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Libby's Bills to stop discrimination based on social condition

June 17, 2010 Speeches in Parliament

Libby introduced two bills in the House of Commons to change the Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code to prohibit discrimination against a person based on their social condition.

Canadian Human Rights Act
Ms. Libby Davies (Vancouver East, NDP)
moved for leave to introduce Bill C-559, An Act to amend the Canadian Human Rights Act (social condition).

Mr. Speaker

This bill would amend the Canadian Human Rights Act to prohibit discrimination on the grounds of social condition. In doing so it would protect from discrimination people who are experiencing social or economic disadvantage, such as adequate housing, homelessness, source of income, occupation, level of education, poverty, or any similar circumstance. As the Centre for Equality Rights in Accommodation and many other organizations have pointed out, a person's standing in society is often determined by his or her occupation, income, education level or family background.

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Libby in Question Period - Canada failing international committments on maternal and child health

April 30, 2010 Question Period

The Conservative government has been vocal in its decision to change Canada's internationl development policy and stop funding access to safe abortions where it is legal. Yet the same government has been silent on mother to child transmission of HIV. Libby recently raised these issues in the House of Commons.

House of Commons
HANSARD
Question Period

International Co-operation

Ms. Libby Davies (Vancouver East, NDP):
Mr. Speaker, on the topic of maternal health and the upcoming G8 and G20 meetings, the Conservative government has been vocal on issues where it should not have been and silent on issues where Canada needs to take a strong stand. Let us start out with what it should not have said.

Ignoring advice from the WHO to provide funding for access to safe abortion, the government decided instead to dictate its Conservative ideology to women in developing countries.

Does the government really believe it knows better than the WHO? Could it possibly be that arrogant?

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Libby speaking out on maternal and child health

March 23, 2010 Speeches in Parliament

HANSARD DEBATES
House of Commons
March 23, 2010

Motion on Maternal and Child Health

Libby Davies (Vancouver East NDP):
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak to this motion. It is a very important debate. It is important that members of the House be able to express their strong opinions about this issue. The government's G8 maternal and child health initiative for the world's poorest regions must include the full range of family planning, sexual and reproductive health options, including contraception, consistent with previous governments that have stated that position, as well as all other G8 members last year in Italy. I certainly welcome this debate.

First and foremost, we have to insist that any initiative Canada takes forward must be based on scientific evidence as outlined in the motion before us today. That scientific evidence shows us that education and family planning can prevent as many as one in every three maternal deaths. That is a very significant statistic.

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Nothing solved by eviction - Libby on BC forfeiture laws

March 10, 2010
The Vancouver Province
Bad luck and a bad crowd, but she's 'not a criminal'On a clear, crisp March morning, Marianne Christine Sullivan sits on a dock at Trout Lake in east Vancouver and talks about being homeless and broke after the B.C. government took her $562,000 home under civil forfeiture legislation....Vancouver East MP Libby Davies says the sad situation Sullivan faces as a homeless person likely means it will cost society far more in the long run than what was taken with the forfeiture. "It is unbelievable this could happen to her," she says. "The fact is, she is now living on the street and suffering from an addiction. What has been solved by making her homeless?
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Libby's support for activists' spotlight on homelessness

February 16, 2010
The Vancouver Sun
Activists pitch tent city on Downtown Eastside lotHundreds of homeless and poverty protesters -- using the Olympic spotlight to their advantage -- flooded into a vacant lot in the 100-block of West Hastings Street on Monday and erected a tent city. Libby Davies, NDP MP for Vancouver East, said she supported the tent city as a way to raise awareness for greater government support, especially by a federal government in need of a national housing strategy to help the poor and homeless.... "This is a prime site for social housing," she said. "I'm so happy so many people are here today to draw attention to this issue. It's a vacant lot and it's very visible, a symbol of what's going on in this neighbourhood."
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Libby's Housing Bill one step closer to reality

December 11, 2009 Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DECEMBER 11, 2009

NATIONAL HOUSING STRATEGY ONE STEP CLOSER BECOMING REALITY

OTTAWA- Canada is one step closer to having a national housing strategy, thanks to New Democrat Bill C-304, which cleared the committee stage yesterday.

“We have had tremendous support from civil society, municipalities, the private sector and groups from across the political spectrum,” said the Bill’s sponsor, New Democrat Libby Davies (Vancouver East). “This is a clear call for the federal government to step up and take an immediate and coordinated approach to address the growing housing crisis in Canada.”

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Assistance to Shelter Act, an open letter to Mayor and Council

December 3, 2009
Updates from Libby

Dear Mayor and Council,

I am writing to support Councillor Ellen Woodsworth's motion on the Assistance to Shelter act to be debated by Council today.

Many people have expressed their opposition and concerns to me about this Act passed by the BC legislature. It is a heavy handed and blunt legislative response to an issue of human dignity and rights concerning homelessness and housing.

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