The meeting today of the Standing Committee on the Status of Women was
entertaining, to put it mildly. I was disappointed by the amount of air time
that was allowed Landolt, the rep from the organization that shall remain
nameless. However, the more she spoke, the more ridiculous she made herself
and her organization look. I encourage list subscribers who were unable to
view the meeting to check out the transcript once it's posted to the FEWO
website.

Among the questions asked by Committee members was one by Maria Minna on
advocacy. Playing the devil's advocate, she asked: "Why is it important that
government pay for advocacy" (as opposed to someone else)?

I wasn't satisfied with anyone's answer to this question, so here's what I
would have replied had WISE been invited to be a witness - which of course
we weren't:

	Q: Why is it important that government pay for advocacy?
	A: Because government has seen to it that the private sector cannot fund
advocacy, at least through charitable organizations. 

First, Canada's Income Tax Act places severe limits on the amount of
activity that can be used for advocacy. For charitable foundations whose
annual budgets exceed $200,000, that limit is 10%. Second, the Income Act
Act permits charities to fund only other charities. Ergo, if you are a
charity, forget about advocacy. 

If you are not a charity but an incorporated nonprofit (if you're
unincorporated, you're dead in the water), you're only hope is :
	a) government funding, or 
	b) non-charitable private support in the form of donations from business or
the general public. If your issue isn't even on the radar yet, or business
and J Q Public are resistant to listening, then you've lost before you've
begun. Moreover, even if they are interested, it's very, very difficult to
find a business or person who is willing to donate without benefit of a
tax-deductible receipt, which only charities can issue.

The above reasons are why government must, and in fact has a responsibility
to, fund advocacy. If government doesn't fund advocacy, then we are stuck
with the status quo. Actually, we're stuck with worse than the status quo,
since certain rights acquired through advocacy will gradually erode.

Ocean, WISE Coordinator
http://www.wise-bc.org/

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