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British Columbia Moves Backwards on Women’s Equality
Submission of the B.C. CEDAW Group to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women on the occasion of the Committee’s review of Canada’s 5th Report   |  January 23, 2003
 
ARTICLE 14

Article 14: Rural Women

95. Several recent changes in British Columbia will eliminate rural women’s access to vital services, potentially increasing their exposure to violence and removing their access to justice. These changes will have a disproportionate effect on the lives and safety of Aboriginal women, many of whom live in rural and remote areas of the province.
Research Advisory on the Provincial Cuts and Violence Against Women, “Criminal Law: Anticipated Impact on Women who Experience Violence” (2002), British Columbia Institute Against Family Violence, online: British Columbia Institute Against Family Violence (last modified: 10 April 2002).  [Tab 70]
96. As noted above (paragraph 35), 1/3 of the province’s courthouses have been closed, largely in rural areas.  Rural women will now have to travel long distances to attend court or obtain a court order.  Further, the government has proposed a review of financing for police services in communities with a population under 5,000 with a view to requiring rural residents to pay a higher proportion of the costs of local policing. This subjects police services in rural areas to financial pressure, potentially jeopardizing adequate provision of police protection for women who experience family and community violence.
British Columbia Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General, website, online: British Columbia Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General (date accessed: 20 October 2002).  [Tab 101]
97. Other government departments have closed their rural offices, including all Community Legal Aid and Native Law Offices.  Moreover, after the elimination of their funding, women’s centres across the province will be forced to close, even in towns where that centre offers the only services related to women’s health and safety.  Further, hospitals in rural areas have been closed, and other structural changes suggest that health services will be increasingly centralized in urban centres.  Because rural women and girls now have to travel increased distances to receive emergency and non-emergency services, including assault and rape-related care, and pregnancy and childbirth-related services, they and their children incur increased risks.
Friends of Women and Children in B.C., Report Card, August 15, 2002, Vol. 1 No.5, online: University of British Columbia Centre for Women’s Studies and Gender Relations (date accessed: 6 August 2002).  [Tab 102]

Friends of Women and Children in B.C., Report Card, September 15, 2002, Vol. 1 No.6, online: University of British Columbia Centre for Women’s Studies and Gender Relations (date accessed: 6 August 2002).  [Tab 103]
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BC Coalition of Women's Centres • British Columbia, Canada
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This page last updated:  March 8, 2003
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