"574b21cb-0cc5-4f9c-8540-5c27e6f461f0"@en . "CONTENTdm"@en . "http://resolve.library.ubc.ca/cgi-bin/catsearch?bid=1213576"@en . "Kinesis"@en . "2013-08-15"@en . "1997-09-01"@en . "https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/kinesis/items/1.0045623/source.json"@en . "application/pdf"@en . " , '\u00C3\u0084\u00C3\u00BB SPECIAL COUECTIOHS ^\ SEPTEMBER 1997 It's not in my head... pg 14 CMPA$2.25 1 Inside KINESIS #309-877 E. Hastings St., Vancouver, BC V6A 3Y1 Tel: (604) 255-5499 Fax:(604)255-5511 Kinesis welcomes volunteers to work on all aspects of the paper. Our next Writers' Meeting is Tues Sep 2 and Tues Oct 7 at our new office, 309-877 E. Hastings St. Production is Sep 23- 30. All women welcome even if you dont have experience. Kinesis is published ten times a year by the Vancouver Status of Women. Its objectives are to be a non- sectarian feminist voice for women and to work actively for social change, specifically combatting sexism, racism, classism, homophobia, ableism, and imperialism. Views expressed in Kinesis are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect VSW policy. All unsigned material is the responsibility of the Kinesis Editorial Board. EDITORIAL BOARD Fatima Jaffer, Lissa Geller {on leave), wendy lee kenward, Agnes Huang, Sook C. Kong, Rachel Rosen PRODUCTION THIS ISSUE Mariene del Hoyo, Mary Logan, Dorcas Wilkins, Janet Mou, Ednoi Boun, Fatima Jaffer, Jehn Starr, Leanne Keltie, Catherine Munn, Lisa Valencia-Svensson, Siren Ahmedi, El Apostol, Ivana Djeric Advertising: Sur Mehat Circulation: Audrey Johnson, Chrystal Fowler Distribution: Fatima Jaffer Production Co-ordinaton Swee $im Tan Typesetter: Sur Mehat FRONT COVER Terrie Hamazaki in her one-woman show Furusato (Birth Place) [seepage 17.] Photo by Dianne Whelan. PRESS DATE August 28, 1997 SUBSCRIPTIONS Individual: $20 per year (+$1.40 GST) or what you can afford Institutions/Groups: $45 per year (+$3.15 GST) VSW Membership (includes 1 year Kinesis subscription): $30 per year (+$1.40 GST) SUBMISSIONS Women and girls are welcome to make submissions. We reserve the right to edit and submission does not guarantee publication. If possible, submissions should be typed, double spaced and must be signed ar include an address, telephone number and SASE. Kinesis does not accept poetry or fiction. Editorial guidelines are available upon request. DEADLINES All submissions must be received in the month preceding publication. Note: Jul/Aug and Dec/Jan are double issues. Features and reviews: 10th News: 15th Letters and Bulletin Board: 18th Display advertising (camera ready): 18th (design required): 16th Printing by Horizon Publications. Kinesis is indexed in the Canadian Women's Periodicals Index, the Alternative Press Index, and is a member of the Canadian Magazine Publishers Association. ISSN 0317-9095 Publications mail registration #6426 News Self-defense review in hands of government 3 by Agnes Huang BC woman wins right to breastfeed at work 4 by Wei Yuen Fong Youth and students reject APEC 4 by Mariene del Hoyo Women Leaders' Network promotes APEC agenda 5 by Punam Khosla A primer on APEC 5 compiled by Fatima Jaffer Features Bella Galhos on resistance in East Timor 9 as told to Lisa Valencia-Svensson New report on women and work 11 by Marion Pollack Centrespread a Gahlos. Native women fight the injustice of Bill C-31 by Mary Jane Hannaburg as told to Fay Blaney Commentary Exposing the \"It's all in her head\" syndrome .. by Kelly Hay don Mary Jane Hannaburg.. Arts The improv talents of the women in VIEW 16 by Laiwan Review of Queen Mab's new CD 16 by Laiwan Furusato (Birth Place) by Terrie Hamazaki 17 as told to Sara Miura Zolbrod China Dog, a novel by Judy Fong Bates 18 reviewed by Rita Wong Linda Tillery and the Cultural Heritage Choir 19 as told to Michelle Sylliboy A chat with Jane Sapp at the Folk Fest 20 by Michelle Sylliboy Regulars As Kinesis Goes to Press r. 2 Inside Kinesis 2 Movement Matters 6 compiled by Dorcas Wilkins What's News 7 compiled by Leanne Keltie and Wei Yuen Fong Bulletin Board 21 compiled by Kelly Haydon Queen Mab.. Jane Sapp., SEPTEMBER 1997 As Kinesis goes to press, the rain is falling and so are the profits of Canada's major banks. Ha, ha ha...\"August Fool's.\" Of course we know the opposite is in fact true: just last month the banks reported they were about to surpass their previous record level profits for a quarter. Yes, profits; that's the name of the game...Well, at least that was one of the games being debated at the Canadian Medical Association's annual meeting held in Victoria in mid-August. Universal, affordable, two-tier, privatized...these were among the issues on the table for discussion. To ensure that the doctors attending the CMA conference were aware that there is a strong opposition to a shift to a privatized health care system, the BC Network Against Two-Tier held a press conference during the CMA meeting. Although a nod of confidence for public health care was given when doctors at the CMA convention voted against a privatized system, it should be noted that they also elected a president, Victor Dirnfeld, who has made it very clear that he supports a two-tiered system. Ivory Warner of the BC Nurses Union warns that, as he did when he was head of the BC Medical Association, Dirnfeld may try and use the CMA as a lobbying tool for a for-profit medicare system. Further on the healthcare front. A recent report from StatsCan\u00E2\u0080\u0094the National Population Health Survey\u00E2\u0080\u0094indicates that more and more Canadians are turning their backs on traditional western medical practitioners and towards alternative health practitioners, like acupuncturists, homeopaths and naturopaths. The survey also shows, not surprisingly, that the greatest increase in the number of people who seek alternative care are higher income level individuals (because they can afford it) and women (because women often do not get the appropriate diagnosis and treatment they need through traditional western medicine [page 14. J) An example of how badly women and our bodies have been treated throughout the centuries recently came to light in a series of articles in Sweden's largest morning newspaper. It appears that, in an attempt to rid the country of learning disabilities, poverty and non-Nordic blood (among other social ills,) the Swedish government engaged in a forced sterilization program between 1934 and 1974. During this period, more than 60,000 women were operated on, without their (real) consent, although the Swedish government claims participation was voluntary. To its credit, the Swedish government has denounced the practice and is discussing compensation with the women affected. Aboriginal women in Canada are quite familiar with policies designed to annihilate particular portions of a society. Not only have Aboriginal women also been subjected to practices such as forced sterilization, they've also been targetted by such genocidal policies as the residential school system and the second generation cut-off (Bill C-31) [see centrespread.} On the subject of residential schools and compensation for abuse...recently, the United Church of Canada expressed sorrow for their part in operating the country's residential school system. However, \S ANCOUV/ER T A T U S O F \AJ O M Our appreciation goes out to the following supporters who renewed their memberships and who responded so generously to our direct mail campaign during the months of July and August. The call for donations was specificallly made to ensure a strong funding base for the continued success oiKinesis. Much thanks to: Joyce Arthur * Sherry Baker * Evelyn Battell * Cynthia Baxter * Barbara Bell * Steve Bently * Ray Boucher * Betty-Ann Buss * Melanie Conn * Dorothy Chunn * Paula Clancy * Patricia Cressey * Gail Cryer * Tanya De Haan * Veronica Delarme * Marilyn DeRooy * Joanne Drake * Deborah Dunne * Nancy Edwards * Pat Feindel * Gloria Filax * Sydney Foran * Anita Fortney * Catherine Fretwell * Jeanette Frost * Stan Gabriel * Mamie Hancock * Theresa Harding * Lisa Hayes * Maureen Hoffoert * Alison Hopwood * HR Matrix Consulting Ltd * Faune Johnson * Alicen Keamarden * Angela Kelly * Else Kennedy * Karen Kilbride * Meredith Kimball * Mary Beth Knechtel * Ken Kroeker * Anne LeBlanc * Abby Lippman * Ursula Litzcke * Heather MacFadgen * Kathy McGreva * Kathleen MacRae * Margaret McCoy * Deborah McDougall * Vera Mclntyre * Adrian Montani * Patricia Moore * Marina Morrow * Kathryn Nonesuch * Jan Noppe * Eha Ohno * Susan Parker * Joy Parr * Susan Penf old * Geraldine Pratt * Arvilla Read * Roberta Rich * Janet Riehm * Adrianne Ross * Ann Rowan * Rosemarie Rupps * Mary Schendlinger * Mary Selman * Helen Shore * Mary-Woo SimsKay Sinclair * Catherine Soubliere * Phyllis Stenson * Gale Stewart * Ginny Stikeman * Marsha Trew * Lisa Turner * Gale Tyler * Christine Waymark * Susan Wendall \u00C2\u00BB Barbara Wild * Nola Williams \u00C2\u00BB Theresa Wolfwood \u00C2\u00BB Nathalie Younglai * Kim Zander A special thanks to our donors who give every month. Monthly donations assist VSW in establishing a reliable funding base to carry out our programs, services and Kinesis throughout the year. Thanks to: Wendy Baker \u00C2\u00BB Nancy Duff * Mary Frey \u00C2\u00BB Jody Gordon * Erin Graham * Barbara Karmazyn * Barbara Lebrasseur * Lolani Maar * the Church refused to take it a step further and apologize for its action because it fears an apology may support larger lawsuit settlements against it. The Church is calling on the federal government to admit its responsibility in the abhorrent treatment of Aboriginal people in the residential schools, so that the Church does not have to bear the full brunt of the blame for the abuse. Despite two very high profile cases last month of violence against women in its province, the Alberta government is stalling on passing stronger laws to deal with family violence. Last year, the opposition Liberals put forward a bill that would make it easier for women to obtain restraining orders against their abusive partners, and force abusive spouses to leave the family home rather than women and children. Initially, Ralph Klein's Conservative government said it would support the bill, but now the Conservatives have decided to redraft the bill and seek public discussions. Meanwhile, the Alberta government is not taking any actions to ensure women will be safe from violent men. Speaking of violence against women, Kinesis just heard through the grapevine that a new crisis hotline for Chinese women in the Lower Mainland of BC will be up and running on September 2. Earlier this year, we had the opportunity to interview Helen Huang, who is one of the founders of the Women's Hotline in China and the initiator of the hotline here in Vancouver [see March 1997. ] Unfortunately, we weren't able to reach Huang before we had to go to press to find out the full scoop, but we'll definitely have an update on the hotline next issue. This just in...In California, the lastest in anti-affirmative action laws\u00E2\u0080\u0094also known as Proposition 209\u00E2\u0080\u0094came into effect. The law would clawback many of the gains women and people of colour have made in terms of access to education, jobs and government contracts. Thousands of demonstrators, including the mayor of San Francisco Willie Brown, marched across the Golden Gate Bridge to make clear their opposition to the racist and sexist law. Finally, before we go to press, we have some fabulous news to report...in our October 1996 issue, we published a review of Deepa Mehta's Fire in which we had to sadly say that the film had yet to find a North American distributor. Fire had received lots and lots of accolades at both the Toronto and the Vancouver International Film Festivals. Now, having been picked up by Malof ilm Distribution, Fire will be making its way to (many, we hope) big screens across the country. That's all for this edition of As Kinesis goes to press, have a great September. See you next month. We're back, refreshed and ready to tex- tually speaking kick ass, after a month off. Kinesis opened for biz in early August, but the Vancouver Status of Women, which houses Kinesis, closed for the month. That allowed the women who come in and out of the place to put the issue you're holding in your hands together in some peace and quiet. (Actually, more like it allowed us to be noisier than usual, putting in those late nights and sharing wild stories of productions past.) We've a number of \"new\" things to tell you about this month. We spent weeks looking for a great deal on a scanner and finally bought one just in time for production this month. Some of you may remember, our scanner had mysteriously broken down during the move to new premises back in April. Not surprisingly it would have cost more to have it fixed than to replace it. Our efforts to get a scanner donated were leading nowhere, and we were wary of overstaying our welcome at FREDA, the research centre on violence against women and children, whose scanner we've been borrowing these last few months. We would like once again to express our appreciation to FREDA for all their support during our scanner-less months. Thanks! So...for those of our readers who know about these matters, our new scanner is a Microtek ScanMaker E6, with 600 x 1200 dpi (which has to do with the number of dots it breaks an image into,) and it seems to work just fine. Let us know what you think of the scan quality of our photos in this issue. Also new is our idea to bring together a committe of non-Editorial Board members to put together the biggestXmes/s Benefit bash yet. The numerous changes and upheavals at Kinesis and in Canada politically made it impossible for us to organize our annual benefit and raffle this year. This is a big loss, as we've been told countless stories that illustrate how the Kinesis bashes work as a wonderful venue to meet new friends and re-meet some old ones. So the Editorial Board decided to put together a special bash next Spring to cover both 1997 and 1998 benefits. And as the Kinesis Editorial Board is currently rather stressed (and small), we would like to invite Kinesis volunteers past, present and new to help organize it. If you're interested in getting involved, call Agnes Huang at 255-5499. We'd love to have you on board, especially if you have fresh ideas on how to put together an extra special party for Kinesis supporters, contributors and workers. We have some new faces in the production room to thank for their help in putting together this month's issue. New at wielding X-acto knives and blue editing pens are: Janet Mou, Ivana Djeric, Ednoi Boun, and the ubiquitous and always handy Mary Logan. (Mary did lots to help Kinesis move and set up, so she's not entirely new to Kinesis, just to our production process). And finally we have some new voices/ writers to thank for their contributions this month: Mary Jane Hannaburg, Bella Galhos, Mariene del Hoyo, Sara Miura Zolbrod, Linda Tillery, Elouise Burrell, Melanie DeMore, Emma-Jean Fiege and Jane Sapp. That's all for this month. Read us next nex issue for the latest on what's happening behind the scenes at Kinesis. And feel free to drop by or call if you're interested in helping us get the paper out. We're always glad to see a new face. No experience necessary. Call Agnes at 255-5499 or come by to our office at 309-877 E. Hastings St, Vancouver. Happy reading and enjoy whatever sunshine is left this summer. SEPTEMBER 1997 News Women and justice in Canada: Still waiting for a response by Agnes Huang Seven women are hoping the federal government will soon make a decision that may allow them to move on with their lives. The women, all of whom had been found guilty of killing men who were violent towards them, have been recommended for relief by the federally appointed self- defense review. Two years ago, as a result of intensive lobbying from women's organizations, and in particular the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies (CAEFS), the Liberal government agreed to an en bloc review of cases where women were convicted of murder or manslaughter, but where evidence of self-defense may not have been adequately dealt with. (The review call was spurred on by the landmark Supreme Court of Canada decision in 1990 which recognized \"battered women's syndrome\" as a legal defense.) The government appointed Ontario provincial court judge Lynn Ratushny to head the review, and gave her a mandate to revisit individual women's cases, as well as suggest law reform. The government expected only 12 to 15 cases, but by the end of it, Ratushny had heard from 98 women. CAEFS' executive director Kim Pate says she's not surprised that 98 women emerged, adding that the number likely would have been higher if women convicted of assault or who had plead guilty to charges were also included in the review. In an interim report presented to then Minister of Justice Allan Rock and Solici tor General Herb Gray in February, Ratushny made recommendations in six cases. In July, when Ratushny handed in her final report to the new Minister of Justice and Solicitor General, Anne McLellan and Andrew Scott, she made an additional recommendation. In the seven cases, she recommended relief for the women ranging from four being given complete freedom, one a reduced sentence, one a free pardon [see below], and one a new hearing before an appeal court to determine whether she was guilty of a lesser crime than first-degree murder. Some of the women are still incarcerated; others are one paroled; and one completed her full sentence. All of them served at least five years in prison, and one woman has served almost 20 years already. Since the interim report was released, CAEFS has continually written to the government to take immediate action. In one letter sent in March, Pate wrote: \"I am struggling to articulate the fear I have for the well being and survival of the woman with whom I visited today. This woman started out by asking me whether I thought you would \"do something for the other five\" women if one of the six \"was gone...She described the feelings of hopelessness that threaten to envelope her as each hour and day crawl past since February 6th.\" Neither Rock nor Gray moved on the recommendations, and when the federal election call came out, the decision-making process was left at a standstill. Prisoners' Justice Day Memorial Throughout the course of a very hot day, more than 100 people joined in on this year's Prisoners'Justice Day Memorial outside of the pre-trial centre in Vancouver.The memorial, held each year since 1974 on August 10, has become an international day of solidarity and activism to draw public attention to the oppressive conditions inside prisons. The memorial was emceed by Filis Iverson a long-time organizer of the event and a member of Joint Effort, a group supporting women at the BC Correctional Centre for Women, [pictured above right with Sonia Marino.] Among the speakers and performers were Dara Culhane, daughter of prisoners' rights activist Claire Culhane; Karlene Faith, a criminologist at Simon Fraser University and author of Unruly Women; the Squamish Nation hand drummers; and members of SawagiTaiko\u00E2\u0080\u0094 Eileen Kage and Leslie Komori. George Thompson, deputy minister in the Department of Justice, told Kinesis that McLellan and Scott are currently considering Judge Ratushny's report and that there is a \"likelihood [the ministers] will make a decision relatively soon on the recommendations concerning cases of individuals.\" In terms of the legal reform recommendations, Thompson says the process of dealing with them will take longer and require further consultation. Kripa Sekhar of the Saskatchewan Action Committee on the Status of Women in Regina says the government has no excuse for not taking immediate action in the women's cases. \"Seven out of 98 cases is ridiculously low to begin with, so these cases must be those where the women have clearly been wronged,\" she says. \"These women have been abused and have had to defend themselves, and now they're having to wait on the government. It just doesn't seem fair.\" To urge the federal government to respond to the self-defense review recommendations, fax letters or petitions to Andrew Scott, Solicitor General of Canada, (613) 996-9955; Anne McLellan, Minister of justice and Attorney General, (613) 943-0044; and Jean Chretien, Prime Minister of Canada, (613) 941-6900, or contact them by mail. All correspondance can be sent to the ministers c/o the House of Commons, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0A6. (No stamp necessary.) Justice delayed is justice denied Kinesis had the opportunity to speak to a woman who was recommended for a free pardon by Judge Lynn Ratushny. The woman, who chooses to remain anonymous at this time to safeguard herself and her family, is an Aboriginal woman and the mother of five children. \"Jane Doe\" was charged with manslaughter in the death of a man who was trying to rape and kill her. She was convicted and sentenced to six years in prison in 1991. Last year, she was released after serving her full sentence. Agnes Huang: In your case, Judge Ratushny recommended a free pardon. What does that mean for you? Jane Doe: A free pardon means [the conviction] will be wiped off my record. Basically what she said was that if evidence had been properly introduced at my trial, then I would have been acquitted. To me, it means having justice served and paving the way for other women so they don't have to go through what I did. [Hopefully, the government will] make amendments to the laws to protect women so when they go to court they won't have to have unnecessary incarceration. It would be so nice if [the recommendations were accepted by the government,] so I can move on with my life. I'm still stuck in [a prison-like situation] even though I'm not on parole anymore. If the recommedation is accepted, then when my youngest one grows up and starts asking questions, I can tell her what happened. She is going to want to know why we were separated all those years. I can explain that the law didn't protect me then, but it did after the fact. Huang: And hopefully other women will never have to go through this. Doe: It's kind of amazing because I know that, about 20 years ago, this happened in the United States. Canada is so far behind. In the US, they reviewed the cases of women who were protecting themselves. I remember hearing about it and thinking those women should never have been in jail and it's so sad that they live these tragic lives. I never thought in my lifetime those things would happen to me. Huang: Have you gotten a lot of support from the community? Doe: I have gotten support from different unions in my province, and from different people who've been helping me. As far as community support, it has been only recently that I've been looking for it. It's been really positive and happening even quicker than I expected. All through my sentence I've had support from the Elizabeth Fry Society. It's been amazing, not just in terms of the self-defense review but in bringing my children to visit me. My youngest one wouldn't know me today if it hadn't been for them. Huang: How about from the Aboriginal community? Doe: Actually, I'm just starting to realize I have to appeal to my own people. Some of the response I've gotten has been good. Huang: Judge Ratushny recommended your free pardon in February with her interim report, but her final report wasn't sent to the government until July 11. Now we're into August. What has it been like for you having to wait for so long. Doe: It's been really frustrating. I always have to remind myself when I don't have faith that it is a federal review and try to cling onto some hope. It's a federal review by their people, it's not like I had all this money to hire all these lawyers. I know the federal election put things at a standstill, but it's not a lengthy report. I just wish they'd hurry up and get [their decision] over with so I can deal with it. Huang: Have you talked to other women who are still incarcerated. What kind of response have you gotten from them? Doe: The women who are informed, or have an interest in battered women, think this is a great thing. They think that that's how it should have been at my trial. They've always told me that there's a two- tiered system, although that's not what society says. Huang: Certainly, there's a two-tiered system for women and men, but there's also a two-tiered system for Aboriginal people and non-Aboriginal people. Doe: It's about your place in society. If you are working class and pay taxes, your chances are better than someone who's lower class who has no income or is living in the street. That's what was clearly stated by the judge. I remember when I was first sentenced that I just accepted everything. I didn't have any understanding [of my situation,] not like what I have now. Otherwise, I would have understood what people were telling me, that I should never have been convicted in the first place. I was ignorant of the law and I didn't know my rights at all. SEPTEMBER 1997 News Women and breastfeeding: A right across Canada by Wei Yuen Fong When Michelle Poirier won her human rights case last month, it sent a positive ripple to women all across the country. Six years after she launched her complaint, a BC human rights tribunal ruled that Poirier had been discriminated against when she was told not to breastfeed her child at her workplace. Poirier's victory set a precedent: it is the first ruling that upholds breastfeeding as a protected act under a human rights code in Canada. While many other women have launched similar complaints in the past, they either reached a settlement before the hearing stage or dropped out of the process because it was long and tedious. Poirier's pioneering trek towards ensuring the rights of breastfeeding women began in 1991 when her employer-the ministry of municipal affairs in Victoria- brought in a new policy prohibiting employees from bringing children to their workplace. For the several months prior to that, Poirier had been breastfeeding her daughter at work during lunchtime to no objections. Ironically, the incident that led to the policy happened around an event sponsored by the ministry's women's programs branch to mark International Women's Day. Some of Poirier's co-workers objected to her breastfeeding in mixed company dur ing a public lunchtime presentation on the men's movement. After a second incident, Poirier filed a human rights complaint. During the investigation, her employers virtually admitted they had discriminated against Poirier, but said their actions could be justified because they had valid business reasons. The human rights council accepted their reasons and did not hold a hearing. Poirier persisted and won a ruling before the BC Supreme Court, which sent the case back to the tribunal for a hearing. Poirier says she was determined to go through with the hearing because the ministry refused to acknowledge any wrongdoing or settle the case out of court. \"I filed my complaint initially because it hurt so badly and I had to do something to document that I didn't think it was right,\" she says. \"The fact that I pushed on to a hearing is a direct result of how long it dragged on. If the government had just apologized, I would have accepted it.