Jody Dallaire lives and works in Dieppe New Brunswick where she writes a weekly column on women's equality issues and matters of social justice.
Email: jody.dallaire@rogers.com.
by Jody Dallaire
The good news is that New Brunswickers are #1 in Canada in at least two important social indicators. The bad news is that those #1 positions are in unemployment (11.2 percent in June, vs the 7.1 percent Canadian average — and urban sexual assault.
by Jody Dallaire
In spring of 2011, the New Brunswick suddenly announced that it would be abolishing all funding to the New Brunswick Advisory Council on the Status of Women. Two years and two months later, after constant vociferous lobbying by women’s groups, the Minister responsible for the Status of Women, Marie-Claude Blais announced the province will create an independent Voices of New Brunswick Women Consensus-Building Forum, composed of representatives from organizations in New Brunswick.
by Jody Dallaire
The Regroupement féministe du Nouveau-Brunswick’s (RFNB for short, which translates to the Feminist Organization of New Brunswick) was founded by New Brunswick women in June 2007, and is already having a considerable impact on public policy and on the Acadian community.
by Jody Dallaire
The Whistleblower is a 2010 made-for-TV movie dramatizing one real-life investigator’s efforts to stop human trafficking in a war zone. Rachel Weisz stars as Kathryn Bolkovac, a Nebraska police officer who served as a peacekeeper in post-war Bosnia and who exposed how the United Nations was involved in covering up human trafficking and the exploitation of women.
The film (partly funded by Ontario) is very moving and well done, although it is tough to watch at times. After watching it, I decided to find out more about the prevalence of human trafficking in Canada – and yes, it does happen here. Although not all victims of human trafficking are female, the vast majority are.
by Jody Dallaire
Lately, New Brunswick Members of Parliament made headlines for their sexist comments.
Take Fisheries Minister Keith Ashfield’s comment at a photo op staged after Harperites presented the new federal budget. At the home of a local family, Minister Ashfield sampled the fresh bread baked by Grace Moreno, a high school student. He praised her cooking by saying that she would, “make a wonderful wife for somebody.”
by Jody Dallaire
The theme of this year’s International Day Against Homophobia is Fighting the Homophobia Web Virus. Cyber bullying has become all too common, even though it's been linked with teen suicide. Of course, online harassment is just one form of the bullying that many gay teens endure.
by Jody Dallaire
As the province and the nation count down to elections in a year or two, women’s organizations are encouraging and helping women prepare to seek public office. One such project that I've participated in is Setting the Stage for Girls and Young Women to Succeed, an initiative of the well-respected organization Support to Single Parents.
by Jody Dallaire
It is not often that I agree with something that Prime Minister Stephen Harper has said. Last week the Prime Minister cautioned people about referring to what happened to Rehtaeh Parsons as bullying. He said: “I think that we’ve got to stop just using the term bullying to describe some of these things…What we are dealing with in some of these circumstances is simply criminal activity.”
I would go a step further and characterize this incident as yet another classic example of preventable gender-based violence – in this case, male violence against women. Lately, there have been so many examples in New Brunswick and across Canada that it is hard to keep track of them all.
by Jody Dallaire
Have you ever been told that you are “irrational,” “over-reacting,” “such a drama queen,” “have an overactive imagination,” or “can simply not take a joke” in response to your expressing your opinion or feelings to someone about a situation? If you have, then you are not alone. Chances are that you have experienced the phenomenon known as gaslighting.
by Jody Dallaire
As Premier David Alward’s government approaches Budget Day, New Brunswick women are watching to see whether Alward will redeem itself for its shocking decision two years ago to cut all of the public funding allocated to the New Brunswick Advisory Council on the Status of Women.
As a New Brunswick woman, hearing that decision made me feel like I was in The Twilight Zone, like the American 1960s TV-series, where nothing is as it seems and where unusual and scary things happen to ordinary people.
