This session’s topic is THE AFFORDABLE HOUSING CRISIS: TWO WORKING SOLUTIONS, and the event will take place on Saturday February 25 from 10 a.m. to 12:30p.m. The speakers are Robert Cikoja, CEO of Habitat for Humanity Huronia, and Melissa Scott, Operations and Development Manager for Barrie Housing.

Please click here to register

Using Barrie as an example, there are two working solutions to the provision of affordable housing: Habitat for Humanity Huronia and Barrie Housing. Robert and Melissa will outline the growing success of Huronia's provision of safe, decent, affordable housing for home ownership.

To view the speakers' bios and/or to register, please go to Speakers Series & Standing Committees’ Workshops | CFUW Ontario Council (cfuwontcouncil.org)

The presentations will be followed by a Q&A session when the speakers will address questions from the audience. We encourage you to submit your questions in advance to Helen Robb, Chair of the Status of Women & Human Rights Standing Committee.

Congratulations to CFUW Orillia and UWC North York! Petition in support of the CFUW National Resolution – Strengthening Bail Laws to Protect Victims of Intimate Partner  

The resolution that UWC North York presented to CFUW in 2022 Strengthening Bail Laws to Protect Victims of Intimate Partner Violence was an advocacy focus for CFUW Orillia this year.

(From CFUW Club Action Newsletter February 3^rd, 2023)

The UN Commission on the Status or Women, UNCSW67, will be held in New York from March 6-17, 2023. Every year a priority theme as well as a review theme is chosen. This year the priority theme is "innovation and technological change, and education in the digital age for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls". The pandemic severely disrupted education so this year’s focus is particularly apt.

The review theme is “challenges and opportunities in achieving gender equality and the empowerment of rural women and girls (agreed conclusions of the sixty-second session)”.

Who goes to the UNCSW? Representatives of Member States, UN entities, and ECOSOC-accredited non-governmental organizations (NGOs), such as CFUW.

Access to the UN headquarters is restricted to those attending in person. However, the parallel events hosted by NGOs will be in-person, hybrid or virtual. Anyone can register for the virtual events! You do NOT need to be a CFUW delegate. To register for the parallel events, you must create an account on the CSW NGO/NY portal here.

There are over 650 events being added to the CSW NGO Whova platform. When you log into the platform, you will see a tab called Agenda. This is where the sessions are listed.

What about the governmental sessions being held at the UN? You can view these on the UN Web TV, some live, some recorded. No registration is required. Check the listings on UN Web TV.

Our CFUW parallel event will be in-person on Tuesday, March 7th, Even Odds in Digital Education for Marginalized Women and Girls. There are many sessions being hosted by our international partners on this theme of digital education and gender equity. Watch for announcements as details become available.

IWD is March 8^th. If your Club is holding an event to mark the date, please send pictures along with a brief description to [email protected]. The IWD events will be included in our Advocacy Report for this year, and in the March edition of OC News.

Please go to the Advocacy Take Action! section of the Ontario Council website at https://cfuwontcouncil.org/take-action/ for advice as to how to move your advocacy efforts along given we are dealing with a majority Ontario government.

Ontario Council is preparing a webpage under the CFUW Ontario Council Advocacy tab which will list all OC Clubs active in Advocacy and the issue(s) they are working on, along with Club advocacy contacts. Using the format shown below, please send your information to [email protected].

To download the Excel form to enter your Club's advocacy issue(s), please click here.

We are not having a typical winter. What will next summer be like?

The past eight years have been the warmest ever recorded. The year 2022 was the fifth warmest in Canada, second warmest in Europe. Scientists point out 2022 was a La Nina year. They say temperatures in Canada ought to have been cooler. Many climate agencies predict that in a matter of months, La Nina could turn into El Nino, promising warmer temperatures and even more extreme weather events.

Earth’s temperatures have been rising steadily since the dawn of the industrial age back in the 1850’s, as demonstrated in a visual aid created by Ed Hawkins, a climate scientist based in the United Kingdom. It illustrates an urgent need to curb greenhouse gases (GHG’s). The planet’s temperatures have been rising because greenhouse gases have become increasingly concentrated in the atmosphere owing to human activity and ever greater combustion of fossil fuels. Temperatures have climbed 1.2 degrees since the 1850’s. At their current pace, temperatures can be expected to rise by 1.5^o C before the end of this century. We are already experiencing many of the extreme weather events associated with these rising temperatures: Rising oceans, flooding, drought, and fires, to name just a few. Our infrastructure was never designed to cope with such conditions. Governments will surely be forced to respond. But all of us will need to adapt to a changing world.

