We write to you with exciting news:
This month, after 35 years, LEAF’s branch members have voted to amend our official Statement of Purpose to include all people who face gender-based discrimination.
With this change in our Statement of Purpose, LEAF has taken its first step towards ensuring that our organization adequately captures the gender equality issues that arise in Canadian society today. This Statement of Purpose is intended to include non-binary and Two-Spirit people, among others who face gender-based discrimination.
Since LEAF first established its purpose in 1985, understandings of gender in Canada have shifted. A range of diverse gender identities have progressively gained recognition in wider social spheres. With this wider recognition, people are increasingly publicly identifying at many different points along the gender spectrum. At this point in time, it is clear that women are not the only group of people who encounter gender-based discrimination. As an organization dedicated to gender equality, LEAF has already recognized the social shift in contemporary understandings of gender-based oppression in some of its advocacy materials.
However, we know this is not enough. Two-Spirit, non-binary, and other gender-diverse people will not see themselves as being included in LEAF’s mandate until we formally identify ourselves as an organization that works to ensure their substantive equality. If LEAF wishes to advocate on behalf of all people who face gender-based discrimination in Canadian society today, our mandate requires an update.
That is why our members have taken the formal first step of amending the Statement of Purpose in our Articles of Continuance (the constituting documents of our not-for-profit). The Statement of Purpose is now:
The purpose of LEAF is to advance the equality of all women, girls, and people who experience gender-based discrimination in Canada through litigation, law reform, and public education using the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and to ensure that the law guarantees substantive equality for all women, girls, and people who experience gender-based discrimination in Canada.
In the coming months, LEAF will be refining its mandate in our policy documents and in our public-facing material (such as our website) to reflect our new Statement of Purpose. We will announce our new mandate in time for our Equality Day gala celebration on April 21, 2022.
Thank you to our branch members, board of directors, and staff for moving this important work forward. Much work remains to be done to ensure that our advocacy is meaningfully inclusive of all those who face gender-based discrimination. In the coming months, we will be training ourselves in gender inclusiveness, working on language for our mandate, and continuing to work in solidarity and allyship with other gender equity and trans rights organizations. For now, please join us in celebrating this important first step in our ongoing work!
Sincerely,
