The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Disposition of the Resolutions â€" Passed at the FWIO . Annual Board Meeting, November, 1994 All the Ministries and Ministers conâ€" gratulated the Women‘s Institutes on their continued interest in current matters of public concern. Please keep in mind that a summary ofthe resolutions is extremely dif- ficult to do as I have to summarize several~page letters into one paragraph. From the Eastern Area: - Requesting research into Myalgic En- cephalomyelitis (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome). In her reply, the Hon. Diane Marleau. Minister of National Health and Welfare. stated: "My Department supports research into manyfunda- mental aspects of human disease that have important relationships to Chronic Fatigue Syn- drome (CFS). The Department‘s National Health Research and Development Program has helped investigaims to develop epidemiologic expertise in a variety of subjects, especrally infectious diseases that are relevant to CFS. In addition. the Medical Research Council has funded Canadian scientists to in- vestigate aspects of damaged immunity. This we know is very important to an understanding of CFS.“ A copy of this letter was also sent to the College of Physicians and Surgeons. 0 Requesting the enforcement of National Standard CAN/GSA - 2234.4-89 for expressing dates and times as YYYY-MM-DD. In his reply. the Federal Minister of Industry, the Hon. John Manley. agreed that lack of stand- ards cause confusion. He stated: "An existing Treasury Board policy requires all federal gov- ernment departments to adopt the above mentioned standards for writing dates in this short form. To ensure that he is aware of the importance which the Institute attaches to this matter, I have taken the liberty of forwarding a copy of your letter to the attention of the Hon. Art Eggleton, President of the Treasury Board." From the Kingston Area: 0 Requesting the removal of MMT from gasoline. No reply was received from the Federal Minister of the Environment, Hon. Sheila Copps. but on May 19. 1995. she introduced new legislation regarding MMT in gasoline. The Bill will prohibit the interprovincial trade and import. forcommer- cial purposes. of MMT and gasoline containing MMT. A reply from the Hon. Diane Marleau. Minister of National Health and Welfare. stated that her Department has recently conducted an assessment of the potential health risks associ- ated with the use of MMT in Canada. As a result of this assessment, officials concluded that the combustion of MMT does not represent a health threat to Canadians. 6 Home & Country. Fail '95 By Gillian Carlo From the Guelph and North Central Areas (two resolutions combined): - Requesting the banning of serial killer trading cards. A draft Bill was tabled by the Minister of Justice. the Hon, Allan Rock. regarding the banning of these cards and board games. This has been studied by the Standing Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs of the House of Commons and recommendations have been made to the Min- ister of Justice for his consideration. It appears that it is already illegal to sell these cards in Ontario. From the Guelph Area: 0 Requesting the observance of Xmas tra- ditions and customs in schools. The past Minister of Education. Dave Cook, stated: ‘The courts have ruled that it is not appropriate for public elementary or secondary schools to emphasize any particular religious faith or hold religious exercises. If Christmas were the only religious celebration recognized by the school. then this would be against the ruling of the court. The Government of Ontario and the Ministry of Education recognizes the importance of education about religion and sup- port the inclusion of multifaith content in the public elementary and secondary school cur- riculum for education purposes." He also included a copy of a memo from Tony Silipo, former Minister of Education. entitled "Christmas Concerts and Festivities In Public Schools." that was sent to the Chairs of the Public School Boards. The document states that it is permissable to hold such programs in order to educate students about Xmas customs and beliefs. However. Ontario‘s public schools must be sensitive to various faiths and cultures that make up our province, and must not Indoctrinate in or give primacy to any particular religious faith. - Requesting the mailing of unsolicited pornographic material be made illegal. The past Minister of Consumer and Commercial Relations, Marilyn Churley. replied: "Currently, there is no legislation prohibiting companies from sending information pertaining to promo- tions. contests and special offers (etc) through the mail." The Ministry of the Attorney General stated that in order for charges to be laid regard- ing this practice, the material must meet the criteria as stated in the Criminal Code - that is. the material must be classified as obscene. Material that is sexual in nature, although ex- plicit. is not necessarily obscene, therefore. nothing can be done under the Criminal Code. - Requesting legislation forbidding the selling of mailing lists. This resolution was sent along with the previous one to the Ministry of the Attorney General and the Ministry of Consumer Affairs. Both offices lumped the two together and did not give a specific reply to this issue. I would suggest that this resolution be brought back to the Guelph Area Convention and be re-submitted to the Board in November. From the Grey Bruce Area: o Requesting better use of existing health care facilities. The past Minister of Health, Ruth Grier. replied: “The Ministry has managed to stabilize funding to hospitals over the past three years. Through co-operation of hospitals and health care providers, we have achieved our goals of pro» tecting services and keeping costs down. We have been assured that plans to reduce expen- ditures and eliminate waste should not threaten patient care." A letter was also sent to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario with a copy of this resolution; a note of appre» ciation was received in reply. From the North Central Area: - Requesting the banning of interactive murder video games. The importation of these video games into Canada falls under the mandate of Revenue Canada Customs, Excise and Taxation. I had a lengthy detailed reply from Pierre Gravelle, QC, on behalf of the Minister of National Rove» nue. One of the paragraphs stated: “Materials that contain violence in an explicit sexual con- text are prohibited entry into Canada. Although abhorrent to many Canadians. material that contains violence without an explicit sexual ele- ment does not fall within the current obscenity provisions. It is conceivable. therefore, that the interactive video games mentioned in your letter might not meet the prohibitory provisions of the legislation.“ All of the above mentioned letters have been sent to the Area Conveners. They should be available at your Area Convention for all to read. I would be happy to send copies of any of these letters to anyone who is interested. Please contact me at Box I6. Site 14. RR 1, Whitefish 0N POM 3E0. Gillian Com: is {Ire Resolun‘nm Converter jnr the Federated Women '.r Irtxlilufex ufOrlmrin.