As a woman, I am a person. In the eyes of the law, I exist as a person - entitling me to equal opportunities, equal rights, and advocacy.
When my government starts saying that I am not a person - that I deserve less rights than men do, that I am not equal, that I am not allowed to even voice this in the eyes of the law - something is wrong.
77 years after the women won the rights to be called people, in the eyes of the Canadian government - this government is now turning back the clock on our rights.
Recently the Stephen Harper government in Canada released a budget that slashed and burned women's funding - including $5 billion to Status of Women Canada. Not only did they cut funding to Status of Women Canada, but they now deny Status of Women Canada to give any funding to women's organizations for the purposes of advocacy on women's equality.
Further to this, Stephen Harper removed the Court Challenges program - which existed solely to support individuals who wanted to launch a legal suit against the government in the name of equality. No - they said - you are not people. You cannot advocate on behalf of women. You cannot advocate on behalf of equality. The federal Minister Responsible for Status of Women Bev Oda, herself declared, women are already equal. The government said, we do not need to waste our dollars on unnecessary spending.
***
Today I marched with 70 other women in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, and alongside women across Canada, on what is Person's Day - the 77th anniversary of women being declared persons in Canada.
I banged my pot, I yelled, I screamed, I cried that my rights have been denied. That 77 years after a group of five women worked for my right to be known as a person in Canadian law, I am still fighting for that same right.
When I see and hear stories of women around the world who are fighting so hard to be recognized as equal in their own country - fighting against atrocities such as female genital mutilation, sexual slavery, and prostitution, fighting to keep their homes, fighting to vote - I am disgusted and ashamed that in Canada our government dares to have the audacity to turn back time. That they dare to say women are already equal, and in doing so, to take away our rights. To suppress our freedom of speech.
What reasons would they have for doing this?
Women compose and have led some of the biggest revolutions in the world. There is no bounds to our power. We have been put down, we have been suppressed, we know how to fight for what is ours.
If they think that by cutting money and refusing us the right to speak up against the government, the right to advocate for equality, the right to fight - they're wrong. And they have another thing coming to them.
***
77 years ago five women - Nelly McClung, Emily Murphy, Henrietta Muir Edwards, Irene Parlby, and Louise McKinney - challenged the definition of "person" in the British North America Act. "Person" did include women, thus denying them the right to vote. These women may not necessarily have declared themselves feminists - but their fight to gain the right of women to be called persons and to vote paved the way for women's equality in Canada including the right to birth control, the right to work, the right to be paid equally, and the right to safety.
If they had not fought as they did, I would not be able to attend university as I do now. I would not be able to access sexual contraceptives. I would not be able to speak so freely about menstruation, nor study women's studies, nor be able to run for political office if I so decided.
Can you imagine the difference in our lives if these five women did not have the right, under the Canadian government, to challenge what equality means in Canadian government and law?
How different it would've been had the Canadian government denied them this basic, simple act of being able to challenge what equality means?
How ridiculous it is now, that 77 years later, the Canadian government is taking away this right?
I'm not going to let them. The women I marched with are not going to let them. Now its your turn: Visit your local women's centre, get involved in your local Status of Women Canada office, support your female MLAs and MPs. Blog about it. Write about it. Phone Stephen Harper. Call your local political office. Get involved!
Fight for your rights, fight for equality.
About the Author
Leisha Sagan is a freelance writer/graduate student/compulsive traveler/eternally single woman. A Vagina Warrior, she continues trying to do it all by doing steady freelance work and working on women's movement events such as The Vagina Monologues. She gets to see the ocean every day of her life.
Sheilagh Ethne O’Leary is an established award-winning art photographer born and living in St. John’s, Newfoundland. Her work has been exhibited/collected internationally and appears in numerous art journals and publications. Sheilagh received her art education through mentorship with Manfred Buchheit, Concordia University’s Faculty of Fine Art, Banff Centre for the Arts, and the Rockport Maine Workshops. Read More...
Leisha Sagan is a freelance writer/graduate student/compulsive traveler/eternally single woman. A Vagina Warrior, she continues trying to do it all by doing steady freelance work and working on women's movement events such as The Vagina Monologues. She gets to see the ocean every day of her life. 
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