NEWFOUNDLAND REPORT

by Dorothy Robbins

Women's festivals planned
Some members of CCLOW in Newfoundland are involved in an exciting project with a group of feminists known as the 52 Per Cent Solution. This group is planning a unique learning experience for women during the summer months. The project will consist of a bus tour across Newfoundland with stopovers in selected communities, during which various methods will be employed to create information exchange, awareness-building and skill development, with a long term goal of strengthening the representation of women in decision-making bodies. All participants will be simultaneously learners and resources for other's learning, some with more specific roles than others.

The mechanism for facilitating the exploration and learning process in ten communities across the province will be a two to three-day- long women's festival in each place. Each festival will blend a basic program developed by local women and the ideas of the organizers of the bus tour. Activities may include an evening of music, theatre, local history and story-telling, celebrating women's lives; workshops on career guidance for young women, participatory research and public speaking; discussion groups on various issues of special concern to women, especially women's need to be involved in the decision-making process at the local, provincial and national levels. Video recording and subsequent screening will be done for participants' use and follow-up. We hope that the bus tour and festivals will create a network of women whose energies are sparked by a" recognition of the potential power women hold as 52 per cent of their communities and province.

YUKON REPORT

by Lillian T. Nakamura Maguire

Mentor Program promising
The mentoring program involving a Grade 11 girls' guidance class and women from the community, has gone through its first trial run. Of about 45 mentors who volunteered for the program, we have been able to arrange 14 matches. Some of the matches have been highly successful, resulting in some students meeting several times with their mentors. Most of the matches have been once-only meetings, with basic career and work information being exchanged. Although this in itself has been of use to the students, we had hoped that mentoring relationships would be established. Unfortunately, due to the limited time available from mentors and difficulties in arranging mutually agreeable meeting times, some matches did not take place. We have had an evaluation meeting with the school counsellors and hope that new measures will result in more fruitful matching for the coming semester.

We are also making plans to participate in an upcoming Career Fair being sponsored by the Yukon Government Women's Directorate. Plans are also in the making to assist with International Women's Day celebrations planned by various women's groups in Whitehorse.

Approximately 400 of our "Yukon Women: Non-Traditional Occupations" booklet will be distributed to Northwest Territories' schools. This final distribution will allow us to close off this project. We will keep some copies on hand in the event we get some small orders.

BRITISH COLUMBIA REPORT

by Shauna Butterwick, Lisa Harney and
Janet Patterson retreat

Summer retreat

CCLOW B.C. members continue to be active in the Women's Training and Employment Coalition and on Local Advisory Councils (Canadian Jobs Strategy). Janet Patterson, provincial director, recently participated in a consultation called by Pat Cooper, western vice-president, Canadian Advisory Council on the Status of Women. We have produced our first provincial flyer, which details B.C. network activities, contacts, provincial and national organization and resources; printing costs were donated by the British Columbia Government Employees Union, Region One. Our numbers continue to increase, although many women are unable because of location, work or scheduling pressures to attend network meetings. We are planning a provincial retreat in the Gulf Islands at the end of June and look forward to relaxing and forming or renewing our bonds during a weekend of fun and we hope, sun.