and historical articles, a Guestbook where people could leave messages of congratulations, or send a private message to Henry. We received 91 messages on the public Guestbook and 14 private messages. All of these have been passed on to Arlene, Henry’s wife, who was very pleased with the website and the response, and said she was going to read the messages out loud to Henry when he’s having a good day. In addition, several events were held across Canada that ARCC encouraged and supported, including in Charlottetown, Toronto, Ottawa, and Calgary. The Calgary event was a film showing that also raised $500 for ARCC – thanks to Jane Cawthorne for that. Finally, Jane and Joyce also published an article on the anniversary website on the Benefits of Decriminalizing Abortion, an earlier version of which was also published on Rabble. We used this article to do some global outreach on the benefits of decriminalization in Canada, distributing the article to dozens of leading reproductive rights advocacy groups and activists around the world. We also obtained a supportive statement from Anand Grover, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right of Health, and posted it on our anniversary website.

UK Debate: Last fall, ARCC also participated in the UK debate when some anti-choice politicians in that country wanted to reduce the time limit. We wrote to many MPs and journalists, as well as pro-choice groups to raise awareness of Canada’s successful experience with no law. The response was positive. We had an article published on a BPAS website, and we did a media interview with xojane magazine in the UK. More and more countries are becoming aware of Canada’s lack of a law, and activists in Australia, New Zealand, the UK, and Ireland have cited our experience to help influence possible law reform in their own countries.

New Brunswick Lawsuit: Dr. Morgentaler had begun a lawsuit against NB about 10 years ago, to compel the province to fund his clinic in Fredericton. The province enforces a payment regulation that violates the Canada Health Act and the Morgentaler decision, and requires women to pay for abortions themselves at the clinic. The government fought back against Henry, challenging his standing, and although Henry finally won, it took years and he basically ran out of money and steam. However, the lawsuit may be revived in the near future, with ARCC’s involvement.

Campaigns against anti-choice actions: Although we have not been successful at stopping some anti-choice actions, we have raised awareness in the communities where they have occurred, and we’ve put the anti-choice movement on notice that they are not entitled to impose their views on the public at large without opposition.

  • Diamond Jubilee medals: Conservative MP Maurice Vellacott awarded two medals to convicted anti-choice protesters, Mary Wagner and Linda Gibbons, even while Gibbons was in jail at the time. The medals were given at the behest of the Governor General, who refused to, or was unable to, pre-screen the awarding of the medals. Harper had given all MPs and about 160 community groups the right to nominate 30 people each for the medals. Despite follow-up with the GG, the medals have not been rescinded. ARCC even wrote a letter to the Queen, and although we got a very lovely letter back, she said she couldn’t intervene and it was up to the GG.
  • Western Fair anti-choice exhibit (London): Two pro-choice activists from London ON approached ARCC for help because of a long-standing anti-choice exhibit at the Western Fair, which was handing out fetus dolls to naïve children, as well as propaganda. The activists had complained, but all the fair would do is move the exhibit away from the Kiddieland entrance. We wrote an open letter to the Western Fair asking them to revoke the permit, but they replied No, and said we were welcome to have a pro-choice exhibit there.

CPC Lawsuit: I am personally being sued for defamation by two anti-choice Crisis Pregnancy Centres in BC, one in Vancouver and one in Burnaby, because of a report I wrote for Pro-choice Action Network in 2009. I’m not worried about the suit and I expect to win, but it may be many months before it’s resolved. I mention this because Pro-CAN is no longer active, and as the ED of ARCC, the results of the lawsuit could impact ARCC’s reputation, if it does not go my way.

Communications: ARCC has been active in disseminating information via its website, published articles, media releases, our Facebook page, Twitter page, and speaking engagements. In 2012, we issued 8 press releases and published many articles, statements, or letters on our website and in the media. Joyce was offered a monthly column at Rabble.ca, which she often uses to write about reproductive rights-related issues for ARCC. Our Facebook page is active and successful and now has over 1500 members, more than double than a year ago. ARCC’s spokespersons also did many media interviews and speaking engagements over the year. Our campaign against Motion 312 in particular really catapulted ARCC into the news on a regular basis, with our arguments against the motion cited widely by the media, politicians, and other groups and activists.

Website/Listservs/Newsletter: ARCC continues to operate its website, as well as two listservs for members only: Activist and News. We shut down our Friends listserv last year because of duplication and lack of a moderator. We also continue to publish our newsletter The Activist / L’Activiste twice a year, which is distributed almost exclusively by email.

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