\" Human rights tribunal member Tom Patch ruled that the ministry discriminated against Poirier on the basis of her sex by bringing in the policy of excluding children from the workplace without taking measures to reasonably accommodate Poirier. In his decision, Patch said \"...a rule which is made to appear neutral but which is designed to discriminate on a ground prohib ited by the Human Rights Code cannot be said to be made for genuine business purposes.\" Although the ruling is only binding on BC, Elisabeth Sterken, national director of INFACT (Infant Feeding Action Coalition) Canada, says Poirier's success is very monumental for women across Canada. \"We can used this judgment to promote breast feeding as an inalienable right of women across Canada. It is vital that women know that human rights legislation can be used to protect them from harassment for breastfeeding anytime, anywhere.\" Sterken says Poirier's victory also opens up opportunities to look at other workplace issues and the supports employers and society should provide women so they can return to work without having to sacrifice the health of their baby or their own well being. \"Breastfeeding women still don't have legal protection in the workplace, so the support a woman receives for breastfeeding still depends on the goodwill of the employer,\" she says. Although the BC government had established an employment equity directive that requires managers to make reasonable accommodation for employees for such things as breastfeeding or injecting insulin, Poirier says the policy has not been embraced as practice. She notes that a col league recently won an arbitration also related to breastfeeding, and that the government is refusing to honour the arbitrator's decision even though it is legally binding. For Poirier, she says her experience through this human rights challenge was an awakening. \"I wasn't a feminist when I started,\" says Poirier. \"I couldn't understand what was happening to me and I was not even sure that what was happening was unfair. Before, I was unconcious of my reality and that of my sisters. Now, I think I am a far more useful member of my community.\" Poirier sees the breastfeeding issue as just part of the broader struggle for women's equality rights. She points out that at one time, between 1929 and 1964, BC had a Maternity Protection Act which required employers to provide nursing mothers with two half-hour lactation breaks a day. But all this stopped in the 1960s, when medical science \"discovered\" that breastfeeding was bad. \"We wouldn't have this history if the integrity of the female body was respected across the board,\" Poirier says. \"My deepest hope is that some young women will have heard about my case and be exposed to the female breasts in their normal functioning way, and not just in sexualized ways or in relation to breast augmentation.\" Youths not sold on APEC by Mariene del Hoyo Dozens of students and youth gathered at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia to protest an immigration and APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) conference being held on campus. The youths and students from the Network Opposed to Anti-People Economic Control (NO! to APEC) Coalition organized the rally in August to challenge what they view as an attempt by proponents of APEC, including governments, to co-opt youth and students and to perpetuate the myths surrounding 'free' trade and globalization. The Coalition stated in a press release that the Canada in the Asia-Pacific Economy: The People Dimension conference hosted by the Centre of Excellence in Research on Immigration and Integration in the Metropolis at SFU is \"part of the APEC process\" and thus a \"blatant attempt to increase cheap labour migration from the underdeveloped Third World to suit the needs of imperialist powers for more profit\". [Not surprisingly, participation in \"The People Dimension\" conference was limited to members of big business, academics and government officials.] Under the guise of independent and objective research, the Centre merely legitimizes the \"APEC agenda of free flow of cheap, flexible migrant labour across the [Pacific] region,\" says Maita Santiago, an organizer of the protest and member of the Filipino-Canadian Youth Alliance. \"Although the Centre and the conference call for an open door for immigration, they do not address the exploitative conditions immigrant and migrant workers find in Canada nor do they address the root causes of migration from the Third World,\" she adds. According to the NO! to APEC Coalition, the special focus of the conference on youth is indicative of attempts being made to create a pool of mobile, flexible, skilled and complacent labour for the future; that is, a \"prime source of labour that can serve as engines for growth and profit.\" \"Proclamations that our future as youth lie within the APEC process and the NO! to APEC protesters outside the Halpern Centre at SFU wholehearted acceptance of the 'globalization' myth contradict what globalization has already meant for marginalized youth and other people in the Asia-Pacific,\" says the Coalition. While a few may benefit from globalization, the reality for most youth and students in Canada is higher tuition fees and under- or unemployment, coupled with high debt loads for those 'fortunate' enough to obtain higher education. The NO! to APEC Coalition, a grassroots coalition, has held numerous information sessions on imperialist globalization and has organized demonstrations against many of the other pro-APEC activities held in Vancouver over the past year. The Coalition is planning the People's Conference Against Imperialist Globalization\u00E2\u0080\u0094Continuing the Resistance in November as part of its effort to educate, organize and mobilize people against APEC and imperialist globalization in general. Youth and students from the Coalition are also organizing the Youth and Students Resist Imperialist Globalization conference in September. For more information about the youth and students organizing of NO! to APEC Coalition, contact them c/o the Kalayaan Centre, 451 Powell St, Vancouver, BC, V6A1G7; tel: (604) 215-9190; fax: (604) 215-1103; e-mail: notoapec@vcn.bc.ca. f) SEPTEMBER 1997 News The APEC Women Leaders Network: Who's leading whom? ^tf by Punam Khosla While women's groups across Canada and the Asia Pacific region have been organizing against the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and its main goal of liberalizing trade and promoting business and the private sector at the expense of women's lives and livelihoods, an elite group of powerful women have been quietly selling women out. The Women Leaders' Network (WLN) has been legitimizing APEC by working on the inside supporting the propaganda of profits. Between September 13 and 16, about 90 women from the 18 APEC countries will be in Ottawa for the second \"by invitation only\" meeting of the Women Leaders' Network for APEC Economies. Elizabeth McGregor of Industry Canada who attended the group's first session in the Philippines last October makes no bones about the WLN's objectives. \"At the second session happening this fall, we expect to have a gender dimension brought into the working groups of this trade liberalization body with the hope to also spread that template into the Americas and around the world. \"A key part of our strategy (is) to reach out to the mainly men who dominate the structures of APEC and have them come and teach us the structures of the working groups and committees and to offer a roster of female candidates for their working groups or business advisory councils of senior women leaders from these economies.\"* Composed of corporate, government and academic women, the WLN met in Manila last October, apparently ignoring the large scale anti-APEC lobby organized by women's groups taking place around them. After two days of workshops on women in small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), science and technology and human resource development, the WLN produced a statement which was presented to Philippine President Ramos for submission to the APEC leaders. Their efforts resulted in one short phrase in the final declaration of the November 1996 APEC Leaders' meeting in the Philippines: \"...We direct our ministers, working in partnership with the private sector, to identify ways to encourage such participation by all APEC economies. In addition, we ask that they put special emphasis on the full participation of women and the youth.\" While the WLN sees this as a significant victory, a more blunt and accurate view is found in APEC's report on the ministerial meetings on science and technology in which they attribute the \"surprising commitment\" to women's participation among the ministers to their need \"to draw on the full population base to meet anticipated national manpower shortages of science and technology personnel required for the knowledge-based economy.\" Canadian participation and 'leadership' at the WLN comes from, among others, Sherry Fotheringham of the Royal Bank, Andrina Lever, president of the Women Entrepreneurs of Canada, Susan Davies of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and McGregor. With Canada playing host to APEC this year, these and other women from the business, policy and research sectors are playing a central role in the upcoming WLN meeting in Ottawa. Lever praised the group's approach of subordinating themselves to theAPEC culture and hierarchy. \"I think one of the reasons this whole model worked was that...we had undersecretaries of various ministries in Manila working with us to make sure that we understood APEC and the APEC process and more importantly the language that we used was consistent with the language that is used in trade documentation. What we were trying to do is create a very positive relationship and not be antagonistic in any way...\"* The theme of this year's WLN meeting, The Economic Impact of Women in the APEC Region, is unabashedly focused on promoting women in the business and corporate sectors. But make no mistake, these are the high end corporate women. In spite of APEC's rhetoric of involving women running SMEs, women who are self-employed or scraping to set up small businesses in the face of unemployment have What is APEC? The Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation is a group of 18 countries of the Asia Pacific, working to promote \"free trade\" and investment within the region. It started in 1989 as a forum for the exchange of ideas and an informal, non-binding consultative body. Today, APEC looks more like a formal \"free trade zone\" along the lines of NAFTA (the North American FreeTradeAgreement). The member countries in APEC are Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and the United States. APEC member countries account for 40 percent of the world's population, and their combined trade in 1994 made up 72 percent of the world's total trade. As members of a \"free trade\" zone, the economies of the Asian Pacific countries will be integrated through a painful process of trade and market liberalization. What is known about APEC to date suggests that APEC is a mechanism for multinationals (led by Japan and the US) to increase their power and profits in the region by freeing big business from current restrictions. Illustrating this is the use of \"APEC language.\" For example, members are not countries but \"economies.\" People are not referred to as workers but as \"human resources,\" and in the world of a liberalized global market, these human resources are commodities to be traded and discarded if they are not useful and competitive. The APEC process APEC has become the main instrument to accelerate trade and liberalization policies of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in the region. The WTO is the governing body which implements GATT (the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade). The work of defining APEC is done through the meetings of the member countries' ministries of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Industry. All APEC decisions are made behind closed doors by government officials, big business and academics at the annual \"leaders' meet ings. \" None of the agreements are considered formal or binding, and therefore are not required to be passed through public scrutiny. Hence, there are no public APEC forums. A key body advising APEC is the APEC Business Advisory Council, made up of the heads of large corporations in the member countries. The council provides APEC leaders with policy guidance on key issues. In other words, big business dictates policy to politicians. Neither NGOs (non-governmental organizations) nor labour groups have been invited to the table, ensuring that there is no discussion of the effects of APEC on women, workers, indigenous peoples or the environment. At the firstAPEC leaders' summit in Indonesia, member countries set the years 2020 and 2010 for full implementation of free trade and investment policies by \"underdeveloped\" and industrialized countries, respectively. In Osaka, Japan a year later, member countries defined key areas of action: trade and investment, its facilitation, and economic and technical cooperation. The latter includes action programs in the areas of human resource development, industrial science and technology, tourism, fishery, agriculture, etcetera. In 1996, the leaders' summit took place in the Philippines. At that summit, each member country put forth an action plan detailing how specific sectors within their economies will open up to regional competition. The Philippines led \"by example\" by committing to establish a free trade area (similar to China's special economic zones) by the year 2020. This year, APEC will be held in Canada. Throughout the year, a series of APEC-related conferences and round tables have taken place in various cities across the country. These will culminate in a round of APEC meetings and the APEC Leaders' Summit November 16-26 in Vancouver. Compiled by Fatima Jaffer, based in part on the Kinesis, Oct 1996 article, \"Say no to APEC\" by Kerrie Lattimer and Amy Simpson. graphic by Sur Mehat, concept by Datejie so far not been in the loop. When asked about the participation of these women in last year's session, Lever, who is also one of the co-chairs for the Canadian planning committee, replied, \"If there were not women there...who were actually micro-entrepreneurs, their interests were being represented by the women who were there.\"* The Canadian government seems to have chosen to downplay the APEC leaders' call for full participation of women, relying instead on the WLN as their source of women's representation. This was evident in Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy's March '97 speech on \"Canada and The Asia Pacific,\" in which he outlined Canada's plans for APEC and promoted the WLN to the exclusion of the established Canadian women's movement. The WLN philosophy clearly fits in with the Liberal government's need to present an image of public support for APEC, it structures and its expansionist mission of freer trade and less barriers for business. The Liberal government's lack of desire to hear from women's groups\u00E2\u0080\u0094the majority of whom oppose APEC's very mandate\u00E2\u0080\u0094is further reinforced in the government's outline of its priorities for APEC. Much emphasis is placed on the need to \"facilitate trade and reduce the costs of doing business\" as well as a \"commitment to integrate business views at all levels of APEC.\" No mention is made of women at all. To make your views known and get more information on the 'Women Leaders' Network meeting, contact the WLN Planning Secretariat at: (613) 526-3280 or Susan Davies at CIDA: (819) 997-4752. To protest the Canadian government's attitude to grassroots women's groups and their collusion with APEC as a trade liberalization forum, call the Prime Minister's Officeat (613) 992-4211 (collect) or write to him at The Prime Minister's Office, House of Commons, Parliament Buildings, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0A6. Punam Khosla is a freelance media producer with C.O.W.R.l.E. Productions in Toronto. *Quotes taken from the session \"No Real Change without Women: Networking for Development\" at the Global Knowledge '97 conference held in Toronto in June 1997 (sponsored by the World Bank). SEPTEMBER 1997 Movement Matters listings information Movement Matters is designed to be a network of news, updates and information of special interest to the women's movement Submissions to Movement Matters should be no more than 500 words, typed, double spaced and may be edited for length. Deadline is the 18th of the month preceding publication. compiled by Dorcas Wilkins Women's Internet conference The first-ever national conference on the Internet for women and women's groups engaged in equality work will take place October 18-21 in Ottawa. The Conference is being organized by Women'space, Women in Networking and Communication, and the Ontario Women's Justice Network, in association with the National Action Committee on the Status of Women, Lesbian Mothers Support Society, Sunshine Coast Women's Centre, and the Canadian Women's Internet Association, among others. The conference themes are \"Access to Information Technology,\" which will cover discussions on getting online, inclusive technology, gender sensitive training, breaking down barriers, and \"Using the Net for Women's Equality.\" Women who are interested in participating in the conference but cannot make it to Ottawa can join the online discussions. Subscribe to the conference-1 (that's an L lower case, not the number one) mailing list by sending an e-mail message to majordomo2@women.ca and in the body of the e-mail type: subscribe conference-1. Women are also invited to read the archives of the conference-1 mailing list at: http:// www.grannyg.bc.ca/confer/ and to contribute their thoughts, stories and ideas to the bulletin board at: http://www. grannyg.bc.ca/cgi-bin/mboard/list.cgi. Registration for the conference is limited to 250 participants. The fee is $125 (meals not included), but some bursaries may be available. Internet hands-on teaching sessions will be available on October 18 for an extra $50 per session. Conference organizers are also calling on women to submit workshop or panel discussion proposals for the conference. To register or for more information, contact Women'space, RR1 Scotsburn, NS, BOK 1R0; tel/fax: (902)351-2283; or e-mail: Women's Health Collective re-opens An important resource for women looking for information on various health issues is up and running again. On April 1, the steering committee of the Vancouver Women's Health Collective made a decision to close the Information Centre for three months for reasons both financial and organizational. Now revamped and redecorated, the Health Collective has reopened its doors. The Health Collective has been around since 1972 working to promote and support the idea of women helping themselves develop a pro-active approach to their own healthcare. The Collective says a lot of work remains to be done to ensure the organization can stay healthy. Over the next five months, the collective will focus on service delivery through the Women's Health Information Network and on building accountability and respect for the varying levels of commitment volunteers bring. As well, the Collective is looking to mesh the reality of its finances with its stated goals. The VWHC is calling on its members to help with their transition by offering their knowledge, skills, money, time, connections or encouragement. To offer your support contact the VWHC at 219-1675 West 8th Ave, Vancouver BC, V6J 1V2; tel: (604) 736-4234. Talking about breast implants A recent conference in early June in Vancouver on Reflections and Connections: Women, Breast Implants and Health Care gave women with breast implants an opportunity to share information, answers and current research on breast implant issues, develop community networks, and a voice to help end their shame and silence. Most of the 85 women who participated have or have had breast implants, and most are sick because of them. Women who are making decisions about breast implant surgery, as well as health care practitioners and lawyers also came. As one woman put it, \"Many women have been seriously damaged both in body and spirit. I believe this convention helped heal and give new hope to many of us\". The conference was organized by the BC Breast Implant Centre which provides confidential information and support in decision making and health issues related to implants. The centre also has a telephone information line, a reading room open Monday to Thursday, lpm to 5pm, information sessions and support groups. A videotape of the conference is expected to be available by the end of September. The cost will be approximately $10. For more info about the conference or a copy of the videotape, contact the Breast Implant Centre, BC Women's Hospital and Health Centre, Room E 300A, 4500 Oak St, Vancouver, BC, V6H 3N1; tel: (604) 875-2013. Women's groups launch fundraising campaign A number of feminist organizations in Vancouver recently formed the Vancouver Women's Fund to strategize ways to raise money for the vital services and advocacy work the organizations provide. \"In a time of government cut-backs, especially of monies for women's and community services, it is critical to explore new avenues of fundraising and to do so together\" says Jennifer Johnstone of the Battered Women's Support Services (BWSS), one organization involved in the campaign. The Vancouver Women's Fund is a collaborative effort of 14 community-based feminist organizations in Vancouver: Aboriginal Women's Action Network, Battered Women's Support Services, Bridge Housing Society, Committee for Domestic Workers' and Caregivers' Rights, Downtown Eastside Women's Centre, FREDA Centre for Research on Violence Against Women and Children, Positive Women's Network, South Asian Women's Centre, Vancouver Rape Relief and Women's Shelter, Vancouver Status of Women, Vancouver Women's Health Collective, WELL Society (Liberty Thrift), Women Against Violence Against Women and the Women's Research Centre. As its launch, the Vancouver Women's Fund is holding \"Sunflower Days,\" celebrating women's strength and fortitude. On September 5 and 6, women will sell sunflowers at various venues throughout the city. All groups regardless of size will benefit from the monies raised by the Fund. For more info about the Vancouver Women's Fund and/or Sunflower Days, contact: Alice Lee (Vancouver Rape Relief) at 604-872- 8212, Fatima Jaffer (South Asian Women's Centre) at 604-682-0080, Yasmin Jiwani (FREDA Centre) at 604-291-5197, or Jennifer Johnstone at (BWSS) 604- 687-1868. Remembering Gloria Greenfield Gloria Greenfield, \"a woman of great esteem\" and a proud feminist was born in Braddock, Pennsylvannia on May 22, 1925. She passed away on June 30, of breast cancer, surrounded by loving friends. While Gloria was a world traveller who had lived in eight countries, she settled in the Kitsilano area of Vancouver in 1972. A pivotal figure in the Vancouver Women's Liberation Movement, she was a co-founding and sustaining member of the Vancouver Women's Health Collective, Transition House, Vancouver Women's Bookstore, A Woman's Place, Women and Words, and Westword. She was admired and feared for her attention to details. Among Gloria's contributions were her dedication and loyalty, day-in and day- out, to the survival of the organizations she was involved with. Sadly in 1996, Gloria had to oversee the closure of the Vancouver Women's Bookstore, a symbol of the strength of the Vancouver Women's Liberation Movement and an important part of Gloria's life. She doggedly participated fully in her community, giving particular support and friendship to lesbians and women of colour This year, Gloria was one of the four people to whom the Vancouver Folk Festival was dedicated, one of the few non- musicians to receive this honour. Poet/write and friend, Betsy Warland writes of Gloria: \"Work was her passion. She had a dedication for what she did and a tenacity to her methods of doing it...She could be intimidating. Yet it was an underlying open-mindedness and generosity of heart that led her to find companionship in generations of feminists much younger than herself. Contributions to the Women's Scholarship Fund, established by Gloria Greenfield, may be sent c/o barbara findlay's law office, #620-1033 Davie Street, Vancouver, BC, V6E 1M7. Remembering Doris Rands Doris Rands wore many hats with ease. She was a feminist, socialist, children's advocate, opponent of war and racism, supporter of Aboriginal and gay rights, counter-culture salon matron, community healthcare pioneer and teacher, among other things. Born Doris Milne Fraser on February 1,1916, she died on July 28. With co-operative, egalitarian and humanist ideals, Doris campaigned against fee-for-service medicine and for community health clinics. She did what she could to shift the focus of medicine from treatment to prevention of Doris and her husband Stan had three children: Jean, Brian and Ailsa. From the 1950s to 1980s, Doris's home was a counter-culture salon. Anti-war and Aboriginal activists, advocates of community health clinics, student radicals, trade unionists, feminists, refugees, scholars, researchers, and old and new friends found good conversation, hearty meals and when needed, a warm bed. In 1993, Doris moved to Vancouver, where she worked with Grassrooters, End Legislated Poverty and the Raging Grannies. She had known for at least a year that her health was failing. On July 6, after being laid up for three weeks, Doris was taken to hospital. She confided that she could not have had such a good time if her condition had been diagnosed earlier. As always she was gracious and cheerful. Donations in memory of Doris Rands may be made to the Children's Program of Macdonald Elementary School, 1950 E. Hastings St, Vancouver, BC, V5L1T7, or c/o Jean Rands, 2639 Trinity St, Vancouver, BC, V5K 1E5. Remembering Michele Pujol Michele Pujol died peacefully at home on August 2 in the care of her partner, Brook Holdack. Michele was born in Madaoua, Niger on April 20,1951. Although Michele went into teaching (first at the University of Manitoba and then at the University of Vic toria) and was regarded as an exceptional teacher by colleagues and students alike, she was an activist first for human rights and social justice. During her years in Winnipeg, Michele was instrumental in organizing the first three Pride Day marches and two Canadian Women's Music festivals. Since 1990, she had been a faculty member of the Department of Women's Studies at the University of Victoria. Her students and friends organized the first annual Lesbian Walk in response to homophobia experienced by Michele and the Women's Studies Department. Michele was a founding member of the International Association for Feminist Economics as well as an Associate Editor of the journal Feminist Economics, to which she frequently contributed. A Taiko drummer for four years while in Winnipeg, Michele was also noted for her generous and consistent support of young and newer women musicians. Michele was diagnosed with colon cancer in Spring 1997. Rather than choose a few extra months (possibly) by treating her cancer with chemotherapy and radiation, Michele chose to be a cancer fighter on her own terms. Though her death is an unnameable loss, her victory of life will be a beacon to many for always. Donations may be made to the Michele Pujol Scholarship Fund, Box 287, Ganges Post Office, Salt Spring Island, BC, V8K 2V9. SEPTEMBER 1997 What's News compiled by Leanne Keltie and Wei Yuen Fong Filipina woman ordered deported from Canada A Filipina woman who left her abusive husband is being ordered deported by the Canadian government on the grounds that she \"misrepresented\" herself when she entered Canada. Acier Wuertz Gomez came to Canada in 1990 to work as a domestic worker under the Live-in Caregivers' Program (LCP). In 1992, she married the man she was working for in Prince George, BC, and they had one child together. (He has another child from a previous relationship.) In June 1996, Gomez took the children and left her husband because of his violence towards her. A few weeks later, Gomez was called into Canada Immigration for an interview where they questioned her about her marital status. She had marked that she was \"single\" on her immigration forms, when in reality she was married to a man in the Philippines at the time she came to Canada. The only reason immigration knows about Gomez's previous marital status is that her husband reported her, says Luningning Alcuitas of the Philippine Women Centre (PWC). \"He did this after Acier had made the courageous decision to leave him after four years of violence and abuse.