For Immediate Release
March 7, 2025
“On International Women’s Day, we celebrate the advances women have made and we dig in to continue the fight for full equality. The theme for IWD 2025 is Accelerate Action. Newfoundland and Labrador can, and should, take swift and decisive steps to achieve gender equality.
“Our first step should be to review systemic issues that hold back the progress of equality. A Guaranteed Basic Livable Income would give security to thousands of people in the province, a disproportionate number of whom would be women. Pay equity legislation with teeth, applied to all employers in the province, would balance workplaces without costing government a cent.
“Newfoundland and Labrador faces an epidemic of intimate partner violence. The excellent organizations that support women attempting to leave violent situations are overwhelmed with the demand for their services. We are desperately in need of more shelter space but also more affordable housing to which women and children can transition after leaving shelters.
“Our province must stop dragging its heels about signing on to the federal pharmacare program, which would cover costs of diabetes medication and birth control, the latter at least a cost borne largely by women. If government is concerned about ensuring people ‘don’t lose what they’re getting from the province at the expense of a federal program,’ as a Minister said this week, I would suggest that is something entirely within their own control.
“Finally, I must note that we cannot as a decent society afford to ignore the destructive actions being taken south of the border. I grieve to see the enormous setbacks in human rights caused by the erasure of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives. It’s appalling to see the elimination of official recognition of gender-diverse and non-binary individuals, and downright scary to witness what looks like government-approved persecution of minorities.
“We must stand guard in this province, and this country, against the elements here who would welcome backwards steps in the advancement of human rights.”
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For further information, contact Stephanie Curran, Media and Communications Officer, NDP Caucus at 330-0328 (o), or stephaniecurran@gov.nl.ca
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