Although GenderDissent came into being as a feminist news website only a few months ago, we had been preparing for it for a year. We began having zoom meetings last January, and since then we have been watching the developments in gender ideology roll-out; and we have been attending to Canadians pushing back against such ideological intrusion. We would like to express our gratitude to all those who have been engaged in the fight against the replacement of sex with gender identity, which is so harmful to women and children. Here are just some of those people, and some of those actions.
Coach Linda Blade, PhD Kinesiology, President, Athletics Alberta, published with journalist Barbara Kay, UNSPORTING: How Trans Activism and Science Denial are Destroying Sport. Linda remains our loudest voice raised in protest against the inclusion of males in women’s sports. https://www.unsporting.com/
Since 2019 @JenniferAnne_s has been searching for the gender-based analysis (GBA) report on Bill C-16 -- an Act that in simple terms, has allowed men a loophole in order to gain access to women in their most intimate spaces such as rape centers, prisons, changing rooms and even in our sports. She was able to speak to with PDF Quebec as they had already started to process of requesting a GBA be done before Bill C-16 was passed. She also decided to set up a Twitter account @ReleaseTheGba with the sole purpose to retweet the hashtag #ReleaseTheGba so that if anyone had questions about Bill C-16 and what harms it has done, it would be readily available. She continues to have a moderator to take care of that account.
After catching up on everything they had done, all the documents and emails they wrote, she decided to do an official E-petition in order to get an answer from government.
While she was trying to find a MP to endorse her e-petition -- you must have an endorsement in order to even start the signatures -- she also began requesting the GBA through Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP)s. Some of the departments that received her requests were Women and Gender Equality (WAGE), Canadian Heritage, Justice Canada, Canadian Human Rights Commission, Office of the Privy Council, just to name a few. When refused access, she proceeded to appeal the decisions of those that stated they didn’t have it. Those complaints / appeals were sent to the Office of the Information Commissioner (OIC). https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1234599329354088449.html
With the help of many individuals and organizations such as We The Females, caWsbar, Barbara Kay, Anna Slatz, Benjamin Boyce and so many others, she was able to find a MP to endorse the petition and garnished enough signatures for it to be tabled in the House of Commons. Just over a year ago, the government responded to her request for the GBA on Bill C-16 with a bunch of nonsensical talk. There would be no GBA released -- even though GBA’s are not designed to have private information and they had previously been made available.
This year the government finally released the GBA to Anna Slatz, plus replies to nearly 20 ATIP requests, turning into thousands of pages. Almost all (92%) was redacted. Anna has filed a complaint with the OIC, requesting that the pages be viewable.
On Sunday March 7, 2021 in honor of International Women's Day, We the Females teamed up with Heather Mason and caWsbar to hold their first public protest at the Grand Valley Institution for Women in Kitchener, Ontario. More than 35 women stood up to protest against the state-sanctioned sexual assaults that are happening in women's prisons across Canada as a result of Justin Trudeau's ideologically-driven Bill C-16. They enjoyed honks of support from a steady stream of cars. People stopped to ask questions and were genuinely concerned. CTV News showed up and interviewed former prisoner Heather Mason, who shed light on the dirty secret of what is happening in women’s prisons in Canada. Standing up for vulnerable women and speaking through a megaphone was exhilarating and healing.
They followed up with more protests (listed below) and they wrote a Senate brief for Bill C-6 (conversion therapy bill), contacted politicians, launched a children's book It's Awesome To Be A Girl and finished the year collaborating with nine (9) organizations on a National Day Of Protest!
In 2022 they will be focused on gender ideology in Canadian schools. They are planning to make the first of many presentations to school boards during trustee meetings, where they will challenge educational institutions to teach biology, not ideology.
