Toronto / 11 January 2012 – Peggy Nash, MP for Parkdale–High Park and NDP leadership candidate, released today her five point plan for achieving women’s equality in Canada.

The equality statement follows on the heels of a Pan-Canadian Feminist Potluck hosted by her campaign on January 8 during which Nash dialogued on women’s issues with over 400 participants in 11 locations across the country and hundreds via the internet and social media.

About making equality a central policy issue in her campaign, Nash said: “If the whole world agrees that women’s equality is a critical marker of a society’s security and sustainability, there is no excuse for the lack of women’s full equality in Canada.”

“As the next leader of the NDP, I will ensure women’s equality is a central and cross-cutting theme in everything we do,” Nash added.

Nash’s plan elaborates decisive leadership she will take on the following points:

1. Reinstate an amended federal long-gun gun registry and legislate protection of the data it collects and encompasses
2. Focus on violence against Aboriginal, Métis, and Inuit women and girls, which to date has been so ineffectively addressed in Canada that the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women has launched an official inquiry
3. Ensure equality in employment
4. Establish a 21st Century (Royal) Commission on the Status of Women
5. Increase support for women and families, since a modern system of education, social services, affordable housing, and income support programs is essential to ensuring women’s equality

Achieving Women’s Equality

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