User:Afarm2/Rona Ambrose

Advocacy for Women and Girls
Rona Ambrose has been an advocate for advancing the voices of women and girls both during her tenure as a Member of Parliament and after.

While she was an MP, Ambrose worked closely with Nadia Murad, a Yazidi refugee and Nobel Peace Prize winner, in pushing the House of Commons to label the persecution of Yazidis a genocide. She also led the fight for a Canadian refugee program to bring Yazidi women and girls who have been sexually enslaved by ISIS to safety in Canada, which resulted in the rescue of over 1000 women and girls.

In February 2017, while still a sitting MP, Ambrose introduced Private Member’s Bill C-337, An Act to amend the Judges Act and the Criminal Code, also known as the JUST Act. If passed, this bill would require judges in Canada to undergo training on sexual assault law, involving education on rape myths, stereotypes about victims, and the impact of trauma on memory. According to Ambrose, "only one in 10 victims come forward because they feel they won't be believed ". The bill intended to rectify this by increasing victim trust in the judicial system.

The JUST Act gained widespread support from experts and victim advocacy groups and was subsequently passed unanimously by the House of Commons. However, the bill did not pass third reading in the Senate, as the Senate rose for Summer 2019 without voting on the JUST Act, resulting in expiration on the order paper, as the order paper is wiped clean for the October 2019 federal election.

In 2018, Rona Ambrose and Laureen Harper, wife of former Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper, launched the She Leads Foundation. She Leads is a non-profit organization based in Alberta focused on encouraging women to run for office and participate in public life. The organization seeks to reduce barriers for women seeking to run for conservative parties by assisting with logistics like fundraising, childcare, and networking opportunities.

Alongside UN Women, Ambrose assisted in the launch of SHEInnovates Alberta, a campaign providing tools necessary to encourage women to seek leadership positions and innovation.