Power to the women

Last Wednesday was International Women's Day, when powerful women everywhere are deservedly being recognized for their accomplishments

There are women in this region who won't make international headlines but whose efforts are worth celebrating. They are standing up for what they think is right and are an example to us all.

Brandy McGuire and her children had been living in the Bluenose Inn and Suites in Bedford, N.S. for two years when she received an eviction notice March 1, 2022 saying her family had 60 days to vacate the property as the owners planned to “retire” it.

“I needed to have a roof over my kids' heads,” McGuire told the SaltWire Network, so she took immediate steps.

“I started pretty much that day on Kijiji, Facebook, going through friends, through ads I seen on the street, everywhere.”

Upon finding a new — more expensive — place to live, McGuire also set about reporting her landlord's failure to comply with Nova Scotia's Residential Tenancies Act to the provincial board and then to small claims court.

Almost a year since her eviction notice, the court ordered the Bluenose Inn to pay McGuire $13,662.15.

“I was more happy with the fact that this is a positive step for tenants' rights in general,” McGuire said. “Not just for me, but for everybody.”

A similar scenario has been playing out in P.E.I., where Ahava Kálnássy de Kálnás and her neighbours in a Souris apartment building received eviction notices on Jan. 6.

Their landlord, D.P. Murphy Inc., owns the local Tim Hortons and the company was planning to use the building to house workers for the coffee shop. The tenants, mostly senior citizen women, were told to vacate by May 31.

Like McGuire, the women decided to take their landlord to the provincial tenancy regulator, who ruled in their favour on Feb. 24.

Meanwhile, in Port au Port Peninsula, N.L., a group of women is fighting a large corporation for the right to protest a project they say is threatening their home.

Sheila Hinks and others were demonstrating at a World Energy GH2 worksite where the company is checking viability for a wind farm. After receiving an injunction banning their protest, Hinks and three other women took the company to court.

On March 3, the women earned a partial victory when a Supreme Court judge granted their request to have the matter transferred to an Indigenous tribunal of their choice.

While the injunction remains in place in the meantime, Hinks remains ready for the fight.

“Because my heart is in this land,” she told SaltWire. “I love the Port au Port Peninsula. I love Newfoundland. I'm a fisherman. I love the water. I love the freedom of our areas.”

All of these women in these cases have faced a powerful opponent, read up on the law and taken the steps to advocate for what they believe is right for themselves and for others who face these challenges.

On International Women's Day, and indeed every day, we salute their efforts.

There are women in this region who won’t make international headlines but whose efforts are worth celebrating. They are standing up for what they think is right and are an example to us all.