\" Gomez was served a deportation order on June 10. Alcuitas says this case is another example of the discrimination Filipina migrant workers face under Canada's sexist and racist immigration policies and the Philippine government's exploitative labour export policies. She adds that many women are forced to leave the Philippines because of the economic crisis in their homeland, and are promised a \"better life\" in Canada. When they arrive, a lot of the women are subjected to various forms of marginalization and oppression. (Some women are even told to indicate they are single to improve their chances of being accepted into the LCP.) Acier Gomez's situation is urgent. PWC and SIKLAB, a Vancouver-based Filipino migrant workers group, are calling for immediate support for her. The groups are circulating a petition to Immigration Minister Lucienne Robillard asking her to issue a minister's permit that would allow Gomez and her daughter to stay in Canada. For more information on the campaign or copies of the petition, call Ning Alcuitas at (604) 215-1103 ore-mail pwc@netcom.ca. Women accused of attacking child molester Three women from Delaware, Ohio have been charged with \"raping\" and kidnapping a convicted child molester. The man, who is related to the women, was allegedly attacked in his home and dumped in the town where he grew up, over 110 kilometres away. He was tied up and naked except for a blanket, and several parts of his body were tattooed (in black marker) with the phrase, \"I am a child molester.\" In addition to accusing the women of wrestling him to the floor, cutting of his sweat pants and underwear, shaving his head and pubic hair and assaulting him anally with a cucumber, the man told police they applied a heat-producing ointment to his genitals. Although the 27 year old man had been convicted of gross sexual imposition of a child in 1994, he was sentenced to only two years in prison. He was released in January. Dow Chemical lied about breast implants Women who are fighting the companies who manufactured silicone breast implants for compensation won a significant court battle recently. Earlier last month, a jury in Lousiana found that Dow Chemical Company\u00E2\u0080\u0094 the parent company of Dow Corning, the largest maker of silicone breast implants before they were pulled off the market\u00E2\u0080\u0094 knowingly deceived women about the health risks of the implants. The jury also said that Dow had failed to adequately test the silicone before using it in their implants. Dow, of course, is denying the jury's conclusions. The court case in Louisiana is the first class action suit against the company. The trial will continue in late September to determine whether the eight women who filed the suit were injured by Dow's implants. Potentially, the outcome of the suit could affect 1,800 breast implanted women. In a related matter, Canadian women may soon receive some compensation from Dow Corning. The company put forward a settlement offer in late August which would be worth a maximum of $111,000 to each of the 15,000 women in Canada implanted with a Dow silicone device. Joanne Tomlin, who is among the Canadian women affected by the settlement offer, greeted the news with enthusiasm. \"It certainly removes some of the emotional pain.\" While the amount offered to Canadian women is only 40 percent of that offered to their American counterparts, Dow's compensation proposal is much more than is being offered by other manufacturers of silicone implants. Bris- tol-Myers-Squibb offered women only $4,200 to $42,000. Lynne Bedard, who heads the only support group in Montreal for breast implanted women, says there are still things that need to be worked out before the settlement can be finalized. \"Now we'll have to see what conditions are attached to it, whether it's a final settlement, and whether there will be medical follow-up for the rest of our lives,\" she says. \"Happy pill\" for kids? Seems like US pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly didn't pay much attention to Nancy Reagan's \"Say no to drugs\" tirade in the 1980s. Already making $2.4 billion (Cdn) a year selling the anti-depressant drug Prozac, the makers of the so-called \"90s drug of choice\" has now set its capitalist sights on what it sees as the next profitable wave of pill poppers: children. Eli Lilly is seeking permission from the US Food and Drug Administration to release a special children's version of the \"happy pills\u00E2\u0080\u0094in peppermint and orange flavours. It is said that, in the US, at least four million children suffer from depression, which represents a huge market for Eli Lilly to exploit. Already more than 400,000 kids under the age of 18 are being given Prozac, and more and more doctors are prescribing it to younsters. Since last year, among six to 12 year olds, prescriptions for Prozac have risen by almost 300 percent. Critics of Eli Lilly's new marketing move are worried Prozac will become a quick-fix for parents\u00E2\u0080\u0094and schools, doctors, social workers, et cetera\u00E2\u0080\u0094who feel their children are \"unruly.\" The use of drugs to control the behaviour of children is not uncommon. Many children who are deemed \"hyperactive\" are put on Ritalin. Harold Koplewicz, vice chair of psychiatry at the New York Medical Center, doesn't agree with prescribing anti-depressants every time people are not feeling as perky as society thinks they should feel. \"It's part of the human condition to feel crummy if something bad is happening in one's life. But that is very different from having a clinical disorder,\" says Koplewicz. The motto of this decade's (and likely, the next) version of the \"war on drugs\" campaign should really be: \"Say no to exploitative corporate profit-making.\" And the goal should be to stop multinational drug companies, like Eli Lilly, from raking in the exhorbitant amounts of money it already does at the expense of the well-being\u00E2\u0080\u0094current and future\u00E2\u0080\u0094of young people. Women's income decreases after divorce Two recent studies confirm what women have known for a long time already: that women are left economically worse off after divorce. A study released by Statistics Canada (StatsCan) in April indicates that Canadian women's family income drops an average of 23 percent a year after separation. Men's income rises 10 percent. Similarly, a survey done by two sociologists in the United States shows that American women's per capita income declined as well, but the study says the decrease in only 12 percent a year after separation. According to the authors of the StatsCan study, there are two main reasons for the large income gap between Canadian women and men. First, women earn less than men on average, which means most family income leaves with the husband. Second, most women have custody of their children\u00E2\u0080\u009489 percent of mothers have children living with them as compared to only 36 percent of fathers. Sunera Thobani, former president of the National Action Committee on the Sta tus of Women and a professor of women's studies at Simon Fraser University, says that cuts in government spending in post-secondary education and training programs, coupled with the lack of a national childcare program also greatly hinder women from being able to improve their economic situation after divorce. In Canada, legislation has recently come into effect which makes child support payments women receive non-taxable, which is supposedly intended to eliminate post-separation income inequalities. However, most single mothers' do not receive child support in the first place and so would not benefit from these legislative changes. Violence claims many women's lives Here's something else we've also known for some time: according to a recent report by UNICEF (the United Nations International Children's Fund), a lot of women are lost to this world because of violence and patriachy. In its annual report, Progress of Nations, UNICEF claims that as many as 60 million women are \"missing\" because of systemic discrimination and violence. \"This chronic condition of violence amounts to the most pervasive human rights violation in the world today,\" says Carol Bellamy, UNICEF's executive director. Some examples cited by the UNICEF report of the violations women face are that: every nine seconds in the United States, a woman is physically abused by her partner; in India, more than 5,000 women are killed each year because of dowry disputes; and more than one million children\u00E2\u0080\u0094 mostly girls\u00E2\u0080\u0094are forced into prostitution. UNICEF says the oppressive and dangerous situation for women is the result of the widespread mistreatment and undervaluing of women in society, which is largely accepted as \"the way things are.\" One significant factor contributing to this prevailing attitude and situation, according to UNICEF, is the inadequate level of political power women hold in the world. To illustrate women's lack of clout, the report cites the low percentage of women in high-level elected or appointed government positions in different countries around the world. However, as most feminists know, having more women within any patriarchal government system rarely leads to any real improvements in the lives of women. There are many examples of this in Canada and most other countries. Vancouver Co-op Radio, 102.7 FM, is calling for volunteers to help out with our Autumn Airlift '97. Come join our fundraising team. Training in all areas. It's fun and it's time well spent. Co-op Radio is also offering a Basic Radio Production Course. Learn how to record, interview and edit. The course will be eight hours over four weeks, starting on September 15. Fee is $25 for Co-op members. Interested? Available? Call Co-op Radio ^^^M 684-8494 CFRO 102.7 FM Monday to Thursday, noon to 5 pm. SEPTEMBER 1997 ALTERNATIVES is Canada's foremost environmental journal since 1971. Thought-provoking articles go beyond band-aid solutions to consider concrete alternatives for a wide range of environmental issues. Look to Alternatives for reports of environmental happenings, provocative opinion pieces, and reviews of the latest eco-books. BRIARPATCH is Saskatchewan's award- winning political magazine which provides an alternative view on issues and events in Canada and the world. Essential reading for those interested in politics, unions, the environment, women's rights and international affairs. We publish articles the mainstream media won't touch. Ten times a year. From political zines to hilarious comics, from small press books to indie music, BROKEN PENCIL maps the ephemeral world of independently produced Canadian culture. Featuring hundreds of reviews, interviews with creators, and excerpts from everywhere, Broken Pencil puts the reader in touch with the creators and their work. \u00E2\u0096\u00A0..\u00E2\u0096\u00A0: mVQW CREEN TEACHER is a forum for teachers and parents seeking to promote environmental and global awareness among young people from K to 12. It offers perspectives on the role of education in creating a sustainable future, practical cross- curricular activities, reviews of the latest teaching resources, and successful ideas from green educators. As Canada's largest national feminist magazine, HERIZONS explores women's health issues, the law, work and culture, and entices readers with provocative reviews and columnists. Unabashedly feminist, Herizons is written in a way that is relevant to the daily lives of women. Canada's much-needed answer to Ms. LATIN AMERICA CONNEXIONS/CONEXION LATINA provides commentary on the struggle for peace and justice in Latin America, and promotes a continent-wide, internationalist vision. This bilingual publication includes current accurate analysis of Latin American events, and information about resources, campaigns and organizations. NEW INTERNATIONALIST magazine turns the issues inside out and explains what's really going on. Ifs the best guide to the major issues from the arms trade to AIDS, from human rights to hunger. Each month, Nl tackles one subject, and gives you the facts and the arguments. To influence whafs happening to you, you need to know whafs NEW MARITIMES is regional politics, environment, labour, culture and history, all from a refreshing perspective. Regular columns on Maritime books, political economy and Third World issues. This bimonthly is a unique adventure in radical regionalism that, into its second decade, still refuses to bow to the powers that be. OUR TIMES is Canada's pro-labour magazine. Each issue features voices of union and community activists across the country who are concerned with the welfare of workers. Our Times is an excellent educational resource for those interested in labour issues. Don't miss out! Published six times a year. PEACE MAGAZINE is a multi-partisan voice for peace, conflict resolution and non-violence in our homes, in playgrounds and between nations. For over a decade, our magazine has been a forum on how to create a more peaceful and just world. \"Your solace in conflicting times.\" - Broken Pencil RUNCH means colour. Rungh is a forum of critical commentary exploring contemporary culture and politics abroad and at home. Rungh negotiates with a culture made out of the dilemmas, hopes and differences between the struggle against racism and other social movements for dignity, well being and emancipation. One of Canada's hottest independent literary quarterlies, SUB-TERRAIN features the work of writers, artists and photographers from Canada, the US and foreign locations. Each issue is a stimulating fusion of fiction, poetry, graphic art, commentary and book reviews. \"Eschews geography in favour of a borderless world\" - Vancouver Mag. CD WAYOAY1996 I UNITE Principled. Radical. Independent. For over 30 years, CANADIAN DIMENSION has been a place where activists can debate issues, share information, recount our victories and evaluate our strategies for social change. Our pages are open to all progressive voices - debate makes the movement stronger. And it makes for lively reading! NEW CITY MAGAZINE believes in a distinct and sustainable Canadian urban culture and identity. Featuring articles, stories and histories about the city and its people, it is a critical forum on the modern city. New City strives to build a better understanding of urban maladies and the possibilities for change. &JIl}^3lL OUTLOOK provides a Jewish secular-humanist perspective on political and cultural issues. It features original articles, stories, and reviews by writers from Canada, the USA, Israel, France, Germany and Eastern Europe. Promoting peace in the Middle East and the world, Outlook supports multiculturalism and promotes self-determination of all peoples. -sasa THIS MAGAZINE is a 30- year-old national magazine of politics and culture. A 1996 winner of two gold and one silver National Magazine Awards for investigative journalism and political criticism. 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SEPTEMBER 1997 Feature Women and resistance in East Timor: The fight for freedom by Bella Galhos as told to Lisa Valencia-Svensson Isabel (Bella) Galhos is one of only three East Timorese who have escaped to Canada. She currently lives in Ottawa and works for the East Timor Alert Network, touring Canada and raising awareness of East Timor. Kinesis spoke recently with Galhos while she was in Vancouver attending the BC Federation of Labour's Summer Institute for Union Women. Lisa Valencia-Svensson: I want to start by asking how you came from East Timor to Canada? Bella Galhos: I first came to Canada on September 9,1994, and I defected here on October 9,1994.1 was a student in the University of East Timor and the Indonesian government chose me to come to Canada. They use East Timorians to improve their image about human rights abuses. Because Canada is very important to Indonesia, and since Canada knows Indonesia is occupying my country, it is very helpful for the Indonesian government to use a team of East Timorese students to speak on its behalf. Valencia-Svensson: And what was the program you were on when you came? Galhos: I came with the Canada World Youth Exchange (CWY). That program exchanges youth between Indonesia and Canada, and East Timorese people's involvement started in 1987. In 1991, a Timorian sent to Canada defected and now does the same thing I do here, which is to speak out and tell the truth about what's really happening in [East Timor.] Of course, the Indonesian government is not happy with what we have been doing in this country. Valencia-Svensson: So that was your specific plan[to defect while with CWY]? Galhos: Yes, that is the plan of every East Timorese person because we feel completely strange in our own country. The only way for us to be ourselves, to speak out the truth, and to break the silence and isolation we have experienced since 1975, is to flee our homeland. Valencia-Svensson: Can you describe the realities for East Timor since the Indonesian invasion? Galhos: Well, since East Timor was invaded by Indonesia, we have faced genocide. We lost members of our family, our identity, language, way of living as East Timorian people, and our basic human rights. But we are still able to preserve these things. The human rights violations, such as abuses, killing, rapes, torturing and disappearances, were happening 24 hours a day and are still continuing today. With regards to this though, we are already seeing change. A lot of countries are starting to become aware of the situation in East Timor, especially last year when Bishop Belo and Jose Ramos-Horta were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. For us, as Timorese people, that the world is finally paying tribute to our struggle is a big thing and this is a new stage in our struggle. We know that our struggle is winnable and we're going to fight to make it happen. Valencia-Svensson: What are some of the strategies the Indonesian occupation forces have used over the years to oppress East Timorians? Galhos: Well, for example, they use sterilization (Depo Provera) to try and prevent women from having children. They also have concentration camps where they bring people from lands they have been liv- East Timor, located on the eastern half of the island of Timor in South East Asia, was colonized by Portugal from 1702 until the East Timorese declared their independence from Portugal at the end of November, 1975. On December 7, 1975, Indonesia invaded East Timor and has continued to occupy the country up to this day. Many brutalities and human rights abuses have been committed during the 22 years of Indonesia's brutal occupation. Since Indonesia's invasion, more than one-third of East Timor's total population has been killed, and rape, torture, disappearances and murder of East Timorese are commonplace. There have been reports of forced abortions and murders of newborns in hospitals, and East Timor has the highest infant-mortality rate in the world. The Indonesians strictly enforce a curfew of 8pm. Telephone calls to and from East Timor are recorded, and mail opened, while East Timorese can only leave their country with the permission of the Indonesian military. In 1995, there were at least 500 East Timorese political prisoners in Indonesia and East Timor. Indonesia also has a poor human rights record in its territories of Aceh and West Papua, whose inhabitants are waging independence struggles. Numerous resolutions have been passed at the United Nations calling for the complete withdrawal of Indonesia from East Timor. Many activists around the world have worked hard to raise public awareness of, and support for, the East Timorese struggle. Still, the Indonesian government continues to enjoy the political, economic and military support of many countries, including Canada. In November, 1994, Prime Minister Jean Chretien led a high-level Canadian trade delegation to Indonesia for the APEC conference where he signed trade deals worth almost $ I billion and announced new aid projects worth $30 million. The Liberal government has authorized millions of dollars of sales by Canadian arms manufacturers to Indonesia. This November, Canada will be hosting Indonesian President Suharto, along with heads of state from the other 17 APEC member countries, at the APEC Leaders' Summit in Vancouver. Bella Galhos ing on for hundreds of years to an area that is so dry that people are unable to cultivate food. They then die of diseases. Many families are forced to allow military men to stay in their homes, and it is the military who controls every aspect of people's lives. For example, people are not allowed to leave their homes after eight o'clock at night; people are not allowed to associate with one another; and no [social justice] organizations can exist in the country. The Indonesian forces randomly and openly kill people and take people from their homes at night. They have also created a group called \"Ninja,\" which tries to get information from people and kills people while dressed as civilians. Even though East Timorian people have been resisting for almost 22 years, all of our resistance is an underground movement. Valencia-Svensson: I remember hearing you speak about the complete take over of the education system. Galhos: That's another thing East Timorian people, especially young people like us who grow up under this occupation, are facing the system of Indonesianization where we're being forced to speak the language of our invader. Meanwhile, East Timorian people's language has been officially banned. The education is so limited and they try to brainwash us. When I came to Canada I was supposed to say that I am an Indonesian woman. Things like that always happen. Valencia-Svensson: Are they also settling Indonesian citizens into East Timor? Galhos: Yes, I think statistics came out about three years ago that said 150,000 Indonesian immigrants were being moved to East Timor by the Indonesian government, but right now, there are over 300,000 Indonesian immigrants who've transmigrated. I think the reason the Indonesian government is doing this is because they know that East Timor is still governed by international law and has never been a part of Indonesia, and they cannot avoid an eventual referendum on East Timorian self-determination. So by moving so many Indonesians into the country, they're creating a big problem in figuring out who is Timorese and who is not. Valencia-Svensson: What are some of the specific realities faced by East Timorese women because of the Indonesian occupation? Galhos: East Timorian women face forced sterilization and forced use of Depo Provera. Many women are afraid to go to school and their parents are very strict with them because they don't want things to happen to them while they are in school. Many women are sexually harassed by military men. For example, when I said many families are forced to house Indonesian military men, the military always looks for a family with a daughter so they can sexually harass and abuse those young women. That's what happened to a lot of mothers like mine. The women are powerless and don't have the healing process to help them get through things that happen to them in East Timor. The occupation is still going on and there is no way for those women to avoid the situation they're in right now. And, be- continued on next page... SEPTEMBER 1997 9 Feature Women and resistance in East Timor: continued from previous page ing in Canada, I can see how women are able to have their own organizations and empower themselves and work together side-by-side to heal what they face. In East Timor, those women will continue to face abuse and oppression until [Indonesian president] Suharto withdraws the military from East Timor and those women are able to get together and heal from what happened to them. Valencia-Svensson: In terms of the sterilization campaign, what are some of the details about that, is