by Pat Fraser

The Manitoba network has been responding to issues identified by our members in a survey-questionnaire conducted by Reta Owens last summer. A major theme was the need to develop networks, pulling together organizations with varying mandates in educational activity. On March 6, a forum entitled "Empowering Women through Education" was held at the University of Winnipeg.

CCLOW members participated in other International Women's Day activities including Winnipeg's Popular Theatre Alliance production and workshop on violence against women. Our CCLOW display at the IWD rally got local news coverage. More visibility to us!

We are, beginning this month, trying to build an ad hoc coalition of more than 100 women's groups in order to identify issues about women and education.

We would like to thank our board member, Donna Marion, for all of her hard work. Congratulations to Donna for becoming CCLOW's new president-elect. Welcome to Jackie Stalker, CCLOW Manitoba's new director.

by Judith Hindle

• Membership Survey: A 40% return with helpful suggestions was obtained from our January membership survey.
• Newsletter: We are just about to release our first newsletter. We have appreciated copies of the BC and Yukon newsletters to use as guidelines;
• Film series: We began a film-discussion series with the films Prairie Women and Black Mother, Black Daughter.
• Informal gatherings: We have had several informal gatherings, which along with pot-luck nibblies seem to be the most appealing events for members in Regina.
• New Chapters: We hope our retreat and annual conference now planned for fall will enable us to pull new members from across the province and heighten, interest in new chapter formation.
• Response to funding cutbacks: Judith met with Marg Brown of the Saskatchewan Action Committee to discuss networking and strategies for dealing with funding cutbacks. Judith represented CCLOW Saskatchewan at a SAC protest rally at Regina offices of the Secretary of State. We have also agreed to exchange memberships and to network more closely in future.
• Meeting with WITT Saskatchewan: Judith and Kathy Sted will met with members of Women in Trades and Technology (WITT) who are attempting to establish a strong network for their members here in the province.
• Support for New Bridging Program Initiatives: We sent letters of support regarding a new, Bridging Program with literacy components for immigrant women and an entrepreneurial program for women.

by Janeane MacGillivray

Like every other women's group funded by the federal government, our local activities over the past months have dealt with cutbacks, cutbacks, cutbacks. 15% cut last year, and now a further 20% cut this spring. We MUST keep speaking out.

Here in the Yukon, native and women's groups have formed a 'Budget Cuts Coalition Group', in which CCLOW has participated. The territorial government passed an unanimous motion urging the Government of Canada to reexamine its budgetary policies about women's and native groups. Yukoners were relieved to hear that funding to the ONE women's centre north of Prince George (the Victoria Faulkner Women's Centre in Whitehorse) will be temporarily restored.

In February, we reviewed the draft Education Act and saw two of the three changes we recommended incorporated into the final version. We held a planning brunch in March and decided that our main focus for the upcoming year would continue to be the Julie Cruikshank bursary for Yukon women returning to learning. We donated monies toward student Karen Kaill's trip to Simon Fraser University to attend a Women do Math conference, and Betty Irwin, long-time CCLOW member, awarded the Betty Irwin Science Prize for Girls at the annual Yukon Region Science Fair. Member Madeline Sauve organized a local Women do Math conference for girls in grades 7 to 9 and continues to work on setting up a women's studies course for high school students.

We were able to set up a display at the Trade Fair through generous donations by the Yukon Literacy Council. As well, we're finding that participating in the women's group coalition' is proving to be an excellent way to keep in touch with what's happening in the women's community. On a personal note, I'd like to say how much I'm learning from my participation on the national board and on its Financial Committee. We truly operate on a consensus decision-making model, and I invariably come away from these meetings rejuvenated, full of renewed hope for the organization, and thankful for the privilege of working with the women involved in CCLOW.