Rebel News avoided the uber-woke International Women’s Day march in Toronto earlier this month. Instead, we covered an event called, “An International Women’s Day Celebration,” where activist Heather Mason played a key role in organizing.
Mason, a former federal prisoner, has spent the past five years advocating for criminalized women on various prison issues, including segregation, strip-searching, and the transfer of prisoners from male to women’s prisons.
Her advocacy on this latter issue led her to connect with a group of women who formed a grassroots organization focused on maintaining women’s rights to single-sex spaces, known as Canadian Women’s Sex-based Rights, or CaWsbar.
I asked Heather, “What’s the latest on this ongoing danger? It’s more than a farce; it endangers real women behind bars.”
He response was that “it is dangerous.”
Heather expressed her concerns about the recent case involving Luka Magnotta, who identifies as a woman and goes by Violet. Heather finds it troubling that Magnotta was transferred to medium security to fulfill their fantasy of being a woman. She questions ‘what’s next,’ expressing disbelief at the idea of a man potentially being moved to a women’s prison.
Heather lamented the lack of solidarity among women, noting that many hesitate to speak out and instead comply with directives. She finds it infuriating that women are forced to fight against each other to preserve their spaces, safety, and dignity. Overall, Heather finds the situation frustrating and concerning.
I asked Heather what can be done in the future, especially regarding female prisons, to reverse this ludicrous stipulation where a man can simply claim to be a woman and be housed with real women.
Her response was, “Well, really, it’s about educating them because a lot of people are unaware of what is going on and our government officials don’t care until the public is outraged and then they push for them to make changes.”
Heather pointed out that Pierre Poilievre mentioned certain issues but tried to pass the responsibility to provincial and municipal levels, even though prisons fall under federal jurisdiction. Heather emphasized the importance of urging Pierre to address federal prison matters, as this could lead to addressing other issues as well.
