CCLOW continues to be an active participant in the
National Women's Reference Group on labor Market Issues (NWRG), a coalition of
national women's groups who select and support the women's representative to
the Canadian labor Force Development Board (CLFDB). CCLOW members and
volunteers maintain active participation in the NWRG, as well as the provincial
women's reference groups in Saskatchewan and New Brunswick. In Ontario, CCLOW
members are also involved with the local women's reference groups, those that
support women's directors to local boards. In October 1998, Pat Webb, recently
a Past-President of CCLOW, became a member of NWRG'S Executive Committee.
Joanne Lindsay, CCLOW'S Executive Director, has been the women's representative
to the CLFDB since June 1997.
At the recent CCLOW Board meeting and Annual General
Meeting, held in Toronto in November 1998, CCLOW provincial and territorial
directors brought information about training for women, enabling CCLOW to
develop a cross-country map of the status of women's access to training, a map
that was presented to those members attending the Annual General Meeting. CCLOW
is particularly interested in understanding the impact for women of the labour
Market Development Agreements (LMDA'S), through which the federal government
has transferred, to provinces and territories, management responsibility for
the delivery of training and other employment services funded through
Employment Insurance premiums. In particular, CCLOW wants to know how these
transfers will affect women's access to training opportunities across Canada.
Also at the AGM, Ursule Critoph, a Senior Associate with the CLFDB, gave an
update on her research about the impact of access to training as Employment
Insurance has replaced Unemployment Insurance.
CCLOW has also been involved in another research project
funded by Status of Women Canada, in collaboration with the Canadian Housing
and Renewal Association. Two researchers from the University of Waterloo
approached CCLOW in September 1998, requesting assistance in identifying
potential case studies for research on enhancing women's economic participation
through housing development. As part of the research, CCLOW hosted, in December
1998, a focus group in Toronto that brought together women involved in skills
training, community economic development and housing development.
From the front, clockwise around the circle: Jenny
Horsman; Pam Evans; Ursule Critoph; Cheryl Senecal; Joanne Lindsay; Linda
Shohet; Betty Butterworth; Suzanne Bailly; Catherine Cookson; Roberta Bishop.
CCLOW'S November 1998 ACM. Photo: Gaye Jackson. |
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