Ellen Woodsworth

November 27, 2009
Important Issues at Council Next Week

There are a number of extremely important issues coming up at Council next week, primarily changes to the Vancouver Charter that will affect civil liberties, the Assistance to Shelter Act, and the final public hearings in the 2010 Budget. I urge you to get involved and voice your opinion on these issues. More information.

November 25, 2009
Olympic Women Ski Jumpers – What You Can Do

Councillor Cadman and I have sent a public letter to all Olympic sponsors and suppliers asking them to speak to the IOC to allow women ski jumpers to jump in the 2010 Olympics. We are concerned that the decision not to allow the women to jump violates the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom, specifically Section 32 and 15, and will allow others to violate these equality rights. We encourage others to join our campaign by writing to these CEOs . Click on the link below to download the  letter and sponsor list.

Olympic Sponsor Letter & Mailing List

An online petition has been created. It can be found at http://www.petitiononline.com/corpoly/petition.html

Go to www.wsjusa.com to learn more about this issue.
Follow the court case on Facebook and Twitter and get updates.

October 30, 2009
Let Olympic Women Jump!

The appeal hearing for the fourteen women ski jumpers from five countries who sued the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee to be included in the 2010 Winter Games is set for Nov. 12-13. In July, a British Columbia Supreme Court judge found that the International Olympic Committee discriminated against women jumpers because of their gender, but stopped short of ordering VANOC to hold an event for them. The women jumpers appealed the decision. Ski jumping is the only event in both the Winter and Summer Olympic Games that doesn’t allow women to compete. In the past, women have been told ski jumping isn’t “appropriate for women’s bodies from a medical point of view” and the IOC has told them their sport “isn’t developed enough”, but hasn’t provide specifics on how they reached that conclusion.

Go to www.wsjusa.com to learn more about this issue.
Follow the court case on Facebook and Twitter and get updates.