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The Early Days by Peggy Chalmers
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Outside of the office was a small but lovely sitting room, which was shared with anyone who wanted to talk, breastfeed or just relax. This was also where we held our meetings.
The office was tiny. How tiny was it? Well, three people would be crowding the maximum capacity. In fact, person #3 could not even enter unless person #2 scooted into a corner so that the door could be opened. Furnishings were begged or borrowed and we were open for business.
It was great! It was exciting!
The new Women’s Centre was the driving force behind a number of initiatives.
One of the Centre’s first initiatives was establishing a daycare in Golden. The Rainbow Daycare was the first daycare in town. It later branched off and formed its own society, governed by its own Board of Directors. Some of you have children who attended Rainbow Daycare. Some of you youngsters may have actually attended Rainbow Daycare yourselves.
Another early initiative was the development of Victim Support Services. Rita Scott had recently moved to Golden and was working as a probation officer and family court counselor at the time. Rita has always been a force to be reckoned with. She was working with people who had no idea what was involved with the court system. Seeing a need for information, practical assistance and emotional support for victims of violence and assault, Rita brought her idea to the Women’s Centre.
The Victim Support Service was initially volunteer -based. Volunteers were trained to provide counseling and support clients in their journey through the court system, as well as the maze of doctors, lawyers, police and social workers. VSS later relocated to the Family Center. Currently it is under the auspices of the R.C.M.P.
We were proud and happy to call ourselves feminists. In our early days, that was a scarey word - not only to some men but to some women as well. Some people considered us man-haters, which we most certainly were not. Some thought that we wanted to be men. Oh, please - I won’t even touch that. We were called “radical” and even “dangerous”. We were both, but only, because we were not content with the status quo and we were not afraid of upsetting the unenlightened on our way to a kinder, more compassionate and more equitable society.
On a national level, we had opposition from groups such as REAL Women. The acronym stands for Realistic, Equal, Active, for Life. They were a hateful bunch, believing that women should strive towards the highest calling - being good and subservient wives and mothers. REAL Women opposed feminism, abortion, LGBT rights and same sex marriage. They caused us grief and tears. To help spread their hateful messages, REAL Women were petitioning government for funding equal to that given to feminist organizations. Needless to say, every feminist organization in Canada was working to thwart their evil plan. We succeeded!
There were also supporters! Women of every age and background, and men as well, were discovering that they were feminists - once they realized what a feminist was.
We would speak to local service groups, politicians, R.C.M.P., lunch groups, schools and anyone who would let us talk. Sometimes I would begin by asking “Who believes in equality of the sexes - politically, socially and economically?” Of course everyone believed in that, or so they’d say. I’d ask “Who would like their daughters to have the same opportunities as their sons?” Again, everyone would nod or raise their hand. “Surprise!’, I’d say, “You are feminists.”
Because we were always trying to scrounge donations, it was hoped that perhaps we would score something. The real reason, though, was to educate these people as to what we were all about. At the very least, when the meeting was over, our audience was no longer naïve or scared of us.
I was allowed into Golden Secondary School and the Alternate School, taking over eight of their sessions in the Guidance Program. We talked about sex, peer pressure and life. I loved it!
It was getting very hard not to notice the Golden Women’s Resource Centre.
The office was tiny. How tiny was it? Well, three people would be crowding the maximum capacity. In fact, person #3 could not even enter unless person #2 scooted into a corner so that the door could be opened. Furnishings were begged or borrowed and we were open for business.
It was great! It was exciting!
The new Women’s Centre was the driving force behind a number of initiatives.
One of the Centre’s first initiatives was establishing a daycare in Golden. The Rainbow Daycare was the first daycare in town. It later branched off and formed its own society, governed by its own Board of Directors. Some of you have children who attended Rainbow Daycare. Some of you youngsters may have actually attended Rainbow Daycare yourselves.
Another early initiative was the development of Victim Support Services. Rita Scott had recently moved to Golden and was working as a probation officer and family court counselor at the time. Rita has always been a force to be reckoned with. She was working with people who had no idea what was involved with the court system. Seeing a need for information, practical assistance and emotional support for victims of violence and assault, Rita brought her idea to the Women’s Centre.
