PEI Advisory Council on the Status of Women

PEI Advisory Council on the Status of Women The Prince Edward Island Advisory Council on the Status of Women is an arms-length from government advisory agency.

The nine members of Council are appointed by government to work for equality and to support women's full and active participation in social, legal, cultural, economic, and political spheres of life.

Everyone can embrace the "messy middle" and find joy in creativity.____________________________________________'Heal the...
06/23/2026

Everyone can embrace the "messy middle" and find joy in creativity.
____________________________________________
'Heal their art scars:' Islanders help others rediscover creativity as an adult. P.E.I. artists say childhood experiences can turn adults away from art

Visual artist Patrick Guindon hears it all the time: "I used to make art, I used to paint a lot, and it just kind of fell away."
He has that conversation daily with adults at his Creative Rebel Studio in Montague, P.E.I. While creative outlets like singing, dancing and drawing come naturally to children, Guindon said perfectionism and fear of judgment from peers or mentors often cause adults to stop entirely.

"We have the adults who we need to help them heal their art scars, whatever art form that is, so that they can experience that joy in that process again," he told host Nicola MacLeod during a round-table discussion on CBC's Mainstreet P.E.I. Guindon said he believes the fear many adults have around taking on artistic endeavours is sparked in childhood, even through interactions that are supposed to be positive.

"When I hear people say to a child, 'Oh, you're so talented,' that immediately shuts down their willingness to take a risk because now they don't want to disappoint anyone," he said. Embracing the "messy middle" is a crucial part of the creative process, he added. "It's got to be a mess, and it's got to be beautiful ... and that's scary for a lot of people."

While arts and creative activities can be fun hobbies, they can also serve as ways to stay healthy, with researchers saying these types of activities can improve quality of life, helping both mental and physical well-being.

Reequal Smith, founder and artistic director of Oshun Dance Studios in Charlottetown, agrees that adults struggle to prioritize their own creativity.

"Teaching adults and teaching kids is very different," Smith said, noting that adults often invest heavily in their children's environments while pushing their own needs aside. But making the time pays off. "Even though I'm tired, if I go to this class, I know afterwards that's my reward to myself."

Many of us carry "art scars" from childhood - experiences that left us believing we couldn’t draw, sing or be creative. We bring together Reequal Smith, Nick MacDonald and Patrick Guindon for a conversation about overcoming those messages and rediscovering creativity.

Nick MacDonald, director of choral music at Charlottetown's Confederation Centre of the Arts, said the key to overcoming the fear of judgment is finding a supportive environment.
"Not every space that we enter is going to be the space for us. So sometimes we have to be able to just manoeuvre around and figure out where we belong."

Guindon also encourages those looking to get back into art, of any form, to work on being comfortable with fear and failure.
"That might mean that you paint or dance or sing once a week or once a month; but finding that outlet that fits you and finding a time and allowing yourself permission to miss it, or to fail it, or to feel kind of crummy about what you did, but then coming back to it, that's the real win," he said.

Some beautiful close ups of faces and regalia worn in celebration of National Indigenous People's Day on June 21 (also S...
06/22/2026

Some beautiful close ups of faces and regalia worn in celebration of National Indigenous People's Day on June 21 (also Summer Solstice).

Led by women artists and creatives, the annual summer pageant of River Clyde Arts is a wonderful thriving initiative. It...
06/18/2026

Led by women artists and creatives, the annual summer pageant of River Clyde Arts is a wonderful thriving initiative. It is a true community extravaganza with a long-term vision of sustainability.
____________________________
After a decade searching, River Clyde Arts finds long-term home for beloved P.E.I. pageant. 'We can make sure that the things that we’re building actually are built to last'

The annual River Clyde Pageant is a large outdoor spectacle celebrating environmental stewardship and the natural world. The event comes to life through vibrant costumes, stilt walkers, choirs and puppets of all shapes and sizes.

River Clyde Arts has found a long-term home in New Glasgow, P.E.I., giving its annual outdoor pageant a stable base after about a decade of moving between different sites. The New Glasgow-based arts organization is best known for its annual River Clyde Pageant, a large outdoor spectacle celebrating environmental stewardship and the natural world. The event comes to life through vibrant costumes, stilt walkers, choirs and puppets of all shapes and sizes.

