GOALS OF THE PROJECT
The goal of the Older Women’s Dialogue Project, a collaboration between West Coast LEAF and the Canadian Centre for Elder Law, is to understand the law and social policy issues that impact the lives of older women in the Lower Mainland.
Armed with this understanding, this project aims to:
- Improve circumstances for older women
- Enable them to influence law and public policy
- Promote awareness of issues facing older women while recognizing the intersectional impact of ageism, gender, sexism, and other forms of discrimination
PHASE ONE: CONSULTATIONS AND REPORT (2012-13)
In 2012-13, we met with over 300 women of diverse backgrounds, conducting 22 focus groups in nine languages. Women were invited to share their thoughts and discuss key issues impacting them. Through these meetings, we identified major barriers to well-being faced by older women in the Lower Mainland, and offered strategies to address them.
Click here to access the report from Phase One: Your Words Are Worth Something.
PHASE TWO: INCLUDING THE VOICES OF MORE MARGINALIZED AND ISOLATED GROUPS (2014-15)
We have met with 12 additional groups of women who were under-represented in the first phase of consultation. This includes women living with mobility limitations and other disabilities, lesbian, queer and bisexual women, trans* women, and Aboriginal women.
PHASE THREE: WORKING WITH OLDER WOMEN TO CREATE LEGAL AND POLICY TOOLS (2014-15)
We are currently engaged with four groups of older women in the Lower Mainland to support them as they develop law reform and public legal education tools that address some of the top needs they have identified. We are honoured to be working with our older women partners to create concrete change based on their lived experience, expertise, and vision. Learn more about the achievements of these groups of women by visiting the website of the Canadian Centre for Elder Law.
Here is a powerful video on the lack of affordability of prescription drugs created by the Spanish-speaking older women’s group of the South Granville Seniors Centre as part of this phase of the project:
And three hard-hitting videos about the struggle to access safe and discrimination-free housing created by older women from the Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre:
In addition, West Coast LEAF consulted on a second report on the Older Women’s Dialogue Project authored by the Canadian Centre for Elder and Law and released in March 2017. Download the second report, called We Are Not All the Same.
PHASE 1 OF PROJECT FUNDING GENEROUSLY PROVIDED BY:
PHASES 2 AND 3 OF PROJECT FUNDING GENEROUSLY PROVIDED BY:
Based on what we’ve learned from our consultations with older women as part of this project, we’ve also launched an Older Women’s Education Project in partnership with the Canadian Centre for Elder Law. Learn more about our efforts to provide public legal education on the issues most relevant to older women fleeing abuse!