by Shauna Butterwick

There is nothing like adversity to bring people together! Over the last few months, most of my energies have been directed to working with a coalition of concerned women from both B.C. groups and national organizations to protest the recent budget cuts to the Women's Program of the Secretary of State. Our activities included rallies, sit-ins at local Secretary of State offices, letter writing campaigns, and symbolic bake sales. Our efforts obviously paid off with the recent announcement that some funding is to be restored to women's centers for the next year. Unfortunately, restoration of funding to CCLOW and other national research and advocacy groups was not part of the change of heart.

B.C. has finally caught up with many of the other provinces and created a status of women position in the senior government. Carol Gran was recently appointed Minister Responsible for Women's Programs. She began her term by traveling throughout the Province and talking to women. I made a submission to her on behalf of CCLOW-BC urging for core funding, more literacy programs for women, and better coordination between public and private job training. We are hoping women's concerns will receive more attention with this new position. I have also continued to be actively involved with the Women's Employment and Training Coalition in Vancouver.

We are currently developing a proposal to various ministries and to college administrators calling for core funding for bridging programs for women. It has been a collaboration of ideas and energy which has added to my firm conviction that acting collectively is what will bring about change. CCLOW-BC also had its first major fund raising event-a garage sale where we raised almost $400. One woman's junk is another woman's treasure! We are hoping to have another retreat during June where we can rest, relax and refuel after these hectic few months.

by Wendy Mishkin

The CCLOW Nfld network hosted a province-wide teleconference on February 14, 1990 to give participants an opportunity to speak with Susan Wismer about her work on the study Women's Education and Training in Canada. Close to 100 participants at 17 sites around the province took part in the discussions which centered around problems of women's access to education such as lack of day care and funding, the need for distance education programs, the need for training for high quality jobs and for cooperation among government, volunteer agencies and the private sector.

Prior to the discussion participants viewed a video-taped interview of Susan Wismer which was made in Newfoundland in November 1989 during a CCLOW-sponsored workshop on this topic. Because the workshop was in St. John's and women in rural areas could not attend, it was decided to host this teleconference. Participation was enthusiastic and the network has been asked to host another one next year.

In February, Newfoundland provincial government released Equality, Excellence and Efficiency: a post-secondary educational agenda for the future describing their five year plan for education in this province. They invited interested individuals and groups to comment on this policy paper. Some members of CCLOW-NFLD met in St. John's to discuss the paper and to prepare a brief. The brief focused on what was missing in the white paper, namely an analysis of the specific barriers to education that women faced.

by Lynn Fogwill

The most exciting event ever in the history of the NWT CCLOW happened in April. We all (or nearly all) got together...in the same half of the continent, in the same city, in the same room! Many of our members were in Yellowknife to participate in the Circumpolar Conference on Literacy and we took advantage of this rare coming together to hold a meeting. We were able to share network news, discuss the implications of federal cutbacks on women's programs, recruit some new members and do some planning for the coming year. We are so few in number and scattered over such vast distances that we cautiously approached one or two projects that we might take on.

We decided to connect with one of the women's centers in the NWT who have researched issues concerning women and literacy to see if there is interest in jointly preparing a formal brief. We also decided to investigate the feasibility of establishing a workshop for young women in high school to help them confront the many myths they have about their economic future and to encourage them to stay in school and consider non-traditional occupations. The N.W.T. has double the national average birthrate and double the national proportion of single mothers.

by Sharon Goldberg

The last few months have been active ones. As with all the other networks, we have been writing letters and campaigning to overturn the decision on the cuts in the federal budget to the women's program. All Ontario network members were sent information about these cuts and, specifically about how they would affect CCLOW's operation. Members were strongly encouraged to write letters of protest to the federal members of parliament responsible for the cuts.

As well, CCLOW Ontario was one of a number of groups which sponsored a dialogue and evening talk with Charlotte Bunch. The talk took place at OISE on April 20th to a sold-out crowd. CCLOW Ontario was also involved in sponsoring the conference on women in non-traditional occupations which took place on May 8.