The Victim Support Service was initially volunteer -based. Volunteers were trained to provide counseling and support clients in their journey through the court system, as well as the maze of doctors, lawyers, police and social workers. VSS later relocated to the Family Center. Currently it is under the auspices of the R.C.M.P.
We were proud and happy to call ourselves feminists. In our early days, that was a scarey word - not only to some men but to some women as well. Some people considered us man-haters, which we most certainly were not. Some thought that we wanted to be men. Oh, please - I won’t even touch that. We were called “radical” and even “dangerous”. We were both, but only, because we were not content with the status quo and we were not afraid of upsetting the unenlightened on our way to a kinder, more compassionate and more equitable society.
On a national level, we had opposition from groups such as REAL Women. The acronym stands for Realistic, Equal, Active, for Life. They were a hateful bunch, believing that women should strive towards the highest calling - being good and subservient wives and mothers. REAL Women opposed feminism, abortion, LGBT rights and same sex marriage. They caused us grief and tears. To help spread their hateful messages, REAL Women were petitioning government for funding equal to that given to feminist organizations. Needless to say, every feminist organization in Canada was working to thwart their evil plan. We succeeded!
There were also supporters! Women of every age and background, and men as well, were discovering that they were feminists - once they realized what a feminist was.
We would speak to local service groups, politicians, R.C.M.P., lunch groups, schools and anyone who would let us talk. Sometimes I would begin by asking “Who believes in equality of the sexes - politically, socially and economically?” Of course everyone believed in that, or so they’d say. I’d ask “Who would like their daughters to have the same opportunities as their sons?” Again, everyone would nod or raise their hand. “Surprise!’, I’d say, “You are feminists.”
Because we were always trying to scrounge donations, it was hoped that perhaps we would score something. The real reason, though, was to educate these people as to what we were all about. At the very least, when the meeting was over, our audience was no longer naïve or scared of us.
I was allowed into Golden Secondary School and the Alternate School, taking over eight of their sessions in the Guidance Program. We talked about sex, peer pressure and life. I loved it!
It was getting very hard not to notice the Golden Women’s Resource Centre.
A feminist tour of Edmonton, around 1984, was a personal catalyst for me, regarding a number of issues. I was introduced to A.S.W.A.C., the Alberta Status of Women Action Committee. This was an extremely powerful political voice for feminist issues. A.S.W.A.C. organized political marches on Ottawa and rallied other organizations in their righteous demands for sexual choice, equitable pay, pension reform, abortion, day care and a myriad of other topical issues. Also, on this tour I visited the Edmonton Transition House for battered women and the office of Webspinner, a monthly feminist newspaper published by a vibrant and energetic group of vibrant, energetic women.
Seeing how transition houses operated in different cities convinced me that such a thing would not work in Golden. We needed safe homes for women and children who were escaping abuse. We needed anonymous housing and a team of volunteers, because our budget was zero.
Thus, the Golden Safe Home program was established. Volunteers fielded calls and assisted women in relocating to safe homes. These homes were just regular homes, often in the country, with locations known only to those who needed to know. People who volunteered their homes did so because they recognized the need and they had huge, loving hearts. These volunteers paid for food, diapers, toothbrushes, everything - out of their own pockets. Everyone who was involved was a hero and I will always love them.
Golden’s safe home program was the first in Canada and a model for other programs. We made mistakes, learned from them and shared information and encouragement with everyone everywhere who wanted to set up their own program.
I remember running into this macho guy in a bar. We had exchanged words on an earlier occasion. At that time he had made a number of antagonistic comments about the G.W.R.C. - calling us home wreckers and worse. He had even threatened both myself and my husband.
So - when I saw this guy approaching I wasn’t keen on having another conversation. He came up to me with tears in his eye and wrapped me in a bear hug. Then he explained that the Women’s Centre had helped his sister to escape an abusive relationship. He was so sorry for the mean things that he had said earlier and he assured me that he would happily “punch out” anyone who said a word against us.
