CWP Meeting.

• Position: CPA Activities: The Canadian Scene - Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians - Conference notes

Speaker of the BC Legislative Assembly and CWP Chair Linda Reid brought the Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians (CWP) steering committee meeting to order on the afternoon of July 19 following introductions and a reading by author M.A.C. Farrant. The committee discussed the CWP Canadian Chapter's various projects, including a new promotional video, and how to use special funding from CPA Headquarters to celebrate the 10th anniversary of founding of the CWP. Meenakshi Dhar, Director of Programs for the CPA Secretariat, and Saskatchewan Senator Raynell Andreychuk spoke at a session titled "Is There a Role for CWP in Election Monitoring?" chaired by Speaker Reid. The presenters noted that in addition to bringing their parliamentary knowledge to these monitoring projects, they could play a role in fostering women's greater involvement in civil society.

On July 20, the main day of CWP meetings opened with a blessing by Mary Anne Thomas of the Esquimalt First Nation and reading by Zoe Duhaime, Victoria's Youth Poet Laureate. Following the Chair's business report, attendees listened to a thoroughly engrossing presentation by social justice advocate Jody Paterson titled "The Journey of a Thousand Steps: Walking with Vulnerable Women on the Road to Change," chaired by BC MLA Jackie Tegart...