it just forced upon women or is it done secretly? Galhos: That's done secretly. The Indonesian government says that about 95,000 women were sterilized because of Depo Provera between 1988 and 1994. What they told us was that it was an immunization, so they came to every house, every village, every school. I got the injection twice at school and once at home, probably because they were not well organized when they did that. When they came, many women were forced to line up so they could inject these women. I found out what happened to me and others through the church. I don't know when they started and when they stopped, but what I do know is that the Indonesian president was awarded by the United Nations for his population control efforts in 1985. Also, the materials for sterilization came from the United States. Valencia-Svensson: Can you tell us a little bit about the state of East Timorese resistance, what form its taking, how it's kept going over the past 22 years? Galhos: There are a lot of ways Timorese people carry on these struggles. Even though we don't rely on armed resistance, without the East Timorese freedom fighters in the jungle, we don't know how people would be aware of what happens in East Timor. In the diplomatic arena, there are thousands and thousands of Timorese who have spoken the truth, both within the diaspora and within East Timor itself. The Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Bishop Belo and Jose Ramos-Horta is a sign of resistance. A lot of the students are creating organizations for freeing East Timor and people who work with the government, like my parents, also have organizations and underground movements. Also, there are Indonesian people who are in solidarity with us and a lot of the Indonesian military personnel, who have no idea about East Timor's economic problems, have been selling Indonesian military equipment to East Timorians. Valencia-SvenssomRegarding the struggle inside [East Timor], are there as many East Timorese women working underground in the armed resistance as men? Galhos: Yes, there are a lot of East Timorian women who carry guns in the jungle and work in other ways side by side with men. But I can tell you there are a lot of internal problems; for example, women's positions in leadership are very limited. Even for myself, I'm just learning to play the role [of leader]. I'm not aware of what I could do for my country as a woman because of cultural attitudes, traditions and things like that. Women mostly play supportive roles. I believe in women participating in every aspect of the struggle, but we first need to see is East Timorese waking up and working side-by-side in every level of our struggle. Valencia-Svensson: East Timor was colonized by Portugal. Did Portuguese Catholi cism take strong root in East Timor and did that Catholicism... Galhos: I think the invasion of East Timor [by Indonesia] created many East Timorian Catholics. For the Indonesian military, if you are not religious, it means you are a communist, and if you are a communist, you are killed. Before 1975, many East Timorians were animists, but when Indonesia invaded, thousands and thousands of East Timorians became Catholics without knowing exactly what it was. And right now, because the church is standing up for the people of East Timor, people have faith in the church. Also, many East Timorians became Catholics because Indonesia is a Muslim country and they wanted to take over the resources, the land and the people. But the Portuguese only wanted the resources. I don't think they ever thought about the people of East Timor. Valencia-Svensson: I'm sure the natural resources in and around East Timor must be very attractive to Indonesia. Galhos: Yes, there are two main reasons that Indonesia is trying to keep its hold over East Timor. First, they know and are terrified that, if East Timor were [returned to independence,] it would set an example for other regions in Indonesia, like West Papua and Sumatra, who are still fighting for their freedom. And another reason is that East Timor has a large oil resource and that's why the United States, Canada and other western governments support and supply military equipment to Indonesia. Valencia-Svensson: I want to ask you more about the larger economic and political context but first I have one other question. I was wondering what your specific involvement with the resistance movement was when you were in East Timor. Galhos: I was working with other students for our country's freedom. My role was mostly to encourage and organize women to get involved in our resistance movement and I also worked in collecting medicine, money and materials for the guerilla fighters in the jungle. I also organized demonstrations and making banners. Valencia-Svensson: What connections are there if any between East Timorese resistance in East Timor or outside and some of the progressive movements in Indonesia, like the trade union movements or others... Galhos: For the last eight years, most Indonesian pro-democracy activists and people working with them, have been imprisoned and some have even been killed. They have been working so closely with East Timorian people in our struggle because [they recognize the connection between attaining democracy for Indonesian people and the struggle for self-determination in East Timor.] Before, people were so isolated from one another because of the military, and now, there are so many Indonesian people standing up and speaking out on behalf of the East Timorese people like Muchtar Pakpahan, the leader of the SBSI (Indonesia Prosperity Trade Union), who is facing death because he speaks about a referendum [on self-determination,] and George Aditjondro, who is in exile inAustralia. Valencia-Svensson: Was there a specific event that started the Indonesian government's crackdown on Indonesian pro-democracy activists eight years ago? Galhos: I think people started to become aware of situation in East Timor. A lot of Timorians would go to Jakarta to study and there they would spread awareness about the struggle in East Timor. For example, in 1995, a lot of Indonesian people helped Timorians jump into the German embassy to seek refuge, so the East Timorese people could speak out internationally. Valencia-Svensson: I guess the other side of the coin is the complete lack of support some of the governments around the world are giving to the struggle of East Timor, including Canada. Could you tell us a little bit about how Canada is complicit in actively supporting Indonesia? Galhos: I would say there are three main supports Canada has always given, not to East Timor, not to Indonesians, but to the Indonesian government\u00E2\u0080\u0094that means Suharto's family. Economically, the Canadian government has supported the occupation of East Timor by not saying anything about it because Indonesia is very important to Canada as a large trading partner in Southeast Asia. The Canadian government also supports the Indonesian government militarily. For example, in 1995 alone, the Liberal government authorized over $362 million worth of military exports from Canadian companies to Indonesia. The Canadian government also has never spoken publicly about human rights abuses in Indonesia and East Timor and has, every time, either voted against or abstained in United Nations resolutions for the right of self-determination in East Timor. Canada and the US alone could change East Timor in 24 hours. Twenty-four hours after President Gerald Ford and his Secretary of State Henry Kissinger left Indonesia on December 5,1975, they authorized the Indonesian military takeover of East Timor on December 7. And the US supplies 99 percent of the military equipment to Indonesia. Valencia-Svensson: How has the US voted on UN resolutions? The same as Canada? Galhos: Same. They both listen to one another; they always work together. And another thing, APEC [the leaders' summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation] is coming to Vancouver in November, which means Suharto is coming. If I were Canadian, I would never want my government to welcome this war criminal. APEC, for me as a Timorese person, is about 18 countries and multi-national business leaders coming together to organize a better way to make more money. The countries involved, they're not called countries, they're called \"economies.\" The people who are coming, they're the politicians and business leaders. They are not going to talk about jobs, human rights issues, environmental issues, they are talking about money. I oppose APEC and I would like to encourage as many Canadians as possible to say \"no to APEC.\" History has already shown us when you don't fight back, you lose. We have the opportunity to change and we should do something about it. It is a big shame, for us, that people who cannot organize [without fear of repression] do organize and risk so many consequences, and yet we [in Canada] have that kind of freedom and take it for granted and [don't get involved]. Valencia-Svensson: You've been doing a lot of awareness raising and education here in Canada in different sectors. What kind of support and solidarity have you received from Canadian women's movement and groups? Galhos: I can tell you that I have been shocked to see how much Canadian concern there has been with this issue. I have done talks with kids in high school, university students, churches, human rights organizations like Amnesty International, women's organizations like NAC, and three unions across Canada. [There are many groups and individuals] who are working sc hard to get the Canadian government to put an embargo to Indonesia and to ask the Canadian government to speak out publicly against what is happening in Indonesia and East Timor. I have seen thousands and thousands of Canadians across this country, especially in the last year since the Nobel Peace Prize awards. I have seen tremendous work that a lot of Canadians have put in. Valencia-Svensson: What specific requests would you have of Canadian women's groups and individual Canadian women in terms of what they should be doing in support of the East Timorese resistance? Galhos: Well, because I don't think that many women's organizations know a lot about East Timor, I would like them to take time and learn about our struggle, especially the East Timorian women's struggle. We need to network together and we need their hand to show us how take on [leadership] roles in our country when it is free. As a Timorese woman, I'm not that proud that I'd say I know eveiything. I don't know much; I need to learn and I need the help and means of other women and women's groups. We have to work together and stick together in sisterhood. Valencia-Svensson: Are there any specific demands that we should be placing on our government or on companies? Galhos: I like that supportive organizations are putting more pressure on the Canadian government to change its policy on East Timor and support the United Nations resolution on East Timor and ask Indonesia to withdraw the military and give us our self-determination because that's all we are fighting for. Valencia-Svensson: The last question I have (and this question is rarely asked with reference to resistance struggle, occupation and invasion) is what the situation will be like for lesbians and gays in East Timor after independence. Galhos: I don't know. For us, for 455 years under Portuguese colony and right now 22 years under Indonesian occupation, I think we have learned a lot. We know what it's like being abused, what it's like when you don't have rights as a human being. And I don't think that we want this to happen again. There's a law that says we have to respect one another when we're talking about self-determination. This means people have the right to choose whatever they want\u00E2\u0080\u0094self-determination includes everything. Bella Galhos and the East Timor Alert Network (ETAN) can be reached at: c/o PO Box 4115 Station E, Ottawa, ON, K1S 5B1, tel: (613) 230-4070. The Vancouver ETAN can be reached at tel: 688-4191, e-mail: etanvan@vcn.bc.ca Lisa Valencia-Svensson is a Filipina-Canadian dyke encouraging everyone to protest the APEC Leaders'Summit this November in Vancouver. Thanks to Janet Moufor editing this interview. 10 SEPTEMBER 1997 Feature Women and work in Canada: Stories of struggle and strategies by Marion Pollack \"Whether women are from the public or the private sector, from unionized or non-unionized workplaces, there is a shared sense of powerlessness and frustration over the profound changes that have taken place in their jobs, in their workplaces and in their communities. At the same time as the stories of workers in the health care sector, in service industry or manufacturing are diverse, there is a shared pattern of polarization.\" Women's paid work is getting harder. Harder to find. Harder to juggle with family life. Harder to economically survive on. This is the underlying theme of a recent report produced by the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC), an umbrella organization of many trade unions in Canada. Published in March, Women's Work came out of a comprehensive cross-Canada study which was part of the CLC's Women \"Technology is replacing workers. The robot was brought into our nursing home to distribute medication. It replaced five staff. I'm half amused and half horrified!\" Nursing Home Worker, Canadian Union of Public Employees and Work Project. The project was given its mandate at the CLC convention in 1994, and began its work in June 1995 at the CLC Women's Conference, \"Women and Work Everywhere,\" to which over 600 women attended. The report, written by Toronto-based feminist and labour activist Winnie Ng, examines the impact of economic restructuring and globalization on women's work and lives. It also provides a detailed approach for taking on these challenges and, in particular, the role of unions in meeting those challenges. The report points out that women are not doing too well in the Canadian labour market. It notes that full-time, full-year jobs have virtually disappeared, while part- time, casual and temporary jobs have massively increased [see side bar.] In more and more workplaces, the only jobs available for women are part-time, minimum wage, on call, or split shift. Women's Work provides some frightening information on how difficult it is for women to make financial ends meet. Women are working harder and are earning less money. Over the last 20 years, the number of women who work more than one job has increased by a staggering 372 percent. Over a third of part-time workers want to work full-time, but can only find part-time jobs. In Canada, one in ten jobs is temporary. The report also notes that the new reality for working women is one of increas ing polarization. The steady decline in full- time employment coupled with the growth of part-time and temporary jobs has led to the upward mobility of some women but a worsening situation for many other women, including older women, women with disabilities and Aboriginal women. Women are becoming increasingly overworked and overstressed. The impact of the privatization of government services is weighing on the shoulders of women. Not only are women losing jobs in the health care an social services area, but they are also being heavily pressured to take on the extra load of caring for people who no longer have access to health care and other services. Women's Work outlines the impact of work reorganization on women in the public sector, in manufacturing, retail, clerical occupations, health care, and domestic work. For example, the report discusses homeworking and points out that it is not living up to its hype about providing women with freedom and economic security. The information presented in the report is not all gloom and doom. It states that unionized part-timers earn 67 percent more than their non-union equivalents. Unionized women earn 33 percent more on average than women workers who are not in unions. Union workers are generally paid for overtime, and receive more paid vacation leave than their non-union counterparts. Women's Work makes the crucial point that unions give women workers some avenues for fairness and equality. \"Casual is another word for slavery. They are short-term workers at the minimum wage of $5.15/hour. There are about 50 percent casuals in my workplace. There has been no bargaining for the last seven years. The union is still trying to get the employer to admit that casual workers exist!\" Government employee, Nova Scotia Government Employees Union/National Union of Public and General Employees, activist, Halifax The final section of the report outlines concrete actions that unions and government can take in order to improve women's economic and social situations. It describes a number of initiatives that various groups have taken to improve women workers' rights, including the laundry workers' strike in Calgary, the UI protest in Atlantic Canada and the Bread and Roses march in Quebec. It also explains the \"desirable dozen:\" 12 ways to update employment standard acts to better protect the rights of workers. This report is essential reading for any woman who currently works, or who hopes to work in the future. It gives a clear and cogent analysis of the impact of globalization on working women and sends the message that we need to fight back in order to make sure that decent paying jobs for women don't disappear entirely. Women's Work is available at no charge from the Women's and Human Rights Department of the Canadian Labour Congress, 2841 Riverside Dr, Ottawa, Ontario, K1V 8X7; or fax: (613) 521-3113. Marion Pollack is a postal worker who is active with the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW). \"Downsizing is undoing all the affirmative action policies. Someone has to say women and visible minorities are the victims of the economic restructuring. It is about white men in suits making more salaries. The message needs to be clearly understood that the lay-offs are not due to work performance or bad luck, but the economic reality of who is to be protected and who is not.\" Women Employment Counsellor, Halifax The declining state of women's work Thefollowing are excerpts from the CLC report, Women's Work, related to the shift away from full-time, full-year employment to part-time, casual, home-based and temporary jobs, and the need to build solidarity internationally among workers and activists: \"The women's stories juxtapose contrasting, and often contradictory images of our ever-changing workplaces and workforce. The steady decline of full-year employment in conjunction with the rapid growth of precarious employment, the division between core and peripheral workers, the upward mobility of some women in managerial and professional groups versus the further marginalization of youth, older women workers, women with disabilities, immigrant women and women of colour, the division between the over-worked and those who are unemployed, the widening gap between urban and rural Canada, and the transfer of paid to unpaid work are all part of the new reality of restructuring.\" \"For women, full-time, full-year jobs have virtually disappeared. In 1996, all of the growth in jobs for women was in the part-time category. Job losses on the other hand, in the public sector and manufacturing, have resulted in fewer full-time positions available to women. The results are as would be expected. The wage gap is beginning to widen\u00E2\u0080\u0094after a very brief period of narrowing. Women are increasingly found working more than one job to make ends meet... \"Multiple job holding is more prevalent among part-time workers. In 1993, women accounted for more than 70 percent of all multiple job holders whose main job had less than 30 hours of work per week. Young workers (15 to 24 years) had the highest rate of multiple job holding. Young women outnumbered men of the same age group (67,000 to 54,000).\" \"Part time work also obscures the seriousness of the unemployment rate.. . \"One of the sectors that experienced the highest number of job losses for full- time women's employment is the banking sector; the same sector that consistently reports staggeringly high profits. With 7,171 women in full-time positions losing their jobs, more than half of these jobs (55.4 percent) were in banking. For women with disabilities, the largest decrease in full time work was in the \"Banking and Others\" sectors. \"The most important increase in the representation of Aboriginal peoples in 1994 was in part-time work. The increase took place in banking, transportation and communications. Almost 19 percent of Aboriginal people worked part-time, compared to slightly more than 14 percent in the workforce covered by the Act. The proportion of Aboriginal people in temporary work was also higher than the workforce average.\" \"In the 90s, if we hope to fight to improve working conditions and social conditions, we have to talk in an international context. It is clear that we cannot fight the negative impact of globalization without an equality agenda. We will be unable to build the alliances we need on an international level, unless we eliminate racists assumptions from our approach to issues. \"We must be prepared to tackle the international corporations and financial institutions who force workers in developing countries to accept substandard conditions and wages. We need to bring the international floor up and we need to recognize and challenge the racist assumptions that workers in these countries 'don't need' higher wages, or that they have 'accepted' rotten wages and conditions.\" SEPTEMBER 1997 Assimilation to by Mary Jane Hannaburg as told to Fay Blaney Discrimination against Aboriginal women has long been a part of the history of Canada. No truer an example of this is the case of women who, along with their children, lost their status when they married non-Native men. [\"Status Indians\" are Aboriginal people who are officially recognized as \"Indians\" by the federal government, and who are therefore allowed to access programs and services accorded to Aboriginal peoples by the government.] Bill C-31, an amendment to the Indian Act passed in 1985, reinstated the women and their children. However, the new clauses did not allow status to be passed on to the women's grandchildren. This injustice remains the federal government's policy today. The Quebec Native Women, Inc. (QNW) was borne in the 1970s out of the need to give voice to women with respect to their struggles for reinstatement. The organization has over 3000 members throughout Quebec, and represents women's needs at the community and provincial levels. QNW also focuses its work on issues of violence in families and communities, the empowerment of women, and the specific concerns of urban Aboriginal women. Mary Jane Hannaburg has been involved with QNW/or more than 12 years. She is currently the vice-president of the organization and the president of its membership committee. She is Mohawk from the Kahnesetake community and lives in Oka. She is the mother of three and works part-time on a project for Women Together for a Better Society. In late July, Hannaburg was in Vancouver for the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) annual general assembly. She spoke at a panel discussion on Aboriginal women's issues organized by the Aboriginal Women's Action Network (AWAN). Before she returned to Quebec, Hannaburg spoke with AWAN's Fay Blaney about the work QNW is doing around Bill C-31 and an Aboriginal Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Blaney has been involved in AWAN since it was started in 1995. She is Homalca First Nations, living in Vancouver. Fay Blaney: Can you talk about the history of the work you're involved about the work Mary Two Ax Earb that struggle? Mary Jane Hannaburg:\" Ax Early, God rest her soul, year. She was one of the prij involved in the struggle for wl ity pertaining to Bill-C-31. Sh( a non-Indian and was told be buried in the cemetery [in hei munity, Khanawake.] She was an injustice and tried to chai criminatory clauses of the Indi; 1951 Indian Act (Clause 12.1.b) women who married non-In would lose their status and so w< children. As a result of [Mary's inil movement was born. Women gether, travelled and took on They were supported by other woml very few resources and finances marched to Ottawa to call for Bill At that time, there were very different strategies being played out. Before Mary ; had got really sick, she told me that [the women fighting for Bill C-31] felt bad. They knew the injustice would be passed onto their grandchildren, but they felt they had to accept this or take the risk of losing it all. They had to accept the fact that women and their children would get status, but their grandchildren would not. Blaney: There's this perception that Bill C-31 has corrected the discrimination against Aboriginal women of us losing our status, but what I think is very poorly understood is Section 6 of Bill C-31\u00E2\u0080\u0094also known as the second generation cut off\u00E2\u0080\u0094 which you just mentioned. Do you want to talk more about it? Hannaburg: Section 6.2 is the category the government has classified me as because I am the child of a reinstated mother. She lost her status because she had married [a non-Native]. When she was reinstated\u00E2\u0080\u0094given status and recognition\u00E2\u0080\u0094we [her children] were put on the Bill C-31 band list under Section 6.2, which means I cannot pass status onto my child. There are many examples of women who have children and the father is Native but, because they won't name the father, the government has put these children under the Bill C-31 category. These women won't divulge the name of the father because it would cause problems, and they feel it's their right not to. These children will not be [recognized as status Indians,] even though they have two Native parents. On the men's side, even before 1985, their grandchildren were never touched by this inequality. This is why when I live in my community and I have a Native man's [non-Native] wife telling me where my children can and can't sit, it really affects me. She gained status by marrying that man; she has no Indian blood whatsoever. I see it as a genocidal policy. It's affecting us at the grassroots level and it will affect our future because how are we as Native people going to live together in our communities with a strong sense of pride if our children have no identity. Blaney: When you say Bill C-31 is a genocidal policy, do you see this as another attempt at implementing the 1969 White Paper Policy? [The White Paper set out the termination of \"special status\" for Aboriginal les and the