Every month the Women’s Centre hosted a public workshop. These were always free and were almost always open to both men and women. We begged whatever we needed - space, coffee, facilitators and everything else. Anyone coming in from outside Golden would get to crash at the home of a volunteer, would be fed, perhaps given some money for gas, and were promised a good time. Workshop topics ran the gamut and included such topics as job re-entry, day care, pensions, trauma and assault, women in non-traditional occupations, women in politics, pornography, P.M.S., human rights and pornography.
We held a holistic health week-end, full of workshops - the first of its kind in Golden. I remember that on Saturday Felix, one of the participants and the proprietor of Felix’ Delicatessen, disappeared shortly before noon. I was surprised because he seemed to be so absorbed by everything. When he returned, Felix had a huge platter of deli meats, cheeses and other treats - his way of saying thank you. And so the Women’s Centre had another friend. And we had food!
The Women’s Centre utilized the media to spread our goals, our accomplishments and our message. Not only did we regularly have articles and letters to the editor in the local paper, but we would forward all of these to politicians and other feminist organizations. We were continually lobbying - for pension reform, control of our own bodies, pay equity and a national child care policy, to name just a few of the issues. This wasn’t nearly enough for us.
Those of you who were listening might recall that I mentioned visiting the Webspinner office in Edmonton. While there, I invited a few of the women to Golden to show us how to publish our own paper. They happily agreed and the next issue of Webspinner was produced in Golden with our own band of merry volunteers.
Previously I had worked as a reporter and an editor. Two of our directors,
Ellen Zimmerman and Cindy Lidstone, were both proficient writers who had recently attended a writing workshop. They weren’t the only ones who were excited about this idea. A whole slew of people, including some men, were excited about contributing to a feminist publication.
And so - Golden’s own Valley Spectrum was born. We didn’t edit or censor contributions. If someone had something to say, we would provide the platform. A lot of people had something to say. Selling ads in the paper paid for our overhead costs.
Once a month we gathered to put out the paper, not leaving until it was ready to send to the printer. I had my little portable typewriter set up in the corner and would type as fast as I could while others handed my articles, poems, letters and other submissions. As soon as I finished, these would be cut out with X-acto knives and placed with wax on the news board where they would be carefully outlined with black tape. It was totally low-tech, obviously. It was also a madhouse. The room would be filled with volunteers and laughter. It was a ton of fun!
Fun, fun, fun! It is important to have fun! It is necessary to celebrate! We would celebrate all the time. It made us happy and energized us. We were a tight group who became tighter by playing, as well as working.
In the early days of the G.W.R.C., feminist organizations were being developed all over B.C. - and the world. There were conferences all the time, with networking and sharing ideas and triumphs and even failures. These always involved a lot of work and a lot of celebrating. Work during the day and then partying and dancing all evening.
Speaking of dancing… One day a group of four of us headed to Vallican
Whole, outside of Nelson, for a conference. Getting a late start, we decided that if we pooled our money we could afford to share a hotel room in Revelstoke, so that we could get an early start the next morning.
After checking in, we checked out. The hotel bar, that is. To our delight, we discovered that a decent band was playing, so we proceeded to dance with great abandon - with each other and by ourselves. Our antics garnered a lot of stares, which were not very friendly.
Finally, we sat down to catch our breath. A man at the next table, who had been eyeing us warily, came over and squatted next to me. After glancing around the table, he growled “We’ve been watching you girls for awhile and we figured out what you are.” “Really?”, I said, “what are we?” He replied, “tree planters.”
That sent us into gales of laughter. “We’re not tree planters,” I replied, “we’re feminists. Some of our friends, though, are both.”
Since we were always so short of money, we would often combine celebrating with fund raising. We hosted a couple of dances and tried to raise some extra funds by selling chili. I remember that the music was good and the chili was, frankly, terrible. Our A.G.M.s would also feature auctions or other fund-raising endeavors. One A.G.M. featured Golden’s first public performance of belly dancing - by Zoe Friezen.
When national beauty pageants were in the news we organized our own celebration by sharing photos of the beautiful women in our lives - mothers, daughters, grandmothers and friends who enriched our lives.
Other celebrations were just an excuse to celebrate.
