Leadership, Partnership and Networking

Editor, Emily A. Ternette, DAWN-RAFH, Manitoba
DisAbled Women’s Network (DAWN-RAFH) Canada is a national, cross-disability, feminist organization.

Waves of Resistance, the first pan-Canadian young feminist gathering, was held October 10-13, 2008, at the University of Quebec at Montreal. More than 500 young women from across Canada mobilized to attend and give workshops, network, and write and adopt a bilingual manifesto.

This landmark event gave DAWNRAFH Canada an excellent opportunity to put its new motto, “leadership, partnership, and networking,” into practice: With the help of Émilie Gendron, Waves of Resistance volunteer organizer extraordinaire, DAWN-RAFH Canada mobilized five young women with disabilities from across Canada and facilitated their participation. Eliza Chandler, Pascale Lapointe, Julia Munk, Margaret Shalma and Anna Tkaczewska were DAWN-RAFH Canada’s delegates at this event.

“As a student studying women studies, being able to attend Waves of Resistances was an amazing opportunity. I met many great young, diverse feminists from across Canada who shared their experiences and how they resisted different oppressions,” recalls Eliza. “One of the workshops I attended was about mobilizing for feminist action and gender equality.’’

The participants shared strategies they have used, such as radical cheerleading – “I acquired more confidence on a personal level, which enabled me to make a new start,” adds Pascale Lapointe.

The adoption of the manifesto was the climax of the gathering. Our delegates’ presence ensured that women with disabilities were named in this document. “I will employ the manifesto we created in different spaces I am part of,” said Eliza.

Waves of Resistance was an historic moment for young feminist leadership development. DAWN-RAFH Canada is proud to have taken part in this gathering. For more information, please visit www. rebelles2008.org/en/node.


Bridging the Gaps Phase I Completed!

The DAWN-RAFH Canada team started working on the Bridging the Gaps project in 2007 through partnerships with organizations and service providers toward reducing the alarming rate of violence experienced by Women with DisAbilities. This 18-month project also aimed to evaluate women’s shelters’ capacity to accommodate women with disabilities.

Through the development of the National Accommodation and Accessibility Survey (NAAS), DAWN-RAFH Canada created a very detailed evaluation tool. This survey was conducted with just over 10 per cent of women’s shelters and transition houses in Canada, and confirms that “There continue to be many serious issues faced by women with disabilities that are directly related to access to services,” according to the project leader, Jewelles Smith. “We will continue to make the survey available to all women’s shelters and transition houses that wish to complete it.’’

The project team will publish a summary of the survey analysis. DAWNRAFH Canada would like to thank all the individuals, volunteers, and shelter and transition house staff who participated in the development and implementation of this project and Status of Women Canada for funding this important work.


2008 ARM Conference

Jewelles Smith attended the Association for Research on Mothering (ARM) Conference –“Mothering, Violence, Militarism, War and Social Justice” – October 23-26, 2008, at York University in Ontario. Her paper, “DisAbled Mothering – Building a Safe & Accessible Community,” focused on the many barriers that mothers with disabilities often face in their communities. Her report included preliminary results from the National Accessibility and Accommodation Survey (NAAS). Participants were keen to learn more, and included individuals from Uganda, New Zealand, the United States, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

Adding the voice of DisAbled Mothers was a very important step and generated much discussion. Jewelles had the opportunity to network with women activists, academics, and mothers from organizations around the world.


Action Campaign to Combat Violence against Women

This public-awareness campaign was spearheaded by the Quebec Women's Federation (FFQ) from November 25 to December 6 to fight violence against all women and commemorate the École Polytechnique Massacre, which occurred in Montreal on December 6, 1989. Women’s organizations from across Quebec planned the campaign, wrote and circulated a Declaration titled “Violence Against Women…Enough!”, which was signed by 180 groups and 220 individuals. Of note, the Declaration recognizes that the rate of violence among Women with Disabilities and Aboriginal women is particularly alarming. (Read it at www. ffq.qc.ca/actions/6decembre2008.html.)

As part of our participation, on November 30, DAWN-RAFH Canada hosted a bilingual screening of a powerful documentary produced by People First of Canada and the National Film Board, The Freedom Tour, followed by a roundtable discussion on the effects of violence against women.


For information about DAWN-RAFH Canada, please visit us at www.dawncanada.net or call 1-866-396-0074.