reserves.] Hannaburg: Absolutely. That is why I'm here in Vancouver trying to get the chiefs to pay attention to this issue. Some of them are starting to feel [the effects of Bill C-31,] but look at all the years that have by, the hurt and the injustices and the iolence that is happening in the commu- is the result of this [discrimination.] rt have felt the brunt of this genocidal f, and this is why my organization has 'ask^d me to stay focused on this issue. laney: Do you think that Bill C-31 has ived the conditions for Aboriginal naburg: Bill C-31 was designed to the discrimination of Section 12.1.b Indian Act; however it opened up mination in different areas. If you in Indian grandmother [who married $ a non-Indian,] her grandchildren will not be recognized, but if you have an Indian grandfather who married a non-Native woman, then all the way down, his lineage will be protected. At home, we're seeing discussions about membership, and some communities don't want to touch this issue. It's a difficult issue. We have discrimination in our own community, and it makes for a very uncomfortable environment when you have different categorizations of people in one community. Being a reinstated Native person living in the community, you suffer. Just when you feel you are finally being treated fairly, your children face discrimination. The government is not recognizing them so they cannot inherit the land or your property. Their generation is cut off. You feel you're at an end when your grandchildren are not being recognized and your [lineage is] lost. There's a whole thing about the continuity of culture. Blaney: Can you tell us a little bit about the Walter Twin case? [Walter Twin is a Canadian senator and chief of the Sawridge band in Alberta. For many years, Sawridge and two neighbouring bands have been taking court action against the federal government, arguing that Bill C-31 is unconstitutional. Recently, the federal court of appeal ruled in their favour, ordering a new trial because of the apparent bias against the bands made in statements by the trial judge.] Hannaburg: When we look at Walter Twin, it makes me sad. He says he is fighting against Bill C-31 because it has to do with the inherent right ofbands to determine their own membership. However, you look at some communities that have determined their own membership codes, and some of these haye giverVpeople very dif- ;gling with this mfairly, and some province want to 'on the membership the door to human some of these cases have \uman rights tribunal. I met Walter Twin today [at the AFN Assembly] I was lobbying chiefs trying to bend their ear and sensitize them to the is- Participants at the Aboriginal Women's Action Network's panel discussion on Aboriginal women's issues- Fay Blaney of AWAN; ViolaThomas, president of the United Native Nations; Syexwalia (Anne Wannock), band councillor with the Squamish Nation (moderator); Mary Jane Hannaburg of the Quebec Native Women Inc.; and Marilyn Buffalo president of the Native Women's Association of Canada annihilation Discrimination against Aboriginal women in Canada has nothing to gain because they will have to pay for education, health, housing and health care. It's not in their interest to help First Nations women and their children and grandchildren. Meanwhile, they'll invest lots of money in the globalization of the economy. I know they've invested money in Indonesia and other places abroad, and First Nations people are the ones who suffer. We're already living in impoverished communities\u00E2\u0080\u0094the loaf of bread is already very small and we have people in the communities taking off with this loaf. There's a lot of bad feelings about sharing resources. In Walter Twin's case, his community, I hear, is somewhat rich due to oil. It's for economic reasons that he wants to protect those vested interests in his community. He told me that the issue he's arguing is not against the status of [First Nations women and their descendents,] it's against the right of the government to impose this Act on the people. But then I turn around and see that people from his own community, even his own family\u00E2\u0080\u0094his sisters\u00E2\u0080\u0094are the ones being affected. I really gave him a piece of sues. It's not a priority with the chiefs. Some my mind and told him that when they take people think the chiefs are waiting for the these positions, they must understand the federal Department of Indian Affairs to act, impact it's going to have across the board, but Indian Affairs is not interested in help- Blaney: And that gets to the issue ing us. They say there's a lack of resources, raised by your organization about the pro- and they will continue to use this excuse tection of Aboriginal women through the and not help the women and families af- application of the Charter of Rights and fected by Bill C-31 because there will al- Freedoms on reserve. Your group is saying ways be a \"lack of funds.\" The government they would like to know what is going to happen in the interim to protect women's rights before an Aboriginal Charter is implemented. Hannaburg: Yes, that's right. I look at the strategies of how the chiefs approach self-government and I know some of them say the Canadian Charter would not apply. However, if you're moving toward a structure of self-government or away from the Indian Act, it's very important to have a mechanism to protect individual rights because a lot of time the focus is on collective rights. I'm not against collective rights, but there must be a balance. Where I come from, there have been violations of individual rights: so I feel it's necessary to develop an Aboriginal Charter. In the interim, we still need something. The Quebec Native Women, Inc. is struggling with these issues. The women feel [the fight over Bill C-31] has been dragging. Some of the children we struggled to get recognition for are now in their 20s. The government is getting off the hook because they're just letting communities feel the .cost. Some of our communities are poor md there are children living in them who identify with the communities and are in le schools learning the language and pro- LOting the culture, but who can't get hind- ig to participate. They don't have a sense .7 i/pride and dignity because the govern- 3nent won't recognize them. It all comes down to dollars and the federal government is not willing to take up these issues. It's not a priority for the government because they're too busy trying to get money flowing in[ to their own coffers,] and it's on the backs of grassroots people. The government is taking our resources, our land, our timber, our fish. They're taking all this, and what are they giving us in return but more divide and conquer strategies to pit our people against each other. Blaney: You mentioned there are human rights violations in your community. Can you describe some of them and the role of racism in them? Hannaburg: I'll approach it from a provincial level because our organization works with the women in Quebec from different Nations. Membership codes are being drafted by some bands and some of these questions are geared toward using \"blood quantum\" to determine status. This is very dangerous. To determine if you're an Indian, they look at your parents. Particularly, they're focussing on people who have less than 50 percent Indian blood, which is the Indian Act definition again. They want them to leave the community, even though some of these people have grown up in the communities. Mary Two Ax Early was Native but she married Edward Early. Because he was non-Native, they wanted to strip her of her rights and they did. Some women get married and then all of a sudden it becomesa^ssue. People start targetting them. Ii she had lived in The band wanfr to leave and sffe tory injunctioj ing them. Thi with a petit] move out. Tl Anoth councils g^ communil ized twice: of Mary Deer, ity all her life. -Native husband get an interlocu- iople from harassing to her house (or her husband to ig our families up. ('re seeing is band ;h the courts using re'ie being victim- ing questioned on our blood lines anfl we're also having to fight in the courts. We are disadvantaged as women's organizations because our funding is getting cut. The band councils use community funds to take on these battles so we need support and we need the chiefs to understand this issue. Blaney: Quebec Native Women has been working on the Bill C-31 issue for a long time. What measures are you taking within the province? Hannaburg: Women are tired of seeing this issue come back time and time again. It's like spinning our wheels in the mud. We want something concrete to happen, so we have a working committee which gathers up information and statistics, and looks at communities and their membership codes and cases before the courts. We've also asked the Native Women's Association of Canada (NWAC) to set up a working committee in each province. We will work together with the executive of NWAC to bring this issue to focus and have some concrete action on it. Our first strategy is fundraising because we need to be able to continue the work. We have women telling us all the time they have been turned away, their children have been denied, they don't have a voice in the community, they're not allowed to participate and vote. We are also gathering all the information needed to build a position on membership codes. Right now we are really sitting on this issue. We've looked at all the communities and ask that anyone who has a membership code to send it to us. Blaney: Did you find it useful coming to the AFN general assembly? Hannaburg: Partly yes, partly no. I know this is a political arena and there's a struggle for the leadership of the AFN. I didn't think I would get my things [brought to the] table, but I was hoping I could do some sensitization around Bill C-31.1 did get a chance to speak to some of the men. They said they were aware of the issue, but it's the same thing we've been hearing back home\u00E2\u0080\u0094yes they're aware but nothing is getting done. I tried to give a more human face to what is happening in our communities and talk about injustices. Some men are recognizing this too. I recently met one man who is struggling with the issue for his granddaughter. I was really impressed because this is the first man I have seen stand up and say we want this issue put on the agenda at the national level. I think the support has got to come from more of the men because it seems when the women about it, we don't get heard. I don't know what the newlyi chief [of the AFN, Phil FontaineJ but I haven't seen the AFN mal jor moves in the past to addres sues. The chiefs say it's a \"pro< say it's been too long already. I've been struggling with this\fc*nei 23 years, trying to reinstate my^Jld. doesn't feel he's connected [to his nity] because the government si non-existent. He doesn't identify with the general population an knows he's not accepted [in his nity] because he's not recognized by! Affairs. He doesn't have a status he's not considered an Indian. Whether or not I made an imj speaking with Walter Twin, I feel bei having done so. I've wanted to talk for the longest time since I heard aboul position against Mary Two Ax Early a? just because she wanted to be buried in her own cemetery back home. Blaney: As an Aboriginal woman who is active in our community, I am often accused of being confrontational, creating divisions within our community, and not working in solidarity with our brothers. That's really painful to hear, and I was wondering what you thought about that. Hannaburg: I can relate to that in a very strong way because I have taken positions against injustices and against people in leadership roles and in the government, so I am labelled a trouble maker. I've been called down at public meetings and have been humiliated. A few years ago, our two women chiefs on council were done away with in a really bad way. They were voted in by a democratic process but removed in controlled and manipulative ways. They were discredited. It hurts when you take a stand and try to implement fairness, democracy and justice, and they target you. I know that for women activists who are trying to make changes in the community, it's very hard and not very safe to do it alone. I would like to learn as much as I can about working with women. In solidarity we are very powerful, but when we're all disconnected and stretched out across the country, it's really hard to build a strong network. I feel there is a need right now [for a network] as we move toward self- government. Blaney: And in this struggle we have as Aboriginal women, do you see a role that could be played by the non-Native women? Hannaburg: Absolutely. I think sometimes people are trying to get us away from working with non-Native women. I've seen the support non-Native women have given to our organization and some of it is not out of being paid to do the job. Many have taken time and energy and positions of their own to help us. I think we can get support from non- Native women and men, but we have to be there to direct them in the ways in which we need their help. It's important we con- ue to work together. Sometimes people ive hidden agendas and they want to me in and dismantle this solidarity, but won't allow it to happen. I know some vNative] women who started support- us 20, 25 years ago and who are still )ing us today. I appreciate that. We need to organize nationally and ^nationally because the government has Ling to gain in recognizing our grand- ren or equality for women. They're ig against us and the chiefs need to and understand exactly what is n. Before you can build an empire, e to make sure you have a strong ion, and the foundation is your Tf your people are not healthy, then idation is weak. We have to go e basics and get our people id secure, and dealing with ingoing to do that. Quebec Native Women, Inc. is looker information, research or resources per- all the other women who followed. It's sad Gaining to Bill C-31. Please send relevant that Mary had to lobby and fight all her life, terials to Mary Jane Hannaburg at 70 Gabriel Rd, Oka, Quebec, PO Box 835, JON 1E0. Commentary Commentary Women, health and the medical profession. It's in my body, not my nead... by Kelly Haydon One day in March 1990,1 began to feel dizzy and within minutes spots started swimming in front of me. When I turned my head slightly, the room spun uncontrollably. I started to fall so I grabbed the edge of the desk and hung on for dear life. I crawled back into the chair and sat still for about ten minutes. Then, I called the doctor. In the interim my neck had become quite stiff. Fearing meningitis, my doctor asked me to come in right away. Upon examination he couldn't find anything wrong. He gave me a prescription for antibiotics and a week of bed rest. I slept a lot over the next month and although I recovered for a while, I was plagued with an ever-increasing range of bizarre symptoms. I was constantly dizzy, had difficulty finding words and my short term memory was virtually non-existent. I also experienced severe chills and horrible night sweats, as well as swollen lymph nodes and lots of pain and muscle weakness. Initially, it was thought I had Multiple Sclerosis (MS), but that was eventually ruled out. My doctor then told me I had Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME), also known as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and explained that it was definitely of an organic (physically based) origin. I spent a year bedridden, was put on Meals on Wheels and only had enough strength to shower once a week lying down. I had a wheelchair but couldn't use it as I didn't have the strength to sit upright. Seven years later I can sit upright for part of the day. After I had received my diagnosis of ME, I went to the library to find information on prognosis, treatment and research. To my dismay I found nothing on recovery, nor on any possible treatments, and there seemed to be little research being conducted. The few articles that did exist assumed a psychiatric basis and anti-depressants were suggested as the only treatment. I could not believe my eyes. Here I sat, my whole life decimated, due to something that hit in a matter of seconds and the much needed help from the medical profession consisted of pointing a finger and saying, \"it was all in my head.\" I went to a local ME support group where I heard the .stories of women who were incredibly sick and disabled but were told by their doctors they were not ill but just plain crazy. The level of anger at the medical profession in the room was palpable. A third of the group were men but many of their stories were different. Although they exhibited the same symptoms as the women, many of the men had been diagnosed with atypical MS and were taken very seriously by their doctors. Until that moment, I had thought the medical profession's trivializing of ME was because it was supposedly a \"new\" disease. (I later found out that over the last 50 years, more than 40 clusters or epidemics have occurred and been written up in medical journals.) Now I began to wonder whether this disdain had more to do with the fact that ME was perceived to predominantly affect females. (This is another medical myth disproved: ME affects individuals of different ages, sexes and races.) In books, I found stories of women who had experienced what I now termed the \"it's all in her head syndrome\" (IHHS). Ellen Radziunas in Lupus: My Search For a Diagnosis wrote about her fifteen month nightmare with the medical profession before she was diagnosed with Lupus. Like so many other seriously ill women, she had her symptoms labelled as psychosomatic. She was not listened to and her symptoms were routinely dismissed. Toni Jeffrey's book The Mile High Staircase tells the story of the abusive treatment she received while she had ME. In one chapter, she describes the experience of another woman, the \"Crab Lady,\" who went to the hospital because of abdominal pain, which, she said, felt like a crab was pinching her stomach. She was examined, and upon negative test results was told that nothing was wrong. As her pain became increasingly worse she returned to the hospital and was again told nothing was wrong. She persisted. The hospital finally decided the problem was not in her stomach but in her head. She was placed in the psychiatric ward and not given any medication for her \"imaginary\" pain. After an endless time in agony, her tumor became too large and hard for the doctors to ignore. I began introducing IHHS into conversations and heard stories of women who had been told by their doctors that their very organic illnesses such as Lupus, MS, AIDS, fibromyalgia, tumors and endometriosis, to name a few, didn't exist and were all in their heads. Pam, mother of a six- month-old baby, went to her doctor with severe abdominal pain on her lower right side. He talked to her about the stress of having a child and how this stress could manifest itself as pains. She insisted that she enjoyed her son and didn't find it in the least bit stressful, especially as he was a sound sleeper. But her doctor continued to dismiss her very real symptoms. Of course, he knew better that raising her son was stressful. A week later she was rushed to emergency with a ruptured appendix. A nurse friend of mine at a Vancouver hospital told me about a woman patient Glossary: Atypical Multiple Sclerosis: MS that does not present itself in the standard way and is often not supported by medical tests Chlamydia: a sexually transmitted disease caused by a bacteria which often goes untreated in women Endometriosis: can be an extremely painful disease which occurs when some of the tissue that usually lines the uterus grows in other parts of the body Fibromyalgia: a syndrome of diffuse pain, aching and stiffness of the muscles often accompanied by fatigue and sleep disturbance [see Kinesis June 1997] Lupus: a connective tissue disease characterized by inflammation, can effect different parts of the body, especially the skin, joints, blood and kidneys. Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME): a syndrome with extensive exhaustion often resulting in individuals being bedridden with various cognitive symptoms Multiple Sclerosis (MS): an auto-immune disorder affecting predominantly women organic disease: where an illness is defined as physically existing and therefore real Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID): a general term for an infection that affects a woman's reproductive organs and is primarily caused by sexually transmitted diseases Psychogenic: originating in the mind or in mental or emotional conflict Psychosomatic: bodily symptoms caused by mental or emotional disturbance Sub-clinical: not detectable or producing effects that are not detectable by the usual clinical tests. This is of importance to women's health as many of the tests are based on deviations from the male norm Selected published resources: Seizing Our Bodies: The Politics of Women's Health by Claudia Dreifus For Her Own Good: 150 Years of the Experts Advice to Women by Barbara Ehrenreich and Deidre English Backlash:theUndeclaredWarAgainstWomen by Susan Faludi The Mile-High Staircase by Toni Jeffreys Women and Medicine by Barbara Levin Women and the Psychiatric Paradoxby Susan Penfold and Gillian Walker Lupus: My Search For A Diagnosis by Ellen Radziunas No Longer Patient: Feminist Ethics and Healthcare by Susan Sherwin The Mismeasure of Women by Carol Tavris who came in complaining of severe spinal pain. As she had a previous psychiatric label she was ignored. She was given no medication for her excruciating pain nor was she examined for organic illness. She died shortly after, in pain, of spinal cancer. IHHS is so prevalent that many women internalize it. One woman who had not been diagnosed with MS until ten years after her symptoms had begun started to think herself crazy. She even asked her doctor for a referral to a psychiatrist, which she received. It wasn't until the left side of her body went numb that her doctor sent her to a neurologist. Until that moment her own doctor hadn't really noticed ten years of medical complaints. He had done nothing to deter the woman in her belief that her physical symptoms originated in her mind. Similarly, after six months without a diagnosis I too began to wonder whether I was crazy. Fortunately, my doctor nipped those sentiments in the bud. Not only does IHHS affect women on an individual level, but it also occurs on a much wider societal scale. Endometriosis, a uterine ailment that can cause infertility, has been laden with cheap psychologizing instead of rigorous medical evaluation. In the eighties, some gynecologists began calling endometriosis the \"career woman's disease.\" According to these doctors, endometriosis afflicts women who are \"intelligent, living with stress, and determined to succeed at a role other than mother early in life.\" A few years ago, a lesbian friend recounted how her doctor continually tried to convince her that her incredibly painful endometriosis was caused by her not having children. Studies on how women cardiology patients are treated as compared to men also highlight how doctors dismiss women's illnesses, even when test results support a woman's claim that she is not healthy. In one study, male and female patients with the same set of symptoms and degree of severity and the same test results were analyzed with respect to treatment. Forty percent of the men but only four percent of the women were referred by their physicians for the next medical test to determine whether bypass surgery was necessary. Because many cardiologists tend to neglect heart disease symptoms in women, by the time they are referred for coronary surgery they are usually older and sicker than men with comparable symptoms. As a result, women are nearly twice as likely as men to die from bypass surgery. A study published in the Annals of Clinical Psychiatry showed that 50 percent of women who had been diagnosed with severe depression actually had thyroid problems. The study participants had test results suggesting sub-clinical hypothyroidism and were treated for two months with thyroid hormones. Four weeks later their moods improved significantly and remained elevated for at least six months. Strangely enough, the researchers, instead of concluding that these patients may have been misdiagnosed, claimed that thyroid hormones could be used to treat depression. Results of other research further emphasize how men are treated medically and women psychiatrically. It has been estimated that 20 percent of the adult female population were given tranquilizers while men were given symptom-specific medicine for their complaints of migraine headache, abdominal pains, and fatigue. In addition to tranquilizers, doctors often prescribe anti-depressants for women's organic ills. Doctors also routinely prescribe anti-depressants to individuals with ME, but recently the first double blind controlled study of the effects of anti-depressants on ME patients showed that medication did not help them but, in fact, worsened their condition. At one time, medical authorities claimed tuberculosis (TB) in women could be traced to the ovaries. But when men were diagnosed with TB, doctors sought environmental factors to explain the disease. Similarly, although many women have long complained of such conditions as menstrual cramps, labour pain, morning sickness and infantile colic, these symptoms were declared purely psychogenic (originating in the mind). Only when organic explanations were finally established for these conditions did they become recognized as a legitimate medical syndrome. Not only are women's individual complaints taken less seriously by the medical profession. Women's healthcare in general is ignored. Although women comprise 52 percent of the population, only five percent of all health research funding goes directly to women's health. Illnesses such as breast cancer are marginally funded while Lupus receives virtually no research funding. No doubt the lack of funds earmarked for Lupus can be explained by the fact that nine out of ten people affected by the disease are women. Two thirds of these are women of colour. Women with both known and unknown diseases find themselves forced to go from doctor to doctor to find a proper diagnosis and must often do medical research themselves. Unsurprisingly, doctors also have a psychiatric label for this. \"Mun chausen's Syndrome\" is applied to people (usually women) who are described as going from one physician to another with the mistaken belief that they have physical illness. (Interestingly, there is no medical term for incompetent, unknowledgeable doctors who force patients to go from doctor to doctor.) Ruth Cooperstock, a Canadian sociologist, asked doctors to describe the typical \"complaining patient\" and 72 percent referred to a woman; only four percent referred to a man. In medical literature, cases about organic illnesses are described in terms of male patients whereas conditions such as hypochondria are written using the feminine pronoun. It seems that the untold motto of the medical profession is \"have vulva, must be crazy.