B.C. REPORT
by Janet Patterson

B.C. Director

Sheila McFadzean resigned as B.C. Director in late October in order to complete her M.A. thesis in Communications at Simon Fraser University. Sheila has been energetic, creative, responsible and a tower of strength in her work as B.C. Director. We will miss her active presence and look forward to her re-entry with degree in hand. In late November, I agreed to serve out the remainder of Sheila's term. I am a social anthropologist, have taught at both the college and university levels and worked for four years as a Women's Advocate at Fraser Valley and Kwantlen colleges.

Provincial Workshop

Ruth Armstrong and Sheila McFadzean led an energizing workshop on November 23, designed to explore member's personal goals for their involvement in CCLOW as well as objectives and priorities for our local networks in the coming year. Lisa Avedon, national Past President, attended as a resource person and gave an excellent presentation on the origins, history and present concerns of CCLOW nationally and internationally. Participants were unanimous in their appreciation of the design of the session, which combined good processes of clarification with a great deal of fun.

Women's Employment and Training Coalition

On November 22, the Coalition held a day long membership building and strategy session, attended by representatives from more than 25 organizations. Sheila McFadzean (CCLOW), Alison Stewart (Women in Trades), Megan Carvell (Chance for Change) and Sally Hammond (Employment Alternatives for Women program) facilitated the day's activities and Lisa Avedon, present as a resource person, provided an assessment of Canadian women's experiences with training and employment programs over the past decade. The agenda included (1) Introduction: History of the coalition and introduction of attending groups; (2) Setting Our Own Agenda: What we want as a training/employment strategy; (3) Assessing the Government Response: The Canadian Job Strategy; (4) Planning for Action: strategy sessions on lobbying purposes and actions, local advisory committees, formulating and assessing Job Strategy proposals and other job development grant applications.