We The Females looks back on 2021:
March 7 Protest 1 at Grand Valley Prison in Kitchener
March 20 Protest 2 at Grand Valley Prison in Kitchener
April 2021 Mad Water Media launches It's Awesome to Be A Girl by Maddie Waterstone
May 10 We The Females Brief To the Senate Regarding Bill C-6
June 26, 2021 Protest 3 at Grand Valley Prison in Kitchener
August 21 Protest 4 at Fraser Valley
We helped plan, fund and send signs to BC for the 4th prison protest:
September 18, 2021 Protest 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 Cross Canada Prison Protest!
We The Females partnered with Heather Mason, caWsbar, WHRC, Alberta Women's Advocacy Association, Alberta Radfems, Radfems of Canada, Women Matter Canada, PDF Quebec and Keep Prisons Single Sex to execute a national day of protest at six (6) locations (including Ottawa).
caWsbar, in addition to participating in the prison protests, capped off their protest year in October as they headed to Parliament Hill for a Halloween demonstration with the theme Woman is Not a Costume. In addition to the larger protests, women in several centres gathered throughout the year for pop-up demonstrations, pamphleting and stickering. Behind the scenes, caWsbar members wrote letters and met with MPs, prepared briefs (Bill C-4 and Ontario Bill 17) and made a submission to UN Women regarding women's sex-based rights violations in Canada. They also launched their caWsbar merchandise line! On the media front, in May they began making weekly guest appearances on The Richard Syrett Show on Sauga960am radio, an opportunity to get their message out of the echo chamber to a wider audience. Tune in every Thursday at 4:38 pm to hear one of their spokeswomen in conversation with Richard about the latest controversies in gender identity ideology in Canada and around the world.
WDI Canada (formerly WHRC Canada)
Jo Brew, who many of us feel we know from Saturday morning zoom sessions says: "We are legally obligated to stop using both "Women's Human Rights Campaign" and "WHRC" effective January 22, 2022." The good news is that Women's Declaration International (WDI) more accurately reflects our truly international membership of 29.025 from 157 countries and 410 organizations.
This past year, 2021, featured individual members protesting at various prisons across Canada whenever invited and making speeches in Edmonton and Calgary. In addition, members wrote letters to MPs and Senators, placed phone calls and created briefs for Bill C-4 (conversion therapy) federally and Bill 2 (the surrogacy bill) in Quebec. Even though excellent briefs were prepared, no women's group was allowed to speak to the bill.
CDIQuebec were successfully interviewed on a CBC Sunday afternoon show in which they were asked, "Why don't you women ever talk?"
Throughout the year, individual provincial and territorial groups held monthly zoom meetings. In September, we held our first cross Canada meeting of all WDI members.
Women’s Space Vancouver wrote to different organizations in response to positions or actions that they deem harmful and against women’s human rights.
These included:
The Women & Gender Rights Standing Committee of the BC Federation of Labour. The committee had adopted a resolution on prostitution that goes against the 2014 law called for by feminist organizations across Canada, Bill C-36, the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act, decriminalizes the sale of sex in most instances.
Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) signed onto a document called “An Affirmation of Feminist Principles”, taking a position in support of changing Canadian laws to legalize prostitution and agreeing that “sex, gender, and sexuality are social constructs like race, class and caste.”
Statistics Canada on the Definition of Gender of a Person. The Government of Canada held a public consultation on the definition of gender and in their letter they expressed their concern that ‘sex’ and ‘gender’ are conflated.
Vancouver Park Board decision to open all washrooms and change facilities to “gender diverse” people. They expressed their concern that this policy is “compromising, or at worst, dismissing and eliminating, the needs and rights of women and girls.”
They also held on-line education events:
· April 18: Prostitution, Trafficking and Law Enforcement: Why Left Feminists are Abolitionists. Panelists: Suzanne Jay, Trisha Baptie, Cherry Smiley.
· June 12: Stephanie Davies-Arai, author of Communicating With Kids.
· October 9 : The Right to Freedom of Expression in Canada. Panelists: Shadin Farsai and Lindsay Shepherd.
And finally they launched a twitter account @WomenVancouver which now has 1 400 followers.
