Date / Location
The Conference was held on Friday, September 10 until Sunday, September 12, 2010 at the Sheraton Cavalier Hotel in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
Steering Committee
The steering committee was comprised of one appointed representative from each of the Regional Women’s Committees (RWC) across the region and the Prairie Region Council (PRC) Women’s representative. The committee met via eight conference calls to communicate the direction of the conference.
- Darlene Lewis, Edmonton RWC
- Joyce Lewis, Calgary RWC
- Connie Gress, Regina RWC
- Nancy Johnson, Saskatoon RWC
- Denni Nelson, Prince Albert RWC
- Vimbai Dune, Winnipeg RWC
- Tanya Galenzoski, PRC Women’s Representative
Conference Objectives
To increase involvement of our sisters in the Prairie Region through increasing the number of delegates to the conference and focusing on new activists. Workshops will explore women’s roles on Defending Quality Public Service, empowering activists to increase their Political involvement, and profile the realities of Aboriginal women
Conference Theme
“Putting Our Passion into Action”
Participants
On May 7, 2010, a call went out to the sisters in the Prairie Region advising that the registration deadline was July 2, 2010. We had numerous applications, some cancellations and some late additions. In all, not one person was advised that they could not attend the conference due to the date of the application as we had room for all interested members who had the support of the local. There was a $100 Conference registration fee collected. Each of the seven RWCs in the Region were entitled to send one RWC delegate (representative on the steering committee) that was accepted outside of the registration process and no conference fee collected. The PRC Women’s Rep was also an automatic delegate with no conference fee collected. The Host committee had two automatic delegates with no registration fee collected.
72 Delegates (delegates, RWC delegates, PRC delegate, Host committee delegate and facilitators):
- 26 from Alberta
- 27 from Manitoba
- 19 from Saskatchewan
- 2 Observers from Components
Facilitators
On June 2, 2010, a letter was sent to the Sisters in the Alliance Facilitator Network. There were only a couple of interested Sisters who put their names forward. In the end a combination of AF and non-AF were chosen to provide opportunities for sisters.
- Mobilizing For Change
Facilitators: Meriah Krebs, AB and Bonnie Lo, AB
Guest speaker: Pat Atkinson, MLA Saskatoon Nutana
- Child Care
Facilitators: Connie Gress, SK and Karon Sackney, MB
Guest speaker: Ann McCrorie, Child Care Advocacy Association of Canada Board of Directors, Saskatchewan Representative
- Pensions & Women
Facilitators: Nancy Johnson, SK and Cathy Moar, MB
Guest speaker: Irene Mathyssen, MP - Federal NDP critic for the Status of Women