BC gets a failing grade in West Coast LEAF’s annual CEDAW report.

Women in our province are falling behind when it comes to housing, poverty, and access to justice.

West Coast LEAF’s annual report on the government’s compliance with the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women was released on this month. The report shows that the B.C. government is failing to meet its obligations under the convention.

Christy Clark’s government received failing grades on a number of issues, including being the only province in the country to refuse to bring in a poverty reduction plan, failing to act on housing security, and refusing to fully implement all of the recommendations made by the Missing Women’s Commission of Inquiry.

New Democrats have introduced legislation for a poverty reduction plan four times, yet each time Clark’s government has ignored it. Families hit the hardest by poverty are single-parent households. Half of children in single parent families, mostly headed by single mothers, are living in poverty.

BC was downgraded from a ‘D’ to an ‘F’ when it comes to dealing with missing and murdered indigenous women. The report zeroed in on the fact that the BC government has “intentionally deleted email records related to the issue of violence along Highway 16 to avoid disclosing them.”

There are simple but important ways that the Clark government could act to improve the lives of women in this province today, yet they continually refuse to acknowledge that there is a problem.

Read the full report on the West Coast Leaf website: http://bit.ly/1lixTLe .

Community not consulted on TransLink route changes to #4 and #7 trolley buses

Re-routing the Number 7 will leave six blocks of Nanaimo St. without bus service.

A proposed TransLink route change will impact residents in the northeast corner of the city by removing the #4 trolley from Powell Street and re-routing the #7 trolley along Hastings. These changes will likely mean less bus service along Powell Street, and removes bus service all together along six blocks of Nanaimo Street between Dundas and Hastings.

I am disappointed that TransLink did not widely advertise their online consultation process, which has now closed, and am concerned that many Vancouver-Hastings residents who rely on these buses were not given an opportunity to provide feedback.

The proposed changes will disproportionately impact seniors and low-income residents in our community. Call TransLink at 604-953-3040, or send an email at http://feedback.translink.ca/ and let them know how this change will affect you.

See the proposed route changes: http://bit.ly/1HlbA1O .
Read my letter to TransLink: http://bit.ly/1PXK8s6 .

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