Shari Guinta

Catholic Women’s League of Canada

After attending the WUCWO General Assembly for the first time in 2023, I developed an appreciation for the work of WUCWO and its global sisterhood. I learned more about and was impressed with the World Women’s Observatory. What an amazing initiative! The Catholic Women’s League of Canada is aware of global issues, and often the same issues exist in Canada.

Two resolutions were adopted by the national council at its annual meetings in 2022 and 2023:

• That national council of The Catholic Women’s League of Canada in 102nd annual national convention assembled urges the federal government to enact legislation to reduce food loss and waste in Canada’s agri-food, industrial, commercial and institutional sectors.
• That national council of The Catholic Women’s League of Canada in 103rd national annual meeting of members assembled urges the federal government to establish new programs and to expand established subsidies aimed at reducing textile waste in Canada.

Being good stewards of the environment continues to be a focus for League members. These two recent resolutions focus on federal government and personal actions that can effectively control food loss and waste, and textile waste. Both are significant national and international environmental concerns.

Resolution 2022.01: Enact Federal Legislation to Reduce Food Loss and Waste addresses food loss in the agri-food, industrial, commercial and institutional sectors, and food waste in the food supply, hospitality, commercial and institutional sectors. Much of the food produced in Canada ends up in landfills rather than being composted, producing methane, one of the most powerful greenhouse gases. When food is wasted, it is a double loss as the resources used to create it also go to waste. In addition, there is moral concern related to discarding food while people in Canada and throughout the world suffer from food insecurity.

Resolution 2023.01: Combating Textile Waste in Canada urges the federal government to establish new programs and expand established industry subsidies to reduce the more than 176,000 tonnes of textile waste disposed of annually in the country. These subsidies would expand the efforts by textile industry and waste reduction companies to find creative solutions to address, in particular, plastic textile waste. A League delegation discussed the Resolution 2022.01 with federal government representatives in 2023; Resolution 2023.01 is part of the delegation’s planned dialogue with the government for 2024.

Here I am Lord, send me. This is the new theme for 2024 and 2025 for the League’s national council. A new theme is chosen by every incoming president. It was thought that this theme reflects what members, as Catholic women, strive for―outreach, service and good works.

The focus for the next two years is mental health. The national board of directors determined this was the appropriate direction for members because mental illness is so prevalent in the world today; it affects the family unit, spousal abuse, violence, employment sustainability, and much more. All standing committees and provincial councils will make mental health a priority focus and learn more about its impact in communities across Canada. How can members of The Catholic Women’s League of Canada help? Awareness is the first step.