Diverse Campaign Strategies for Pension Reform (Oct –Nov 2005)

A request by the 411 Radio Crew for a representative from Women Elders in Action (WE*ACT) to appear on their regular programming for seniors on Co-op Radio Thursday afternoons at 2:00 pm this summer met with an enthusiastic response. The pretaped interview offered WE*ACT a chance to highlight the need for pension reform through a series of thoughtful questions from the practiced interviewers: Carol Graham, John Kennedy, Pat Brown, Ray Wagner and Roger Allford.

The questions were so numerous that a second and then a third interview were required to cover this fascinating topic. The second program focused on the aspects of women’s lives that make their pensionable status different from that of men. The third interview focused on just a few of the 23 recommendations WE*ACT made to improve the lot of women requesting public pension reform. These recommendations are varied, and certainly relevant given that 65% of public pensions go to women. Men receive only 35% of our public pension expenditure as they reap considerably more retirement income from their investments in occupational pensions and Registered Retirement Savings Plans.

Further afield, Helen Domshy of Prince George, one of the women trained by WE*ACT to start community discussions about pension reform, charged ahead with a stellar performance organizing public outreach. She shared our concerns with social work instructors on the campus of the University of Northern BC. As well, she articulated the needs of senior women well enough to convince the Prince George Mayor and Council to endorse our call for changes to Canada’s pension system. Soon Helen will be visiting Dunster and McBride to introduce the topic. As well, she’s been invited to speak to students and staff on campus in Prince George in the departments of social work, women’s studies and nursing this fall. Helen is also making arrangements to speak to the Chamber of Commerce in Prince George, women’s groups and transition homes, the Canadian Federation of University Women and members of the Hospital Employees Union. She is an invaluable resource for educating northern British Columbians about the pressing need for pension reform.

Other women who attended that training session are initiating discussions in their own areas of influence with the purpose of educating others and seeking their support. Barb Ezart, Vice President of the Canadian Federation of Business and Professional Women’s Clubs (BPW Canada) has taken the need for pension reform to her national group for their consideration. Pat Appleby, a WE*ACT member in Vancouver, used her summer travels to Montreal as an opportunity to present our research to the women’s group of a local church and to distribute our French outreach broadsheet. Other members of WE*ACT have been sharing our broadsheet with friends, neighbours and their own seniors’ groups this summer and making plans for more formalized public outreach this fall.

Creation of French, Punjabi and Chinese translations of a synopsis of our position paper on pension reform was made possible with funding from Status of Women Canada. WE*ACT members in Vancouver and our network in other BC communities are using these translations to reach as many individuals and groups as possible.

WE*ACT’s Elsie Dean and Marjorie Buchanan, representing the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, will join representatives from other equality seeking women’s groups to participate in Status of Women Canada’s Gender Equality Consultation in Vancouver at the end of September. They will be analyzing how far women have come in light of commitments made 10 years ago at the UN’s Beijing Conference and reviewing a new federal gender equality strategy and plan of action for the next five years. Any reader interested in completing a survey as part of this consultation on how to achieve equality for women in Canada, please call WE*ACT Project Coordiantor Jan Westlund at 604-684-8171, local 228.

This fall, members of WE*ACT’s Vancouver committee will be presenting our research and recommendations at two different conferences: one sponsored by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and SFU entitled, Imagining Public Policy to Meet Women’s Economic Security Needs at SFU’s Harbourfront Campus in the middle of October. The other at the end of the month, The Canadian Conference on Elder Law, is sponsored by the UBC Canadian Centre for Elder Law Studies to be held at the Sheraton Wall Centre.

Ongoing funding from Status of Women Canada has permitted us to invite members of our regional network into Vancouver to join us for our fall gathering here at 411 Seniors Centre. October 21 is scheduled to be a day of involving discussion as we review our campaign for pension reform and place perceived threats to Canada’s pension policy into a much larger context of privatization and deep integration with the US.

Any senior women who would like to join in these discussions are encouraged to attend by calling Jan Westlund at the above phone number.

~Jan Westlund