One year the G.W.R.C. entered a float in the Rodeo Days parade. My mom sent over a large box on the bus, filled with outfits that she had sewn for Edmonton’s Klondike Days. The theme of our float was “Women” Backbone of the West”. This was spelled out on two large banners across the sides of a large flat-bed truck. It featured three vignettes” women in the home, on the land and in the workforce. I can still picture Mary Yadernak, sitting on a rocking chair with a goat tied to a tree. Knowing Mary, she probably had a shotgun next to her.
Well, we won a prize for the best float, but that wasn’t the real reward. Outside of the hospital and the seniors’ residences, there were so many old women sitting on benches and in wheelchairs. As we passed, they would cheer and shout and raise their arms. Their reaction was more than we could hope for and remembering it still makes me grin.
The Golden Women’s Centre has always been driven by the work of the Board of Directors and other volunteers. These volunteers, as well as the employees, are amazing and wonderful women.
A sense of sisterhood was forged, both locally and globally. We learned again what we already knew - deep inside - that we were strong, as well as nurturing. Along the way men also learned - that they were nurturing as well as strong.
It was an exciting, passionate, tumultuous time. We didn’t just hope to make the world a kinder, more equitable and compassionate planet. We were actually doing it! It made us feel so free and so powerful. No matter how hard a day had been, it felt amazing going to bed knowing that we were doing good.
In conclusion, I raise my beer to our foremothers - the mothers and grandmothers of the Golden Women’s Resource Centre. We are so grateful - and here’s to you.
Seeing how transition houses operated in different cities convinced me that such a thing would not work in Golden. We needed safe homes for women and children who were escaping abuse. We needed anonymous housing and a team of volunteers, because our budget was zero.
Thus, the Golden Safe Home program was established. Volunteers fielded calls and assisted women in relocating to safe homes. These homes were just regular homes, often in the country, with locations known only to those who needed to know. People who volunteered their homes did so because they recognized the need and they had huge, loving hearts. These volunteers paid for food, diapers, toothbrushes, everything - out of their own pockets. Everyone who was involved was a hero and I will always love them.
Golden’s safe home program was the first in Canada and a model for other programs. We made mistakes, learned from them and shared information and encouragement with everyone everywhere who wanted to set up their own program.
I remember running into this macho guy in a bar. We had exchanged words on an earlier occasion. At that time he had made a number of antagonistic comments about the G.W.R.C. - calling us home wreckers and worse. He had even threatened both myself and my husband.
So - when I saw this guy approaching I wasn’t keen on having another conversation. He came up to me with tears in his eye and wrapped me in a bear hug. Then he explained that the Women’s Centre had helped his sister to escape an abusive relationship. He was so sorry for the mean things that he had said earlier and he assured me that he would happily “punch out” anyone who said a word against us.
Every month the Women’s Centre hosted a public workshop. These were always free and were almost always open to both men and women. We begged whatever we needed - space, coffee, facilitators and everything else. Anyone coming in from outside Golden would get to crash at the home of a volunteer, would be fed, perhaps given some money for gas, and were promised a good time. Workshop topics ran the gamut and included such topics as job re-entry, day care, pensions, trauma and assault, women in non-traditional occupations, women in politics, pornography, P.M.S., human rights and pornography.
We held a holistic health week-end, full of workshops - the first of its kind in Golden. I remember that on Saturday Felix, one of the participants and the proprietor of Felix’ Delicatessen, disappeared shortly before noon. I was surprised because he seemed to be so absorbed by everything. When he returned, Felix had a huge platter of deli meats, cheeses and other treats - his way of saying thank you. And so the Women’s Centre had another friend. And we had food!
The Women’s Centre utilized the media to spread our goals, our accomplishments and our message. Not only did we regularly have articles and letters to the editor in the local paper, but we would forward all of these to politicians and other feminist organizations. We were continually lobbying - for pension reform, control of our own bodies, pay equity and a national child care policy, to name just a few of the issues. This wasn’t nearly enough for us.
Those of you who were listening might recall that I mentioned visiting the Webspinner office in Edmonton. While there, I invited a few of the women to Golden to show us how to publish our own paper. They happily agreed and the next issue of Webspinner was produced in Golden with our own band of merry volunteers.
