DAWN Canada/Réseau d'action des femmes handicapées du Canada is a Canadian national feminist network controlled by and composed of women who self-identify as women with disabilities. The network also supports local and provincial chapters. DAWN is a member organization of the National Action Committee on the Status of Women

National Action Committee on the Status of Women

The National Action Committee on the Status of Women is a Canadian feminist activist organization. NAC was founded in 1971 as a pressure group to lobby for the implementation of the 167 recommendations made in the Royal Commission on the Status of Women in Canada's 1970 report on matters such as...

, Canada's largest feminist organization.

History

The organization began on June 20–23, 1985, at a meeting between seventeen women from across Canada who came together to discuss issues of interest to women with various disabilities. The main purpose of this initial meeting was to plan a larger national gathering of disabled women who would then develop the organization's strategies and goals. Early groups formed in Prince Edward Island

Prince Edward Island

Prince Edward Island is a Canadian province consisting of an island of the same name, as well as other islands. The maritime province is the smallest in the nation in both land area and population...

, Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

, Halifax

City of Halifax

Halifax is a city in Canada, which was the capital of the province of Nova Scotia and shire town of Halifax County. It was the largest city in Atlantic Canada until it was amalgamated into Halifax Regional Municipality in 1996...

, British Columbia

British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

, and Montreal

Montreal

Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

 and in Winnipeg

Winnipeg

Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...

, that city's existing group for women with disabilities, the Consulting Committee on the Status of Women with Disabilities also joined the network.

Mission

DAWN Canada's mission is "to end the poverty, isolation, discrimination and violence experienced by women with disabilities, and to fight for women with disabilities to have freedom of choice in all aspects of their lives."

External links

• DAWN Canada