\" Women's actual experience of their bodily lives are and have been completely dismissed in favour of men's definitions. This false right to define woman's reality lies at the heart of the \"it's all in her head\" syndrome. IHHS, of course, affects different women differently. Women who are white and middle class may be less affected. They share the same class as the majority of doctors, and our health care system offers services which meet the needs of the most privileged and articulate women. Education also plays a role by giving a women the intellectual confidence to wade through jargon laden medical journals. Working class women may not be able to take the time off work to go from doctor to doctor to get properly diagnosed. And despite having lower rates of incidence of breast cancer, Black women are more likely than white women to die of breast cancer suggesting a lower rate of treatment. Playing the IHHS game and relegating women's illness to the loony bin have many far-reaching and detrimental effects. First is the misuse of drugs, particularly antidepressants. By prescribing an anti-depressant to a woman who is physically ill, doctor is not only ignoring the problem and drugging her unnecessarily, but is also cutting her off from bodily messages which are in fact helpful in the diagnosis and healing process. Women who are not properly diagnosed are denied disability support through pensions and social assistance even though they may be bedridden. Many of them will also not receive adequate homecare support, nor be entitled to any rehabilitative programs. In addition, families and friends may withdraw crucial support in the face of a missing diagnosis. When doctors don't take women's symptoms seriously they create chronic illness and condemn women to a life of misery. This is often the case with Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID), which is caused by untreated sexually transmitted diseases. Although chlamydia is simple to diagnose and easy to cure with antibiotics, few gynecologists bother to test for it. Untreated chlamydia leading to PID is a major cause of infertility, pain and disability. In the case of MS, early diagnosis is important. It seems that the earlier a patient receives the treat- There are many places a woman may contact for more information on health issues. Listed below are a few: The Vancouver's Women's Health Collective 219-1676 W. 8th, Vancouver, BC, V6J 1V2 Tel: (604) 736-5262 Offers a number of services including a physician referral file where you can check to see if anyone has had a similar experience with your doctor or to aid in finding a new doctor. They also have a reference library with books and articles on women's health issues and listings of alternative practitioners. The Women's Health Clinic 2nd floor, 419 Graham Ave, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3C 0M3 Tel: (204) 947-2422 Fax:(204)943-3844 Has programs specifically for women dealing with issues of menopause, PMS, post-partum stress, endometriosis and weight preoccupation. Holds information sessions on menopause and weight preoccupation, and support groups for women with weight preoccupation and endometriosis. Counselling services also available. The clinic does advocacy work around women's health and other related issues and has a resource centre. The Canadian Women's Health Network c/o The Women's Health Clinic 2nd floor, 419 Graham Ave, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3C 0M3 Tel: (204) 947-2422 ext. 135 Fax: (204) 943-3844 Internet: http://www.cwhn.ca Publishes a quarterly newsletter on women's health issues, and has a listing of other women's health sites on the internet. The Boston Women's Health Book Collective Box 192, West Sommerville, Massachusetts, 02144 USA Produces The New Our Bodies Ourselves, a great book on women's health issues with additional reference lists on each area. They also produce three other excellent resources books: Changing Bodies, Changing Lives, Ourselves Growing Older, and Ourselves and Our Children. Women's Health in Women's Hands 2 Carleton St, Suite 500, Toronto, Ontario, MSB 1J3 Tel: (416) 593-7655 Fax:(416)593-5867 Provides services particularly for women of all ages\u00E2\u0080\u0094young women, older women\u00E2\u0080\u0094and disabled women. Services include health education, counselling on violence issues, family planning and birth control information, menopause information and counselling, pre- and post-abortion counselling, nurse and physician care, FGM (female genital mutilation) counselling and advocacy, and referrals to other health centres. Has a resource centre open on Tuesday evenings. ment, beta interferon, the more positive its effect. A lack of understanding of the disease process as manifested in women is another consequence of the IHHS. Because doctors routinely ignore women's symptoms they miss out on very valuable information on how different diseases affect women. Nowhere is this clearer than in the case of AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome). Doctors defined AIDS in terms of the symptoms men showed, but for many women the earliest and often only sign of HTV infection is a gynecological ailment such as prolonged menstrual bleeding, severe episodes of sexually transmitted diseases, chronic PID and difficult to treat vaginal infections. If doctors had taken women's complaints seriously we might have had an understanding of how HTV manifests in women years ago. The Centre for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta reported that almost half the women who die of AIDS are never diagnosed with the illness. Costs to the health care system also rise as a direct result of IHHS. Not only are there increased costs caused by complications of untreated infections\u00E2\u0080\u0094nearly three-quarters of the costs of chlamydia infections were caused by complications of untreated infections\u00E2\u0080\u0094but women often have to go to several doctors before getting properly diagnosed. Each physician bills the healthcare system for what can be often described as neglect. Another related cost that cannot be overlooked is that women are already overburdened in our society and yet must of ten diagnose themselves and family members. (Perhaps we should give women medical billing numbers.) This takes women's vital energy away from their own healing. I was fortunate that my doctors never fell for IHHS which freed up my energy to explore alternatives and to take up painting, but many women are not so lucky. One positive outcome of IHHS may be that women get fed up with the medical profession and turn to themselves for healing, by examining alternative therapies, which are often less invasive and more holistic than western medicine. Unfortunately, many women cannot afford alternatives as they are not covered by our health care system. Nevertheless, alternative healing should be a choice. At a time when many people in Canada are debating the merits of a two- tier (public and private) medical system, we should remember that one already exists. As Kay Weiss writes: \"One of the cruelest forms of sexism we live with today is the unwillingness of many doctors to diagnose people's diseases with equality. To let a patient's organic diseases go undiagnosed and refer that patient to psychiatry just because she is a woman is not medicine, it's punishment.\" Kelly Haydon writes and paints in Vancouver and thanks her lucky stars for two great doctors and two peachy editors. She says to all women: \"trust your body.\" SEPTEMBER 1997 SEPTEMBER 1997 Arts The Vancouver Improvising Ensemble of Women: Improvisation as metaphor by Laiwan \"We have to keep on improvising. It has to be out there. To do this is a political statement because things in our culture now are so packaged to occupy us in a way so that we don't have to engage.'7Q\u00C2\u00ABofe by Paris-based bass player/vocalist Joelle Leandre as told to Marilyn Lerner published in an interview with Queen Mob by Laiwan, Front Magazine, May-June 1997.] What is improvisation and why would it be a political act? Being a novice to contemporary music, I admit finding improvi- sational women inspiring. Seeing music performed live is always a thrill, and improvisation can be more so because one has to be there in the space without assumptions or expectations, letting go to listen, to find new things and being present in the moment. It is this demand on the listener, as well as the performer, that I find a political act. It's not all serious work though, and you're likely to find a lot of whimsy as these women are not full of self-importance or pretence. VIEW'S free evening performance at the Vancouver International Jazz Festival on June 29 was not only inspiring, it was also playful, refreshing, good-natured and courageous. On the minimal stage at the Roundhouse Community Centre, Vancouver's Peggy Lee (cello), Lauri Lyster (drums), Karen Graves (saxophone/clarinets) and db boyko (voice) joined the dynamic Winnipeg duo Lori Freedman (bass clarinet) and Marilyn Lerner (piano)\u00E2\u0080\u0094who also played within the set as Queen Mab [see below]\u00E2\u0080\u0094for a too-short hour-long set of, in their words, \"not pre-meditated music.\" What does it take for six women who don't perform together often and who had very little rehearsal time to improvise in the moment? All six come from different training, different practices, different styles: some from classical, some from jazz and some from other non-western musical forms like Indonesian gamelan. All six sustain themselves making a living from an art form that is not highly visible, not really 'popular,' nor well-paying. This marginalized form of contemporary music demands a self-confidence and persistence that includes a truly personal belief in the value of the art form, contrary to our dominant societal values. VIEW first played as a larger ensemble\u00E2\u0080\u0094including Kate Hammett-Vaughan and Moreen Meriden\u00E2\u0080\u0094at Vancouver's Women in View Festival last February. VIEW, initiated by boyko who is also currently music curator at the Western Front (an artist-run inter-disciplinary centre in Vancouver), performed and held workshops and network sessions that included international guests Joelle Leandre from Paris and Beth Custer from San Francisco. The first event of its kind, not only in Vancouver but in Canada, the three-day event brought women improvising in music a new visibility and broader recognition. Perhaps what impresses me most about the art of improvisation that VIEW presents is how each performer has to be listening to themselves and to what is happening around her in each moment...in every moment. It is not only an exercise in spontaneity woven with intelligence, it is also a practice of a kind of minute-by- minute negotiation\u00E2\u0080\u0094requiring the making and throwing out of boundaries at the same time and communication the musicians playing beside, as well as within the self. Demanding and disciplined: it is a process that can be inherently complex, yet it also happily brings out a child-like playfulness. During one rehearsal I attended, I witnessed the preparations leading up to a performance. Nearly the whole two-hour rehearsal was taken up by negotiating. The outcome was a simple: unhierarchical and mathematical framework giving rise to improvisational intros, duos and trios, and where each played freely alone or with another for so many pre-agreed minutes. The next musician(s) carried on with a musical Review of Queen Mao's new CD Barbie's Other Shoe/ Unique music from unique duo by Laiwan BARBIE'S OTHER SHOE Queen Mab Nine Winds Label Beverly Hills, California, 1997 It seems the more I listen to Barbie's Other Shoe, the more I hear new layers. Subtleties I'd passed before now show up. This is not a simple type of music but instead is a complex mix of improvisation with ideas innovatively fused from jazz and classical music. I really like this CD. I think it's because of this continuous new discovery of subtleties. It's the kind of CD that when friends are over for tea, it's playing, people are chatting and suddenly everyone is laughing because of the playfulness of the music. There's humour, intelligence and soul. And like life, it's not easy. By easy, I mean readily consumable or pandering to instant gratification. It's challenging in the way the art of improvisation is inherently challenging\u00E2\u0080\u0094making us throw out the ex pected and be with open ears, heart and mind. With just the elements of clarinet and piano, Lori Freedman and Marilyn Lerner produce a unique music that shows a particular character\u00E2\u0080\u0094eccentric, intelligent, serious and quirky. An oddly rare combination that comes out contemplative and melodic in \"Prayer,\" com- plicatedly joyful in \"Happy Ass,\" and tripping and hopping in the title track \"Barbie's Other Shoe.\" Other moments have Lerner and Freedman pushing the limits of their instruments, making sounds not familiarly associated with either the clarinet or piano, as in \"Like Silver Felt\" and \"Mab Roots.\" Many of the pieces also have a serious edge: from the deep questioning I feel in \"From Finnegan,\" to the brief, thoughtful painting in \"Haiku Do You?\" \"Myku,\" like \"Haiku,\" is sweet and precise and \"Regarding My Garden\" is a mysterious and complex adventure, especially when placed next to the single-mindedly mischievous \"GoGet'er.\" Marilyn Lerner and Lori Freedman Queen Mab is the meeting of two creative and talented musicians who have recorded a distinct music that probably reveals the quite intimate nature of their collaboration and friendship. Virtuosos in their own fields\u00E2\u0080\u0094Freedman is well- known in new music and interdisciplinary circles, and Lerner is a frequent performer at international jazz festivals\u00E2\u0080\u0094their forceful combination creates intelligent landscapes that are rarely acknowledged or visited. Look out for Freedman's solo CD and Lerner's new recording from Cuba to be released within the next year. Vancouver Improvising Ensemble of Women. (Back) db boyko, Marilyn Lerner, Joelle Leandre, Lori Freedman, Lauri Lyster (front) Karen Graves, Peggy Lee, Beth Custer theme or spatial tone established by the previous. These short, random combinations quickly added up to the hour. And as one in the audience I was fascinated by what was happening within me. Although the hour of the performance flew by, it demanded a certain kind of (not) taking of space: it demanded me to be attentive, listening, present. Knowing feeling as it is happening, as it is being communicated, is not easy. Skills embedded in this art become a metaphor\u00E2\u0080\u0094a model\u00E2\u0080\u0094of a way of living (musically and playfully). Skills I want to earn for myself, skills contrary to our age of mindless pop, predictable hype and the habit of filling spaces with premeditated agendas. It was refreshing to see these women not battle for the solo. They are uncompetitive. So different from an earlier free concert of all male-musicians where I heard walls of slick sound where each would joust for the ultimate solo space. Is it a gender thing? I don't think it to be essentially so. I just find the non-competitive spirit more interesting, subtle, finer tuned, and perhaps women tend to be more aware of these spaces. Things can happen which are not just technical but tonal: with feelings, experienced, expressed, and often I found myself laughing from the playfulness, the vulnerability, the surprise. From moments of Peggy Lee's sometimes mournful cello, to db boyko's birdlike singing chatter, to Lori Freedman's intensity (even when playing her clarinet mouthpieces quirkily joined together), to Marilyn Lerner's energized playing of the piano like percussion, the VIEW'S performance only gave a hint of the future possibilities of these six women improvising together. From bursts of sharp dissonant, atonal pangs to quiet, small sounds building together to make a larger body of little sounds, VIEW showed confidence in their music laced with an understanding of the co-operative spirit this kind of music requires. Sadly, there wasn't enough time for things to really heat up, to push beyond the limits of what we know, what we hear. Pushing limits: I want more of this. Being in the type of space that VIEW created is rare. I think our culture doesn't value making time for this moment-by- moment process of listening, improvising, negotiating, childlike playfulness, of knowing oneself and letting go. Improvisational music is one of the few artforms that still truly embodies this process. At the root is a very contemporary problem: we all move too fast so there never is enough time to be in the moment... Laiwan was born in Harare, Zimbabwe, and is of Chinese origin. She is an interdisciplinary artist and writer, based in Vancouver. 16 SEPTEMBER 1997 Arts An interview with Terrie Hamazaki: Exploring the culture of shame as told to Sara Miura Zolbrod \"Through death-defying acts of poetry and song, an Asian lesbian moves gracefully through the punitive landscape and culture of shame to slay dragons and steal back her own magic.\" This is how Vancouver artist Terrie Hamazaki describes her upcoming one-woman Vancouver Fringe Festival show, Furusato (BirthPlace). Sara Miura Zolbrod got a chance to interview her in a discussion ranging from the show to Japan and back. Zolbrod is a half-Japanese Canadian queer from Vancouver, a Playwriting student at Concordia University in Montreal, and a performer and writer. Sara Miura Zolbrod: Can you tell me about your upcoming Fringe show? Terrie Hamazaki: It's a 35 minute one- woman show where I play two characters, a mother and daughter. It's not a conversation between the two; they each get air time. The show describes a moment where the daughter has come out to her mother as a lesbian, and what the mother does with that\u00E2\u0080\u0094where that takes her into her own life and [in relation to] this daughter she has borne and raised. The daughter's coming out provokes other truths coming out\u00E2\u0080\u0094 things that happened between them, in the family, with each other as women. Zolbrod: How much of the show is autobiographical? Hamazaki: There are some facts that I altered, but mostly I would have to admit it's based on life and my relationship with my mother. Zolbrod: How did your mother come to Canada? Hamazaki: She came in the 50's as a picture bride\u00E2\u0080\u0094she didn't know her husband to be. She was probably 20, 21 when her family arranged a marriage between her and my father. He was already here in Canada so he sponsored her. She came on a boat with a lot of other women who were in a similar position. Zolbrod: In the blurb for Furusato, you've written that the characters have to confront a 'culture of shame.' Were you talking about the setting of the play or your perceptions of our culture? Hamazaki: More the latter. By 'culture of shame' I mean the shame that is put onto us as women, as working class people, as women who express their sexuality and sensuality, who dare to embrace their desires whatever those may be, and how women are shamed into thinking they don't have a right to do that. It's almost like a morality play. The daughter's character is very aware and into her sexuality and expressiort of that as a femme lesbian, and there s a lot going against that in society, which the daughter has internalized as well as the mother. So there are all these forces working against the daughter who's saying 'yes I am a lesbian' and 'yes I am a femme, meaning I go out there and I wear sexy clothes.' Zolbrod: Is it commenting on a specifically Japanese heritage at all? Your mother's values? Hamazaki: I think at one time I would have said yes. But now I think\u00E2\u0080\u0094because of talking with other women in my life, other women in the work I do (counselling)\u00E2\u0080\u0094it crosses racial lines. Maybe it's expressed differently, but it comes from the same place. Zolbrod: I heard the poem that this play grew out of last summer, over a year ago, when you did a reading at DykeWords. Obviously this is an issue you've been working on for quite a while. Can you tell me about the play's development? Hamazaki: The poem you heard last summer came from a conversation I had with my mother. I've been a lesbian since '89, and over the years I've come out to different people in my life and to myself more and more. I've never actually sat her down and said, \"Mom, I'm a lesbian.\" It wasn't the kind of climate and relationship where we would sit down and have conversations like that, where I talked about truths in the family and between us. My mom basically confronted me [about being a lesbian] the night before my dad's funeral. (My parents were divorced.) My partner at that time was with me, and even though \"^^ the conversation was in Japanese, she knew what we were talking about. She could just tell\u00E2\u0080\u0094the anger, the curiosity, the accusation. That was in February '92. We never really talked about it again until last summer when she sat me down and said, 'I'm so sorry I didn't take care of you.' The implication was that she imagined a life of hardship for me as a lesbian. So after that conversation, I went home and furiously scribbled this poem out. Given the response I got, and the kind of release for me, I realized I needed to expand on it. So as soon as the Fringe Festival applications came out, I sent one in. I've been working on the expansion of the poem since spring. Zolbrod: Do you want your mother to come see the play? Hamazaki: I told her I was doing a show, but I haven't said to her 'please come' and she hasn't said, 'when is it?' She asked me what my show was about when I told her I needed a kimono. My designer is sewing one but she needed a pattern, so I asked my mom if she had any. She asked why I needed it. I said it was for my show. 'Oh, are you going to talk about Japanese things?' I said yes, and she said, 'Well, be careful.' I took it to mean there's still shame; she's probably afraid of what I'm going to say out there publicly. So I've made a conscious decision to keep her out of this process as much as possible. I might regret it later, but I know that's what I need to do right now. The other thing is it's in English with just a few Japanese phrases thrown in, so she wouldn't understand most of it. Zolbrod: Another interesting aspect that caught my eye in your written description of your play was how the lesbian character \"slays dragons.\" Of course, everyone has different conceptions of what it is to be a femme lesbian. But if you take the fairy tale as a model, I think of femmes as being princesses, and it's usually the knight that goes out and slays the dragon. Hamazaki: By 'princess,' do you mean helpless? Zolbrod: Yes. The one who's waiting. Maybe not helpless, maybe she is motivating the knight to go out and do things somehow, but the knight or the prince is usually the active one. But can we expand these definitions, expand the roles? So that even if I'm a princess or a femme, sure, I like to go slay dragons, too. Hamazaki: I know that when I wrote that blurb, it was probably really unconscious. It's now in the process that I'm realizing what I meant. 