Each year Elizabeth Fry Societies across the country organize public events in their communities. The Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies (CAEFS) celebrates National Elizabeth Fry Week the week before Mother’s Day. Our goal is to enhance public awareness and education around the victimization and criminalization of women in Canada. By hosting these events and focusing on meeting women’s needs in the community, we aim to break down the negative stereotypes that exist around women who are imprisoned and criminalized and we encourage productive and accountable community responses to criminal justice matters from coast to coast.
In this time of fiscal restraint, our hope is that proactive focus will encourage the development and support for community-based alternatives to costly incarceration that benefits us all. We challenge Canadians to reach behind the walls and bring women into our communities.
We remind ourselves and our communities that over 70% of women in prisons are mothers to children under 18. Women experiencing homelessness in shelters are mothers, too.
Join us, the week before Mother’s Day in fostering healing for women in our communities.
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