Women

1
Womens Wall of Fame
2
Introduction

• Our goal with the Womens Wall of Fame is to
  provide a snapshot and personal herstory of
  several women who have helped shape the Northern
  Womens Centre. The project looked at the past 15
  years of the Womens Centre beginning with the
  women who were involved with creating the Womens
  Centre to the current women who ensure that the
  centre continues to run. The women were asked to
  participate by either filling out a questionnaire
  or participating in an interview. The questions
  consisted of the following

3
Questions

• 1. How are or were you involved either formally
  or informally with the Northern Womens Centre?
• 2. What did you do specifically? What events did
  you participate in (Take Back The Night,
  Jezebels Jam, International Womens Day, Dec.
  6th mourning ceremonies, etc.)?
• 3. Do you have a wish for the future of the
  Northern Womens Centre?
• 4. What are you doing now (in regards womens
  issues) and how did the Northern Womens Centre
  influence your life?
• 5. Is there anything else you would like to share
  about the Northern Womens Centre and what the
  Centre means to you?

4
Thank you

• We are thankful for the women who were able to
  take part in this herstory. They capture the
  womens involvement with the Womens Centre and
  we are thankful for their contributions.

5
Acknowledgement

• The Womens Wall of Fame is not complete it
  only gives a small herstory of what the Northern
  Womens Centre has done in the past 15 years.
  This is not a conclusion, but a collection of
  stories to capture the heart of the Northern
  Womens Centre. These women and many more are the
  herstory of the Northern Womens Centre. They
  helped to create and develop the Centre into the
  strong independent Centre we have today. The
  Northern Womens Centre has helped me become the
  woman I am today. I will hold the Northern
  Womens Centre close to my heart wherever life
  takes me. I am thankful for the support,
  mentorship, and education that I have gained from
  being a part of the Womens Centre.
• Forever thankful
• Vienna Skauge Bouillon

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7
Marianne Veronika Goztonyi Ainley, 1937 2008

• Dr Mariane (Marika) Ainley, a distinguished
  historian of science in Canada, died in Victoria
  in September 2008 at the age of seventy. Marika
  was a pioneer in the history of ornithology and
  women in Canadian science author of books and
  countless journal articles and book chapters
  former principal of the Simone de Beauvoir
  Institute and associate professor emerita of
  Concordia University and professor emerita of the
  University of Northern British Columbia.
• Born in Budapest in 1937, Marika began her
  studies in industrial chemistry as a teenager,
  completing her Diploma at the Petrik Lagos
  Polytechnical College. After the 1956 uprising,
  she left Hungary, first for Sweden and then for
  Montreal. While employed as a lab technician by
  Chemaco and Imperial Tobacco, she was also
  completing a degree in English and French
  literatures and psychology (1964) at Sir George
  Williams University (now Concordia). Such
  intellectual breadth and energy marked Marikas
  scholarship and life. One of Marikas deepest
  passions was for birds. She completed Cornells
  certificate in ornithology in 1979 while working
  on her MSc in the history of science at the
  Université de Montréal. Her thesis, -La
  professionalization de lornithologie Americaine,
  18701979, was completed in 1980. She then
  pursued her PhD in history of science at McGill
  University.

8
Marianne Veronika Goztonyi Ainley, 1937 2008

• Her dissertation, -From Natural History to Avian
  Biology Canadian Ornithology, 18601950,? was
  accepted in 1985. Marikas doctoral dissertation,
  she later wrote, -lacked a gender analysis? at
  the same time, her work experience -as an
  invisible woman chemist, combined with my
  activities as an amateur ornithologist, led to a
  scholarly interest in those on the margins of the
  Western scientific community.? Influenced by the
  work of American historian of science Margaret
  Rossiter, she attended the First International
  Interdisciplinary Conference on Women in the
  History of Science in Hungary in 1983, an
  experience she described as a -major turning
  point. For the following decade, she worked on
  two linked projects, both of which bore the marks
  of her feminist perspective on the history of
  science. Her work on women in Canadian science,
  funded by the Canadian Research Institute for the
  Advancement of Women and by a SSHRC Postdoctoral
  Fellowship, led to Despite the Odds Essays on
  Canadian Women and Science, published in 1990.

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Marianne Veronika Goztonyi Ainley, 1937 2008

• Simultaneously, Marika completed a -feminist
  scientific biography,? in her words, of a
  pioneering ornithologist and founder of the
  Zoology department at the University of Alberta.
  Restless Energy A Biography of William Rowan,
  18911957 was published in 1993. Marikas first
  regular academic appointment was as Principal of
  the Simone de Beauvoir Institute and Associate
  Professor of Womens Studies at Concordia
  University, a post in which she served from 1991
  to 1995. She left the institute in 1995 to become
  Professor and founding Chair of Womens Studies
  at the new University of Northern British
  Columbia in Prince George, BC.
• During her time at UNBC, Marika served as
  president of both the Canadian Womens Studies
  Association and the Canadian Science and
  Technology Historical Association. While
  supervising graduate students, teaching
  undergraduates, and publishing a steady stream of
  articles and book chapters, Marika also engaged
  with the Prince George arts 6
• community and enjoyed the birds of the boreal
  forest. She continued to work on the project that
  seemed to her most urgent and was dearest to her
  heart the history of women in scientific work.
  This research led her to a profound engagement
  with oral history, as she recorded interviews
  with some of Canadas pioneering women
  scientists, many of them of advanced age.