Artistic director and pageant co-director Megan Stewart said the search for a new location last year drew a strong response.
“We launched a big public search for a new home in the fall … and we got a ton of response from the local community … which was amazing,” she told Mainstreet P.E.I. host Nicola MacLeod.

The River Clyde Pageant, a large outdoor theatre production, has secured a new site in New Glasgow for the next 10 years. Organizers say this will allow them to plan their programming well into the future. The new site is a parcel of former farmland owned by longtime pageant supporters Janet Lester and Ian Dickieson. It’s located in the heart of the village, behind the New Glasgow Christian Church and across the road from where the pageant has been performed in recent years.

Stewart first visited the land in November. “There’s lots of wide open spaces, there’s lots of gently sloping hills, there’s lots of beautiful trees and shrubs, and a little stream,” she said.

River Clyde Arts now has a 10-year lease on the property, which Stewart said changes how they can plan and build. “It gives us this really long-term horizon for planning,” she said. “We can make sure that the things that we’re building actually are built to last.”

Environmental stewardship is central to the project. “It is about being good community members, not just to our human neighbors, but to … plants and trees and insects and animals,” Stewart said.
She added the group is working with organizations like the Hunter-Clyde Watershed Group, and recently hosted a planting day to restore the stream with native trees and shrubs.

Heading into its 10th summer in P.E.I., the River Clyde Pageant still delights spectators. The organization is inviting the public to a welcome picnic at the new site on June 27.

This year's River Clyde Pageant will run over two weekends, July 23 to 26 and July 30 to Aug. 2. Tickets go on sale June 24 and 25, with early access available to mailing list subscribers. Stewart said a new 10-year commemorative hardcover book, featuring photos, essays, poetry and an index of cast and crew, is available for pre-order and will also be sold at the pageant.

An excellent article written by Susan Hartley, member of the PEI Working Group for a Livable Income. The ACSW is proud t...
06/16/2026

An excellent article written by Susan Hartley, member of the PEI Working Group for a Livable Income. The ACSW is proud to work alongside Susan and others on the critical issue of income security.
______________
COMMENTARY: An equitable society is a secure society
By Susan Hartley

Susan Hartley is the editor of Global Voices for Peace: An Introduction to Peacebuilders and the Hope They Bring.

In my September 2025 commentary in The Guardian, Security starts at home, I challenged decision-makers in our federal and provincial governments to recognize that, as they strive to make our country more secure in the face of threats to our sovereignty and economy, they must pay attention and address the structural and institutional inequalities within our society that contribute to a lack of security and stability.

We hear almost daily about plans for increased spending on militarization, defence and border control in response to external threats, yet we hear less, if anything, about the threat that comes from the increasing income gap or about any plans to make systemic changes to how we care for the most economically — and therefore socially — vulnerable or disadvantaged in our communities.

While writing about the humanitarian crisis in Sudan recently, former Canadian foreign minister, Lloyd Axworthy, stated, “Human security begins with a simple idea: the safety of states depends on the safety of people.”

He advocates for a renewed human security foreign policy, one that applies the ‘responsibility to protect’ doctrine wherein the international community has a duty to respond to crises and threats of crises through peaceful means.

The research in Peace clearly indicates that the same reasoning and logic applies to building resilience within our country’s boundaries and ensuring that people are safe, secure, and free from the structural and systemic violence inherent in the levels of poverty, homelessness and inequity in our society. Our governments have a duty and responsibility to protect locally and internationally.

As I stated in my commentary of September, here in P.E.I. we have a policy proposal on the table that will take us a long way toward building security at home and throughout the whole country: basic income guarantee. The P.E.I. Working Group for a Liveable Income has been the driving force for BIG for the past 22 years. The group has worked with advocates across Canada to develop this fully costed proposal. Through BIG, resources are distributed more equitably and the right for all people to have their basic needs met is actualized.

This proposal is in the hands of the P.E.I. provincial government and the federal government. It is ready to move forward, and has the support of economists, politicians, and the broader community.

P.E.I. BIG demonstration
Moving forward with the P.E.I. BIG demonstration project, which will eradicate deep poverty, waits for political will, direction from our premier and prime minister, and an understanding by decision-makers that a guaranteed basic income is a critical tool in a nation’s security plan — the recognition that they must not just consider defence measures, but consider how every person in Canada is doing.

The threat to our social safety nets and expenditures aimed at increasing the well being of people living in Canada is real and affects a significant portion of our population on a daily basis.