Are you looking for an OC leadership opportunity? If you have a good eye for detail, enjoy computer work, and have five to ten hours available per month, we would like to talk to you! The OC Communications Committee needs assistance with:

Computer literacy is a requirement but experience is not. We can provide training for the technologies we use: WordPress for the OC website, Constant Contacts for newsletters and other e-mails, and of course ZOOM.

Please get in touch with Ingrid at [email protected] to chat about your interest and next steps.

As participants in the 2022 #16DaysOfActivism campaign, CFUW Grimsby and District collected thirty-five gently used bags and purses and filled them with personal care products. The purses were then donated to Gillian’s Place, a local women’s shelter offering safety to those experiencing abuse.

CFUW Peterborough's festive gathering in December was so much fun that they wanted to share the photos and games! The gathering included a turkey dinner, trivia questions, carol-singing, and a raffle. The Club also gave a donation of $1,525 to the Peterborough Culinary Arts Nourish Project. Click here to see the photos and the triva questions and answers. Enjoy!

Please join CFUW Etobicoke at their 9^th annual Stop the Violence Breakfast on Tuesday, February 14, 2023 at 9 AM via Zoom. This year features a conversation with feminist lawyer and advocate, Pamela Cross. Pamela will share her insight as an expert witness in the groundbreaking CKW Inquest, resulting from the 2015 femicide of three women in Renfrew County by their former partner. Learn about the 86 recommendations that resulted, what kind of an impact this had on law, and the role that each of us can play to ensure more implementation. You can REGISTER HERE . Tickets are $35 with all proceeds supporting Women’s Habitat and Ernestine’s.

Speaker presentation on ZOOM, February 14 at 7:15 p.m. Speakers are Dr. Kaitlin Schwan, Executive Director, Women’s National Housing & Homelessness Network (WNHNN) and Marie McGregor Pitawanakwat, co-Chair, National Indigenous Feminist Housing Working Group and WNHHN. Guests are welcome! Please e-mail [email protected] to register.

Please join CFUW Aurora/Newmarket as we celebrate International Women’s Day, March 8, at 10:00 AM. We are partnering with The Shoe Project to bring you a dynamic virtual presentation. Three alumni of the project will tell their brave and moving stories utilizing shoes as a metaphor in describing their journeys to new lives in Canada. To register, please contact [email protected].

CFUW Orillia invites you to join them for their IWD 2023 celebration. A panel discussion on the theme “Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Unconscious Bias/Embracing Equity”, featuring Debbie Singh from Orillia Soldiers Memorial Hospital, Dr. Linda Rodenburg from Lakehead University and Lorraine McRae from Rama will be the focus of the evening. A donation at the door of $5 is requested to help cover costs.  Advance registration is required.  REGISTER NOW.

The CFUW Toronto Clubs are hosting a luncheon at St. Paul's Bloor Street in celebration of International Women's Day, with speaker Toronto City Councilor Dianne Saxe. Dianne will be speaking on Climate Action in the City of Toronto. Tickets are $60 and all proceeds go to the CFUW Charitable Trust. Friends and guests are welcome. To purchase tickets please contact the CFUW Toronto Clubs.

CFUW Aurora/Newmarket invites you to a VIRTUAL SCREENING of LUNAFEST 2023! The 2023 season of LUNAFEST® features seven short films with a total running time of 90 minutes. Tickets are $20 plus a service charge of $2.05 per ticket. Please click here to purchase tickets. ​Proceeds will support the Soroptimists of York Region and CFUW A/N’s community outreach projects.

Please join us for our first in-person event since March 2020! Guest speakers are Alex Mustakas, Artistic Director and CEO Drayton Entertainment, and David Connolly, Associate Artistic Director and Director of Education Drayton Youth Academy. Tickets are $70 per person … a $30 tax receipt will be issued after the event. Purchase tickets through the Club website or Canada Helps. Proceeds go to the Club’s Scholarship Fund.

CFUW Kitchener-Waterloo invites you to join them on April 13th for dinner and a wonderful conversation with Lisa LaFlamme. Tickets are $125. To purchase a ticket please contact [email protected]. A $40 charitable receipt will be issued after the event. Proceeds will support the education of women and girls locally and internationally.

You can get all the details about upcoming club events on the OC website at Club Events | CFUW Ontario Council (cfuwontcouncil.org).

Because Ontario Council includes close to 50 clubs, we are not always able to publish club meetings, scholarship winners and other charitable giving. However, Club newsletters are published by month on the OC website under Club Actions & Events--to have your Club's newsletters published please e-mail your newsletters and other club news to [email protected]. To help you help us, click the link below for all the information you need about our publication schedule, submission deadlines, and preferred format.