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Marianne Veronika Goztonyi Ainley, 1937 2008

• Marikas interest in the margins and silences of
  Western science also led her to an interest in
  indigenous scientific and environmental knowledge
  and its transfer in Canada and Australia, the
  topic of her final SSHRC grant (2001). During
  this period, her work was facilitated by Visiting
  Scholar appointments at Central Queensland
  University (2003, 2000) and the Institute for the
  Study of Gender at Auckland University (2001). As
  usual, Marika was entranced not only by her
  academic research but by Australias natural
  environment.
• Marika retired from her position at UNBC in
  2003, moving to Victoria with her husband David
  in 2004. Soon afterward, cancer interfered with
  her characteristically busy schedule of painting,
  research, and birding. Marika met this new
  challenge with her usual indefatigable spirit and
  inimitable style, continuing to work with her
  painting group, the Madronas, and completing her
  manuscript on the history of women and scientific
  work at Canadian universities from 1884 to 1980.
  On 26 September 2008, with her husband and
  children at her side and her dear sister on the
  telephone, Marianne Gosztonyi Ainley passed away.
  Celebrations of her life held in Victoria, Prince
  George, and Montreal made clear her contributions
  to communities of scholarship, advocacy, and
  friendship. She is deeply missed.
• Jacqueline Holler
• Chair of History and Coordinator of Womens and
  Gender Studies Programs
• University of Northern British Columbia

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Marianne Veronika Goztonyi Ainley, 1937 2008

• I feel privileged to have been one of Marika
  Ainley Women's Studies students. She was an
  amazing force in life and one that now remains in
  my life after her passing. Marika stoked the fire
  in the hearts and minds of her students. She
  brought passion and color to everything she
  touched. Also, a favorite of a fellow student
  Emily Hansen, we kindly dubbed Marika 'Coco
  Chanel' as she swirled in creativity and
  strength. She was always well presented with a
  high level of grace. I would not be the woman I
  am today without the love, nurturing, and the
  influence of this amazing woman. She worked hard
  and struggled to have women in the Prince George
  region have access to education. To help them
  open their minds and question the world around
  them. I miss Marika everyday, I am glad to have
  had the amazing opportunity to have known her as
  a teacher, a woman, and a friend.
• Rest in Peace lovely Marika.
• Alexandra Vlaszaty.

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13
Lynn Box

• The University started offering classes in 1991,
  and in 1992 or 1993, when the campus was almost
  complete. Julia Emberly, one of the Womens
  Studies professors, was adamant that the
  University have a Womens Centre. I think that
  she was very instrumental in creating the Womens
  Centre, along with Paul Zanette, who was also an
  asset. I think because I was a student in Womens
  Studies, I was more involved with signing
  whatever needed to be signed and getting the
  Centre going. In the beginning, the University
  wanted the Centre to be located in the Winter
  Garden, but we wanted to be here, in the current
  space, because it is close to Security. I was
  also involved informally while I was doing my
  Womens Studies degree.
• During the early days, we did not have a board
  of directors everything was run by consensus.
  Since we didnt have funding, everything was done
  by volunteers. Once we did get some money, we
  hired a part-time person to keep the Centre
  running. We didnt have the resources that are
  here now there were no books, bookshelves, or
  the microwave. The couch is the same one laugh.
  I think for the first couple of years we were
  pretty closely monitored as to what we were
  doing. In the beginning, we were not political
  it was more important to get the space
  established. There was a lot of resistance to the
  Centre from some of the men on campus. They just
  didnt see why we had to have a Womens Centre
  when there wasnt a Mens Centre, and at the time
  this was one of the bigger spaces available. For
  the first couple of years we were quiet. We had
  our room, and we didnt want to make any waves.
  We didnt want to upset any men on campus (well,
  not just men), there were a lot of women that
  didnt think we needed a Centre. We did an open
  house in both September and January so that we
  would have both doors open and we would do -women
  things,? like bake cookies and brownies, and have
  all that kind of stuff available, but the
  naysayer still wouldnt come through.

14
Lynn Box

• I went to The December 6th ceremonies because
  they were on campus. Take Back The Night or
  Jezebels Jam began years later while I was doing
  my masters, so I didnt really have time for
  those events.
• The Centre has been here since day one, and I am
  thrilled that it is still here. My wish would be
  that the Centre wouldnt be necessary that we
  wouldnt need womens shelters, womens centres,
  or separate spaces for women at all, and that
  women would get paid the same as men for the same
  kind of work, but until that happens, I think it
  is great that the Centre is here. My wish would
  be that someone won a whole bunch of money and
  bequeathed it to the Womens Centre to keep it
  running.
• Now I make afghans from wool that are donated
  from the community or whoever will give it to me.
  I make three different sizes adult, child, and
  afghans for babies. The afghans are then given to
  women and children at the Phoenix House, and then
  the women can take the blankets with them when
  they leave. That is how I am giving back to the
  community.

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16
Jacqueline Baldwin

• In September of 1993, before the buildings of
  the University of Northern British Columbia were
  ready for occupancy, UNBC classes were held in
  various temporary locations in Prince George. I
  believe there were only about 200 students at
  that time. The Registration and Faculty offices
  for the new University were in a building on the
  corner of 6th Avenue and Brunswick Street,
  downtown, next to the often rollicking old Bingo
  Hall. The University Library was temporarily
  housed in a cavernous vacant Forestry building up
  near 20th Avenue and Ospika. Students would
  sometimes meet after class in the coffee shop of
  the Bingo Hall, and on occasion there were
  workshops given by visiting guests held in the
  large basement rooms of those buildings. Poet
  Betsy Warland of Vancouver held one of the first
  writing workshops organized by Dr. Julia
  Emberley, our professor, who was teaching a
  course called -Introduction to Womens Studies.?
  I was one of the 23 new students most of whom
  were from the immediate Prince George area, who
  had registered in her course, and it was the
  first time I had been in a University classroom
  for more than thirty years. When my youngest
  child graduated from Simon Fraser University with
  a degree in English and Womens Studies in 1991,
  I sold our farm and moved to the city so I could
  go back to school again. I wanted to pursue a
  writing career. We attended classes either in the
  Theatre of the College of New Caledonia, or over
  at the Ecole Francaise on 17th Avenue in the
  Millar Addition. When we needed a space where we
  could watch a video as part of our class work,
  students and professor would gather at my house
  downtown, and we would all crowd ourselves around
  on the living room furniture, sit cross legged on
  the floor or perched on the stairs to view the
  film. Sometimes we would bring potluck, or I
  would make a giant pot of Moroccan bean and
  squash soup for us to share. I remember those
  occasions as times of deeply profound discussion
  and learning despite the informal nature of the
  venue or maybe because of it.

