PRESIDENT'S REPORT


At our 1994-95 Annual General Meeting in Edmonton, Elizabeth Fry paid and unpaid staff gathered together to celebrate the success of our direct service work and public education activities within the criminal justice system this year past and fortify our vision for action in the future. Each one of us standing alone makes a difference - each one of us reaching out and connecting to the others help to form a web of networking across this country that provides a broad safety net of sisterhood for the women we serve.

Since February, my leadership in the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies combined with Kim Pate's confident and consistent leadership as executive director. As a Board of Directors, we consult well on the current issues in order to give clear direction to staff to carry out the work between our meetings. Individual Board members have also been increasingly involved in providing support and consultation on issues in their areas of interest and expertise to the National office between Board meetings.

The National office has worked very hard to complete the huge volume of work as efficiently as possible, utilizing volunteers and students to assist as much as possible to supplement the efforts of our two paid staff. Diverse voices answer the telephone at CAEFS and I appreciate the leadership shown by the National office with respect to ethnic and racial representation.

CAEFS remains clearly focused on our priority issues and on maintaining our internal network and external coalitions that provide the vehicle for success in our goal to promote public awareness and be a voice for women in conflict with the law. Kim Pate's travels to six local societies from the Atlantic to the Pacific and her attendance at the Ontario and B.C. regional meetings demonstrate CAEFS' support for grassroots community involvement on a national level to and work on behalf of and with all the women we serve.

I am also optimistic about our relationship with the Commission of Inquiry into the events at Prison for Women and the opportunity for CAEFS' continued involvement in that process. The solidarity of the internal Elizabeth Fry network and our united efforts form a strong association which becomes the basis for the coalition-building that transforms CAEFS' voice into a broad-based movement.

Doris Bruno, President

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