By tackling income inequity, food insecurity, and housing insecurity we can create a fairer, more secure and more peaceful country, and reduce the threats that emanate from a society that does not care for all members. We just need to look south of our border to a country where inequity grew along with a promise of equity that was never realized to see what happens when these threats are ignored.

Policy such as BIG transforms the structures and systems that currently sustain poverty in our country and a country that eradicates, or at least significantly decreases, poverty is a securer and more stable society.

To restate the challenge I put to all of us previously: Imagine how much more secure and resilient our communities and our province would be if everyone had their basic needs met through a guaranteed income, and if everyone had the opportunity to flourish. We have the research; we have the evidence; we have the means: basic income guarantee. We all have a role in creating a secure society: speak to your MLA and your MP — they know about the P.E.I. BIG proposal; you might want to remind them.

Susan Hartley, PhD (psychology) is a global peace scholar who lives in Georgetown Royalty, P.E.I., and is a member of the P.E.I. Working Group for a Liveable Income. This is the second article in a series of commentaries prepared by members of the working group. The first was published June 9.

A positive story of inclusion and care and security for all PEI citizens. Getting to know people, listening to their exp...
06/15/2026

A positive story of inclusion and care and security for all PEI citizens. Getting to know people, listening to their experiences, and developing relationships of trust. This is what I expect and applaud from City Police and Outreach Centre staff.
____________________________________________
Calls to Charlottetown's emergency shelter, outreach centre area dropped 37%, police say. 'We want a compassionate place, a community where all can thrive and feel safe'

Calls to the area surrounding the emergency shelter and Community Outreach Centre on Park Street in Charlottetown are down year over year, and police say regular patrols are delivering positive results. Charlottetown Police Services said it's received 37 per cent fewer calls to the area in the city's eastern end. Between April 2025 and April 2026, there were 600 calls, down from the 962 the agency received between April 2024 and April 2025.

"I find being on foot patrol slows things down a little bit," Const. Jason Coombs told CBC News. "We really get to get to know the people and their stories … and the police presence itself definitely helps."

Calls are down year over year to the area surrounding the Park Street emergency shelter in Charlottetown. But some city councillors say problems persist. CBC’s Tony Davis reports.
The overnight shelter was set up to provide safe housing for people who didn't have a place to stay, and operates seven days a week between the hours of 8 p.m. and 8 a.m. The outreach centre is designed to serve people dealing with mental health issues, coping with issues that accompany homelessness, and those who are struggling to get back on their feet.

Residents of the area have spoken out at several public meetings in the past about concerns of loitering and drug use. Coombs said the police presence in the area involves officers connecting with staff and clients of the provincially run shelter and outreach centre to address any potential concerns. Two officers are assigned to the area during the week, with extra patrols added on weekends.

"It's a collaborative approach from all the officers to try to make sure it's a safe area for everybody," Coombs said. "We get to know the clients and the people here very well by their name and listen to their stories and concerns and try to direct them [to] any agencies that might be able to assist."

Charlottetown police say about 13 clients with complex issues account for nearly half of the calls they receive. Roxanne Carter-Thompson, director of the Community Outreach Center, attributed the drop in calls to efforts by government, police and community partners.

"We're really fortunate that the police officers that come down and visit the outreach centre, they create opportunities for engagement," she said. "They come in when activities are happening, they participate with clients. So they really work on developing a relationship, and I think that makes a huge difference."

In a statement, officials with the province said relationships are key to building trust with clients and the community, and for getting people into better living situations. It said the focus remains on supporting people in a way that fosters a safer community.

Carter-Thompson said last year saw 97 people successfully find housing — "and successfully means they maintained that housing."
"I know it has been a learning curve for all of us," she said. "At the end of the day, what we can all agree on is that we want a compassionate place, a community where all can thrive and feel safe."

At a recent city council meeting, Coun. Justin Muttart applauded the work of police but said he thinks residents are tired of calling. He said issues with trespassing and open drug use continue. "I can assure you as being the councillor of the ward, there's still lots of problems in and around that area," he said.

"So anything that we can do to kind of keep the momentum going around, you know, protecting residents dealing with issues.… I think it's what the residents are hoping for."

Coombs said the work on Park Street is a collaborative approach, and it’s creating positive results. He said residents in the area who have issues should continue to call police so that data can be tracked.