17
Jacqueline Baldwin

• Very early in the first semester, Dr. Emberley
  talked to us about the need for a Womens Centre
  to be established at the University, and invited
  people to form a group which could begin doing
  the planning and groundwork to make a University
  Womens Centre a reality. I was not on that
  particular committee, but I do remember observing
  what a lot of hard work was necessary to ensure
  that the foundation work was done so that space
  would eventually be approved and provided after
  the new buildings were up and running. Until the
  Womens Centre was formally established, our
  debriefing sessions were held in the Cafeteria at
  the College, at Other Art and Cappuccino Café
  opposite City Hall, down in the Bingo Hall Café,
  or in private homes. What we were learning in our
  Womens Studies classes was often very difficult
  to accept because of the deep and shocking truths
  about colonization, race, class and gender, and
  the depth and breadth of violence against women
  and children all over the world. It was difficult
  at first to learn how to accurately perceive the
  reality of male domination of women and how that
  domination informs womens lives. Sometimes
  students experienced emotional reactions to these
  realities, and the debriefing sessions provided a
  safety valve for many of us, and also comfort.
  The shared experience of studying texts in Dr.
  Joanne Fiskes classes in 1994 that outlined the
  appalling facts of the sex trade in Asia for
  example, was made less traumatic because of the
  connections students made after class in those
  various temporary places of gathering. On
  occasion, our studies triggered memories for some
  women students who had endured abusive
  experiences, and they found themselves able to
  talk about it out loud for the first time. Such
  was the value of the integrity of the after-class
  gatherings of the women. Later on this same
  connection grew and thrived in the Womens Centre
  when it was established. It became a place where
  women could seek and find learning, support,
  solace, understanding, wisdom, peace, and safety.
  A place of discussion, refuge and respect.

18
Jacqueline Baldwin

• Beginning in 1992, I had participated in local
  Prince George events such as The Annual River
  Flower Ceremony, Take Back The Night March in
  Prince George and Vancouver, International
  Womens Day celebration annually, the December
  6th Montreal Massacre Memorial Ceremony, and then
  when it began in about 1996 or 1997, I was a
  guest performer at the annual Jezebels Jam. If I
  remember correctly, it was a group of students in
  Marika Ainleys Feminist Research Methods class
  who came up with the idea for Jezebels Jam. I
  was invited to read my poems at all of these
  events, and continued to do this until 2007. The
  Northern Womens Centre has been very supportive
  of my writing career, and extremely generous and
  welcoming to me. When my first book Threadbare
  Like Lace was published in October of 1997, I was
  invited to the Centre to meet students to talk
  about the publishing process, and presented with
  flowers and cards of congratulations Since 1992
  when I had my very first poem published, I have
  done more than 400 readings of my work at
  Conferences, Training Forums, and Workshops in
  Prince George and Vancouver, on Radio and
  Television, in Elementary and High Schools and at
  the College of New Caledonia, and have often been
  a classroom guest at UNBC. My books have been
  required reading in various classes at UNBC and
  in other Universities and Colleges across Canada.

19
Jacqueline Baldwin

• In 2002, I was a cast member of the production
  of the Vagina Monologues at UNBC directed by
  Cathy Denby, a counselor in the First Nations
  Studies program, and stage manager Alison Haley
  of Prince George. It ran for five performances to
  full houses at the Canfor Theatre. The Northern
  Womens Centre and Serious Moonlight Productions
  were the joint sponsors/producers. I played two
  roles Hair, and The Bosnian Woman.
• Being involved in this endeavor was one of the
  finest privileges of my life and I will always be
  grateful to my superb colleagues in the cast, The
  Northern Womens Centre, and all who were
  involved in the production and performances,
  including the respectful and enthusiastic
  audiences.
• I wish that the Womens Centre will continue to
  grow and thrive, that funding for it will be a
  priority of the Universitys financial plans
  because of the immense contribution the Northern
  Womens Centre has made not just to the wellbeing
  of women students during the demanding years of
  working toward their degree, but to the wellbeing
  of all. The Northern Womens Centre benefits the
  wider Community of Prince George, and by
  extension all of Northern British Columbia
  through its work to raise awareness and promote a
  closer understanding of womens issues, and how
  all of those issues are connected to, and
  benefit, individual, family, and community
  health. 10
• I believe it was poet Betsy Warland who once
  pointed out that feminism is not simply about
  women getting -a bigger piece of the pie? but
  about better health and wellbeing for all human
  beings.

