CFUW Ontario Council policy incorporates resolutions as passed by Ontario Council, CFUW, and GWI
Ontario Council Policy Resolutions in reverse chronological order
Human Trafficking Awareness, Prevention and Detection (2021)
Proposed by CFUW St. Catharines
RESOLVED, that Canadian Federation of University Women (CFUW) Ontario Council urges the Ontario Provincial Government to urgently adopt mandatory instruction in Ontario’s Elementary and Secondary Schools as well as mandatory teacher training to prevent future victimization by educating all students and train all educators to be alert to the luring and coercive control techniques used by human traffickers and similar predators via tools and methods including, but not limited to:
A) that the Ontario Provincial Government make mandatory additions to the Grade 9 and 10 Health and Physical Education Curriculum how to recognize unhealthy relationships specifically the coercive control and luring techniques used by human traffickers and similar predators, this will complement the Grade 1 to 8 Health and Physical Education Curriculum that includes age-appropriate learning that helps protect students from human trafficking;
B) that the Ontario Provincial Government require all Ontario educators, both elementary and secondary, complete a mandatory annual anti-human trafficking digital training on awareness, prevention, detection and duty to report followed by comprehension assessment.
Housing for all through sustainable and mixed urban development in Ontario (2018)
RESOLVED that the Ontario Council of the Canadian Federation of University Women (CFUW OC) urges the Government of Ontario and municipal governments to cooperate through laws, bylaws and policies to guarantee that plans for redevelopment and new development for housing, and land use intensification, ensure that a full range of mixed income housing be integrated in urban communities.
RESOLVED that the Ontario Council of the Canadian Federation of University Women (CFUW OC) urges the Government of Ontario and municipal governments, in cooperation with First Nations, to ensure that, where urban areas expand beyond current boundaries, urban growth is sustainable and protects parks, crown lands, First Nation communities, river basins and wetlands, farm lands and designated green spaces.
Age Discrimination in Ontario Employee Benefit Programs (2016)
Proposed by CFUW Ottawa
RESOLVED, that the Ontario Council of the Canadian Federation of University Women (CFUW Ontario Council) urge the Government of Ontario to revise the Ontario Employment Standards Act to ensure that all employees who contribute to an employer’s benefit plan remain covered for their full term of employment, regardless of age.
Essential and Urgent Educational Supports for Ontario’s Children and Youth in Care (2014)
Proposed by CFUW Barrie & District
RESOLVED, that the Ontario Council of the Canadian Federation of University Women (CFUW Ontario Council) support the Final Report of the Youth Leaving Care Working Group, January 2013, “Blueprint for Fundamental Change to Ontario’s Child Welfare System” which emphasizes the policies that need to change, and the inconsistencies in practices, especially in the area of education, that require urgent attention to better prepare young people in care to succeed.
RESOLVED, that CFUW Ontario Council affirm that all children and youth in care have the right to be supported so they are able to participate fully and successfully in elementary and secondary education.
RESOLVED, that CFUW Ontario Council urge that training for caregivers emphasizes their responsibility to demonstrate the importance of education by their active participation in the education of the children in their care, so each child can attain their full educational potential.
RESOLVED, that CFUW Ontario Council urge that all relevant Ministries involved with education and children require children’s aid societies, school boards and local Crown Ward Education Championship Teams: to create educational benchmarks for children and youth in care that will promote earlier intervention and better student performance; to support their educational goals and career plans; and to increase access to the financial supports for post-secondary education, training, or employment, which will increase their potential to achieve.
Mental Health and Addictions Strategy for Ontario (2011)
Proposed by CFUW Oakville
RESOLVED, that the Ontario Council of the Canadian Federation of University Women (CFUW) urge the Government of Ontario to create, and adequately fund, an umbrella organization responsible to the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (MOHLTC), or its successor, with the mandate to design, coordinate and oversee the mental health and addictions care system.
RESOLVED, that the Ontario Council of CFUW urge the Government of Ontario to fund timely, effective, and accessible mental health and addictions programs and services that include, but are not limited to:
- improved education of the public and health professionals about mental illness and addictions;
- mental health promotion that focuses on determinants of health, reducing risk factors, and increasing mental health resilience;
- system navigators to connect those requiring care with the appropriate providers;
- a core basket of institutional, residential and community mental health and addictions services that reflect best practices and provide levels of support as required by individual communities;
- standardized assessment tools;
- support services for families dealing with mental health and/or addiction problems;
- community programs that include age-appropriate early intervention and treatment services for mental illness and addictions;
- supportive housing and treatment options for the homeless with mental illness and/or addictions;
- research into brain function and mental illness and addictions;
- regular monitoring of funding and financial accountability, along with performance indicators such as health outcomes, client satisfaction, wait times, system capacity and service availability.
