This Victoria Day long weekend is a good time to reflect on an era when Queen Victoria saw the former colonies unite to become Canada and peace, order, and good government were the catch words of the day.
Women in Canada back in the day faced many obstacles and one by one they knocked them down. During the Second World War, women were hired to do non-traditional jobs in manufacturing, forestry and other industries.
Have attitudes changed towards women in Canada? Are women being run out of their jobs as times get tougher?
A report on sexual harassment in the Canadian Forces was released at the end of April. An investigation revealed rampant sexual assault in the military. There were approximately 1,780 sexual assaults per year – five per day – in the Canadian Forces. Despite this, Canada’s top military officer refused to promise to enact the main recommendation in the report, namely the creation of a fully independent agency to receive complaints of inappropriate sexual conduct and offer support to victims of assault and harassment.
Then, this past week saw a female reporter confront several men who were harassing her while she was trying to do her job on site. There are those who argue that the FHRITP slurs uttered were a spontaneous action but was this in fact intentionally done to run her out of a job?
Taken as individual actions alarms are not sounded, but when more and more people engage in the same type of negative behaviour society as a whole must wake up!
ps. Will Queen Victoria be invited back to take part in this year’s Heritage Days parade in Nanaimo? Or has she been run out of a job and bridges burned?
No 'Queen Victoria' in this year's Heritage Days parade. Woman who has portrayed her for more than 20 years says she wasn't asked this time.
— Philip Wolf (@philipwolf13) May 15, 2015