"I think it's not just one person or … group solutions, it's a whole community that can solve it," he said. "We're just out, being visible, approachable and to try to be proactive."

Our Executive Director Vanessa was thrilled to get a chance to sit down with Catherine Callbeck yesterday. Catherine is ...
06/11/2026

Our Executive Director Vanessa was thrilled to get a chance to sit down with Catherine Callbeck yesterday. Catherine is a former PEI Premier (first and only woman so far), Senator in the House of Commons, and all-round outstandng community leader. Her vitality, clarity, commitment to women's education, and interest in tattoos was inspiring!

Province hopes new cyberviolence prevention strategy for P.E.I. youth will help save lives 'If we save one family, one i...
06/11/2026

Province hopes new cyberviolence prevention strategy for P.E.I. youth will help save lives 'If we save one family, one individual … then this will all be working'

Warning: This story deals with serious mental health concerns and su***de. Resources and supports for anyone struggling with mental health can be found at the bottom of this story.

The province has released a strategy that aims to protect Prince Edward Island youth from cyberviolence. With it, the provincial government hopes to address online harassment, bullying and extortion faced by younger Islanders.

Kari Kruse with the P.E.I. Coalition for Women's Leadership said the strategy's announcement "means that we actually have to see these pillars implemented." "I lived it, I'm among the first generation to grow up with the internet," she said.

The province has just released its youth cyberviolence prevention strategy, which lays out how the P.E.I. government will tackle the widespread problem of online harassment and bullying among children. As CBC’s Cody MacKay explains, the plan wasn't just developed for young Islanders, it was developed by them.
Steps in the strategy include:

Teaching youth and school staff about the harms of cyberviolence.
Promoting awareness campaigns and expanding phone policies in schools. Giving youth a means to report cyberviolence discreetly and providing more mental health supports. Drafting policies for schools created by and for youth. Creating youth-led advocacy groups. Kruse said the strategy was necessary decades ago, so she is happy to see it arrive.

"It's frustrating, because for a long time cyberbullying was just defined as something that you can just turn away from, but that's not true anymore," she said. "The way that technology is integrated into our lives, especially starting in childhood, there's so much complexity to it, but the fact is that youth are getting hurt often."

New policy will target abusive behaviours in P.E.I. schools, including cyberbullying. 1st Cyberbullying Awareness Day on P.E.I. honours youth who died by su***de. Having youth involved in creating and implementing the strategy is important.

Fleur Rodrigues was involved as part of a committee formed by the P.E.I. Coalition for Women's Leadership. "It's very exciting to see that people are eager to listen to youth voices," she said. "We're very excited to see what initiatives come out from it and the impact that it leaves on youth on P.E.I."

Kushi Damry agrees, adding it's important for government to hear from the people affected by cyberviolence. "Anything that affects young people in general, there should be action being taken and there should be our voices heard," Damry said.

Education and Early Years Minister Robin Croucher dedicated his work on the strategy to Harry Burke. Burke was a 17-year-old Souris Regional School student who in 2023 was enticed into sharing intimate pictures through a Snapchat conversation with someone posing as a girl.

After he did, the individual threatened to ruin Burke's career and his life if he didn't send money. Hours after the initial contact, Burke died by su***de. "It's another step in the work that we've been doing as government, that I've been doing personally, a lot of it in honour of Harry Burke and that loss that we've experienced in our community," Croucher said. "This is a big day for me."

He called it "one step in the right direction," and one that will save lives. "Certainly, any lives that are changed, any families that don't have to go through what [the Burke family has] gone through and continue to go through every single day, if we save one family, one individual from that, then this will all be working," Croucher said.

The province's next step is to put the strategy in place over the coming months and years. Part of that includes creating a $100,000 grant that organizations can apply to for creating cyberviolence prevention programs.

Kruse said even if the strategy saves even one life "it's going to mean the world. It's going to mean that this was worth it. This work was impactful," she said. "I always want to contribute to positive impacts in the world, and I hope this is one of them."

Our weekly curated enewsletter!
06/11/2026

Our weekly curated enewsletter!

Address

161 St. Peter's Road PO Box 2000
Charlottetown, PE
C1A7N8

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm

Telephone

(902) 368-4510

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when PEI Advisory Council on the Status of Women posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Organization

Send a message to PEI Advisory Council on the Status of Women:

Shortcuts

Share

Category