Honourable Danny Williams,
Premier, Newfoundland and Labrador
PO Box 8700
St. John’s, NL
A1B 4J6

Dear Premier Williams,
On the occasion of the 56 th anniversary of the adoption by the United Nations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights , we are writing to ask you to renew your commitment to the human rights of women in the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador. In particular, we write because of our outrage and deep concern about the October 24th Supreme Court decision in the case of the Newfoundland Association of Public Employees (NAPE) v. Newfoundland. In that case, the Court permitted the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to discriminate against its women employees on the grounds that it faced a “fiscal crisis.”

As you are fully aware, the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador signed a pay equity agreement in 1988, acknowledging past discrimination against women working in the health care sector and agreeing to compensate those workers for the pay discrimination. But in 1991, the government cancelled the amounts owed to women for the years 1988 to 1991, and, in addition, imposed a three-year delay on the implementation of pay equity adjustments. It justified this policy by invoking a reduction on federal transfer payments, an impending budget deficit, and a possible loss of credit rating on international financial markets. In total, this policy of the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador cost women $80 million plus interest. This is above and beyond what women had to pay, along with all other workers, because of the effect of the Public Sector Wage Restraint Act . Women were forced to bear a disproportionate financial burden for reducing government deficits in this period. This amounts to a special tax on women.

We do not agree that there was an “unprecedented fiscal crisis” in Newfoundland in 1991. In fact, Newfoundland’s fiscal affairs were in better condition than they had been previously. The deficits of the previous five years were: 1985-86: $253 million; 1986-87: $231 million; 1987-88: $197 million; 1988-89: $226 million; 1989-90: $175 million. (See Newfoundland Public Accounts: http://www.fin.gc.ca/frt/2004/frt_e.pdf at Table 17). Also, Newfoundland has had bigger deficits since then. For example, Newfoundland’s deficit in 1993-94 was $341 million; in 1994-95: $374 million; in 1999-2000: $269 million; and in 2002-03: $691 million. The prospect of a $120 million deficit cannot provide a justification for ignoring the equality rights of women. If it does, women in Newfoundland, and in many other parts of Canada, have no rights that they can rely on. Despite the Supreme Court’s ruling, we do not believe that government claims of fiscal emergency, whether well-grounded or not, can ever justify abandoning women’s human rights.

In the 2004 Speech from the Throne, you stated:

My government is renewing its commitment to address issues of special concern to women in order for our people to share equitably in the social and economic benefits of our province, irrespective of their gender. My government will work to ensure that women’s voices are heard and women’s needs are addressed.

We want to believe that this is true. To demonstrate this renewed commitment, we request today that you repay to women health care workers the $80 million that was discriminatorily deducted from their pay as a result of the Public Sector Wage Restraint Act. We are making a concurrent request to the Honourable Paul Martin to assist the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador in this equality measure.

As well, we request that you direct your officials and lawyers not to endorse, support or promote the notion that women’s human rights can be ignored when money is tight. Women in Newfoundland and in Canada need to know that their governments will respect and protect their rights whether they consider themselves rich or poor.

We note that in 2005 Canada will mark the twentieth anniversary of the coming into force of the constitutional equality rights guarantee in the Charter . Women in Newfoundland wish at that time to be able to say that their government has demonstrated, in a concrete way, that it will not betray women by sacrificing our dignity and human rights to the claim that women’s equality costs too much.

We would welcome an opportunity to discuss this basic human rights issue in greater detail and to that end we await your response.

