|  | February 3, 2023This publication contains time-sensitive information directed to Club Executives and members and pertains to CFUW activities and events. Please send relevant pieces to ALL Club members. | |  |
President’s Message CFUW President meeting with CCUNESCO Secretary General Reminder to Update Club Membership Numbers Save the Date for CFUW Meet and Greet Town Hall - February 16, 2023 @ 7-8:30 pm ET 8th Annual International Day of Women and Girls in Science Event - February 11th, 2023 @ 5:00PM CET Upcoming: International Development Week, February 5-11th, 2023 Virtual Screening: Woman - February 5-7th, 2023 Participate in UNCSW! Sharing Corner CFUW National Study Group on Long Term Care - Collecting Stories of Long Term Care across the country Advocacy Updates CFUW North Toronto Virtual Presentation - Women’s Homelessness in Canada: Horizons for Rights-Based Action & Decolonization - February 14th @ 7:15 ET
GWI Updates Club Newsletters
| | President’s Message | CFUW in the Future I have been asked to provide to some sense of what the path of CFUW’s future is which has been the issue that the Board has been grappling with for the last 4 years. During the last Biennium, considerable time was spent in developing a strategic plan with Board objectives which would help us position CFUW’s national activities to facilitate the organization’s growth but there is no single magic bullet. The CFUW demographic is aging but the need for women to support each other and work together continues to be relevant, perhaps even more so post COVID. CFUW’s 103 year legacy has demonstrated the value of friendship among women and lifelong learning. Our history also affirms the power of women as change makers.
Advertisements for women over 40, 50 and 60 meet ups, lean in circles, newcomer clubs, women’s entrepreneur groups, Fabulous 50 communities and a wide range of networking organizations for women and those identifying as women reflects that women need and are proactively creating spaces to gather. CFUW offers a unique space for friendship with a purpose. There is no way to calculate the lives that have been changed by the scholarships awarded within CFUW, leadership skills developed through CFUW activities and the lifelong friendships formed through CFUW membership.
The lifeblood of CFUW is local clubs so that is where the solutions for growing the organization are. Stay tuned for an opportunity to participate in sessions to support your club in developing or refining your local membership strategy.
What’s new in CFUW at the national level? The Board is looking for ways to work more strategically with Regional Directors to address the needs of clubs. To this end, we are planning a workshop on alternative club leadership structures and an orientation webinar for new presidents and club executives. CFUW national is growing our advocacy footprint with expanded action in the areas of Climate action, Women Peace and Security and at the annual United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. The annual CFUW International Service Project has been redesigned and CFUW national has now included International Development Week (IDW) in the national calendar with our first IDW event, Feb 5-7. A national study group on Healthcare has been launched to give CFUW members an opportunity to learn and discuss action on a very timely subject.
Very importantly, we are looking forward to the launching of a new visual identity for CFUW.
Bottom line is that CFUW must change and evolve. We must begin to reflect Canada’s current demographics. With over 6,500 women, we have what it takes to build a future that is sustainable.
Please plan to attend the February 16th virtual meet and greet so you can meet the new national staff team and Board members.
Joy Hurst CFUW President
CFUW Vision: Women and girls are educated and empowered to make transformative change in the world.
CFUW Mission: To achieve educational and economic equality and social justice through continuous learning and empowerment.
CFUW Board Goals Advancement of the status of women, human rights & the common good locally, nationally & internationally through effective mission-focused advocacy Promotion of Women as Leaders & Decision Makers Support of Public Education in Canada, advanced study and research by women and promotion of lifelong learning Engagement of diverse, vibrant and committed members based on cooperation, networking, support and understanding CFUW is known as a movement of influence through collaborative engagement internally and externally Financial independence & organizational stability ensures our voice and grows our influence
| | CFUW President, Joy Hurst’s meeting with Canadian Commission for UNESCO Secretary General, Roda Muse |  | On January 12, 2023 during her visit to Ottawa, Joy had the privilege of meeting with Roda Muse, Secretary General of the Canadian Commission for UNESCO. Ms. Muse, a trail blazing global leader has been Secretary-General of the Canadian Commission for UNESCO since May 2021. Previously, she was a manager at the Department of Innovation, Science and Industry, managing a team of policy analysts. Among her many roles, she also worked as Ontario Regional Director for Status of Women Canada and is committed to the power of education. She was the first BIPOC elected as school board trustee in the Francophone system in Ottawa.
CCUNESCO's priorities include gender equality, reconciliation and youth engagement. Linda Coles, from St. John's Newfoundland is CFUW's current representative to CCUNESCO. | | Reminder to Update Club Membership Numbers | A reminder to please enter your club membership numbers as soon as possible. We need those numbers to start preparing the 2023-2024 Budget.
To enter your numbers please go to https://cfuwmembership.org/Clubs/ClubMembership.aspx
If you have any problems, please contact Elizabeth Malcolm at: memberservices@cfuw-fcfdu.ca.