20
Jacqueline Baldwin

• I continue to write, publish my work, and do my
  readings. I am involved in many community and
  University events that support advancement of
  women in society. I have done keynote
  presentations at Simon Fraser University, at
  Ending Violence Conferences in Vancouver, and
  presentations at similar events here in Prince
  George. An essay and poem of mine were published
  in the United Kingdom recently in an academic
  journal called Gender, Place and Culture A
  Journal of Feminist Geography. (Routledge 2009).
  Some work has been published in Chicago in 2009,
  and seven new poems appear in a new anthology
  edited by Debbie Keahey of UNBC Unfurled Poetry
  By Northern British Columbia Women (Caitlin Pres,
  2010) to be launched at Art Space at 7 p.m. on
  September 18, 2010. There are 31 Northern B.C.
  women poets in this new collection.
• The Northern Womens Centre influenced my life
  by never giving up on goals no matter what
  difficulties arose. (Referring, for one example,
  to the temporary closing down of the Centre early
  in its history). By acknowledging and continuing
  to speak out about the realities of womens lives
  rather than the fictions that have been invented
  about women, the Womens Centre reinforces
  courage for others to speak out too. The Centre
  influences and encourages us to investigate and
  re-examine our own personal life experiences
  under a new and more accurate microscope that
  leads to greater understanding through feminist
  theory and practice. The Northern Womens
  Centres activities contribute greatly to human
  wellbeing.

21
Jacqueline Baldwin

• The people who work there have always given me a
  gracious and generous welcome, provided
  opportunities for me to read my work at events or
  on the campus radio, sent me delightful e-mails
  signed -your pals at the Womens Centre? and
  encouraged me in my work as a writer.
• In addition, my times spent either at the
  Womens Centre or at events they have sponsored
  and to which they invited me as a guest, have
  left me with many fine memories to carry with me.
  Laughter, kindness, understanding, generosity,
  and all that wonderful music and dancing at
  Jezebels Jam over the years. The privilege of
  being a guest reader in the company of all of
  those other performers at various events whether
  memorial or celebratory has added great riches to
  my life.
• Yes. The work done to build and sustain the
  Northern Womens Centre, and the subsequent
  numerous day to day successes of the Centre
  provide clear evidence of positive change in a
  difficult world, and of the importance and value
  of all effort to advance feminist knowledge and
  awareness. To the Northern Womens Centre on this
  important anniversary, I send my congratulations,
  admiration, respect, and gratitude.

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Theresa Healy

• My connection to the Womens Centre has always
  been informal. I came to UNBC in 1994 as a
  faculty member with a brand new teaching load, so
  I didnt have a lot of time to volunteer with the
  Centre, although I always believed in it.
  Whenever there was a need for someone to speak
  for or support in some way I always believed it
  to be my foremost role as a women professor to
  support the Womens Centre.
• I feel very strongly about this, I do not want
  this history lost. Every fall there was always
  controversy about the Womens Centres very
  existence and the attempt to take away the space
  the Centre occupies. Every year there would be
  something written in the student newspaper or
  some desire to take the space away. After all, we
  didnt have a Mens Centre, so why should we
  privilege female students with a Womens Centre?
  There were women faculty that were prepared to
  speak up very candidly that the University campus
  was not necessarily a safe place for female
  students and we needed the Womens Centre. Women
  on campus have a need to feel safe physically and
  emotionally. In addition, women need something of
  their culture of being women recognized, and this
  was a fierce battle every fall. I remember being
  so frustrated that once again it was the same
  issues. There would be new students coming up
  through the undergrad society and not
  understanding the importance of the Womens
  Centre, so once again it would have to be
  explained all over again, and most often to male
  students. To me, it is a vitally important part
  of history I do not want lost.
• I also want to acknowledge Dr. Jago, who was the
  President and started at roughly the same time I
  started. He would come and speak at events like
  the December 6th memorial, and other events that
  the Womens Centre organized. I would also like
  to acknowledge Dr. David Delmare, a history
  professor, who produced a book on the history of
  violence against women.

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Theresa Healy

• I am really discouraged that the Womens Centre
  has not grown in the last 15 years and that it is
  exactly the same size as the day I started. I
  find it a bit symbolic of how women are valued in
  our society, not to mention how they are valued
  within a university system.
• I always participated in the December 6th
  memorial and International Womens Day, and have
  always made it a point to attend the December 6th
  memorial. I was studying at the University of
  Saskatchewan when the attack happened. We held
  vigils very shortly after the massacre happened
  and people said we couldnt speak out, that we
  could get shot because no one knows how many
  other mad men are out there. I remember saying
  that we have to speak up, even though I was
  terrified to speak on the podium. I wondered if
  we too would be attacked and shot at, therefore,
  December 6th has always been important to me.
  Furthermore, one year the Womens Centre put body
  shapes in masking tape (if you only knew the
  trouble we went through with the University), but
  it is important to do these very creative and
  impactful things as a way of reminding people
  about the 14 young women that died when they
  shouldnt have, for the simple reason that they
  wanted to be in a university class room. For many
  years I was a speaker and have written poems,
  each year. I try and do a different poem to speak
  to the importance of taking this time, and that
  he this lunatic, this misogynist - wouldnt
  win.

25
Theresa Healy

• There are smaller things I have done for the
  Centre over the years, such as donating a
  beautiful piece of art to the Centre. I have
  always collected the toiletries from hotel rooms
  and bring a big bag of those to the Centre. I had
  been told there are some women living in
  residence that do not feel safe, so they spend
  the night in the Womens Centre. I feel that by
  bringing those types of things into the Centre it
  helps support them in having a safe space to go.
  We have held fashion shows, brought books, and
  donated books. A year or two ago we even created
  a pot of money for single moms who could not
  afford to feed their children I would donate
  100 and would challenge my female colleagues to
  donate money. We also did a mentorship project
  where we matched a person that was more
  experienced in issues surrounding feminism with
  someone who was a feminist and eager to learn.
  Overall I did lots of things over the years so
  the Womens Centre could continue to help support
  women.

