Honourable senators, during October we celebrate Women’s History Month. I trust that you will join me in acknowledging the contributions of all women in Canada, past and present, through acts large and small, to the life of our nation.

October is also the month in which we mark the anniversary of the 1929 decision in the Persons Case, on October 18, which legally recognized women as persons and held that women were qualified to be appointed to the Senate. I am inspired every day by the beautiful and powerful statue of the Famous Five that graces our front garden here at the Senate building. At the start of this session, women held 55 of the 103 occupied seats in this Senate. Yes, it has taken almost a century to reach parity here, and it should never be in doubt again.

Today, I choose to honour these events by calling attention to the women’s work we still have before us, here and abroad. As has often been said, women’s work is never done.

The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, or CEDAW, normally meets in October to review progress on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. This year’s session would have been particularly important, as it is also the thirtieth anniversary of the Beijing UN World Conference on Women and the tenth anniversary of the UN Agenda for Sustainable Development. The committee session, however, was cancelled due to the lack of funds at the UN Secretariat.

I urge parliamentarians and Canadians to review the recent report entitled Missed Opportunities, on Canada’s implementation of the Beijing Declaration, prepared by a network of over 70 women’s rights organizations, trade unions and independent experts, which articulates areas of progress as well as the remaining critical issues to be addressed, such as gender-based violence.

I also urge parliamentarians to act on the CEDAW recommendation No. 40 from last year regarding the equal and inclusive representation of women, calling for 50-50 parity between women and men in all decision-making systems, including elected legislatures. There is work to be done here so that some day, hopefully soon, we can celebrate reaching that milestone in both of our chambers of the Parliament of Canada.

Thank you.