Income Equality for Ontario’s Children (2006)
RESOLVED, that the Ontario Council of the Canadian Federation of University Women urge the Government of Ontario to stop the claw back of the National Child Benefit Supplement from recipients of the Ontario Works program (OW) and the Ontario Disability Support Plan (ODSP).
Education: Public Funding of Public Education (2002)
RESOLVED, that the Canadian Federation of University Women Ontario Council re-affirm its stated purpose of assisting:
- In achieving and maintaining high standards of public education;
- Supporting publicly funded public education with equal access for all; AND
RESOLVED, that the Canadian Federation of University Women Ontario Council encourages local CFUW Clubs to continue their efforts to monitor policy and funding of public education.
RESOLVED: that the Canadian Federation of University Women Ontario Council urge the provincial government
- To provide high-quality public education in Ontario, with funding to meet the individual intellectual, emotional, psychological and physical learning needs of each student in Ontario; and
- Affirm Public Education as a key priority
Education – Capping Class Size in the Primary Grades (2000)
RESOLVED, that the Canadian Federation of University Women/Ontario Council urge the Ontario government to establish a policy of capping the number of students in the primary grades at 22 students, and the school boards be given adequate funding to staff the primary grades at this class size.
Public Broadcasting (1999)
RESOLVED, that the Canadian Federation of University Women/Ontario Council urge the Government of Ontario to recognize the value of our provincial public broadcasting system, which provides high-quality, non-commercial, educational programming to citizens across Ontario.
RESOLVED, that the Canadian Federation of University Women/Ontario Council urge the Government of Ontario to ensure that TVOntario continues to be publicly owned.
RESOLVED, that the Canadian Federation of University Women/Ontario Council urge the Government of Ontario to maintain and support the work of TVOntario with adequate, protected, stable, long-term public funding.
Education – Corporate Partnerships and Advertising in Education (1999)
RESOLVED, that the Canadian Federation of University Women/Ontario Council urge the Ontario government to ensure the annual budget includes sufficient funding to provide high-quality public education, taking into account the costs of:
- resources – including textbooks and learning materials, libraries and library staffing;
- special education programs and staffing for both gifted and challenged education students;
- training and professional development for teachers to ensure proper development, preparation and implementation of curriculum
- provision of programs that require critical thinking skills and include a balance between the humanities and hard sciences.
RESOLVED, that the Canadian Federation of University Women/Ontario Council urge the Ministry of Education and local school boards to develop guidelines for corporate involvement in education in Ontario. Guidelines are necessary to regulate the presence of corporate advertising within the schools, as well as for mentorships, co-operative studies programs, lectures and programs that supplement the regular curriculum, health and safety checks and donations of money, equipment or services to individual schools and school boards.
RESOLVED, that the Canadian Federation of University Women/Ontario Council and local Clubs embark on a policy of pro-active involvement in public education to alert the public to any intrusions of corporate advertising in the classrooms.
Environment – Natural Resources (1998)
RESOLVED, that the Canadian Federation of University Women/Ontario Council urge the Government of Ontario to:
- establish land-use allocations, policies, and procedures for managing our public lands that support healthy, sustainable communities with an economic base capable of providing continuity and diversity of employment, an attractive investment climate and the same range of community and health services available in the rest of Ontario;
- protect Ontario’s biological and geological diversity, wildlife and natural heritage through a robust system of distinctive and representative lands permanently withdrawn from mining, logging, and hydro-electric development;
- ensure that public lands outside protected areas are managed such that plans, practices, processes and timing of the resource-use operations are conducted to maintain the ecological integrity of the region;
- protect and maintain at least 15% of each ecological site district in a road-free, unfragmented condition, in areas of 10,000 hectares or more; 5. protect a minimum of 10% of old-growth forest of each forest type in each ecological site district;
- protect the habitat for species at risk and provide sufficient natural habitat to maintain the full range of native species in Ontario when evaluating land-use alternatives and designating protected areas. This would include the provision of wildlife corridors which connect protected areas, and the provision of sufficient, appropriate areas for ranging and procreation of animal species;
- identify provincially significant wetlands and designate them within the protected areas; and
- reserve sufficient and appropriate lands to complete the representative protected areas system, chiefly in the parks system. This will require at least 12% of all lands within the planning area, compared with the 5% currently protected.
Educational Policy based on Research (1996)
RESOLVED, that the Canadian Federation of University Women/Ontario Council strongly urge the Ontario Ministry of Education and Training to establish educational policy and direction based upon balanced, thorough and in-depth research.
Health-Care Delivery Standards (1995)
RESOLVED, that the Canadian Federation of University Women/Ontario Council call upon the Government of Ontario to ensure quality, universally accessible, comprehensive, portable, publicly administered health care and preventive health care programs.
RESOLVED, that the Canadian Federation of University Women/Ontario Council call upon the Government of Ontario to ensure that all reforms to the health care system incorporate the five principals of Medicare as outlined in the Canadian Health Act (1984); and that input from the public and concerned organizations be given due consideration.
