Clandestine Operations: Key Notes on VWC and the Abortion Caravan

Overview of Clandestine Operations in Women’s Liberation

• Focus on the Vancouver Women’s Caucus (VWC) and their Abortion Caravan in the context of RCMP surveillance.
• Introduction of Omnibus Bill C-150 in 1969: legalized contraception, abortion, and homosexual acts.
• The new abortion law was criticized for being overly restrictive, leading to public outcry and activism.

The Vancouver Women’s Caucus (VWC)

• Formation and Influence:
  • Established from the New Left movements at Simon Fraser University (SFU).
  • Initially focused on issues like childcare, equal pay, and abortion access, highlighting women's oppression.
  • Transitioned from a group at university to a more organized feminist movement.
• Membership Composition:
  • Primarily white, middle-class women in their twenties.
  • Included university students, faculty, and other women from varied backgrounds.
  • Engaged in grassroots activism, aiming for women’s liberation through direct action and awareness campaigns.

The Abortion Caravan

• Objectives:
  • Aimed to challenge the new abortion laws and raise national awareness. Attendance for the caravan was planned for Mother’s Day weekend, May 9-11, 1970.
  • Publicized issues related to abortion access, particularly emphasizing inequalities faced by poor and working-class women.
• Symbolic Representation:
  • The lead vehicle displayed a coffin filled with coat hangers, symbolizing the deaths of women from unsafe abortions.
  • Included performances of guerrilla theatre to publicly dramatize the consequences of restrictive abortion laws.

RCMP Surveillance and Response

• Context of Surveillance:
  • Declassified files reveal extensive surveillance of the VWC, linked to fears of leftist sentiments and subversion during the Cold War.
  • The RCMP’s surveillance was based on gender and social biases, often misinterpreting women's liberation activism as linked to radicalism.
• Surveillance Methods:
  • Utilized a combination of police surveillance, public records, informants, and reported activities of women’s groups.
  • Misinformed assumptions about threats posed by women's groups revealed a gendered misunderstanding of their activism.

The Journey to Ottawa

• Significant Events:
  • The caravan progressed with public meetings and performances designed to attract media attention.
  • RCMP attempted to manage potential confrontations with increased security and monitoring as the caravan neared Ottawa.
• Failure of Security Protocols:
  • The RCMP inadequately prepared for nonviolent actions, leading to security breaches at the Prime Minister's residence and the House of Commons.
  • Unsanctioned feminist protests added urgency and were made possible through the nature of the participants' gender and the RCMP’s biases.

Concluding Reflections

• Impact of the Caravan:
  • Successfully highlighted issues of abortion law, obtaining high visibility for women’s rights.
  • The determination shown by the VWC in pressing for policy reform reflected broader systemic issues of gender inequality.
• Final Insights:
  • The RCMP's failure to grasp the significance placed on women’s activism illustrated a general underestimation of feminist movements during this era.
  • Women’s liberation was seen as subversive due to its challenge to the established gender norms and highlighted the evolving landscape of protest in Canada.