Premier John Horgan and Mitzi Dean, Parliamentary Secretary for Gender Equity, have issued the following statement celebrating International Women’s Day on March 8, 2020:

“On International Women’s Day, we honour and celebrate the many women, girls, non-binary and two-spirit people in B.C. who are changing our province for the better. From well-known public figures to young activists, to those working quietly behind the scenes, they are standing up for equality. We stand with them.

“No one deserves to be held back by their gender, their ethnicity or other parts of their identity.

“From day one, our government has taken steps to address discrimination. These include major investments in affordable child care, which will create more opportunities for women to join the workforce or advance their careers. This addresses one of the major factors in the gender pay gap. We’re also creating bursaries and increasing wages for early childhood education workers, most of whom are women.

“We are supporting women and other marginalized groups who face family-law issues, domestic and sexual violence, and poverty by improving access to legal aid and dispute resolution services. When passed, a new law giving survivors of sexual and domestic violence paid leave from work will give women the time they need to access justice and leave their abusers behind. And, as we move forward with the first major investments in transition homes for women and children leaving violence, more women and their children will have a safe place to go when they need one.

“To bring down barriers for women in trades, we’ve created the Community Benefits Agreement for major projects that prioritizes hiring and training women, Indigenous peoples and others who traditionally have been shut out of these jobs.

“While we have taken meaningful strides in British Columbia, there is still much more to do to achieve gender equity. Working alongside community partners, we aim to build a brighter future, where no one is left behind because of who they are.”

For a Traditional Chinese translation, visit:  http://news.gov.bc.ca/files/20200308_PJH_PS-Dean_STM_IWD_TraditionalChinese.pdf

For a French translation, visit: https://news.gov.bc.ca/files/20200308_PJH_PS%20Dean_STM_IWD_V6_FR.pdf

For a Punjabi translation, visit: https://news.gov.bc.ca/files/Statement_on_IWD.pdf