'Slaying dragons' for me is an expression\u00E2\u0080\u0094we all have dragons that need to be slain, and it's a metaphor for things that cause us pain, emotional pain specifically. Those are the dragons I (above and below /eft; Terrie Hamazaki in Furusato need to slay and yes, in this case I\u00E2\u0080\u0094as a femme\u00E2\u0080\u0094am doing the self-motivating and acting. Zolbrod: This process of slaying dragons, of dealing with emotional pain...how does this piece connect with the rest of your life? Hamazaki: It's very cathartic and healing. I'm 36 now and the stories I tell through both of the characters in the show had barely been voiced between my mother and myself. For example, the violence of my father, her husband. So for me to publicly say it out loud and have witnesses to this telling, witnesses that I would hope are compassionate and understanding, is very life-affirming for me. Specifically around the violence, we were told directly and indirectly by both my parents, but mostly my mom, not to talk about it outside the home. There was a lot of shame for my mother because she was in this situation and shame for us as a fam- ily. So years later, now I'm telling it from my point of view. I certainly can't talk about it from my mom's. I talk about it from my experience of my mom telling me how she experienced it. Zolbrod: It's interesting that you were encouraged to keep silent and here you are on stage telling the world. That's pretty radical. Hamazaki: Totally! One of the things I do in the show is I sing a Japanese song, not a whole song but an excerpt. That kind of self-expression wasn't encouraged, especially for me because I'm the eldest and I'm the only daughter. My brothers were more encouraged to be who they were. There were things still holding us all back class-wise, but certainly I was taught to be in the background and not make a whole lot of racket. continued on next page... SEPTEMBER 1997 17 Arts Reviewof'JudyFongBates 'China Dog; Making hard choices by Rita Wong CHINA DOG AND OTHER TALES FROM A CHINESE LAUNDRY by Judy Fong Bates Sister Vision Press, Toronto, Ontario, 1997 Judy Fong Bates' stories are a valuable addition to the growing body of literature which deals with Chinese Canadian immigrant experiences. While the themes of hardship, hard work, loneliness and alienation in a new land are familiar, Bates has stories to tell which have not been heard before. Each hard choice that must be made, each tradition which becomes a petty little tyranny or an ominous life-changing prophecy, each tragedy that thwarts a potentially fulfilling life...these make up the obsessions that fuel Bates' stories. In the first story, \"My Sister's Love,\" Bates paints the tension between two sisters\u00E2\u0080\u0094the younger one taken to Canada with her parents, the older one who lived in Hong Kong for a number of years before the parents were able to bring her to Canada. The older sister's resentment at having been abandoned, coupled with her preference for a modern Hong Kong lifestyle in the face of poverty and economic struggle of her family in Canada, sets the scene for differences which can never be resolved. Throw in a wealthy suitor who is too old to be respectable and an arranged marriage, and we find a situation in which there are no possible happy endings. In many of the stories, the characters inhabit a world in which superstition is proven true; that is, where belief makes an omen real. \"China Dog\" in particular makes it clear that there is no escape from the past, that the realities haunting our family histories do not let go so easily. By using third person narration, Bates avoids making a judgement call on superstition or scepticism; rather, she lays out the story for us to decide. While this personal distance is admirable, at times, I found myself wanting a more engaged, more naked narrator. I wanted to know who Bates feels she is writing for. I wanted more blood and guts on the page. However, I must admit this is more personal preference than any weakness in the stories. Violence, be it accidental or intentionally, comes up again and again in Bates' stories. She does not shy away or try to cover up the very physical expressions of frustration that immigrants experience and inflict upon one another. Bates shows how conflict tends to build slowly, almost invisibly to the undiscerning eye, before exploding. She writes of these matters with an attention to small detail that rings true. This is the world of small family-run laundries and restaurants in rural Ontario towns, seven day work weeks, long hours each day, and self-sacrifice in the present Judy Fong Bates for the sake of the future. This is a hard life, one I grew up with, one which I know is difficult to write about because of the very tedious, brain-numbing, heart- numbing nature of such a life. I applaud Bates for taking us into this world, and hope that she continues to delve further into it. Although the stories deal with hard topics, I cannot help but feel that there is still more passion, more emotional bombs in the background waiting to detonate. The narrative voice allows us to stay somewhere safe, somewhere slightly detached from the mess. I wanted the narrators to take more risks, to wrangle us into the fray: for as there is no escape from the past, nor should there be escape from the power of the storytelling. Some of the characters in one story appear briefly in others, hinting at overlap- of food in maintaining one's health. Feeling abandoned by her children, she develops a friendship with another widow, Wong Mo, which sustains her. It is this friendship which allows her to develop a sense of self beyond the limited roles of wife and mother she was caught in. Although I would have liked more than a third-person narrated glimpse into this woman's story, the limited view we get of her is still very engaging. Judy Fong Bates' first book is full of vignettes and fragments of lives and slo ping worlds. Perhaps this overlap could ries which gives us a taste of Chinese Ca- have been made more explicit so that the nadian experience. It leaves me hungry for stories connect and link in more significant more. ways. In \"Cold Food\" perhaps my favourite story in the collection, focuses on May-Yen Lum, a mother who knows the importance Rita Wong is an Earth Monkey and archivist living in Vancouver. An interview with Terrie Hamazaki: continued from previous page At one time I thought that taught me to be non-assertive and not be able to claim my space in the world. But I've since come to realize that in fact, mom taught me 'survival strategies'\u00E2\u0080\u0094what I call them now. She taught me how to survive in this sexist world, and against the sexism in the family that she internalized and taught us. It's survival and I think that we both unite and support each other against the sexism of my brothers, her sons. It's been a long time for me to realize that she didn't do it on purpose to oppress me, it was something she learned and she not only taught it, she taught me how to survive it. She said to me one time, Kore dake sh'ka dekin kara (It's all I can do, it's all I know how to do.) And it made me cry and I said T know, I know' So I think that with this show I have found and continue to find compassion for myself as daughter and for her as mother against everything we have going against us as women, as working class people, as women of colour, as a lesbian and a mother of a lesbian. She's going to need to come up with strategies to protect herself and me from the sexism, racism, classism and homopho bia still out there. Homophobia is another oppression she's going to have to come up with strategies for, like I have. Zolbrod: Sexism and homophobia affect us at such a deep level. I was just talking to my mother, who is also Japanese and came to Canada when she was 22. She was telling me about one of her earliest and most painful experiences. She was a good student, and one day she asked her father for 10 cents to buy a notebook and he said 'No, we can't afford it.' Then right after, her younger brother went up to him and said, 'Can we have 10 cents for candy?' and her father gave it to him. From that moment on, my mother has thought the world is fundamentally unfair. Fifty years later, she still believes that. Have you visited Japan? Hamazaki: The first time I went, I was probably 12 or 13. It was really neat because we heard lots of stories about my mom from her sisters, and it really put her in a different context, like, 'Wow, she was a sister and a daughter and a brat.' My second trip was in 1987.1 hadn't come out as a dyke yet, and I was 26 and everyone was asking when I was going to get married. I knew on some level that that question wasn't relevant to me but I didn't know really why, so it was a more difficult trip. Zolbrod: Getting back to the show: what are your feelings about the upcoming run, your hopes and fears? Hamazaki: I'm really excited and I'm really nervous too. My one fear all the time is that other Japanese Canadian women, other Asian women, are going to tell me to not talk about things. I've internalized that so much. Zolbrod: I don't know if you remember that last summer I went up to you after you read the poem, and said 'thank you for having shared that'? I was really glad that you said it out loud in a public space. Hamazaki: Thank you. When I fear that other Japanese Canadian women or other Asian women will want me to not talk about it, I think about when women have approached me and said 'thank you so much.' There was one other woman that night who approached me. She said she got what my piece was about and I thought, 'Oh my God, this is okay then.' I've internalized so much, I guess, about my mother's fears\u00E2\u0080\u0094 and I'll own them, they're my fears too. It's my first time singing on stage a cappella, and my other fear is that people will walk out and say that this woman cannot sing. 'I liked the show but the singing has got to stop.' I'm so excited, I can't wait. We're in rehearsal right now three, four times a week and it's hell. I can't say that I really enjoy it. It's hard work and it's so intense. When we first started rehearsals earlier this month, I was still in my head, with the delivery of the lines. Then, there was one moment with the mother character, when I just internalized her. I needed to be in her and not just reciting a script. I heard this clunk inside me, like she landed: 'clunk.' And I just burst into tears! My director and stage manager were like, 'All right! Finally! It just took a few weeks and a couple of hours tonight but yes, you've arrived.' It's where I needed to be: in her, being her, moving into her, moving in her, and I wasn't doing that before. Zolbrod: It sounds like a very emotionally difficult process. Hamazaki: It's been really intense. Zolbrod: Best of luck with the show. Terrie Hamazaki will be performing Furusato at the Tesla Gallery, 916 Commercial Drive, Vancouver, September 4-11. For tickets and times call TicketMaster at 280-4444. Seating is very limited, so get your tickets soon. Thanks to Sur Mehat for transcribing this piece. SEPTEMBER 1997 Arts Interview with Linda Tillery and the Cultural Heritage Choir: Storytelling through music as told to Michelle Sylliboy This past summer, audiences at the Vancouver Folk Music Festival were treated to the sweet sounds and artistry of Linda Tillery and the Cultural Heritage Choir. Covering a broad repertoire which draws from the diverse resources of African American music, slave songs, work songs, field hollers and spirituals, Tillery and her choir\u00E2\u0080\u0094comprised of Melanie DeMore, Rhonda Benin, Emma-Jean Fiege, and Elouise Burrell\u00E2\u0080\u0094weave a myriad of musical threads and cultural traditions into a stunning fabric. Kinesis' Michelle Sylliboy had the opportunity to talk to Tillery and members of the Choir during the festival. Sylliboy is from the Mi'kmaq Nation and is an artist and writer currently studying at the Emily Can Institute of Art and Design in Vancouver. Michelle Sylliboy: How did you originally get together? Melanie DeMore: We were all living in the [San Francisco] Bay area doing different kinds of music. Linda wanted to do this project of singing traditional African music\u00E2\u0080\u0094she's been studying and researching it for about the last zillion years. She originally got eleven singers together and we had a bi-coastal thing going on\u00E2\u0080\u0094east coast and west cost. We did a thing at the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival. People loved what we were doing and Linda decided she wanted to do it again. To make it more manageable, she cut the group down to six people so we could do concerts in our area without trying to do rehearsals over the phone on the east coast. We had another audition, and we got Emma Jean and Eloise, two of the best sopranos on the planet. Rhonda and I are members of the original Cultural Heritage Choir, and now it's down to five and we like it just fine. Michelle Sylliboy: You seem to have a strong connection to regenerating and healing with your music. In Native cultures, music is very important to our survival and it's a struggle to get people to understand where we're coming from historically and where we're going, and all the struggles, the healing and the abuse. How much politics come into your work? Elouise Burrell: You're right when you say we've struggled a lot, and the music we're doing educates Black children and white children about where the struggle began. There are songs we sing in order to survive and it teaches them how important the struggle is for surviving today. There's a lot of spirituality connected to this music too. It reminds us to stay connected to God; it's very inspirational. Linda Tillery: It's so important to recognize where we came from and to take those lessons into the next century. A lot of the problems that come along with young people is that they feel disconnected, and this music helps us reconnect and stay connected to who we are. Emma-Jean Fiege: 1 think one of Linda's original objectives was the preservation of history and our objective is to pass on that music to the children. This morning at the Folk Festival, we did the Children's Stage and it was absolutely fantastic. We were able to do some children's play songs and rain songs and have the children actually be a part of it. The songs say something. They're about self-esteem or the way you communicate with others, or about your heritage. Sylliboy: I was impressed by your research; I see that you went to South Carolina to do research... Tillery: I spent the last few summers in South Carolina. The first summer, I went with four women who were also interested in doing research. We searched out places where we could find remnants of what is called Gullah culture. The Gullah people are descendants of African slaves who live on the islands in the coastal regions of South Carolina and Georgia. We found a place on St. Helena Island, South Carolina, the Perm Center, which is a clearing house for Gullah culture. They have activities for seniors, which was interesting because I wanted to hear the old people sing. This summer, I was able to go to one of the seniors' activities, and I have a notebook where I wrote down some of the lyrics. They were singing some spirituals I'd never heard before. We met a man who's in his eighties, named Mr. Matthew Polite. Mr. Polite took my friend Joanna Highgood and me all around St. Helena Island and showed us places where Black families had lived three or four generations back. Everyone knew who their great-grandparents were, where they were buried. They had owned their land all through the generations. There's a pattern of migration of a lot of African Americans going back to the South. Now that we've gone through the civil rights era, things seem to have turned around a bit and they're referring to it as the \"new South.\" A lot of Black people are going back home, and getting back into the land because we do have a history as farmers and cultivators, people who worked with animals and livestock, people who worked with horses and stables. Sylliboy: I grew up in Nova Scotia. There was a lot of integration of Mi'kmaqs and Blacks. We sort of rescued them. They came into our villages and they married into our culture. You can tell that their background goes back quite a way. Tillery: There was a lot of inter-marriage between Blacks and Seminoles down in Florida, and there are groups of people that have been doing preservation of that culture. There was a stand-off in the islands down in Florida where the Seminoles and the Black slaves who had escaped held off the US army for months. The US army had to come in with the big guns in order to get them out. The Blacks and the Seminoles fought really hard and said, 'we will not give up.' There are some really beautiful stories of unification and fighting back. In any movement or period of struggle, particularly with people of colour or people who have been poor and oppressed like indentured slaves, it seems that art is a positive outcome of that particular occurrence. You have tremendous bodies of work from people who lived under extreme conditions. For example, there are hundreds of spirituals that came out of African American slavery. And you can identify certain sounds with African Americans from the rural US South and a certain style of music with Blacks who are from Trinidad and Tobago or those from Cuba. There is something similar in the music of all those countries, even though there are cultural and language differences, because Africa's stamp is still on that music. I talk about that to children because kids need to know, not only where they come from, but tfiat they are people who have a history and talents that have either been shared or stolen, but that are theirs. For example, in the Sea Islands regions, the Africans were brought there to do rice cultivation and farming; they were also brought there to do carpentry. There are hand made wooden artifacts made by the slaves during the late 1700s and early 1800s\u00E2\u0080\u0094these incredible wood carvings of chandeliers, armoirs and bed posts. They also had all kinds of rice panning techniques where they used baskets, and there was music to go along with this. There are rice pounding songs and work songs and songs of worship. So you have these two areas which are referred to as the sacred and the secular; this is the music that comes from the spirit and this is the music that comes from the people. We try to do both. Then we try to look at the evolution of the music from its inception to how it has influenced music today. We're all post-war babies, so we've got the influence of James Brown, Aretha Emma-Jean Fiege, Melanie DeMore, Rhonda Benin, Elouise Burrell and LindaTillery Franklin, Wilson Pickett, Gladys Knight, Jimi Hendrix...and we put that stamp on the music we do. One of the beautiful things about art is that it changes with each decade, each generation\u00E2\u0080\u0094it doesn't remain static; it's always going to be different, it's always an evolution. Sylliboy: One of the biggest projects I'm working on for October 1998 is organizing a conference for indigenous women. One of the main themes is reclaiming the definition of art within indigenous cultures. The definition of an artist in a western culture is within the traditional fine arts: sculpting, painting. But for indigenous cultures, an artist is everything: you have your headers, basket weavers, drum makers, healers, dancers, storytellers. They're all artists in their own special way. I want to bring together women from other cultures to talk about how they have been affected by globalization and colonization and other historical influences that are part of us today. It still affects us. No matter how many years ago colonization happened, if s there. There's nothing we can do about it, but what we can do is to bring out who we are. Tillery: I think it's important for us to tell our own stories from our own perspectives, and that is what we try to do. We need to tell our stories\u00E2\u0080\u0094history as it is seen through our own eyes and also the present as it's seen through our own eyes. We have a really strong link with our ancestors. For example, Emma's mother is a great gospel singer, and even though my mother wasn't a singer, she had a tremendous love of music. I know that her spirit is with me and prods me along because each time we sing, I feel her soothing words, \"that's all right baby; everything's going to be all right.\" Whether it is intentional or not, each woman's voice in this group is almost like a blanket and I feel enveloped in it personally. I engaged in this project as much for my own salvation as for anybody else's. Storytellers are important because a lot of the music we perform has been handed down through oral tradition. We all know that before the settlement of these lands by Europeans, one of our major ways of communicating was through the storytellers, the griots, the ones entrusted with the entire history of a tribal group of people. They had it in their heads and I think that is beautiful. We ought to get back to that\u00E2\u0080\u0094talking to one another. Sylliboy: I like it when people start singing songs of their ancestors that have been passed down. When you bring that song from 500 years ago and sing it today, it's still alive. Tillery: You're calling up some powerful stuff. Burrell: And you have to be really awake, really conscious when you sing those songs because you're bringing up some very serious things that maybe you can't handle. Some of the reasons we sing songs that are rooted so far back in African history is that we are adding on to this huge voice that has been building over all of these years. It's wonderful but you've got to be awake! SEPTEMBER 1997 Arts Interview with Jane Sapp: Social change through song as told to Michelle Sylliboy Jane Sapp is a cultural messenger who has worked extensively in the rural communities in the deep South of the United States. She is also a singer and songwriter, and through her soaring songs, she engages people in the process of documenting their history and traditions. Sapp has appeared in concerts all over the US, including performances at the National Womens Music Festival, Sisterfire, and the People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit. Recently, she released a new recording called Jane Sapp Presents: We've All Got Stories\u00E2\u0080\u0094Songs from the Dream Project. Sapp was in Vancouver last July performing at the annual Folk Music Festival. Michelle Sylliboy had the chance to chat with her, in particular about her involvement in the community and how she sees music connected to social change work. Michelle Sylliboy: You do a lot of work back in your community, and I find that interesting because music is a vital part of reeducating and re-emerging what is needed in the community. Jane Sapp: I've always worked out of the community. I grew up inAugusta, Georgia in a period where there was segregation in the South. Because segregation was so prevalent and intensely oppressive, you couldn't ignore its presence and impact on your life. It was everywhere, in the air you breathed. So if it was in the air you breathed, then it had to be in the music you sang. It also then had to be in everything you did, so you couldn't just have a play without [segregation and the struggle against it] being a part of it. Even in the most subtle and insignificant way, even if whoever was working with you on a play said, \"child you need to learn how to read, get this play together because this is one of the reasons why they try to keep us down,\" there's always a reference to segregation. It would have been difficult for me not to have been working in my community. As a musician who grew up in a community where people were consistently addressing the social issues around them, it seemed like the most natural thing to do. Music too must become a way of bringing about social change; it must become a way of reminding people of their strengths and the obstacles out there for them, and reminding people of the power of their faith in themselves and in their creator. Music must become a way for giving people hope, helping people to know that together we can find a brighter thing. Those were the historical circumstances that shape my music, but I do community work because the issues are still there. As long as they're there, I'm going to feel it's important to work with young people, to get people to share their stories, to bring people of colour together and build strategies for social change. And I will always feel it is important for people to create because if we don't keep creating, we will lose sight of what's possible. I'm convinced that when people stop creating, then hope is gone. As long as we're making new things, then we're open to possibilities. You stop creating, and then you've said, \"I feel no more possibilities, my imagination has run out, and therefore I don't see anything else.\" So, I always encourage people to keep creating. Sylliboy: Native politics is similar to your own politics. What you're fighting for is preserving your own history and future. The songs you sing are recording history. What you're doing is critical. In terms of this year's Folk Fest, how do you find it? Sapp: I think that there's a lot of good music and good musicians here. You can't deny that. You couldn't have a more beautiful site to have a festival. For me, I have always liked the Vancouver Fold Music Festival and I'll tell you why. I don't like festivals generally. I think they're like a three ring circus\u00E2\u0080\u0094people running around from one place to another, and everyone gawking at the next singer. The first time I came to this festival, back in the early 80s, there was something spiritual here. Even now, I look at the mountains there, and I can't explain it, but it's a particular spiritual feeling I have filling me inside, that peace. I like coming back here so I can get the source of energy that's here. It's so hard to explain. Sylliboy: In BC there's a highly magnetic vortex. So those who are connected spiritually\u00E2\u0080\u0094if they're in tune with their gifts\u00E2\u0080\u0094will sense it. So what you're feeling is that magnetic pull. Jane Sapp Sapp: Well I do and have always. Probably this time more strongly than ever before. This time I felt like crying. There was one time I was standing over there by the fence looking at the mountains, and I started thinking about What this would feel like if all of the people weren't here, and somehow I thought it would certainly feel a lot better. I felt like there was a disconnection between what I feel spiritually here and what some of the people bring to it. I can only give it to you as a form of an example. Once I was working for a \"progressive/radical\" organization that was predominantly white, but considered themselves pretty radical and on the cutting edge. They were working on environmental issues and we went to a Black community in the South, where they had put a toxic dump site in. People in the organization wanted to talk to the people about how we could be helpful. One place where we wanted to meet some of the leaders was at a church service on Sunday morning. We were standing out in the lobby of the church, and in a lot of the Black Baptist churches before the actual church service begins they have what they call the \"devotional.\" The devotional is a particularly sacred time; they go back and sing those old songs and chants, and even for those of us standing out in the lobby, we may nod to each other but we wouldn't talk. But the people from the organization just stood there yakking and talking about nothing; it wasn't even about what was going on inside. That disconnection between the setting and what people were talking about really bothered me. That's what I feel here\u00E2\u0080\u0094the disconnection between what is out here and how we just stomp around on things. It's not like people are irreverent; it's just a disconnection with all that is here and it's a disconnection that hurts me a little bit. The other piece is that I wish there were more people of colour here, but I guess there's not much we can do about it because there's not a lot of people of colour in Vancouver. Sylliboy: There are actually a lot of people of colour here, but the festival doesn't do enough to attract them. Sapp: I feel basically glad to be here, especially when I'm on the stage with Linda Tillery and the Cultural Heritage Choir and Robert McLaughlin Jr, Howard Armstrong. I just feel so honoured to be with the spirit of these folks, the experience they represent and the integrity of life and the vastness of their humanity. It's great to be with them. Michelle Sylliboy is from the Mi'kmaq Nation. She is a poet, sculptor and painter, and a multimedia arts student at Emily Can in Vancouver. Thanks to Sur Mehat for transcribing this interview. 