26
Theresa Healy

• If I could be a fairy-god-mother there would be
  three wishes I would wish. One, that there would
  be a bigger space and that it would include a
  shower, laundry facilities, lockers, and a quite
  rest room with a comfortable couch and dim
  lighting that any women could access - I feel
  that right now the Womens Centre is a hive of
  energy and ideas. Two, I would like to see the
  University actually make that happen and commit
  publicly and vocally to give those resources, and
  ensure we have paid staff. Also, to make it
  possible for female students to access things
  like an emergency childcare fund, an emergency
  food fund, an emergency book fund, and help
  remove some of those obstacles in order to gain
  an education. Men can go and work a construction
  job all summer and make really good money. What
  options do women have to support themselves? The
  Womens Centre could help reduce some of those
  barriers for women. My third wish would be to see
  the Womens Centre more active in Northern BC
  womens issues. It is called the Northern Womens
  Centre, yet it does a lot more than many other
  Womens Centres in the community, but overall I
  would love to see the Womens Centre be more
  active within the community.

27
Theresa Healy

• I am still a very strong feminist, and a lot of
  my work involves ensuring that gender issues are
  addressed. Not just work involving women, but
  complicating gender issues to understand, such
  as, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, queer,
  questioning, poor, and Aboriginal issues. Women
  suffer double and triple jeopardy because of
  other circumstances in their lives therefore, a
  lot of my work is really focusing on the
  marginalized not just women. I think that I am
  still doing a lot of feminist work, and I have my
  first book of poetry coming out this fall. I have
  always contributed financially, emotionally,
  practically, and in as many ways as I can. I
  always offer mentorship, for example, when I
  teach a class I try to make sure that my feminism
  isnt something that is just a philosophical
  theory, its how we make sure women are given this
  hand to bridge into this world in a good way.
• I think that the Northern Womens Centre is a
  magnet that seems to draw the feistiest, the most
  interesting, and the most politically aware women
  into its fold, but mostly women that need help.
  It is interesting when women go to the Centre
  because they need assistance, not because of a
  feminist impulse, and then they learn what actual
  sisterhood is about, what being a feminist, and
  being a woman in our society is about, and one of
  those things is learning to help each other out.

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29
Tammy Skomorowski

• I was involved with the Womens Centre between
  the years of 1995 1998. At that time, the buses
  ran once every half hour and it would take me two
  buses to get home. I would stay in the library
  until 1100pm but the last bus left at 900pm, so
  I would sleep in the Womens Centre. The Womens
  Centre is close to security and I knew I could
  lock the door and be safe, as well as heat up my
  lunches, or just hang out. That is mostly how I
  used the Womens Centre while I was a student,
  and later as a referral agency because I wanted
  to do a work placement. I started asking where I
  could locate placements in the community with my
  degree in M.Ed.
• In 2004, I came back to the University as a
  staff member. I was working in the medical
  program, as the Student Affairs Officer, so I was
  involved with the Womens Centre in terms of
  knowing what the Centre offered and how it could
  benefit students in the medical program. In 2005,
  I started in the Counselling Centre at the
  University and began doing the volunteer training
  for the Womens Centre, this included, creating
  the communication skills and crisis response
  training every semester. I used some of the
  previous material and some material from Sarah
  and combined these along with my own materials to
  create the training program that is still
  currently being used. I am currently involved in
  womens issues through my work as an
  assertiveness workshop facilitator for the Salmon
  Valley Womens Festival and my role as a
  counsellor at the College of New Caledonia

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31
Kerri Fisher

• I got involved with the Northern Womens Centre
  in 1995 in order to meet people. I began planning
  and attending events, then joined some of the
  committees. I helped organize International
  Womens Day, Take Back The Night, and the
  December 6th Memorial. For Take Back The Night, I
  acted as an assistant, making posters and getting
  people out to the event. For December 6th, I did
  quite a bit of organizing in 1996 and 1997. We
  did tape outlines of each of the women that had
  been murdered, then put their names inside them
  and put those around campus. That caused quite a
  stir and was one of the more controversial and
  political things the Centre did. I think it
  raised a lot of awareness, but caused a lot of
  problems for us at the same time. I was involved
  with the Womens Centre for three years and still
  have friends that I had made at the Centre. For
  the future of the Womens Centre, I hope that the
  Centre continues to get funding and continues to
  be a social and political voice for not only the
  university but for the community in general. As
  far as how the Centre influenced my life, it was
  my first real exposure to feminism and other
  women with feminist ideas. It was a nice way for
  me to get exposure to other feminists around my
  age.
• It was lots of fun. It wasnt just a political
  Centre for us - it was a really fun, social
  Centre for potlucks and rest. If you didnt feel
  well the couch was there to relax on if you
  couldnt make it all the way home. When we hired
  the first coordinator, we wanted the best person
  for the position. The members of the Centre had
  never hired anyone before so it took us 5 or 6
  hours of communal conversation to reach any kind
  of decision. We had some really good times in
  those early years.
• I was the supporter to get things moving.

