Son histoire (HerStory)

June 20–22, 1985

National inaugural meeting of women with disabilities planned by women with disabilities in Ottawa.

1987

Founding organizational conference in Winnipeg.

1989

Jillian Ridington researched and wrote Beating the Odds: Violence against Women with Disabilities, Different Therefore Unequal: Employment and Women with Disabilities, Only Parent in the Neighbourhood: Mothering and Women with Disabilities and Who Do We Think We Are: Self-Image and Women with Disabilities.

DAWNCanada held a conference and Annual General Meeting in Toronto called Who Do We Think We Are: Self-Image and Women with Disabilities Conference.

Together with the Canadian Disability Rights Council (CDRC), DAWN published four discussion papers on new reproductive technologies.

Two women in DAWN BC, Kelly Wheeler and Gem Wirszilas, published an anthology, Visions Of Fight: A Journey of Thought by and about Women with Disabilities.

1992

DAWN Canada worked together with the National Film Board to make Towards Intimacy, a film about sexuality and relationships and women with disabilities.

Shirley Masuda, with help from Jillian Ridington, researched and wrote Meeting Our Needs: An Access Manual for Transition Houses.

1993

Ellen Frank researched and wrote DAWN Canada Safety Network Policing and Justice Project Responding to Violence Against Women with Disabilities: An Assessment of Police Training Needs.

1994

DAWN Canada and the National Action Committee on the Status of Women (NAC) co-hosted a national conference for feminists on new reproductive technologies in Vancouver.

The Annual General Meeting attached to this conference elected a new Chair, Eileen O’Brien.

Ellen Frank did more work on the legal system and published Domestic Violence: Accessibility of Legal Information to Women with Disabilities.

Monika Chappell and Tanis Doe researched and wrote Breaking the Cycle of Violence – Healing Our Lives.

Monika Chappell wrote the report DAWN Canada’s Safety Network Policing And Justice Report Responding to Violence Against Women with Disabilities: An Assessment of Judicial Training Needs.

Shirley Masuda researched and wrote a manual on suicide prevention and women with disabilities Don’t Tell Me to Take a Hot Bath: Resource Manual For Crisis Workers.

1996

DAWN Canada put on a Think Tank with women from the larger community on Employment and Women with Disabilities and later published the results, Employment and Women with Disabilities: Transcript-Think Tank.

Leslie MacLeod researched and wrote Finding Directions: An Employment Skills Guide for Women with disabilities.

A German translation of Meeting Our Needs: An Access Manual for Transition Houses was produced.

DAWN Canada in partnership with the Justice Institute in British Columbia produced and participated in a production of a video called Charting New Water: Responding to Violence Against Women with disabilities.

Monika Chappell wrote Relief…At What Cost? Women with Disabilities and Substance Use/Misuse: Tobacco, Alcohol and Other Drugs, Summary of Themes.

Shirley Masuda produced a community kit entitled Safety Network Community Kit: From Abuse to Suicide Prevention and Women with Disabilities.

1997

Monika Chappell wrote A Way Out: Women with Disabilities and Smoking.

DAWN Canada was granted intervener status with the Women’s Legal and Education Action Fund (LEAF) on Elridge v. Attorney General in which Deaf women were denied access to sign language interpretation while in hospital.

1998

Shirley Masuda wrote a report for Status of Women Canada The Impact of Block Funding on Women with Disabilities: Canada Health and Social Transfer.

Shirley Masuda researched health situation for women with disabilities in British Columbia and produced The Social Construct of Access to Health.

Maria Barile acted as a resource for the organizers of a conference for women with disabilities in Italy. They translated Meeting Our Needs, Beating the Odds and The New Reproductive Technologies papers into Italian.

1999

Joan Meister and Shirley Masuda edited and wrote an organizing tool DAWNing; How to Start and Maintain a Group.

Shirley Masuda researched and wrote in-depth exploration of health issues Women with Disabilities: We Know What We Need to be Healthy!

2000

Marina Morrow of Pacific DAWN wrote Challenges of Change: Midlife Health Needs of Women with Disabilities in collaboration with the British Columbia Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health.

2002

A DAWN Canada technology listserv is created, with the objective of making technology more accessible to women with disabilities, with close to 90 active members.

2003

Launched the Vote for Equality Project, a voter education and awareness web campaign, in preparation for the 2004 federal election. The website had over 3.83 million page views.

An online consultation on Unpaid Work and Lifelong Learning was conducted.

Maintained a pan-Canadian electronic forum on Issues for Women with Disabilities which had close to 350 members.

2004

DAWN Ontario publishes Equality Means Access, a piece on access to health care, in the Canadian Women’s Health Network (CWHN) newsletter and website.

Granted intervener status, along with LEAF (Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund) on the Auton vs. British Columbia case (funding of health services for people with autism). This was the first time DAWN Canada was able to bring a gendered disability analysis to the Supreme Court of Canada.

Granted intervener status in the Broomer vs. Ontario (welfare fraud) case that began that year.

