GENDER (IN)JUSTICE: A FEMINIST LEGAL ISSUES SYMPOSIUM
Please join us on December 6th, the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women in Canada, for an afternoon of critical dialogue on legal issues affecting women in Canada today. The symposium will open with a performance by celebrated Canadian musician Faith Nolan, and feature spoken word performances by local artists throughout. Free refreshments will be provided by the Seasoned Spoon Café. Members of the Trent community and general public are invited to attend this free event.
DATE: Thursday, December 6th, 2007
TIME: 12:30-4:00 pm
LOCATION: Champlain College Senior Common Room, Trent University
SYMPOSIUM PROGRAMME
12:30 pm: Welcoming remarks, presentation by the Peterborough Coalition Against Poverty, and performance by Faith Nolan
1:00 pm: "Confronting Restorative Justice in Neo-Liberal Times: Legal and Rape Narratives in Conditional Sentencing"Dr. Gillian Balfour, Sociology Department
By conducting a thematic analysis of the legal and rape narratives in the conditional sentencing of 13 men convicted of sexually assaulting adult women in Ontario, Dr. Balfour will highlight the need for feminists to become strategically engaged in wider discussions of the implications of restorative justice.
2:00 pm: "Secular or Multicultural? Engaging with the 'Shari'a Law Debate' in Ontario"
Dr. Davina Bhandar, Canadian Studies Department
Dr. Bhandar will demonstrate how Ontario Premier McGuinty's decision to choose secularism over 'multiculturalism' during the so-called 'Shari'a Law Debates' was organized through the context of the ideology of the 'War on Terror,' and will examine the repercussions of this debate in the context of an anti-racist, feminist practice.
3:00 pm: "Who Should Determine Who is an Indian: The Creator or the Federal Government?"Valarie Waboose, Ph.D. candidate, Indigenous Studies Department
Ms. Waboose will recount the legal battle that was forged by Aboriginal women in the 1970s and 80s, particularly by Sandra Lovelace, for the right to claim their birthright and the rights that flow from it. She will then explain how Bill C-31, which was supposed to rectify the problems they had identified in the Indian Act, continues to treat Aboriginal women in a discriminatory manner.
Financial support for the symposium is generously provided by the Frost Centre for Canadian Studies and Native Studies, Trent University's Canadian Studies and Women's Studies Departments, the Peterborough Women's Events Committee, and Students Interrogating Canada.