Queen’s Park — NDP Women’s Critic Cheri DiNovo is calling for an all-party women’s committee to examine violence against women in recognition of Women Abuse Prevention Month. “It’s not enough to simply acknowledge a Women Abuse Prevention Month. We need to proactively act to address the root causes of violence against women,” said DiNovo.DiNovo tabled a motion in the Legislature calling upon all women MPPs to form an all-party, non-partisan committee to look at ways of ending violence against women.New Democrats have repeatedly pointed out that there are many things the McGuinty government can do, and should be doing, to end violence against women, such as:

• instituting women’s studies into the school curriculum, as advocated by the Miss G Project;
• building more transitional housing and providing more shelter beds women escaping abuse;
• legislating economic equity because someone who is economically dependent upon their abuser will never be free from that abuser, and;
• immediately increasing the minimum wage to $10.25 per hour and indexing future increases to inflation.

“We have failed our mothers, we’ve failed ourselves and we’ve failed our daughters.  Let’s not fail our granddaughters as well,” said DiNovo.