Topic:
Country: Canada
Delegate Name: Kate Risley
Canada’s public school system has provided access to education for girls since the late 1800s. The Canadian Human Rights act of 1977 ensures that all Canadians recieving services from the federal government of Canada, such as public schooling, are protected from discrimination, including discrimination on the basis of gender. In 1982, Canada passed the “Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms” which ensured full protection under the law for all citizens regardless of gender. Canada recognizes that despite it’s gaurentee of education to all citizens regardless of gender identity, some nations do not gaurentee the same educational opportunities and lack of discrimination in schools to women and girls. The delegation of Canada would like to find a way to increase access to education and minimize discrimination on the basis of gender within schools.
In 2018, Canada’s Charlevoix Declaration committed 400 million dollars to improving access to education of women and girls in developing countries, this included initiatives to partner with various organizations to address barriers to both womens access to education and retention to schooling. One of these initiatives was to provide girls in countries with limited educational opportunities with radios that would teach the girls from home. This 400 million, along with contributions from the G7 partners and the World Bank totaled to 3.8 billion dollars going towards sending impoverished girls from around the world to school. Justin Trudeau, Canada’s prime minister justified this policy by saying “Investing in their education is not just the right thing to do, it’s the smart thing to do. Given the chance, we know women and girls will drive positive change, and help build better lives for themselves, their families, their communities, and, in turn, the world.”.
In this conference, Canada hopes to find a solution that will not only increase the access of education to women and girls around the world, but also ensure that the format of this education minimizes the amount of gender based descrimination girls face in the classroom. Canada is willing to negotiate with countries who share this goal. For example, Germany, who’s German Development Ministry donated 100 million euros to it’s Support Her Education initiative. Canada is also willing to negotiate with countries in need of resources to increase access to education, and, if provided with these resources ensure that they will go towards creating opportunities for women and girls to receive quality education.
