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Dear John,
My name is Cee Strauss and I am a Senior Staff Lawyer at LEAF. As someone who cares deeply about creating a more equitable future, I wanted to share an update with you about LEAF’s work on the care economy and gender justice.
Quality care is a human right. We all have the right to receive care that supports our dignity — and to provide care in workplaces that respect our rights, our safety, and our worth. Quality care is also a gender justice issue, as 75% of paid care workers in Canada are women. Care workers receive lower wages than people working in industries dominated by men. This gender pay gap is even wider for immigrant women, Indigenous women, and racialized women, who have the lowest income of all paid care workers. And beyond the paid labour market, women still shoulder the vast majority of care work that keeps our families and communities functioning.
This is why LEAF has prioritized advocacy and education related to care work. We are working with leaders in the care sector and will release key recommendations to federal, provincial, and territorial governments next year. Paid care workers deserve stable, secure employment that pays a living wage and is free of harassment and abuse. Women, trans, and non-binary people caring for their families and communities need support – from their workplaces and from government – to do the caring that supports our communities’ wellbeing. At the same time, our public legal education work will help youth to better understand the importance of care work in Canadian society and will ensure care workers know and can advocate for their rights.
The need for this work is only growing with today’s economic challenges.
We need your support and partnership now to meet this moment.
Help us fight for dignity, fair wages, and justice in the care economy. From now until Dec 31st, the first $10,000 donated to LEAF will be generously matched by Torys LLP.
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