20 SEPTEMBER 1997 Bulletin Board read this Bulletin Board listings have a maximum of 50 words. Groups, organizations and individuals eligible for free space in the Bulletin Board must be, or have, non-profit objectives. Other free notices will be items of general public interest and will at the discretion of Kinesis. EVENTS EVENTS EVENTS Classifieds are $8 (+$0.56 GST) for the first 50 words or portion thereof, $4 (+$0.28 GST) for each additional 25 words or portion thereof and must be prepaid. Deadline for all submissions is the 18th of the month preceding publication. Note: Kinesis is published ten times a year. Jul/Aug and Dec/Jan are double issues. All submissions should include a contact name and telephone number for any clarification that may be required. Listings will not be accepted over the telephone. Kinesis encourages readers to research the goods and services advertised in Bulletin Board. Kinesis cannot guarantee the accuracy of the information provided or the safety and effectiveness of the services and products listed. Send submissions to Bulletin Board, Kinesis, #309-877 E. Hastings Street, Vancouver, BC, V6A 3Y1, or fax: (604) 255-5511. For more information call (604) 255-5499. INVOLVEMENT WANNA GET INVOLVED? With Kinesis!? We want to get involved with you too. Help plan our next issue. All women interested in what goes into Kinesis\u00E2\u0080\u0094whether it's news, features or arts\u00E2\u0080\u0094are invited to one of our next Story Meetings: Tues Sep 2 and Tues Oct 7 at 7 pm at our office, 309-877 E. Hastings St. For more information or if you can't make the meeting, but still want to find out about contributing to Kinesis, give Agnes a call at (604) 255-5499. New and experienced writers welcome. Childcare and travel subsidies available. CALLING ALL VOLUNTEERS Are you interested in finding out how Kinesis is put together? Well...just drop by during our next production dates and help us design and lay out Canada's national feminist newspaper. Production for the October 1997 issue is from Sep 23-30. No experience is necessary. Training and support will be provided. If this notice intrigues you, call us at (604) 255-5499. Childcare and travel subsidies available. VSWWANTSYOU! Want to get more involved but not sure where to begin? Join us\u00E2\u0080\u0094become a volunteer at Vancouver Status of Women. VSW volunteers plan events, lead groups, raise funds, answer the phone lines, organize the library, help connect women with the community resources they need, and get involved in other exciting jobs! The next volunteer orientation will be on Wed Sep 17 at 7pm at VSW, 309-877 E. Hastings St. For more info, call (604) 255-5511. Please call before the orientation to confirm attendance. Childcare subsidies available. DIONNE BRAND Dionne Brand will be doing two readings in Vancouver in September. Brand, author of the novel In Another Place Not Here and a recently published poetry book called Land to Light On, will be reading at the Belkin Gallery, University of British Columbia on Fri Sep 19 at 12 noon. Brand will also be reading at the Kootenay School of Writing, 112 W. Hastings St on Sat Sep 20 at 8pm. Admission to both events is free. For more info call (604) 688-6001. YOUTH RESIST APEC The Youths and Students of the NO! to APEC Coalition in Vancouver are organizing a conference to strategize around mobilizing high school, college and university students and working and un(der)employed youth to resist imperialist globalization. The conference will be held Sep 19-21 at Langara College, 100 W 49th St. The conference, open to all youth and students, will feature panel speakers, workshops, action planning and more. Registration is $10-50 sliding scale. For more info or to register call Elsa or Maita at (604)215-9190. WOMEN AND APEC The Second International Women's Conference Against APEC will be holding an information forum on Women and APEC Sat Sep 13 from 1-5pm at the Richmond Women's Resource Centre, 110-7000 Minoru Blvd, Richmond. (The conference itself will be held Nov 17-18.) Panel participants will speak on issues such as APEC's impact on women in Asia and Canada, and what connects and divides us. Pre-registration is preferred. Snacks will be provided. To register or for more info call (604) 736-3346. PEOPLES SUMMIT CONFERENCE The organizers of the November People's Summit [on APEC, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation] will be holding a Pre- Summit Outreach Conference Sep 12-13, at the Maritime Labour Centre, 1880 Triumph St. in Vancouver. The People's Summit will be held at the same time as the \"official\" APEC conference which will bring together the heads of state of 18 Pacific Rim nations party to the APEC negotiations. Organizers of the People's Summit say APEC leaders are planning our economic future without input from NGOs, unions, community groups and women; the People's Summit is being organized to counter this injustice. The pre- conference will include a Friday evening public forum from 7:30-9:30pm featuring Sunera Thobani, Ed Broadbent and Walden Bello. Admission is by donation. Saturday's program involves all-day discussions and workshops with guest panellists Marjorie Cohen, Terry McGee and Bill Saunders. Admission is $40 employed and $20 under-employed. Pre- registration is necessary. For info call the Vancouver & District Labour Council at (604) 254-0703. BEYOND BEIJING Beyond Beijing: The Next Wave, a networking conference for BC women, will be held on Fri Oct 24, at the Johnston Heights Secondary School in Surrey. The event is hosted by the Metro Teachers' Status of Women Committee. Through more than forty workshops, the conference will focus on challenges to success, mountains to climb, women in the new millennium, and professional, political and personal issues. Extensive displays by BC women's groups and publishers will also be available. Rosemary Brown, the keynote speaker, will talk on The Importance of the Women's Movement.\" On Thurs Oct 23, there will be a Gala Evening to celebrate the BC Teachers' Federation Status of Women's 25th anniversary. For more information about the conference or the gala event, call Judy De Vries at (604) 856-7131 or fax (604) 530-3751. The conference fee is $120, or $20 for gala evening only. AMAZING GREYS V Amazing Greys V and Amazing Greys in Training are holding a weekend gathering, in White Rock, BC, Nov 7-9 to celebrate women in all our diversities, the energy, creativity and wisdom of mature women, and the adventure of aging. This fifth annual Amazing Greys Gathering will feature various workshops and the highlight of the weekend is a \"Croning Ceremony\" following a banquet. Registration is limited. Fees before Sep 22 will be $80; otherwise, $95. For more info write Amazing Greys c/o Wyneja K. Godwin, #7-15474 Victoria Ave, White Rock, BC, V4B 1H5 or call (604) 541-1778 or fax (604) 599-4362. AIDS WALK The 11th Annual AIDS Walk in Vancouver will be held Sun Sep 28 through Stanley Park. The AIDS Walk raises money for direct services for people living with AIDS. To register as a participant, pledge dona- tions or for more info call (604) 684-0993. WOMEN ANDTHE LAW West Coast Women's Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF) will be holding a series of free talks on Women and the Law for three Wednesdays in September at 7pm at Duthie Books, 710 Granville St, Vancouver. Talks will be held on Sep 3: \"Making Canada a More Equal Place For Women\" by Christine Dearing, president of West Coast LEAF; Sep 10: \"Protecting Your Private Records\" by Vancouver lawyer Gail Dickson; and Sep 17: \"Domestic Workers in BC\" by Shelley Chrest and Charlotte Ensminger of the West Coast Domestic Workers Association. For more info call West Coast LEAF at (604) 684-8772. BABE GURR Rootsy-rock singer and songwriter Babe Gurr will be performing with Wyckham Porteous on Fri Sep 5 at 8pm at the James Cowan Theatre, 6450 Deer Lake Ave, Burnaby, BC. She will play songs from her recent CD release Velvet Dust along with some all-new tunes. Tickets available through the theatre box office at (604) 205- 3000 or Ticketmaster at (604) 280-4444. COMMUNITY KITCHEN The Environmental Youth Alliance in Vancouver will be holding a community kitchen in Oppenheimer Park on Sep 10 at noon. EYA is a non-profit organization focusing on social justice and environmental issues with youth. EYA has been growing food at a site in the Cottonwood Community Garden since Spring, and they would like to share the product of their efforts with people in the Downtown Eastside. For more info call EYA at (604) 873-0616. FREE WORKSHOPS Douglas College in BC's Lower Mainland is holding free workshops for women attending or interested in attending the college. The next workshops will be held on Wed Sep 17, 12-2pm, New Westminster Campus: \"Introduction to Stress Management Skills for Women\"; Wed Sep 17, 2-3pm, David Lam Campus: \"Silent No More\"; Tues Sep 23, 2-4pm, New Westminster Campus: \"Introduction to Time Management Skills for Women\"; Wed Sep 24, 2-4pm, David Lam Campus: \"Budget Planning For Women\"; Mon Sep 29, 10am-noon, New Westminster Campus: \"Introduction to Assertiveness Skills for Women\"; Wed Oct 1, 10am-noon, New Westminster Campus: \"Being a Student and a Single Mom\"; and Wed Oct 8, 12-2pm, New Westminster Campus: \"Relaxation Techniques for Women.\" The College's David Lam Campus is located at Rm. 1430, 1250 Pinetree Way, Coquitlam. The New Westminster Campus, Rm. 2720, 700 Royal Ave, New Westminster. Seating is limited but pre-registration is not necessary. MEG HICKLING Registered nurse Meg Hickling will be discussing \"Speaking with your Kids about HIV & AIDS,\" Sat Sep 13, from 1-3pm, at the Vancouver Public Library, 350 West Georgia. Hickling, the author of Speaking of Sex: Are You Ready to Answer the Questions your Kids Will Ask, has worked over 20 years as a sexual health educator. The event is free. For more info call AIDS Vancouver at 681-2122 ext. 266. WOMEN WHO DARE Helen Collier, a Black feminist activist and writer in the US, will speak on her soon-to- be-published book Women Who Dare to Fight Back on Thurs Sep 4, 7:30pm at the New Freeway Hall, 5018 Rainier Ave. S, Seattle. Based on interviews with women from many races and walks of life, Collier's new book highlights their inherent strength and ability to rebound from setbacks. Everyone welcome. Wheelchair accessible. Dinner at 6:30pm for $6 donation. For rides or childcare call (206) 722-6057 or (206) 722-2453. FURUSATO (BIRTH PLACE) Furusato (Birth Place), written and performed by Terrie Hamazaki, will be showcased at the Vancouver Fringe Festival at various times from Sep 4-11. Hamazaki's one-woman show through two voices tells the story of what happens when Akemi, a 35 year old Japanese Canadian woman comes out to her mother as a lesbian. Ail shows will be held at the Tesla Gallery, 916 Commercial Drive. Tickets are $7 and are available through TicketMaster (604) 280-4444. (Seating is very limited.) CLOUDBERRY Cloudberry by written by Christina Pekarik will be performed at this year's Vancouver Fringe Festival at the Firehall Arts Centre, 280 East Cordova St. Cloudberry tells the tale of torment in giddy sweeps of lyric memory. From breakfast with Mom in a Valentine-shaped cul-de-sac, to dating tips for Northern lesbians, \"Desair\" tracks an age-old story: girl meets girl, girl loses girl, girl whines, screams, blabs and plots revenge on inanimate objects. Shows will be held at various times Sep 4-8. For show times and tickets call TicketMaster at (604) 280-4444. FAG-HAG Fag-Hag the Love Stories, written by Anne Farquhar and presented by Gun Shy, is a compilation of three monologues that weaves comic, poignant, and bittersweet tales of three women's love relationships with men who love men. Fag-hag will make its western Canadian debut at the 1997 Vancouver Fringe Festival at various times Sep 4-11, at the Firehall Arts Centre, 280 East Cordova St. Tickets are $10/9. A third of the net proceeds will be donated to A Loving Spoonful, an AIDS charity. For show times and tickets call TicketMaster at (604) 280-4444. WOMEN IN PRINT BOOKS & OTHER MEDIA Discounts for book clubs 3566 West 4th Avenue Vancouver BC Special orders Voice 604 732-1128 welcome Fax 604 732-1129 10-6 Daily \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 12-5 Sunday SEPTEMBER 1997 Bulletin Board EVENTS 1 GROUPS 1 GROUPS 1 SUBMISSIONS FRIDA K. Frida K., a play based on the life of renowned Mexican painter Frida Kahlo written by Gloria Montero, will be performed at the Vancouver East Cultural Centre, 1895 Venables St Sep 22-27 at 8pm. Frida K. is performed by Montero's daughter Allegra Fulton and was first produced in 1994 for Toronto's Fringe Festival. Tickets are $22 adults and $20 students and seniors and are available through TicketMaster (604) 280-3311. BREASTFEEDING CONFERENCE A conference on becoming breastfeeding friendly by the year 2000, Breastfeeding: Nature's Way, will be held in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Nov 13-14. The conference will focus on the impact and issues of breastfeeding on the health of women, children and communities and the ways to strengthen and protect breastfeeding practices in hospitals and communities. For more info contact Marg Norum, Continuing Nursing and Medical Education, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK; tel: (306) 966-7792 or 966-8360; fax: (306) 966- 7673. MYRIAM NELSON Metal Magick, a solo exhibition by Myriam Nelson, will be exhibited at the Gallery Gachet, 88 E. Cordova St, Vancouver until Sep 20. Gallery hours are Wed-Sat noon- 6pm. For more info call (604) 687-2468. CHILD APPREHENSION CIRCLE (Children in Really Caring Loving Environments) is a support group in Vancouver for parents and children caught up in the BC government's child apprehension industry. The purpose of CIRCLE is to provide mutual emotional, intellectual and practical support; information-sharing and education regarding parenting skills, legal proceedings and bureaucratic policies; and lobbying and educating politicians and the public for the elimination of the government's child apprehension industry. The group meets on Fridays and Saturdays. For times, venues and more info call 737- 4892, 254-1389, 253-2198, 650-8376. HEALING FROM WITHIN Healing from Within is a support group in Vancouver for people who have lost their children to foster care. The group meets every second Friday at 6pm at 638 Alexander St. The group allows people a space to learn how to successfully deal with social workers, financial aid workers, lawyers and children and partners, among other things. Transportation, meals and children's gifts are provided. The next sessions will be Sep 12 & 26. For more info call Alison at (604) 254-1389. Space is limited, so please call to confirm. RAPE RELIEF Vancouver Rape Relief and Women's Shelter needs women who are interested in volunteering for their 24-hour crisis line and transition house for women and children. Training sessions are on Tuesday evenings. For more info and for a training interview call (604) 872-8212. Dahl findlay Connors & Evans BARRISTERS & SOLICITORS ^ \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 A full range of services to meet your business and personal legal needs \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Free initial consultation \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Lawyers experienced in protecting the interests and advancing the rights of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered communities Suite 620, 1033 Davie (near Burrard), Vancouver, B.C. (604) 687-8752 \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Toll Free 1 888 4 GAY LAW BODY IMAGE, SELF IMAGE The Breast Implant Centre of BC, is holding info and support sessions on Body Image, Self Image: Myths & Stereotypes About Women With Breast Implants. The next session will be on Tues Sep 30 at BC Women's Hospital at Heather and W. 29th St. in Vancouver. This talk is the first event of the series which will be held every Tuesday evening in the Fall. Call (604) 875- 2013 for time, room number and more info. WOMEN'S FIGURATIVE ART GROUP A Women's Figurative Art Group will be held on Tuesdays from 2-5pm at Basic Inquiry Studio, 5-901 Main St in Vancouver. The weekly session is designed to provide a woman-centred, supportive, cooperative environment for women to explore their creativity through painting or drawing the figure. All levels welcome and encouraged. Cost is $28/month. First fall session starts on Sep 9. For more info call 738-0708. L'ARC-EN-CIEL LArc-En Ciel, un groupe de Francophones et Francophiles des Communautes Gaies et Lesbiennes, se retrouvera lors d'un cafe- causerie ou Ton discuteras des activites des mois a venir. Cette soiree se deroulera le vendredi 5 septembre a 7:30. Pour de plus amples details, n'hesitez pas a composer le 688-9378, poste #1, boite vocale #2120. SINGLE PARENT PROGRAM Capilano College in North Vancouver is offering a Single Parent Program for income assistant recipients starting Mon Sep 8. The program focuses on individualized and self-paced math, English and computer studies for women who want to upgrade their skills. Childcare is provided for children aged 3-5. For more info call Casey Dorin at (604) 983-7586. IWD COMMITTEE The International Women's Day organizing committee in Vancouver will be held on Wed Sep 10 at 7pm at Simon Fraser University, Harbour Centre Campus, 515 W. Hastings, Room 2200. Pro-choice, progressive, feminist women welcome. INTERNATIONAL FEMINIST BRIGADE Join the International Feminist Brigade to Cuba, jointly sponsored by the Federation of Cuban Women and Radical Women to take place Sep 20-Oct 2. Brigadistas will travel to Cuba for two weeks capping their tour with a two-day Solidarity Conference in Havana where they will develop coordinated actions to defend Cuba's right to build toward a socialist society. To join or make a donation contact, in Vancouver, the Rebel Centre, 2278 E. 24 Ave, Vancouver, BC, V5N 2V2; tel: (604) 874-9048; fax: (604) 874-9058; e-mail: fsp@wimsey.com. In Seattle contact New Freeway Hall, 5018 Rainier Ave. S, Seattle, WA, 98118; tel: (206) 722-6057; fax (206) 723-7691, or e- mail: franrose@aol.com. WOMEN IN AFGHANISTAN Women for Women in Afghanistan is in the process of forming a women's solidarity group to work with Afghan women on issues of survival and human rights. Among planned projects are collecting supplies for refugee camps, public education in Canada, advocacy for Afghan women in detention, and fundraising. For more info write to Women for Women in Afghanistan, PO Box 204, Dunnville, ON, N1A 2X5, or call (905) 774-8091. WAVAW WAVAW (Women Against Violence Against Women) Rape Crisis Centre is seeking new volunteers for training beginning Wed Sep 10. WAVAW offers extensive training in counselling, crisis intervention, advocacy and unlearning oppressions. For more info please call 255-6228 or TTY 258-0110. WOMEN AND WORK Canadian Women Studies/les cahiers de la femme (CWS/cfs) is calling for papers for their Winter issue on Women and Work. The issue is committed to an exploration of women's paid and unpaid work in the context of globalization and economic restructuring. Invited are essays, research reports, true stories, poetry, cartoons, drawings and other artwork. For more info on possible topics and guidelines contact CWS/cfs at 212 Founders College, York University, 4700 Keele St, North York, ON, M3J 1P3; tel: (416) 736-5356; fax (416) 736-5765; e-mail: cwsf \u00C2\u00A9yorku.ca. Deadline is Sep 30. JEWISH LESBIAN EROTICA Cleis Press, a lesbian and publishing house based in Philadelphia, is seeking submissions for an anthology of erotic fiction to be published in 1998. Stories can be funny, sad or serious, and definitely sexy, steamy and passionate. Send stories up to 5,000 words with SASE, bio, address, phone and e-mail to Karen X. Tulchinsky, PO Box 21501, 1850 Commercial Dr, Vancouver, BC, V5N 4A0. For submissions outside of Canada please include International Reply Coupons. For full guidelines send SASE or e-mail KXT@aol.com. Deadline is Oct 31. LIVING UNDER FUNDAMENTALISM Submissions from women are wanted for an anthology on the experience of living under religious fundamentalism. Short stories, poetry and first person experiences to a maximum of 3,000 words are requested. For more info contact Deb Ellis, PO Box 204, Dunnville, ON, N1A 2X5 or call (905) 774-8091. Deadline is May 31, 1998. ASIAN ARTISTS The Chinese Cultural Centre of Vancouver is calling all interested Asian artists to submit/donate biographies, exhibition catalogues, printed material and/or slides to its library. The Centre is currently in the process of expanding resources on Asian Canadian artists for the new museum and library complex. Submissions can be mailed or dropped off to Saintfield Wong, Program Manager, Chinese Cultural Centre of Vancouver, 50 E. Pender St, Vancouver, BC, V6A 3V6; or faxed to (604) 687-6260. For more info call the CCC at (604) 687- 0729. HIV+ AND AIDS INDIVIDUALS The Grunt Gallery, Roundhouse Community Centre and Headlines Theatre are seeking people who are HIV+ or living with AIDS, and their significant others to use the language of the theatre to tell their stories, learn from each other and create a healing journey. This four day workshop will generate a photographic exhibit by Rosamund Norbury and will be held Sep 2- 5, from noon-6pm at the Roundhouse Community Centre, 2099 Beach Ave, Vancouver. A small honorarium will be given upon completion. To register for the workshop call (604) 713-1800 and for more info call David at (604) 251-2006. Advertise in Kinesis and support Canada's sole remaining, national, feminist monthly Telephone: 255-5499 It's worth it! SEPTEMBER 1997 Bulletin Board NEEDTO RAISE MONEY? Are you ready to act now? Consider this ethical small home-based business in the self development field. No pyramid, no MLM. Powerful income potential with small investment. Support and training provided. Call 1-888-452-2907. Leave a message and we'll call you back. COUNSELLING FOR WOMEN A feminist approach to sexual abuse, depression, grief and loss, sexual orientation issues and personal growth. Sliding fee scale. Free initial appointment. Call Susan Dales, RPC, at 255-9173. Bed & Breakfast A Beautiful Place Centre yourself in the comfort and tranquility of B.C.'s Super Natural Gulf Islands. Healthy Breakfasts Hot Tub & Sauna 5 acres of forested foot paths with ponds ocean and mountain views A Memorable Escape (604) 537-9344 1207 Heddis Road, Salt Spring Island, B.C V8K 2C8 applications for 1-3 bedroom units. No subsidies, shares are $1600. Housing costs are $667-977. Participation required. S.A.S.E. 530 Ginger Dr, New Westminster BC, V3L 5K8. SPINSTERVALE RUSTIC CABINS Spinstervale in Coombs, Vancouver Island, offers rustic cabins at $7.50 a night per woman, larger cabin (sleeps 4-6) at $30 a weekend. For Sep only, a retreat house (negotiated rent) designed for the elderly or disabled woman is available. Inquire about our farm-hand position or work-exchange (3 hours/day for room and board). Call (250) 248-8809. SITKA HOUSING COOP East Vancouver Women's Housing Co-op welcomes applications for 2-3 bedroom suites. We encourage lesbians of colour to apply. For an application please send a SASE to Sitka Housing Co-op, 1550 Woodland Dr, Vancouver, BC, V5L 5A5. Attn: Membership Committee. RESEARCH ASSISTANT JOB Research assistant needed for part time, three month contract position with Women and Tobacco Research Project sponsored by SPARC (Social Planning and Research Council) of BC. Experience in feminist community-based research required. For full position description and requirements, contact Anne Webb at (604) 254-2075. Application deadline Sep 2. ENERGY BALANCING Empowerment through realignment of Body, Heart, Mind and Soul. Artemis Fire, B.S.W., B.A.T. 215-9400 (sliding scale). TAKE BACK THE NIGHT Come join hundreds of women as they march against male violence against women in this year's Take Back the Night rallies in the BC Lower Mainland on September 26 and 27.Take Back the Night is an annual action held in many countries around the globe to raise awareness and demonstrate against male violence against women. The Take Back the Night event for the Surrey, White Rock and South Fraser region will be held Friday, September 26, beginning at 7:00pm in the overflow parking lot behind Surrey Place Mall.The event is sponsored by Surrey Women for Action and the Surrey Women's Centre. For more information call Sharon at (604) 589-1868. In Vancouver, the annual march organized by Vancouver Rape Relief and Women's Shelter will be held on Saturday, September 27 starting at 7:30pm on the steps of the Vancouver Art Gallery. Bring drums, rage whistles, fists raised in defiance, and most comfy shoes.The event is fully accessible and childcare is available. For more info call Rape Relief at (604) 872-8212. Photo by Fatima Jaffer. \fdJBook& . J w^ Art Emporium Western Canada's Lesbian & Gay Bookstore Open Daily 10am to 1 lpm Our Books/Our Issues Gay Fiction Lesbian Fiction Our Magazines & Journals AIDS/Health Humour Erotica Little Sister's Book & Art Emporium 1238 Davie Street,Vancouver,B.C.,V6E 1N4 (604)669-1753 Phone Orders 1-800-567-1662 Internet Address: http://www.lsisters.com Queer Theory Feminist Theory Biographies, Essays, Poetry Religion & Spirituality Art & Photography Community CLASSIFIEDS MOVEMENT AND DANCE THERAPY Creative Movement and Dance Therapy for Women Survivors of Sexual Abuse, with Sunita Romeder. Mondays for ten weeks, Sep 22 to Dec 1, 7 to 9:30pm. Admission by donation. Call Burnaby Family Life Institute at 299-9736. Relationship Therapy DANA L. JANSSEN, M.Ed. Reg. Clinical Counsellor Relationship Therapy Individual Counselling Integrative Body Work Oak & 8th Ave. Vancouver, B.C. Tel: (604) 731-2867 A woman-owned and operated business specializing in defensive driver training. Driver Improvement and Retraining Become a confident and safe driver with an experienced instructor. SEPTEMBER 1997 6ET YOTIB KINESIS sxns - BIGHT HEBE! One year \u00E2\u0096\u00A1$20 + $1.40 GST D Bill me Two years \u00E2\u0096\u00A1 New \u00E2\u0096\u00A1$36 + $2.52 GST \u00E2\u0096\u00A1 Renewal Institutions/Groups \u00E2\u0096\u00A1 Gift \u00E2\u0096\u00A1$45 + $3.15 GST \u00E2\u0096\u00A1 Donation Name. \u00E2\u0096\u00A1 Cheque enclosed For Individuals who can't afford the full amount for Kinesis subscription, send what you can. Free to women prisoners. Orders outside Canada add $8. Vancouver Status of Women Membership (includes Kinesis subscription) \u00E2\u0096\u00A1$30+$1.40 GST Address Country Telephone _ Postal code. Fax Published ten times a year by the Vancouver Status of Women #309-877 E. Hastings St., Vancouver, BC V6A 3Y1"@en . "Preceding title: Vancouver Status of Women. Newsletter.

Date of publication: 1974-2001.

Frequency: Monthly."@en . "Periodicals"@en . "Newspapers"@en . "HQ1101.V24 N49"@en . "HQ1101_V24_N49_1997_09"@en . "10.14288/1.0045623"@en . "English"@en . "Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library"@en . "Vancouver : Vancouver Status of Women"@en . "Images provided for research and reference use only. Permission to publish, copy, or otherwise use these images must be obtained from the Digitization Centre: digitization.centre@ubc.ca"@en . "Original Format: University of British Columbia. Library. Rare Books and Special Collections. HQ1101.V24 N49"@en . "Women--Social and moral questions"@en . "Feminism--Periodicals"@en . "Kinesis"@en . "Text"@en . ""@en .