160 WAYS TO UPHOLD THE CHARTER OF RIGHTS —

WINNIPEG (CUP) - A Winnipeg women’s group has 160 good reasons why the Manitoba government should take a second look at the province’s laws.

The Char- ter of Rights Coalition (Man- itoba) recently published a report on women’s health,

education and correction is- -,

sues which includes 160 rec- ommendations on how to correct infringements of the Charter of Rights and. Free- doms inherent in Manitoba laws.

CORC (Mb) ommends Manitoba universi- ties take steps to reduce the sexism which occurs in class- rooms, in the study material and in the working climate.

rec-

“We consider non-sexist learning to be a very im- portant step for women in universities,” said Jeraldine Bjornson, the coordinator of CORC (Mb). “Our re- port includes recommenda- tions on sexual harassment policies, on the need to en- courage female students into areas of study not tradition- ally chosen by women and on day care for women with chil- dren.” ;

CORC (Mb) re- ceived a $100,000 grant from the provincial Attorney Gen- eral’s Office and the federal

Secretary of State Women’s Issues Branch, to document areas where Manitoba laws directly or indirectly violate women’s rights.

The first part of the study, released in 1985, dealt with family law pensions, women in the workforce and women and poverty.

The review advised the provincial government to le- galize midwifery and set up health centres and indepen- dant sexual assault centres.

The coalition also wants to change a law which says ther- apeutic abortion committees must require parental con- sent for abortion applicants 14 to 18 years of age.

“This requirement is ba- sically law right now,” said Mona Brown, a Winnipeg lawyer who headed the Coali- tion’s review of women and health. “It simply is not being enforced in Manitoba right now.”

Section 251 of the Crim- inal Code of Canada for- bids abortion except when performed in an accredited hospital after receiving writ- ten approval by a therapeu- tic abortion committee of at least three doctors.

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committee approval require-

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ments also deny a woman autonomy and authority in making decisions directly re- lated to her own life and health,” said the review. Monique Rainbault, the admin- istration coordinator for the Manitoba Action Committee on the Status of Women sup- ported the review’s stand on all recommendations.

“J am in favour of in- creasing abortion services for

the women of Manitoba and I hope the government takes this report seriously,” said Rainbault, adding the review was very responsive to the

diverse views and needs of:

women in the province. Muriel Smith, NDP sta- tus of women minister, said she was impressed with the quality of analysis in the re- port. : “What it comes down to now is where these rec-

ommendations will go,” said Smith. redirect existing monies into their programmes.” :

The | recommendations will be divided up and sent to the appropriate government departments, said Smith.

“I think the recommen- dations are very timely, espe- cially the health care ones,” she said. “but it all comes down to the problems of re- sources and funding.” .

Awareness on campus would help blind students

ST. JOHN’S (CUP) - Rick Turner gets lost in hall- ways because other students keep petting his dog.

Turner is blind, and his golden Labrador puppy Poppy guides him through

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Memorial University’s tun- nels and corridors. “People

don’t realize she’s a work- ing dog,”’complains Turner. “When she’s out of her har- ness, fine, it’s play-time and you can pet her with no problems. But when she’s in

’ the harness she’s supposed to

be all business.”

Students handling Poppy or calling her by name dis- tract the dog, Turner says. Poppy once got turned com- pletely around and led her owner against the flow of traffic.

Regina Ash uses a long white cane to feel her way around the campus .

She can’t avoid students, so she relies on them to move out of her way. That can be a problem.

“Especially in tunnels. People stand in groups and I can’t tell they’re there or how big the group is unless

they’re talking. People also sit on floors, which is partic- ularly bad — I’ve had a cou- ple of accidents from walking into sitting people.”

Turner gets really upset when passers-by feed Poppy sandwiches or left-over muf- fin pieces. The dog is on a special diet to keep her in top condition, and she stops to gobble up the food.

Helpful students. trying to open doors without say- ing so can completely confuse Turner and Ash. °

Says Ash, “They want to help, but they don’t know

how to approach you.” -

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the level of fear and hyste- ria there is in the general public over this disease, and how much of an effort or- ganizations like ours have to make to supply information and education to the general public.” - oe “Groups like* this (Vic- torious Women) use issues like these to support bigotry against gay and lesbian liber- ation,” Clausson added. Millard,

> who is also

‘chair of the department of

English at the University of Saskatchewan, said the Coalition has gay, lesbian and heterosexual members, and is expanding.

“We want to

reach the real moral major- _

Rix

ity” in Saskatchewan, ” said Millard. ‘We see ourselves ultimately including church groups, unions, single par- ents and others who are con- cerned.” . Millard said the Coali- tion will lobby for chang<-5 to the Saskatchewan hwman rights code to make 4t illegal to discriminate against peo- ple on the basis of sexual ori- entation. ee “Sexual orientation is not a prohibited area of dis- crimination in Saskatchewan, “as. it is in Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and the Yukon,” said Millard. “If it were, Mr. Schmidt could be charged

with counselling to break the

law.” .

“We will have to’