(TLN) During the March 12 council meeting, the City of Laval created a new committee – the Conseil des Lavalloises – thus taking a major leap forward in making a commitment towards equality between women and men.
Encouraging women
The new committee, which will be composed of women residents of Laval, will have as its mandate to encourage the active participation of women in public life in Laval with diversity, while making certain at the same time that women’s interests are taken into consideration by the city.
Among other things, the committee will be empowered to make recommendations to the executive-committee; to see that municipal regulations are adopted and accessible to women; to make pronouncements on working conditions for women and equal access to work and the professions; and to see that various mechanisms work in such a way as to favour better representation of women in politics.
13-woman committee
The committee will consist of 13 women from Laval, non-elected, representing diversity in the city and its realities. “We wish to have representatives in the image of diversity in Laval, in socioeconomic, ethnocultural, generational and geographic perspectives,” said Councillor Sandra El Helou who is responsible for dossiers involving women’s issues. The city will soon be seeking candidacies for the committee.
“After more than two years of preparation and work to set up a consultative body on equality between men and women, we are pleased with the official announcement of the creation of the Conseil des Lavalloises,” said Marie-Ève Surprenant, coordinator of the Table de concertation de Laval en condition féminine (TCLCF). “For us, this represents a great leap forward to better understand the issues with regard to women at the municipal level,” she added.
