Dear Friends:
The Royal Commission Report on the Status of Women was published in September 28, 1970. This year marks the fortieth anniversary of this significant and amazing event that changed all our lives. Forty years later, it is time to celebrate this historical achievement and to reassess and reconsider the progress of women’s equality and to celebrate the many achievements that women and men have made towards equality.
We are sending this letter to our friends and networks to bring into your awareness this landmark anniversary so that you can network and celebrate with your friends, family, organizations and remind them of this amazing and historic Canadian feminist milestone. Those were amazing times for so many of us. When we realized that forty years have gone by, it left us reflecting on how to celebrate the many achievements that have been made towards full equality in Canadian society. We are also concerned about how to let the next generation of women (and men) know about these achievements.
So, at this stage, we are interested in creating a massive online community brainstorm; we envision a renaissance of reclaiming those achievements, celebrating them in numerous fashions by creating a diversity of projects, and in general, having a whole lot of fun. Such a renaissance is needed to reclaim and empower the generations that were not actively part of that time, to know more about their own history and how much has changed, and what has been done for them and for future generations.
Some of the things we have been imagining in various conversations include: films, theatre pieces, interviews with women who participated, statistics on how far we’ve come, reviewing the recommendations that were in the actual report, and engaging governments and media to help us celebrate.
We are planting the seeds of these ideas and we are sure you will also have many of your own. Sending this letter is just an initial step in what we envision as a wonderful celebration. Let us know what you think; your ideas, your own visions, and please feel free to share this letter with the many wonderful people in your life that you think might be interested. Thanks so much!!
Carol Gordon and Luanne Armstrong