The reaction across Canada has been swift and strong to our news last week of impending funding cuts to the CWHN and our partners in women’s health research.

Our story has been covered in major media in English and French and has also reached south of the border. Several bloggers have commented and organizations have put the word out on their websites.

Niki Ashton, MP for Churchill and the NDP’s critic on women’s issues, spoke out in Parliament on April 26, saying “This assault on women's equality sends a clear message: if our research contradicts the Conservatives' ideology, we have to pay the price.” Senator Céline Hervieux-Payette also spoke in favour of the program, saying, “… c'est avec une immense tristesse que je prends la parole pour déplorer la fin du Programme de contribution pour la santé des femmes.”

Thanks to all for this tremendous show of support!

See some of the commentary here:

Health Canada cuts funding to women’s health research groups Toronto Star

Health Canada's women's contribution program cut  Winnipeg Free Press

Federal cuts to health groups hurt marginalized women, say critics The Tyee

Press release

For immediate release

One more women’s program falls victim to federal government budget cuts; 16-year program provided essential evidence and information on women’s health; group argues for need to consider how women are harmed by cuts to programs and services.

April 23, 2012

Six federally funded organizations devoted to research and communication in women’s health learned this week that their funding will end March 31, 2013.

The Program is critical to funding innovative social policy research, building community partnerships and providing important mentorship opportunities for students in women’s health. Within a year, the affected organizations will be forced to either close their doors permanently or attempt to find funding elsewhere.

The Women’s Health Contribution Program (WHCP) supports: Le Réseau québécois d’action pour la santé des femmes (RQASF), the Canadian Women’s Health Network (CWHN), the Atlantic Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health (ACEWH), the British Columbia Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health (BCCEWH), the Prairie Women’s Health Centre of Excellence (PWHCE) and the National Network on Environments and Women’s Health (NNEWH), located across the country from Vancouver to Halifax.

“The effect of this decision by Health Canada is yet another strong sign that the federal government is pulling away from its responsibility to gender equality. The work funded through the WHCP has been crucial to ensuring that Canadian women have had access to the best evidence and policy advice on women’s health issues, through research that recognized that social and environmental determinants of health are key,” said Chi Nguyen, Chair of the Board of the Canadian Women’s Health Network.

Seems like everyone’s been talking about the weather this winter, and how warm it’s been – unseasonably warm – in many parts of Canada.  While enjoying our balmy January, some of us felt uneasy, too. There’s the elephant in the room: climate change. Is this winter a blip on the screen, an anomaly, something we shouldn’t expect will happen year after year? Or does it mean that cold winters are history?*

Clearly, our climate is changing. The first decade of this century set records for warmth, worldwide. Our uneasiness this year isn’t just about one temperate winter. It’s about how climate change will affect the health of our world and its inhabitants. And as this issue comes under greater scrutiny, we are learning that climate change is affecting and will affect women differently – and worse – than men.

Learn more here about how gender and health relate to climate change...

This year’s International Women’s Day is our 101^st!  Imagine: we’re now in the second century since women around the world began celebrating our achievements to gain economic, political and social equality. While it’s true that some of us have gained much, many challenges – some of them monumental – still face women across the globe.

Women’s health has always been a powerful focus of – and catalyst for – the women’s movement, from the early hard-fought battles for reproductive rights – including effective birth control and legal and safe abortion – to the great efforts of the past 30 years to ensure sex and gender analysis is integrated into health research and health care delivery. The Canadian Women’s Health Network grew out of these challenges, with many women coming together to share the wealth of their knowledge and to work to improve the health of women and girls in Canada.

This March, we plan to continue working towards that goal, and also to celebrate the fact that so many women across the country are honouring this century-plus-one-year-old tradition.

Here are some of the events across Canada celebrating IWD 2012:

Strong Women, Strong Canada: Status of Women Canada 

Wise Women Awards and Book Launch 2012 (Whitehorse)

Amnesty International presents: International Women's Day Flash Mob (Vancouver)
Read about the event on Facebook.

YWCA Metro Vancouver dedicates this year’s International Women’s Day to mothers without legal status in Canada (Vancouver)

The webinar recording is now online! Click here to view it (recorded March 13, 2012, 55 minutes, presented in French)

A free event presented by the CWHN, in collaboration with the British Columbia Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health.

Join us for an introduction to  La Source, a web-based resource of Canadian women's health data sources, reports, and synthesis documents. La Source helps users incorporate sex and gender into research, policy-making, and program planning.

Presented by Marie Dussault, Knowledge Exchange Coordinator at the British Columbia Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health.
Moderated by Anne Rochon Ford, Executive Director of the Canadian Women’s Health network

Information: bccewh@cw.bc.ca

Related links:
La Source Santé des Femmes
Analyse des influences du genre et du sexe (AIGS)
The Source - Women's Health Data Directory

Production of this event has been made possible through a financial contribution from Health Canada. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the views of Health Canada.