Status of Women – Lap Dancing (1995)
RESOLVED, that the Canadian Federation of University Women/Ontario Council urge the government of Ontario to amend the Liquor License Act, such that all licensed premises must:
- prohibit any physical contact between exotic dancer and patron in Adult Entertainment Parlours;
- abolish private booths in Adult Entertainment Parlours;
- require Club owners to register all dancers, documenting names, ages addresses, phone numbers, stage names and other information, and to make this information available to the appropriate authority
Education – Basic Skills (1993)
RESOLVED, that the Ontario council of the CFUW urge the government of Ontario to introduce tests of basic skills in a number of grades to ensure a more consistent evaluation of students within the province.
Preservation of Wetlands (1991)
RESOLVED, that the Ontario Clubs of the Canadian Federation of University Women:
- Urge the Government of Ontario to
- revise its system of evaluation whereby provincially significant wetlands are identified;
- develop effective wetland legislation to protect and monitor those wetlands which have been identified as Provincially significant:
- increase its support of research on wetlands; and
- increase its efforts to make the public aware of the vital importance of wetlands; and
- Be alert to any proposed development in areas where there are wetlands which might be degraded or lost and urge the relevant planning boards, municipal councils and like authorities at the local level to have evaluations done in order to preserve significant wetlands.
Child Care – Position Paper (1987)
RESOLVED, that the following position paper of the Canadian Federation of University Women/Ontario Council on Child Care be accepted.
Position Paper:
- We recommend a program for child care be introduced to work towards the development of child care which would be:
- accessible and affordable to Ontario families no matter what their income, employment status or where they live and work;
- comprehensive and flexible enough to meet their families needs;
- developed with parent and community participation to meet the social; physical, language and intellectual needs of their children in a caring and safe environment;
- developed to ensure optimal use of public funds and public accountability.
- We recommend that the federal government provide direct grants to the provinces and territories to stabilize current child care services, encourage the growth of new services, provide for new and special needs, and improve wages and benefits of child care workers.
- We recommend that the federal government introduce a “Child Care and Family Support Services Act”, dealing with cost-shared funding by the federal government and the provinces and territories for child care.
- We recommend that the government encourage by way of funding, development of new child care services in regions where child care services are inadequate or non-existent such as rural, remote and native communities.
- We recommend that the government establish a “child care development fund” for the next five years to encourage new services targeted at: special needs such as children at risk, disabled children, immigrant groups and teen-age parents;
- development of family support services including parenting skills and educational programs and resource materials;
- development of early childhood educational materials for research;
- new opportunities for early childhood education and caregiver training.
- We recommend the establishment of a Secretariat for Children within Health and Welfare Canada to promote the above goals and to administer funding.
ADDENDUM: We recognize that paragraphs # 2, 3 and 6 are recommendations dealing with federal jurisdiction. However, we did not feel comfortable omitting these items and leaving a half-formed slate of ideas. Child care must be an issue tackled by federal provincial and municipal governments. Having included these paragraphs, however, we reaffirm our mandate as Ontario Council is for PROVINCIAL ACTION WITHIN ONTARIO, and we neither attempt to set policy for nor to lobby on behalf of CFUW at the federal level.
Health and Safety in the Workplace (1986)
RESOLVED, that the Canadian Federation of University Women/Ontario Council urge the Government of Ontario to ensure through policy that the safety and health standards be strict enough to ensure that both men and women work in jobs that are acceptably free of hazards, whether these hazards have an immediate, delayed or genetic effect.
RESOLVED, that the Canadian Federation of University Women/Ontario Council urge the Government of Ontario to eliminate smoking in government offices and workplaces, except for separately ventilated designated areas, in order to decrease the hazardous effects of side stream smoke to their employees; and to urge corporations to provide non-smoking work areas for their employees.
Child Care – Effect on Children Under 2 (1985)
RESOLVED, that the Canadian Federation of University Women/Ontario Council urge the Government of Ontario to undertake independent,wide-scale research into the long term effects of the various forms of care on children under two years of age.
Environment – Hazardous Spills (1983)
RESOLVED, that the Ontario Council urge the Government of Ontario to Act to establish liability and responsibility:
- to protect the land, water and air, and
- to ensure that the quality of life is not jeopardized by further hazardous spills of pollutants that cause or are likely to cause adverse effects
Education – Bias and Stereotyping in Educational Materials (1981)
RESOLVED, that the Canadian Federation of University Women/Ontario Council and member Clubs encourage the Provincial Ministry of Education and Training to continue to support effective monitoring and evaluation systems to ensure that:
- biased and stereotyped educational materials are phased out from classroom use, and
- bias and stereotyping are screened out of all newly-commissioned readers and texts in their preparatory stages.
Education – Empty Classrooms and Daycare (1981)
RESOLVED, that the Canadian Federation of University Women/Ontario Council and member Clubs urge the Government of Ontario to make use of vacant school facilities for the provision of suitable daycare services.