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33
Tobi Araki

• I was the Coordinator for most of the Winter
  96/Spring 97 Year, and then was integrally
  involved with various events and activities until
  2000. Take Back The Night, Jezebels,
  International Womens Day, December 6th mourning
  ceremonies, etc. I organized the first major
  International Women's Day fair at UNBC we
  brought in a keynote speaker that year from
  Georgia Tech U to speak on Women's issues in
  Science. Also participation and performance at
  the December 6th Vigil with Elizabeth Fry Society
  and many, many other events such as Violence
  Against Women (VAW) week, as well as organized
  with other women the first annual Jezebel's Jam,
  and integrated work with PGPIRG by starting the
  food co-op, we had a second hand "trade" box to
  help students in need. I was part of starting
  many other programs such as self defense and
  psychological self defense classes, I cannot
  remember everything, but there were fundraisers,
  poetry nights, women's retreats at Purden Lake,
  women's art projects (some of which are still
  hanging on the wall). I am currently a regular
  member with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police,
  posted in Prince George. I continue to do work
  with AWAC (An Association Advocating for Women
  Children), and I am currently work with at risk
  youth and run a program that deters consumers
  involved in the sex trade (johns). I am also a
  member of Community Against Sexual Exploitation
  of Youth (CASEY).

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35
Alex Vlaszaty-Zaiser

• I became involved with NWC in 1996, and quickly
  developed -Boost,? a Feminist Zine that we handed
  out throughout the campus. Shortly after I was
  part of the collective but also brought a large
  element of art to the new campus.
• I named the music festival Jezebel's Jam after
  the same concept of Lilith Fair. We wanted to
  reclaim a name from patriarchal rule and share
  the truth about Jezebel . . . a goddess worshiper
  who was persecuted and misrepresented in the mass
  society. We began Jezebel's Jam in 2000, and I
  helped with all the advertising, door prizes, and
  decorated all the posters. I also participated in
  Take Back The Night in 1996, as a guest speaker.
  My art is on the walls of the Centre, as is the
  belly of my amazing son, Escher Skye, who I
  became pregnant with my last year at UNBC in
  2002.
• I hope for a strong future for the NWC and I
  would like to see something done to remember the
  amazing and terribly missed Marika Ainley. Her
  energy and power lives on within those of us
  lucky enough to be her warriors. She was a
  driving force for the NWC and on campus for all
  women - I miss her dearly.
• I have worked in the transition house system,
  and done my own art shows questioning the image
  of women in society. I continue to create a realm
  of sisterhood in my life, and remind women to
  work together, as so much in society teaches us
  to divide forces. I am an everyday Feminist or
  Feminasty, as Emily Hansen and I call ourselves!
  I currently work with punk and metal bands in
  Victoria and have created a sponsorship program
  to help with merchandise and gigs for local
  Victoria talent.
• The Centre is where I met the women I call my
  closest friends. It is where I felt safe on
  campus to voice my opinions and question the
  world around me. I would not be who I am today
  without the NWC, the place I called home and the
  women I am still lucky enough to call my sisters.

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37
Miriam Hughes (Mim)

• I started my Womens Studies degree in September
  of 1996 at UNBC. I got involved with the Womens
  Centre through the doing of my degree. That was
  the beginning of my involvement with the Centre.
  I was the summer Centre coordinator from May 2000
  to September of 2000. This was during the very
  end of my degree (which I finished at the end of
  August 2000).
• I participated in Take Back the Night, (Jezebels,
  IWD these two Im fairly sure I was involved in)
  December 6th mourning ceremonies etc. During my
  term as summer coordinator the Centre was going
  through a bit of funding uncertainty as well as
  changes to the demographics of the Centre. UNBC
  was established in 1994 and by 2000 many of the
  founding members of the Centre had graduated or
  left UNBC and the Centre was in need of a new
  influx of incoming women to pick up the mandate
  of the Centre. The Centre had always been
  determinedly feminist in its ideological origins
  and this did not always sit comfortably with some
  members of the student body and some members of
  academic staff as well. Im glad to see that the
  Centre is still active at UNBC and in the North.
  That it remains true to its original origins, a
  centre for women, by women that are primarily
  interested and involved in advancing womens
  goals and interests both at UNBC and in the
  greater Northern community. There is a tendency
  to water down feminism and feminist goals and
  ideals which I think is ultimately detrimental to
  women. One of the reasons the Centre was so
  helpful for me, both as a student and as a woman
  was because of its commitment to the feminist
  ideals of advancement for women first and
  foremost.

38
Miriam Hughes (Mim)

• I currently work in disaster management and
  public education research at Massey University in
  New Zealand. Within my research is an implicit
  understanding that womens needs and experiences
  during a disaster are different from those of men
  and that a specific set of resources are needed
  to address those needs. I also lecture in
  sociology. All of my work in teaching and in
  research is woven with, spoken with and written
  with that feminist consciousness that I gained
  through my study and association with the Womens
  Centre at UNBC. It has become my natural way of
  thinking. I am also Vice President of the
  National Council of Women, New Zealand (Wairarapa
  region).
• How did the Centre influence my life? I went to
  the Centre every single day during my time at
  UNBC (1996-2000). It became like a second living
  room in the best sense of the word. I felt
  welcome and supported, I made some very good
  friends as well, that I still keep in touch with.
  At that time, I was married to my first husband
  and had young children. The Womens Centre
  provided me with what was really the first space
  Id ever had in my life to figure out who I was
  and what my place in the world might be, aside
  from my roles as wife and mother.