Respectfully Yours,

Action ontarienne contre la violence faite aux femmes (AOCVF)
Action travail des femmes
Anglican Church, Diocese of New Westminster, Justice and Peace Unit
Anitgonish Women’s Association (Nova Scotia)
Antigonish Women’s Resource Centre (Nova Scotia)
Assault Response and Care Centre, Brockville (Ontario)
B.C. Coalition of Women’s Centres
B.C. Hospital Employees Union
B.C. Human Rights Coalition
B.C. Teachers’ Federation, Feminist Caucus
Bay St. George Status of Women Council/Women’s Centre (Newfoundland & Labrador)
Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies (CAEFS)
Canadian Association of Sexual Assault Centres (CASSAC)
Canadian Auto Workers Union (CAW Canada)
Canadian Federation of Students
Canadian Federation of University Women (CFUW)
Canadian Labour Congress (CLC)
Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women (CRIAW)
Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE)
Cara Transition House, Gander, Newfoundland & Labrador
Centre d’aide et de lutte contre les agressions à caractère sexuel (CALACS), La Bôme-Gaspésie (Québec)
Centre d’aide et de lutte contre les aggressions à caractère sexuel (CALACS), Entre Elles, Roberval (Québec)
Centre d’aide et de lutte contre les agressions à caractère sexuel (CALACS), Granby ( Québec)
Centre d’aide et de lutte contre les agressions à caractère sexuel (CALACS), Laurentides, Saint-Jérôme (Québec)
Centre d’aide et de lutte contre les agressions à caractère sexuel (CALACS), Région Côte Nord, Baie-Comeau (Québec)
Centre-Femmes de Beauce ( Québec)
Centre for Equality Rights in Accommodations (CERA)
Coalition for Pay Equity (New Brunswick)
Coalition for Women’s Equality (CWE)
Committee Against Violence, Grand Falls-Windsor (Newfoundland & Labrador)
Community Youth Network, St. John’s (Newfoundland & Labrador)
Congress of Black Women (Manitoba Chapter)
Conseil d’intervention pour l’accès des femmes au travail, Montreal (Q uébec )
Corner Brook Status of Women Council / Women’s Centre (Newfoundland & Labrador)
Corner Brook Transition House (Newfoundland & Labrador)
Council of Women of Winnipeg (Manitoba)
DisAbled Women’s Network Ontario (DAWN ON)
Dawson Regional Women’s Committee (BC)
EGALE Canada
Eastern Region Committee Against Violence (Newfoundland & Labrador)
Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario
Feminist Alliance for International Action (FAFIA)
Fédération des femmes canadiennes-françaises - Section de Gravelbourg (Saskatchewan)
Fédération des femmes du Québec (Québec)
Gander Status of Women Council / Women’s Centre (Newfoundland & Labrador)
Gateway Status of Women Council/Women’s Centre, Port aux Basques NL
Grace Sparkes House, Burin Peninsula (Newfoundland & Labrador)
Grenfell Region Anti-Violence Team Inc. (Newfoundland & Labrador)
Hope Haven Transition House, Labrador West (Newfoundland & Labrador)
Iris Kirby Transition House, St. John’s (Newfoundland & Labrador)
Justice for Girls (BC)
Labradorians for Peaceful Communities (Newfoundland & Labrador)
Langley Teachers’ Association (BC)
Le Front commun des personnes assistées sociales du Québec
Les EssentiElles (le groupe qui représente les intérêts des femmes franco- yukonnaises)
Libra House, Happy Valley-Goose Bay (Newfoundland & Labrador)
Métis National Council of Women
Mokami Status of Women Council / Women’s Centre, Happy Valley-Goose Bay
Multicultural Women’s Organization (Newfoundland & Labrador)
Naomi Centre, St. John’s (Newfoundland & Labrador)
National Action Committee on the Status of Women (NAC)
National Action Committee (BC Societies)
National Anti-Poverty Organization (NAPO)
National Association of Women and the Law (NAWL)
National Council of Women (NAC)
National Organization of Immigrant and Visible Minority Women of Canada (NOIVMWC)
National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE)
Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC)
New Brunswick Federation of Labour
Newfoundland and Labrador Advisory Council on the Status of Women
Newfoundland and Labrador AIDS Committee
Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour (NLFL)
Newfoundland and Labrador Nurses Union (NLNU)
Newfoundland and Labrador Sexual Assault Crisis and Prevention Centre
Newfoundland Association of Public and Private Employees (NAPE)
Nipavut Women’s Action Group, Nain (Newfoundland & Labrador)
Ontario Federation of Labour
Ontario Pay Equity Coalition
Partenariat communauté en santé Whitehorse (Yukon)
Provincial Association Against Family Violence (Newfoundland & Labrador)
Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC)
Public Service Alliance of Canada (BC)
Regional Coordinating Coalition Against Violence Eastern Avalon (NL)
Réseau action femmes (Manitoba)
Riverdale Immigrant Women’s Centre (Ontario)
Section locale 2745-3 du Syndicat Canadien de la fonction publique
Seniors Network (BC)
St. John’s Status of Women Council / Women’s Centre (Newfoundland & Labrador)
Support to Single Parents Inc, Moncton (New Brunswick)
The Lantern, St. John’s (Newfoundland & Labrador)
Toronto Women’s Call To Action (Ontario)
Vancouver Committee for Domestic Workers and Caregivers Rights (BC)
Victoria Faulkner Women’s Centre, Whitehorse (Yukon)
West Coast Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund
Women Elders in Action (WE*ACT) (British Columbia)
Women in Resource Development Committee (Newfoundland & Labrador)
Women’s Inter-Church Council of Canada
Women’s Network PEI
Women’s Resource Centre, Memorial University of Newfoundland
Womenspace
Yellowknife Women’s Society
YWCA Canada

Please send all correspondence c/o Andrée Côté, National Association of Women and the Law 1066 Somerset West, suite 303 Ottawa (On) K1Y 4T3 and c/o Shelagh Day at the Feminist Alliance for International Action, 151 Slater Street, Suite 408,Ottawa, ON, K1P 5H3