The Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) wants people to send the prime minister postcards. Thousands of postcards. Cards being made available by the CLC urge him to keep the gun registry, and also contain messages asking that Canada improve the lives of women by: improving the funding of shelters for women and children, investing in new social housing, setting a national standard for welfare rates, providing equal pay for work of equal value, and improving services, including a nationally-funded child care program, better public pensions and access to Employment Insurance. The cards are to be sent to the prime minister between November 16 and December 6.

"On December 6th it will be 20 years since 14 young women were murdered in Montreal simply because they were women," says Barbara Byers, Executive Vice-President of the Canadian Labour Congress. "Ironically, as this anniversary approaches, our government is trying to eradicate the firearms registry, the one concrete measure taken to reduce gun violence against women.

"Rather than promoting women’s equality, the federal government is severely limiting women's capacity to organize, advocate and lobby. They won't support women’s equality in the workplace and have limited women’s rights to challenge discrimination before the courts. We will not accept an erosion of our hard-won equality rights and we will not be silenced by a socially conservative government agenda."

You can send a postcard a day to the Prime Minister beginning on Monday, November 16, to remind him that for 20 years women have been waiting for action. Each year, women across the country commemorate the 14 young women who were killed on December 6, 1989, at the École Polytechnique in Montreal and all the other women who have died as a result of male violence.

Twenty years is too long. Government attention to violence against women is long overdue. A law and order agenda is not the answer. Women need economic and social security to be safe at home, at work and in our communities.

We need support for women's services and equality. Now is the time for action. On November 16, send the first of 20 postcards to the Prime Minister from the CLC Web site. There'll be a different card available to send everyday - so return to the Action Centre daily until December 6.