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Christine McLean is ready to retire. After running a successful electrical business in Calgary for the last 20 years, the Kamloops, BC born and raised McLean planned to move back to BC with her husband, Eric. In 2014 they began laying plans to spend their retirement years living in what Christine describes as, “paradise” – a gorgeous log cabin on a large, treed lot perched above the stunningly beautiful Mitchell Bay on Quesnel Lake. For Christine, it is a place for the spirit to rest and the heart to soar.

For Secwepemc and Nuxalk activist Nuskmata (Jacinda Mack), Quesnel Lake is part of her cultural heritage. Raised in the northern Secwepemc community of Xat’sull, Nuskamata spent her youth out on the land and eventually came to work for her Secwepemc community as the Natural Resources manager. Her mother taught her that for Indigenous peoples, “our economy walks on the land and swims in the waters.” She calls the relationship between her community and the land a ‘love story’. 

Julian Assange is currently being held at Belmarsh, a high security prison in the UK, on the basis of a US extradition request on charges that stem directly from the publication of disclosed documents as part of his work with Wikileaks. Hearings on the case were held last week. Amnesty's Julia Hall was there as an observer. Read her reflections here.

In this context, publication of disclosed documents mirrors the work of investigative journalists. Punishing this kind of activity can have a chilling effect on the right to freedom of expression, leading journalists to self-censor from fear of prosecution.

March 8th, International Women’s Day, is both a day of protest and celebration. It’s a time to reflect on feminist achievements over the past year as well as a time to take action to end the violence and discrimination that women, transgender, and non-binary people continue to experience across Canada and around the world because of who they are.

Marches, film festivals, public events, and other activities are held on March 8th and throughout March to mark International Women’s Day. We encourage you to support feminist movements—particularly those led by Indigenous, Black, and other marginalized women, transgender, and non-binary people—by participating in International Women’s Day events. Ask organizers how Amnesty can support events, and consider having an Amnesty table with petitions and other actions.

Lise Martin is the Executive Director of Women’s Shelter’s Canada, a national network of shelters and transition houses whose motto is “shelters support women and children fleeing violence. We support the shelters.” The organization works to ensure that government actions to end gender-based violence and violence against women are rights-based and informed by the experiences and insights of their members from across Canada. They led a collaborative process to create a Blueprint for Canada’s National Action Plan on Violence against Women, which Amnesty International endorsed, and lead advocacy in support of a National Action Plan.

Amnesty spoke with Lise in Ottawa in the lead-up to International Women’s Day 2020.