Previously I had worked as a reporter and an editor. Two of our directors,
Ellen Zimmerman and Cindy Lidstone, were both proficient writers who had recently attended a writing workshop. They weren’t the only ones who were excited about this idea. A whole slew of people, including some men, were excited about contributing to a feminist publication.
And so - Golden’s own Valley Spectrum was born. We didn’t edit or censor contributions. If someone had something to say, we would provide the platform. A lot of people had something to say. Selling ads in the paper paid for our overhead costs.
Once a month we gathered to put out the paper, not leaving until it was ready to send to the printer. I had my little portable typewriter set up in the corner and would type as fast as I could while others handed my articles, poems, letters and other submissions. As soon as I finished, these would be cut out with X-acto knives and placed with wax on the news board where they would be carefully outlined with black tape. It was totally low-tech, obviously. It was also a madhouse. The room would be filled with volunteers and laughter. It was a ton of fun!
Fun, fun, fun! It is important to have fun! It is necessary to celebrate! We would celebrate all the time. It made us happy and energized us. We were a tight group who became tighter by playing, as well as working.
In the early days of the G.W.R.C., feminist organizations were being developed all over B.C. - and the world. There were conferences all the time, with networking and sharing ideas and triumphs and even failures. These always involved a lot of work and a lot of celebrating. Work during the day and then partying and dancing all evening.
Speaking of dancing… One day a group of four of us headed to Vallican
Whole, outside of Nelson, for a conference. Getting a late start, we decided that if we pooled our money we could afford to share a hotel room in Revelstoke, so that we could get an early start the next morning.
After checking in, we checked out. The hotel bar, that is. To our delight, we discovered that a decent band was playing, so we proceeded to dance with great abandon - with each other and by ourselves. Our antics garnered a lot of stares, which were not very friendly.
Finally, we sat down to catch our breath. A man at the next table, who had been eyeing us warily, came over and squatted next to me. After glancing around the table, he growled “We’ve been watching you girls for awhile and we figured out what you are.” “Really?”, I said, “what are we?” He replied, “tree planters.”
That sent us into gales of laughter. “We’re not tree planters,” I replied, “we’re feminists. Some of our friends, though, are both.”
Since we were always so short of money, we would often combine celebrating with fund raising. We hosted a couple of dances and tried to raise some extra funds by selling chili. I remember that the music was good and the chili was, frankly, terrible. Our A.G.M.s would also feature auctions or other fund-raising endeavors. One A.G.M. featured Golden’s first public performance of belly dancing - by Zoe Friezen.
When national beauty pageants were in the news we organized our own celebration by sharing photos of the beautiful women in our lives - mothers, daughters, grandmothers and friends who enriched our lives.
Other celebrations were just an excuse to celebrate.
One year the G.W.R.C. entered a float in the Rodeo Days parade. My mom sent over a large box on the bus, filled with outfits that she had sewn for Edmonton’s Klondike Days. The theme of our float was “Women” Backbone of the West”. This was spelled out on two large banners across the sides of a large flat-bed truck. It featured three vignettes” women in the home, on the land and in the workforce. I can still picture Mary Yadernak, sitting on a rocking chair with a goat tied to a tree. Knowing Mary, she probably had a shotgun next to her.
Well, we won a prize for the best float, but that wasn’t the real reward. Outside of the hospital and the seniors’ residences, there were so many old women sitting on benches and in wheelchairs. As we passed, they would cheer and shout and raise their arms. Their reaction was more than we could hope for and remembering it still makes me grin.
The Golden Women’s Centre has always been driven by the work of the Board of Directors and other volunteers. These volunteers, as well as the employees, are amazing and wonderful women.
A sense of sisterhood was forged, both locally and globally. We learned again what we already knew - deep inside - that we were strong, as well as nurturing. Along the way men also learned - that they were nurturing as well as strong.
It was an exciting, passionate, tumultuous time. We didn’t just hope to make the world a kinder, more equitable and compassionate planet. We were actually doing it! It made us feel so free and so powerful. No matter how hard a day had been, it felt amazing going to bed knowing that we were doing good.
In conclusion, I raise my beer to our foremothers - the mothers and grandmothers of the Golden Women’s Resource Centre. We are so grateful - and here’s to you.