2005

Granted intervener status with LEAF on Barney v. Canada in which compensation was sought for Aboriginal residential school survivors subjected to multiple forms of abuse.

2006

The Sowing the Seeds Conference provided an opportunity for organizational renewal and a renewed focus.

2007

A new, bilingual National Head Office was established in Montreal, Quebec, strategically located in the Maison Parent Roback, a unique feminist collective.

Funded by the Women Status of Canada, Bridging the Gaps – Violence, poverty and housing – an update on resources for Women with Disabilities, the most important output of this project is the National Accessibility and Accommodation Survey (NAAS). It is an audit tool that can be used by shelters and transitional shelters.

DAWN Canada and the Council of Canadians with Disabilities (CCD) were granted intervener status at the supreme court of Canada against Via Rail in 2007.

2008

Founding member of the first International Disabled Women’s Network, which was launched at the Global Summit on the Rights of Women with Disabilities.

Dissonant Disabilities: Women with Chronic Illnesses Explore Their Lives, edited by DAWN Manitoba members Dr. Diane Driedger, and Dr. Michelle Owen was published.

Conceived and organized an international panel of women with disabilities at the First World Conference of Women’s Shelters.

2009

The Centennial Flame Research Award was awarded to DAWN Manitoba member Dr. Diane Driedger for research on the history of women with disabilities in Canada, which is intimately tied to the history of DAWN Canada.

Asked to serve as disability consultants for Women’s Worlds 2011, an international feminist conference, and to sit on the pan-Canadian advisory steering committee.

Hosted a delegation of representatives from Thai disability organizations.

2010

25th anniversary of DAWN Canada

Canada ratified the Convention of the Rights of People with Disabilities (CPRD).

DAWN Canada hosted a Provincial Round Table on Violence Against Women with disabilities, a first in Québec, which brought together the leadership of twenty-five organizations from the disability and women’s sector.

Living the Edges: A disabled women’s reader, edited by Dr. Diane Driedger was published and included a chapter on DAWN Canada.

2011

DAWN Canada helped develop and implement a model of inclusion practice at Women’s Worlds 2011, setting a new standard for the inclusion of women with disabilities. The event was a resounding success for Canadian women with disabilities, as it included 29 presenters with disabilities, including two high-profile international speakers (Judith Heumann, US State Department, and Sebenzile Matsebula, founding member of the South African Office on the Status of Disabled People) and hundreds more as volunteers.

Granted intervener status with LEAF on L.S. in which spousal support paid to a woman with a permanent disability was rescinded based on the husband’s testimony that she was capable of working outside the home; and R v. DAI (2011), in which the testimony of a woman with an intellectual disability who claimed to have been sexually assaulted was excluded because her competence to testify was successfully challenged.

Contacted by the Canadian Women’s Foundation (CWF) to conduct a series of pan-Canadian focus groups as part of their Violence Prevention Review. We also served as key informants in this process.

2012

R v. DAI is won – the Supreme Court of Canada released its decision in R. v. D.A.I. confirming the importance of access to justice for sexual assault complainants with intellectual and other disabilities.

Attended 5th Conference of State Parties (CoSP5) on the Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (CRPD) at the United Nations in New York at which we were instrumental in developing a statement calling for the issues of women with disabilities to become a permanent focus at future CoSP meetings. The statement was read into the official record by the UN Special Rapporteur on Disabilities, Mr. Shuaib Chalklen.

Acted as project partners in the preparation of a report entitled Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading? Canada’s Treatment of Federally-Sentenced Women with Mental Health Issues, authored by Elizabeth Bingham and Rebecca Sutton and edited by Renu Mandhane of the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, International Human Rights Program. This report examined the circumstances surrounding the death of Ashley Smith.

Developed and began implementation of a cross-ministerial/cross-sectoral approach to support the implementation of our pan-Canadian strategy on violence prevention for people with disabilities.

Re-engaged with the health sector through the launch of our project on Elder Abuse in partnership with CACL, and through our participation in a working group on continuing care led by the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions.

Developed a business plan in partnership with Kuy Chheng Treng, a participant on the Global Change Leadership Program for Women at the COADY Institute, to develop a social enterprise for women with disabilities that would create employment opportunities for women with disabilities in the Caribbean and in Canada (in partnership with ERDCO and DPI Caribbean Region)

Hosted representatives from the Guyana Officer for Disability Issues

Developed and launched an inclusion tool which can be used to assess how accessible and inclusive an event or project is, not only to women with disabilities but to all participants.

Led an international panel at the 2nd World Conference of Women’s Shelters with our partner Women with Disabilities Australia.

Presented at the NPD Women’s Summit – a discussion on the future of the Canadian women’s movement.

Presented at the Canadian Federation of Nurses Union (CNFU) National Discussion on Continuing Care.

2013 – 2014

Second year of In-Focus: Bringing People with Disabilities into the Picture, a multi-year pan-Canadian strategy on violence prevention and health and wellness for people with disabilities. This year’s funding from Status of Women Canada allowed us to expand the anti-violence reach of the project.

