To mark International Women’s Day, Sunshine Coast Community Services (SCCSS) hosted an event March 6 at Chatelech Secondary School to highlight two key areas impacting women on the Coast.
The event, “Beyond the Status Quo: Women on the Coast,” featured a screening of the film Status Quo: The Unfinished Business of Feminism in Canada and local speakers discussed violence against women and child-care issues on the Sunshine Coast.
The first portion of the film discussed the history of transition houses in Canada and Denise Woodley, manager of Community Services’ Together Against Violence programs, discussed the two transition houses on the Coast, Yew Transition House and Thyme Second Stage House, and shared local statistics regarding violence against women.
“The Together Against Violence team received 981 calls from women in 2017 to either receive support, resources or to access the transition house. Our programs supported 478 women who have experienced violence or trauma,” she said.
The next portion of the film discussed the historical fight for a universal child-care plan in Canada and Heidy Kux-Kardos, Success by Six coordinator, informed the audience about the state of child care on the Coast, citing facts provided by Child Care Resource and Referral.
“The Sunshine Coast, like many other communities across Canada, is in a child-care crisis. We have only 500 regulated spaces for over 3,500 children. One local child-care centre reported a wait list of over 50 families. There is such a lack of child care that many families end up using pieced together arrangements or unregulated care of questionable quality – if they can find care at all,” she said.
Kux-Kardos then shared information from the province’s new budget, which contains measures aimed to improve the conditions for families needing child care in B.C.
SCCSS executive director Catherine Leach opened the program by saying how she celebrates International Women’s Day and why holding this event is important.
“I always make sure I celebrate, thank and acknowledge the work of those who came before,” said Leach. “I also remind myself that here is still a lot of work to do and I take time to think about what role I will play or what steps, however small, I will take this year to build on that work and keep things moving forward.”
If you would like to participate in the event next year, it will be held on March 6, 2019. For more information about Community Services and their 35 programs, please visit www.sccss.ca or email Devon Kennedy at [email protected].