Susan Lane VP Finance | |  | To register for the CFUW National Meet & Greet Town Hall, please click HERE or on the above image. | | The 8th Annual International Day of Women and Girls in Science: February 11th, 2023 |  | We are still looking to hear from more women in science! If you are a CFUW member and a woman working in Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics (STEM), please reach out to Barbara DuMoulin, VP International Relations at barbdumoulin@gmail.com. | | International Development WeekFebruary 5-11th, 2023 |  | | Not a CFUW delegate to UNCSW67?You can still participate! | The UN Commission on the Status or Women, UNCSW67, will be held in New York from March 6-17, 2023.
Every year a priority theme as well as a review theme is chosen. This year the priority theme is "innovation and technological change, and education in the digital age for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls". The pandemic severely disrupted education so this year’s focus is particularly apt. The review theme is “challenges and opportunities in achieving gender equality and the empowerment of rural women and girls (agreed conclusions of the sixty-second session)”.
Who goes to the UNCSW? Representatives of Member States, UN entities, and ECOSOC-accredited non-governmental organizations (NGOs), such as CFUW.
Access to the UN headquarters is restricted to those attending in person. However, the parallel events hosted by NGOs will be in-person, hybrid or virtual. Anyone can register for the virtual events! You do NOT need to be a CFUW delegate. To register for the parallel events, you must create an account on the CSW NGO/NY portal here.
There are over 650 events being added to the CSW NGO platform – Whova. When you log into the platform, you will see a tab called Agenda. This is where the sessions are listed.
What about the governmental sessions being held at the UN? You can view these on the UN Web TV, some live, some recorded. No registration is required. Check the listings on UN Web TV.
Mark your calendar: CAMEUS (Canada, Mexico, USA) will be hosting a virtual event on Thursday, March 15th at 3 pm ET called Digital Education: Lessons Learnt and Innovations Introduced. We will have a speaker from each CAMEUS country. We hope you join us for this event.
Our CFUW parallel event will be in-person on Tuesday, March 7th, Even Odds in Digital Education for Marginalized Women and Girls.
There are many sessions being hosted by our international partners on this theme of digital education and gender equity. Watch for announcements as details become available.
Barbara DuMoulin VP International Relations | | Please join us for a virtual screening of the acclaimed 2019 film ‘Woman’ to celebrate International Development Week! |  | About Woman “Woman, co-directed by Ukrainian-born director and journalist Anastasia Mikova and French photographer and environmentalist Yann Arthus-Bertrand, is a magnificent, touching documentary that is both funny and sad. Woman has a rather simple premise: women from around the world and from all walks of life talk about what, for them, it means to be a woman.
The documentary is part of Woman, a worldwide project giving a voice to 2,000 females across 50 different countries. The women talk straight to the camera and in first person. The stories are broken up and grouped into loose topics that deal with so many facets of human existence: motherhood, relationships, birth, death, rape, war, love, marriage, education, financial independence, kindness and joy.” Description by Kaleem Aftab
The film will be available for up to 100 views from CFUW members from February 5th to 7th, at your chosen time and location. Watch with your club, friends, or on your own!
If you would like to view the film, please register here and learn more. | |  | | CFUW National Study Group on Long Term Care and Older Persons’ Rights | Collecting stories of Long Term Care (LTC) across the country
The Long Term Care and Older Persons’ Rights Study Group would like to hear your stories and experiences with Long Term Care (LTC). By collecting stories from across the country, we hope to create a national picture of LTC in Canada.
See the link below for more information.
Submit your story here.
Next meeting: February 9th, 2023 @ 1:00PM EST/10:00AM PST.
Zoom link here.
The long awaited report on HSO Standards for Long Term Care have been released. Our meeting on February 9 is an opportunity to discuss this release.
We ask that you have a look at this document before our meeting on February 9.
February 9th Agenda: HSO Standards on Long Term Care: Time to study and discuss Long Term Care in Canada: Presentation of stories and projects from CFUW members across Canada Next steps: What are the experts saying about what should happen next?
Please email Audrey Hobbs-Johnson, co-chair of the CFUW National Study Group on Long Term Care and Elder Rights at audreyhj@shaw.ca if you would like to join the study group mailing list. If you have trouble with Survey Monkey, please send your story to Paige Inglis at advocacy@cfuw-fcfdu.ca.
| | Advocacy Updates | New Health Standards Organization (HSO) Long Term Care Standards announced this week. Read the new standards here. Still Open - Pre-Budget Consultations have opened for individuals to give their input to the federal government on spending. Have your say by filling out this five-minute questionnaire here: Let’s Talk Budget 2023. Open until February 10th. CFUW National Advocacy Coordinator, Paige Inglis, submitted a brief on behalf of CFUW on gender-based violence in sport to the Status of Women parliamentary committee for their study on Women and Girls in Sport. Read it here. Last Call! If there are any more photos or descriptions of your club’s events or actions during the 16 Days of Activism 2022, please send them to Paige at advocacy@cfuw-fcfdu.ca if you would like them featured in this year’s round-up of actions.
| | CFUW North Toronto Presents
Women’s Homelessness in Canada: Horizons for Rights-Based Action & Decolonization
Speaker Presentation February 14th @ 7:15 ET on Zoom
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Guests are welcome. Please email info@cfuwnorthtoronto.ca to register for zoom. | |  | | | Club Newsletters | | | | |
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