39
Miriam Hughes (Mim)

• The importance of the Centre for me as a woman
  and as a scholar cannot be over-emphasised. Id
  been raised a Jehovahs Witness, gotten married
  quite young (to a non JW) and had four children
  by the time I was 28. I started my degree shortly
  before I turned 31 after leaving the Witness
  faith. It opened up a whole new world for me as a
  person and in particular as a woman. I had a lot
  of ground to make up as there were huge gaps in
  both my formal and life experiences education. I
  did a lot of my studying in the Centre during
  quiet periods and would come up on the weekends
  to use the space as a quiet study area as well.
  My marriage was at times very rocky, particularly
  as my feminist consciousness developed (going
  from zero to 100 very quickly LOL) and the Centre
  provided me with a clear space to think, work and
  just exist in. There were some fantastic women
  involved with the Centre who really helped me on
  the wayIm eternally grateful to them all and I
  now try to return the favour to other women
  whenever I can.
• The Womens Centre was pivotal in my journey to
  my doctoral degree and the life I live now. Being
  able to meet women who, like me, were pursuing
  degrees with children to care for and other life
  challenges gave me a lot of comfort and
  confidence. It allowed me to develop faith in
  myself and my abilities through the provision of
  a space for women that while not without its
  politics strives to be supportive and inclusive.
• I worked very hard in my degree to obtain the
  grades I did but just as importantly I had
  phenomenal support from academics working at that
  time in the womens studies program at UNBC. Dr
  Joanne Fiske, Dr Suzanne LeBlanc, and others
  provided me with a really solid foundation (as
  well as a huge pile of written recommendations)
  from which to apply for an international
  scholarship with which to pursue my PhD in
  Australia immediately following the completion of
  my Bachelors degree. I was ultimately successful
  in my scholarship bid and successfully completed
  my PhD in 2006. Having the Centre as a place to
  study, think and talk to other women during this
  journey was hugely important.

40
Miriam Hughes (Mim)

• All of these experiences have helped shape the
  academic, feminist and whole person I have
  become. When I look back that -Mim? (which is
  what Im known as to friends and family and
  during my time at UNBC) seems almost like another
  person. I do work that I love, and I am able to
  understand how and why women function and are
  positioned in the world the way they are and I
  incorporate these understandings into my work
  every day. I feel well on my way to becoming the
  most self-actualised individual I can be. Im
  happily remarried (with this marriage bearing no
  resemblance to my first oneit is a very feminist
  marriage and Im learning from my mistakes (LOL),
  and my children are doing well. And I think that
  all of this has been influenced by my time at
  UNBC and by the friendships, learning, thinking,
  and just being that I was able to do within the
  walls of the Northern Womens Centre.
• In New Zealand there is a Maori saying Kia Kaha
  stay strong. That is what I wish for the
  Centreto stay strong. As long as there are women
  living, working and striving in the North there
  will always be a need for a place like the
  Northern Womens Centre.

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42
Emily Hansen

• While enrolled in the Womens Studies program at
  UNBC, I met a lot of fabulous ladies involved in
  Womens Centre projects. With two of these women,
  Alex Vlaszaty and Jewelles Smith, I helped create
  from the ground-up and distribute for two years,
  what will always be known as Prince Georges most
  entertaining and offensive womens Zine, -Boost.?
  
• Every month, Alex, Jewelles and I would get
  together with a huge bottle of wine, gathering
  the many submissions from both university
  students (male and female) and members of the
  Prince George community. We would then cut and
  paste the magazine together and send it to print
  the next day. Boost included -sex poetry?,
  regular poetry (but not much), interviews, random
  rants, paintings, and drawings, which people
  either loved or hated. We were interviewed by the
  newspaper, and people regularly wrote to the
  paper saying that they thought the magazine was a
  fun and interesting expression of womens lives,
  or that it was a complete piece of trash, not fit
  to line a garbage bin with total uproar. At
  times, even the women who put together the
  magazine (Im not going to lie) also got into
  massive squabbles, which contributed to the
  diversity and general flavor of Boost, but also
  led to its demise (however, some of us are still
  friends almost ten years later!).
• Yes, may it still exist to support the
  empowerment of women, and may it also support the
  energizing level of radicalism, which helped
  Boost to become as popular as it was for two
  years. In my time at UNBC, I think that the
  Womens Centre at times had tried too hard to
  -people please,? either because funding was at
  stake (constantly an issue throughout my time
  there) or because some women wanted the -image?
  of the Womens

43
Emily Hansen

• Centre to reflect the principles of liberal
  feminism (which, I have some respect for, but
  lets face it sometimes we need to up the ante a
  bit). As women, we need to understand that no
  peace comes without struggle, and if we have to
  kick, scream, and offend people sometimes, then
  thats fine. Lets keep asking for what we need
  as women.
• I have been traveling for almost nine years in
  Asia and the Middle East, writing about my
  experiences and womens issues. I have published
  several travel articles on a site called Brave
  New Traveler and have chosen to focus on feminist
  issues for many of them. I also have a piece in a
  book in India about what it was like to live in a
  small town in the Himalayas as a foreign woman
  for nearly two years. Now I am in Turkey and I
  see a lot of similarities between my culture and
  the Turkish culture as it pertains to women. I
  also realized that they suffer certain
  inequities, simply because they are Turkish
  women. I found there to be lots of overlap in
  oppression, as well as differences between the
  two cultures. I also wore an abaya in Saudi, and
  what an experience that was. I liked that my body
  shape was not in constant focus like it was in
  the West, but at the same time, I felt an
  incredible outrage against the whole general
  concept, which is still something I would like to
  write about. The Womens Centre and the Womens
  Studies program at UNBC has definitely helped me
  to integrate the information and experience of
  traveling, and also relating to the problem of
  womens oppression which exists everywhere.

44
Emily Hansen

• In the words of filmmaker Trinh Minh-Ha, -The
  world is round and blue, like an orange.? Debate
  and diversity are power. May the Womens Centre
  have the support it needs to exist as a
  multi-layered and functioning network of super
  cool women dedicated to making life more
  interesting and freer for women in the Prince
  George community and beyond.

