Dear Friend,
Happy International Woman's Day! Celebrated since the beginning of the 20th
century, March 8th has been a day to promote, value, and advance women's
rights.
March 8 has huge meaning for me. I had a life-changing conversation at a
celebration of International Women's Day at a pub in Sydney, Cape Breton.
February 18, 1980, was election day in Canada and I had run for the first
time to become an MP. I had organized the "small party" to raise
environmental issues in that election. I made a quixotic bid against Deputy
Prime Minister Allan MacEachen. Eleven other candidates ran in six
provinces. That little effort went on to become the Green Party of Canada.
This year is our fortieth birthday! You will hear much more about our 40th
soon.
Back to the life-changing conversation. My best friend Liz Calder drove me
on the two-hour trip and back from my home in Margaree to Sydney for the
IWD celebration. Celebrating #IWD was a really big deal. The network of
friends and activists from years of environmental campaigns formed the
basis of what would become the Green Party.
That night, a Sydney lawyer told me I should be a lawyer. I explained I had
always wanted to be a lawyer, but I had never been able to afford
university. I was broke and now I had campaign debt. Going to law school
was way out of reach. She informed me that there were programs for women
like me - that I could skip four years of undergrad and go straight to law
school as a "mature student." The next morning, I called Dalhousie Law
School. I just barely had time to get my application submitted and sign up
to take the LSATs. By September 1980, I was a law student, waitressing and
cooking at our family's restaurant in the summers. My life had changed.
INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY SHOULD BE THAT KIND OF DAY. A day when we
reach out to the women and girls we know and see if we can help. To suggest
ways that each of us can more fully reach our potential. To support each
other and lift each other up.
It is incredible, but, since 2006, I have been the only woman leader in the
House of Commons. Other parties have had a number of interim leaders, but
only Greens have had an elected woman leader. The daily abuse on social
media makes it increasingly difficult.
This year has been a challenging one. The Taliban criminalized women's
rights. The anti-abortion movement in the United States is trying to do the
same - having finally succeeded in getting a politically-stacked court to
reverse Roe v. Wade. Life for women in politics has not become easier. On
the contrary, misogyny is on the rise.
We need more women MPs. Today, March 8, 2023, for our fortieth birthday, we
are launching our “WOMEN'S EMPOWERMENT FUND” to focus on
recruitment, support, and training for women candidates.
DONATE TODAY [1]$100 will help us recruit more women candidates
$500 will help us train a woman candidate for the next election through our
upcoming Campaign School
$1,000 provides training and election support (lawn signs, posters, pins)
for a woman candidate in an upcoming election
Donate whatever you can! [1] Women who donate are automatically part of the
Women's Caucus of Greens. We have not been active during Covid, but are a
Constitutionally-enshrined wing of the party to get and keep women
involved, to move to equity in all parts of the party.
Right now, we have the country's only caucus that is half women. True,
there are only two of us and gender is not binary.
DONATE [1]Let's agree, the Green Caucus would be more effective with more
MPs. But we commit to keeping it at least fifty percent women! Please
commit to supporting Green women candidates.
HAPPY INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY!
_Agnes McPhail - first female MP elected to the House of Commons (1921),
current MP Elizabeth and Vanessa Erhirhie (on the right), and Jasmeen Deeng
(second from the right) from the Toronto Metropolitan University Women in
the House Program._
ELIZABETH E. MAY, O.C.
Member of Parliament Saanich--Gulf Islands
Leader - Green Party of Canada
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