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Section 28’s Potential to Guarantee Substantive Gender Equality in Hak c Procureur général du Québec 
 
You have likely heard of Québec’s Bill 21, which bans teachers, police officers, and certain other public sector workers from wearing religious symbols. Among other consequences of this discriminatory legislation, women wearing hijabs are cut off from the education sector, a significant source of employment, and acts of hate against Muslim women in Québec are on the rise.  
 
Have you heard of section 28 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which states that our Charter rights must apply equally to people of all genders? In an article recently published in the Canadian Journal of Women and the Law, LEAF Staff Lawyer Cee Strauss explains how section 28 could be the key to declaring Bill 21 unconstitutional – and also the key to taking gender equality seriously in our constitution. 
Legal Advocacy to End Discrimination Against Women with Disabilities
 
In August, LEAF Staff Lawyer Rosel Kim was one of the speakers in this webinar hosted by the Learning Network, which focused on gender-based violence experienced by women and girls with disabilities. Speakers discussed litigation, public legal education, and community development initiatives addressing discrimination against women with disabilities and lessons learned from those interventions.  
 
A recording of the webinar is available here.  
The Basic Income Project releases two reports on basic income and gender equality 

On Monday, October 4 LEAF released two research reports on whether a basic income would be good for women and gender-diverse people.  
 
Basic Income & The Care Economy, authored by LEAF Staff Lawyer Cee Strauss, maps out how a basic income could help to value unpaid caregiving labour. 
 
Basic Income, Gender & Disability, authored by Dr. Sally A. Kimpson, explains how a basic income program would need to be structured in order to avoid repeating the mistakes of Canada’s current disability income support programs.  
  
Please join us for the launch event for the reports, Beyond the Basic: The Opportunities and Risks of a Basic Income, on October 28, 2021 at 12:30 EST, where Cee Strauss and Sally Kimpson will be discussing their research findings for the reports. The panel will be moderated by Devorah Kobluk (Income Security Advocacy Centre; member of LEAF’s Basic Income Advisory Committee) and will also feature remarks from Shalini Konanur (South Asian Legal Clinic of Ontario; member of LEAF’s Basic Income Advisory Committee) and Isabel Daniels (Velma’s House). RSVP to the launch event.
 
The Basic Income Project is supported by: the Government of Canada’s Emergency Community Support Fund and Toronto Foundation; the Canadian Bar Association’s Law for the Future Fund; and the Canado Foundation.
Join LEAF on Thursday, October 21st for our annual gala! (via zoom) 
 
This year’s event will feature a panel of women formerly in politics discussing their experience and challenges, including the expectation of being a public figure, the rise of online hatred and violence, and gender-based discrimination in politics. Our esteemed speakers include the Honourable Jody Wilson-Raybould, the Honourable Lisa Raitt, and Celina Caesar-Chavannes. Robyn Doolittle will moderate the discussion. Tickets for the event can be purchased here.   
A.S. v. Her Majesty the Queen
 
LEAF appeared before the Supreme Court on October 5 and 6 to support the equality, dignity, and privacy rights of complainants in sexual assault trials.  
 
The Court considered a constitutional challenge to the legal framework governing what happens when an accused person has a sexual assault complainant’s private records in their possession, and wants to use those records at trial.  
 
You can learn more about this case and why it matters in our new factsheet on private records in sexual assault trials. You can also watch the hearing on the Supreme Court’s website. 
R. v. Kirkpatrick  
 
LEAF is intervening in this case at the Supreme Court to argue that when someone consents to sexual activity with a condom, it does not mean they also consent to sex without a condom. The Court will hear this case on November 3.  
 
The Criminal Code defines consent as “the voluntary agreement of the complainant to engage in the sexual activity in question.” LEAF will argue that including “sexual activity with a condom” in the definition of “sexual activity in question” promotes substantive equality for equity-seeking groups.  
 
You can learn more about this case, including how the consent provision has been interpreted by the courts, in this factsheet. You can watch the live stream of the Supreme Court hearing on November 3 here.  
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Join our monthly giving program and help provide LEAF with steady and predictable funding year-round!
Sign up on our website or contact Megan Cameron for more info.  
Will Power
LEAF has partnered with Will Powera national movement with over 200 charities, to educate Canadians on the power they have to make a difference through their Will. More information, including free resources on estate giving, can be found on the Will Power website. 
Personal Attention Roleplay by Helen Chau Bradley. Coming out in October 2021, this debut short story collection by the brilliant Montreal writer and musician Helen Chau Bradley is definitely one to pre-order. “[P]ropelled by queer loneliness, mixed-race confusion, late capitalist despondency, and the pitfalls of intimacy”, Chau Bradley’s stories are wry, evocative, and plain beautiful.
Wildhood Directed by Bretten Hannam and appeared at TIFF. Two-spirit Mi’kmaw teenager Link and his brother flee their abusive father and embark on a journey where Link discovers his sexuality and rediscovers his Mi’kmaw heritage. 
Devenez un contribuable mensuel!
Rejoignez notre programme de dons mensuels et aidez à fournir au FAEJ un financement stable et prévisible tout au long de l'année ! Inscrivez-vous sur notre site-web ou communiquez avec Megan Cameron pour de plus amples renseignements. 
Le FAEJ s’est associé à Volonté de faire, un mouvement national regroupant plus de 200 organismes de bienfaisance, pour éduquer les Canadiens sur le pouvoir qu’ils ont de faire une différence par l’exercice de leur volonté. Vous trouverez plus d’information, y compris des ressources gratuites sur le don de succession, dans le site Web de Volonté de faire.  
Joignez-vous au Grand Défi Caritatif canadien!
Personal Attention Roleplay par Helen Chau Bradley. Cette collection débutante d’histoires courtes qui sortira en octobre 2021, rédigée par la brillante auteure et musicienne montréalaise Helen Chau Bradley, est définitivement un ouvrage à précommander. Propulsées par la solitude queer, la confusion des races mixtes, le découragement capitaliste tardif et les pièges de la vie intime, les histoires de Mme Chau Bradley sont empreintes d’ironie, évocatrices et simplement magnifiques.
 Wildhood dirigé par Bretten Hannam et diffusé par TIFF. L’adolescent micmac bispirituel Link et son frère s’enfuient de leur père abusif et se lancent dans une aventure où Link découvre sa sexualité et redécouvre son patrimoine micmac.