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Posts Tagged ‘accepting schools act’

Legislative Votes for June 5th and 6th

June 6th, 2012 Comments off

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Wednesday, June 6, 2012 — 2nd Reading of Bill C-297, the Federal ‘Gender Identity’ Bill
This is the Bill that will amend both the Canadian Charter of Rights & Freedoms and the Criminal Code to include ‘gender identity’ and ‘gender expression’ as protected grounds under the discrimination and hate crimes provisions.
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You can find out more about the Bill here: http://www.parl.gc.ca/LegisInfo/BillDetails.aspx?billId=5122660&Mode=1&Language=E
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You can catch the Parliamentary proceedings on CPAC:
http://www.cpac.ca/forms/index.asp?dsp=template&act=view3&template_id=1073&hl=e
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Update: Bill C-279 passed with 150 votes in favour and 132 votes against. It will now be sent to the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights where it will be reviewed before being sent back to the House of Commons for a third reading and vote.
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Note: There’s still time to take action on Bill C-279!
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As you may know, there is a Conservative Majority government, which means that the success of the Bill will depend largely on Conservative votes. If you haven’t already done so, please email or call your MP and ask them to support Bill C-279,  especially if they are a member of the Conservative Party. Every email and phone call counts!
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A list of current MPs, with a link to their contact information, can be found here: http://www.parl.gc.ca/MembersOfParliament/MainMPsCompleteList.aspx
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If you are unsure of who your MP is, you can find your riding here http://www.elections.ca/scripts/pss/FindED.aspx and search for it in the MP list above.
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Share around and get others to do the same…

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Tuesday, June 5, 2012 — 3rd Reading of Bill 13, the Ontario Accepting Schools Act
This is the bill that will establish anti-bullying legislation in all Ontario Schools. The final vote is set to take place after Question Period.
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You can find out more about the Bill, here: http://ontla.on.ca/web/bills/bills_detail.do?locale=en&BillID=2549
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You can catch the Legislative proceedings on the Queen’s Park webcast: http://www.ontla.on.ca/web/go2.jsp?Page=/webcast/webcast_main&locale=en&menuItem=dandp_webcast
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Update: Bill 13 passed with 65 votes in favour and 36 votes against.
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Queer Ontario Celebrates a Long-Awaited Victory for LGBTQ Students with the Passing of Bill 13

June 5th, 2012 Comments off

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Toronto, ON June 5, 2012 — Queer Ontario is pleased that Bill 13, the Accepting Schools Act, passed third reading today with explicit amendments to protect the rights and safety of students in all publicly funded schools. This includes the right for students to establish LGBTQ support groups in publicly-funded Catholic Schools, with names that describe and affirm LGBTQ identities.
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“We feel very strongly that LGBTQ-identified youth, who we know are heavily targeted for bullying, should receive the protections and supports they require regardless of what school board they are enrolled in,” says Nick Mulé, chairperson of Queer Ontario. “We expect the province’s Catholic School Boards to abide by this new legislation or reconsider accepting public funds.”
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We thank the Ontario NDP and especially Rosario Marchese, Peter Tabuns and Cheri DiNovo, for their support of LGBTQ youth during this needless struggle.
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We appreciate the support of Liberal MPP Laurel Broten, the Minister of Education, who up until May 25, was abdicating her duty to support all youth in Ontario schools. We also appreciate Premier McGuinty’s change of position on May 29, where he assured the public that Catholic School Boards will need to abide by Bill 13 and support students who wish to form LGBTQ-focused student groups. This is clearly a drastic change from his position since the beginning of this struggle in January of 2011.
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Most importantly, we want to thank Leanne Iskander, Christopher Mckerracher, and all the other students implicated in this fight, for their resistance and resilience over the past two years. This change would not have been possible without them.
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Our Bill 13 Fact Sheet [attached] gives our account of Bill 13, and calls for further actions to support youth, teachers, and staff in Ontario Schools.
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For interviews or more information please contact info@queerontario.org.
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Queer Ontario’s Statement on the Passage of Bill 13

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Queer Ontario’s Fact Sheet on Bill 13


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