With funding from The Law Foundation of Ontario, NAWL has developed A Women's Guide to Money, Relationships and the Law in Ontario.  This online tool responds to the need of young women to know more about their economic rights when entering and leaving common law relationships or marriages and the difference between the two.  The guide includes information about the different legal definitions of spouse in Ontario, spousal and child support, economic abuse, the division of property, and has tools to help women write their own cohabitation or separation agreements.

Click here for more information and to download the guide.
 

Gosselin v. Québec… a disappointing Supreme Court decision on the right to social assistance. This case is about a Québec welfare regulation that provided drastically reduced benefits (170$ a month) for persons under thirty years of age who were considered able to work.

In December of 1999, NAWL presented a Brief to the Canadian Human Rights Act Review Panel. We recommended inclusion of social condition as a protected ground of discrimination under the Act. We also told the Review Panel that if the Human Rights Act is to make a difference for the most disadvantaged women in Quebec and in Canada, it must also include social and economic rights.

Canada adopted the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in 1976. Countries like Canada that have signed the International Covenant must submit progress reports to an International Committee. Groups like NAWL can also present alternative reports to the Committee. In November of 1998, NAWL submitted a report called: Women and the Social Deficit.

In 1995 the government implemented the most significant spending reductions in contemporary Canadian history.  Following these reductions, many women suffered significant economic hardship.

June 28, 2006 in Open Letters
NAWL calls on Prime Minister Harper to respect international law on social and economic rights.

Winter 2003
“Majority Embraces Stereotype of Poor”, by Shelagh Day