Wednesday, October 24, 2012

City Circus | Seek Justice


I did not imagine when I started blogging at Elasticpantcity 2 1/2 years ago that my little piece of the WWW would land me at a round table discussion with the Premier of British Columbia. A couple weeks ago I received an invitation from Pamela Martin, former CTV news anchor and current director of outreach to Christy Clark to attend a round table discussion with The Premier about issues that concern mom's in our province. I was humbled to be invited and nervous that I wouldn't have anything to contribute to the dialogue. For one thing, I primarily write about the everyday activities of our family and politics doesn't really come up in the nitty gritty details of our life. I also write about fashion, not exactly a meaty dialogue topic related to issues concerning British Columbians. 

I spent a few nights researching government issues and kept coming back to an organization I have recently become involved with. Educating Voices is an advocacy group for formerly prostituted women or women who are in the process of exiting prostitution. Educating Voices petitions the government to adopt the Nordic Model of Law regarding prostitution rather than legalizing or decriminalizing it. This model of law is based on the recognition that prostitution is a form of sexual exploitation and violence. It penalizes the buyers of sex (johns, pimps), while decriminalizing those who are being sold. 

If this topic interests you and you want to be a voice of advocacy for exploited women I recommend you check out the Educating Voices site for more information. When it came to my turn to speak at the round table with The Premier, I brought up the provincial tax cuts to the exiting programs that provide a safe transition out of prostitution. Since so many of these prostituted women are moms trying to support their families and Christy Clark is promoting the slogan, Christy Clark For Families, I thought it was an appropriate topic to bring up. After all if the government is going to be for families, it should be for all families. 

This was my most recent foray into politics. The last time I was politically active was in university when I participated in peace marches and cried over the bombing of Iraq. I do not align myself with one party in particular at the moment but hope that when it comes to the next election, I will be able to make an educated decision on who to vote for without compromising my conscience. 

"Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause."
-Isaiah 1:17

No comments:

Post a Comment