Released a report entitled “Women with Disabilities and Breast Cancer Screening”, which was prepared for the Canadian Breast Cancer Network (CBCN) and highlighted various barriers preventing women with disabilities and Deaf women from having adequate access to breast cancer screening services. Through the month of October, featured blog posts by women with disabilities sharing their experiences in accessing these services and offered recommendations.

From January to March 2014, our Regional Team worked with our local partners to deliver workshops to healthcare professionals and people with disabilities in thirteen (13) locations across Canada, with funding from PHAC.

In February 2014, presented Speaking notes: Study of Eating Disorders Amongst Girls and Women with Disabilities – Status of Women Standing Committee to the Parliament.

Together with the Canadian Association for Community Living, presented IN FOCUS project at the 4th Annual Federal Policy Forum on Inclusion to representatives from the Office for Disability Issues, the Department of Justice, the Canadian Human Rights Association and Status of Women Canada.

Took the lead in making sure the needs of women with disabilities and Deaf women who are victims of crime were adequately represented in new legislation: Victim’s Bill of Rights.

Participated in a national forum for victims of crime hosted by the Office of the Federal Ombudsman for Victims of Crime (OFOVC) and submitted recommendations to the OFOVC and the Department of Justice and the Attorney General of Canada.

Produced a PSA and released the video WeCanTellWeWillTell for Victims of Crime Awareness Week, to encourage women with disabilities to report abuse.

Presented at a colloquium on Access to Family Justice, hosted by the Law Society of Ontario and Supreme Court Justice(s) McLachlin and Cromwell.

Participated in the launch of the National Victims of Crime Network in Toronto.

As a member of the Episodic Disabilities Network (EDN), DAWN Canada was involved in a policy dialogue held in Ottawa in April 2013 to develop a strategy to help the millions of Canadians living with episodic disabilities to fully and productively participate in the workforce. This policy dialogue included members of the Government of Canada, policy-makers, employers, and people living with an episodic disability joining together to identify achievable solutions to the barriers that prevent full workforce participation by people living with episodic disabilities.

In collaboration with the University of Western Ontario’s Centre for Research and Education on Violence against Women and Children, produced a new multi-lingual, accessible resource on addressing Violence against Women with Disabilities, featuring an article by Fran Odette on ableism as a form of violence against women and highlighting the intersectional context of violence experienced by women with disabilities and Deaf women. It was available in French, English, American Sign Language (ASL), and Langue des Signes Quebecois (LSQ).

Increased our Social Media Presence (Twitter, Facebook & Youtube) and gained increased media coverage of our issues, in the Toronto Star and Accessible Media Inc., as well as various radio programs and newspapers.

2014 – 2015

Our video “Inclusion is…” was launched at Women’s World 2014 in India in August 2014.

Bonnie Brayton, our National Executive Director, was chosen as one of 23 women leaders who took part in A BOLD VISION, in September 2014.

In October 2014, released a PSA as well as a number of resources (blogs, factsheet) related to Breast cancer and disability and continued to work on accessible cancer screening through our program “OUR HEALTH MATTERS“.

Joined the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) in launching a Federal court challenge against Canada Post’s decision to end home-mail delivery (October 2014).

Bonnie Brayton, National Executive Director of DAWN Canada was recognized in a list of changemakers published in the 40th anniversary edition of Canadian Living Magazine.

The Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities chose Selma Kouidri as the recipient of the 2014 Centennial Flame Research Award, in December 2014.

We contributed to the 12 days against violence against women campaign (November & December 2014). We also launched a social media campaign #WecanTellandweWillTell to invite women to talk about their stories of abuse, which got coverage in the French newspaper, Le Devoir.

Selma Kouidri presented a brief of sexual violence to the Quebec Provincial Parliamentary Commission on action.

Bonnie Brayton, DAWN Canada’s national executive Director, delivered a keynote address at the EVA BC Annual Training Forum, on the response needs of women with disabilities who are victims of violence, in November 2014.

DAWN Canada is recognized by Handicap International as one of ten examples of global best practices addressing violence against women with disabilities.

Presented a parliamentary brief to the Federal government in December 2014, on a study entitled “Promising Practices to End Violence Against Women”.

In celebration of International Women’s Day on March 7th, Tangled Art + Disability and the DisAbled Women’s Network Canada hosted BODIES OF LIGHT, an evening of media work by women artists with disabilities.

(March 2015) Attended CSW59 the fifty-ninth session of the Commission on the Status of Women at United Nations Headquarters in New York.

Mother’s Day: We released an infographic on mothering and disabilities, and featured in a Huffington Post article on parenting with disabilities.

We joined the call for a National Action Plan on Violence against women and girls.

(June 2015) Attended CoSP8, the 8th session of the Conference of States Parties (CoSP8) on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and presented at the “Disability and Gender Forum” hosted by Handicap International.

30th anniversary of DAWN-RAFH Canada