Issues and Advocacy 

In this Together 

CFUW, and the members of the CFUW-Ottawa club, have been striving for a better world for more than a hundred years, using our collective expertise to bring about change. We focus on girls’ education and the empowerment of women as leaders and decision-makers. Our current national priorities are Indigenous peoples’ rights, early learning, child care and long-term care, climate change and environmental sustainability.

CFUW works at local, provincial, national and global levels for the adoption and implementation of legislation to protect and benefit all women and girls. We send letters, meet with decision makers and host public meetings and fundraising events.

Members of CFUW-Ottawa concentrate on local issues, but as part of the network of clubs across Canada, we also support CFUW-Ontario Council on provincial issues, and the CFUW National Board on national and international issues. And at a global level, we collaborate with Graduate Women International to which CFUW belongs.

Our advocacy is always based on resolutions: policies that have been adopted at our national Annual General Meetings. Click here to see the CFUW Policy Book, which contains some 400 policies approved since 1964. 

The CFUW-Ottawa Advocacy team — our Issues and Advocacy Committee—

• Encourages our club members to educate themselves;

• Offers direction for the national organization;

• Helps to brief CFUW Presidents to lobby all levels of government;

• Collaborates with like-minded organizations. 

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Since 2000, particular concerns brought forward by CFUW-Ottawa include:

• Trafficking in Human Beings (2001);

• Protecting the Health of Canadians by Reducing Environmental Toxins (2009);

• Full Accessibility and Barrier-free Environments for Persons with Disabilities (2012);

• Reduction of Dietary Sodium (2013);

• Age Discrimination in Ontario Employee Benefit Plans (2016 - CFUW Ontario Council);

• Payday Loans (2020).

If CFUW does not already have a policy on an issue of concern to us, our Ottawa committee researches and develops a policy resolution for approval by CFUW members nationwide.

We also review proposals from other clubs and we share information in our club's newsletter, The Capital Carillon, on our website, and at our General Meetings.

Recently CFUW-Ottawa has been speaking up for Afghan women and girls and lobbying for speedier positive action in response to climate and environmental issues. Present club members may be interested in matters we have not yet considered, so if a particular issue causes you concern, tell us about it (write to advocacy@cfuw-ottawa.org) and let us see what we can do.