@justDad7 kept us all informed while Bill C-6 was making its way through parliament, and when that turned into C-4 after the election, kept us all informed about that too. He promises to follow and tweet about how schools are indoctrinating children in the upcoming year.
We are also grateful to @BillboardChris for his trips back and forth across the country, having one conversation at a time. And Canadian Gender Report has been a source of excellent information in regular posts.
And in Quebec, Pour les droits des femmes (PDF) provided us with a partial list of their activities this year – it’s more than enough to reveal the awesome amount of work these Quebec women have undertaken.
JANUARY 2021
13 : Interview of our president Leila Lesbet (Algerian origin and Muslim culture) at QUB Radio on the following topics « Forced marriages of minors »
21: Article from our president Leila Lesbet in KabyleUniversel.com titled "De la religion au racisme"
24: Article in daily newspaper Le Journal de Montréal titled « Ferez vous du Québec le nouvel eldorado de la gestation pour autrui » Translation ("Will you make Quebec the new Eldorado of surrogacy?")
24: Interview with Clémence Trilling (member of PDF Québec) at TVA (Television News) on surrogacy
25 : Interview with Clémence Trilling (member of PDF Québec) at QUB Radio on surrogacy (interview deleted by the broadcaster but written information still available)
FEBRUARY
20: Interview for the French magazine Marianne in France with Rhéa Jean (member of PDF Québec) titled " Père, mère : ces mots jugés "discriminatoires" du Royaume-Uni au Québec"(translation: "Father", "mother": these words deemed "discriminatory" from the UK to Quebec)
MARCH
7: Virtual meeting with our member to celebrate the International Women’s Day (special guest the former Premier of the province of Quebec - Pauline Marois)
APRIL
5: Article in daily newspaper La Presse titled « Halte aux féminicides » (Translation: Stop feminicides) by Aude Exetier and Danielle Bellange (both on the board of directors of PDF)
18: Participation of Ghislaine Gendron from PDF Québec on the first French webinar of the French network of the WRHC on the declaration of women’s right based on sex.
21: Interview at QUB Radio with Leila Lesbet commenting the judgment on bill 21 (secularism) . PDF Quebec was an intervenant defending secularism.
25: Interview with Me Christiane Pelchat on TV program «TVA News». Pelchat is the PDF’s lawyer representing PDF Quebec in the prosecution and defense of the law on secularism.
26: Interview with Me Christiane Pelchat at QUB radio Pelchat is the PDF’s lawyer representing PDF Quebec in the prosecution and defense of the law on secularism
MAY
06: PDF Quebec meet with senator Julie-Miville Deschênes and Ghislaine Gendron from PDF Québec concerning Bill C-6 on conversion therapy
08 : Participation at the annual general assembly of the ICASM (The International Coalition for the Abolition of Surrogate Motherhood)
21: PDF Québec meets with Senators Cormier and Mégie (Canadian Senate) on Bill C-6 (Conversion Therapy).
24: Article in Montreal Newspaper Journal Metro on the declaration of women's rights based on sex and gender identity and sport
JUNE
06: Clémence Trilling presents the conclusions of the Moore Judgement of Superior Court of Québec (designation of sex on the register of civil status) in the monthly french webinar of WHRC
11: Protestation of bill C-6 in Montreal and support to Chris Elston (billboard Chris)
JULY
10: Leila Lesbet participate at the video conferencing on the world day of women without veil with Naila Chikni, Djemial Benhabib , Malika Akhdim et la Dr Chanla Chafiq
20: PDF Quebec participates at a consultation organized by the Council of Status of Women
AUGUST
03: Article in daily newspaper La Presse titled « Des crimes au nom de l’honneur? » (translation : "Crimes in the name of honor? »)
23: Article published by the web site Sisyphe.org on sexual exploitation and Formula 1 Grand Prix of Montreal
27: Article in Trois-Rivières Newspaper « Le Nouvelliste » titled "PDF Québec en solidarité avec Les femmes afghanes, ces femmes «Courage» » (translation: PDF Quebec in solidarity with Afghan women, these women « Courage »)