In March of 2005, in the context of the United Nations 'Beijing +10' review of the implementation of gender equality commitments, the Honourable Liza Frulla, Minister for Canadian Heritage and Minister responsible for Status of Women announced the development of a new federal gender equality strategy and plan of action for the next few years. The Minister committed to consulting Canadians in that process. She further elaborated her intentions before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Status of Women and in meetings with stakeholders, stressing the importance of government accountability and the need to clearly demonstrate measurable progress towards equality in Canada.

Status of Women Canada is coordinating the consultation process on gender equality this fall, from September to the beginning of November. An on-line consultation questionnaire is available to Canadians of all ages from September to October 21st on SWC's website at http://www.swc-cfc.gc.ca/. Through this process, we hope to facilitate the participation of as many Canadians as possible in helping determine the best strategies, structures, processes and policy and program priorities to advance gender equality and make it a greater reality in the everyday lives of women in Canada.

The consultations are designed to respect what we have already learned and heard from key stakeholder groups, international human rights bodies, Canadian and comparative statistics and research and the reports of the Standing Committee on the Status of Women.

We invite you to visit the SWC website for more information and to complete the questionnaire.