The Plight of Female Refugee: Bebe’s Story about life in Dzaleka
Of the more than 16,000 refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, Somalia, and Ethiopia, who live in Dzaleka Refugee Camp just outside of Lilongwe Malawi, the vast majority are women and children. Opportunities for employment within the camp are scarce, even for the male refugees, so often [...]
The Plight of the Female Refugee
Globally an estimated 15.2 million individuals have officially been identified as refugees. Of those 15.2 million, 48% are female. That’s more than 7.3 million mothers, daughters, sisters, and wives, who by the very definition of ‘refugee’ are unable to return to their homes for reasons far beyond their control. These [...]
The Importance of Including a Female Perspective in Peace Negotiations
When I was a little girl, I clearly remember my mother reading poems to me about young men travelling to battlefields to fight in the war. I remember listening to how they would travel through the trenches and how their bodies lay dead in the muddy fields. Now, when I [...]
The Importance of Remaining Vigilant About Gun Control
On July 20, 2012, tragedy struck Aurora, Colorado leaving an entire nation overwhelmed with fear and sadness. During a midnight screening of the film The Dark Knight Rises a lone gunman equipped with multiple firearms entered a crowded theatre and opened fire, claiming the lives of 12 people and injuring [...]
Bill C 19 Passed by the Senate of Canada
On Thursday April 5th, after being passed by the Senate, Bill C-19: An Act to Abolish the Long-Gun Registry received royal assent and has now become law. As a member of the Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs, I found it incredibly unfortunate that the debate surrounding the [...]
Save the gun registry, save lives.
This past week, as a member of the Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs, I studied Bill C-19: An Act to End the Long Gun Registry. The Long Gun Registry was established in 1995, in the wake of the 1989 École Polytechnique Massacre, where a lone gunman who [...]