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46
Jenny Biem

• I think I was on the board for a little while
  it has been a long time, but I might have helped
  with the incorporation of the society. When the
  Centre was first opened, I was pretty involved in
  the debate over whether or not it should be a
  womens only space (hoping it still is a womens
  only!) I participated in Take Back The Night,
  December 6th and International Womens Day (IWD)
  events. When I was pregnant I participated in a
  pretty fun pro-choice rally with a shaved head
  and a huge belly, I also donated some books to
  the library when I left town. I think Jezebels
  Jam was after my time. . .
• Im raising a girl on my own we talk about
  feminist values, power in society, race and
  sexuality, etc. I have been marginally involved
  with efforts to maintain funding for the girls
  alternative program here in Victoria, which
  provides support for teenage moms to finish high
  school. While doing my law degree at UBC, I would
  hassle pro-life demonstrators at UBC whenever
  they showed up on campus. Now, I am mainly a
  workaholic.

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48
Jessica Madrid

• I first began to use the services of the NWC in
  my first year of university (1999/2000) and
  shortly thereafter, was recruited onto the
  Collective by Suzie, the coordinator at the time.
  I served as a board member for a one-year term in
  2002 and then resumed my involvement as a
  Collective member until 2006 (when I ceased being
  a student at UNBC). As a PGP!RG board director, I
  also worked closely with the NWC on joint events
  surrounding social justice, feminism, and womens
  health.
• During this time, I participated in the
  organization/implementation of several
  fundraising/awareness events (both on campus and
  off), such as Take Back The Night, International
  Womens Day, the December 6th Vigil, and
  Jezebels Jam. Joint PGP!RG/NWC events included
  workshops on womens health (i.e. Scarlet Tide
  Brigade Menstrual/Reproductive Health Activism)
  and anti-fashion shows. During the early time
  that I was involved with the Centre, there was
  much tension surrounding the funding of the
  Centre by NUGSS. Therefore, a big part of my NWC
  activities involved rallying and lobbying for
  sustainable funding.
• I wish the Centre were more accessible to the
  community at large (this has evidently been an
  ongoing theme with the NWC). I also wish that the
  Centre had a stronger 3rd wave feminist vibe
  more acceptance of gender fluidity (which I know
  can challenge the concept of -womens only?
  space), sex positivism, DIY culture, etc

49
Jessica Madrid

• I am a Public Health Nurse (RN) who works
  primarily with women (i.e. perinatal health,
  womens centered healthcare). Although I havent
  had much involvement with the NWC since leaving
  UNBC, I credit the Centre (and especially its
  early coordinators/Collective members, many of
  whom were amazing hardcore womyn) for
  enlightening me to the feminist movement and
  related activism. I made several long-lasting
  friendships and learned many practical skills in
  working with Not For Profit (NFP) societies (i.e.
  event planning, working on/with a board of
  directors/collective members, etc.).
• The NWC was a huge part of my early university
  experience. I am eternally thankful to the
  amazing women who fought to keep the Centre alive
  during a time of great uncertainty. I am also
  grateful to the powerful women who mentored me
  during this time and who challenged me to
  critically think about the status of women on
  campus, in our community, in the world at large,
  and historically.

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51
Dawn Hemingway

• I have been a member of and advocate for the
  Northern Womens Centre for the
• past 15 years in the early days as a student
  and since 2000 as a faculty member. Womens
  roles, situations, and contributions to society
  have always been on my mind as early as I can
  remember. I can still see clear as a bell - the
  debate topic I proposed in elementary school -
  Why a womens place is NOT in the home. The
  Womens Centre, other organizations and work
  relating to womens emancipation are also linked
  in my memory and in herstory to the second wave
  of feminism. In the 1960s, I was involved with
  and started the first Womens Liberation
  organization in Vancouver at SFU the Feminist
  Action League and later the Vancouver Womens
  Caucus and organized the Abortion Caravan
  Across Canada to get abortion out of the criminal
  code. We chained ourselves to the seats in the
  visitors gallery of the federal parliament
  forcing parliament to shut down for the first
  time ever. I also staged sit-ins with women at
  the Raymar housing project in Vancouver who were
  losing their children in the 60s scoop.
• Working with NWC, Women North Network/Northern
  FIRE, Womens/Gender Studies in a variety of
  capacities, is a natural extension of my
  involvements since childhood. I am an advocate
  for the centrality of/necessity for the
  emancipation of women and for issues facing women
  to be a cornerstone of the work/life at UNBC and
  beyond. For many years, I have worked to bring
  local and regional women and womens
  organizations together in collaboration to
  address issues for women living in poverty, older
  women (were all aging), and women with
  disabilities. Through WNN/Northern FIRE and the
  UNBC School of Social Work, I facilitated
  partnerships with the NWC in addressing womens
  issues in Northern BC conferences, workshops
  and social action. I have supported funding/grant
  initiatives wrote letters of support to the
  university and others as needed. I regularly
  disseminate information about the work of the NWC
  via Social Work networks, WNN/Northern FIRE,
  Stand up for the North and Northern Womens
  Forum/Active Voice Coalition and other
  connections across the North.

52
Dawn Hemingway

• I have been involved as an organizer/participant
  in multiple events such as International Womens
  Day/Week. I participated in organizing and
  disseminating information about IWD both on and
  off campus and was also speaker at some of these
  events. I have spoken at several December 6th
  events, specifically regarding poverty and
  violence and encouraging participation in the
  Chili Blanket (anti-poverty) event organized by
  the Northern Womens Forum/Active Voice Boom,
  Bust Beyond- Women and the Mountain Pine Beetle
  Project (2009) I was a member of the organizing
  committee and speaker at the Conference. I was
  also invited to speak about the conference
  proceedings and impacts at public meetings in
  Prince George and Fort St James as well as at a
  provincial rural network meeting in Vancouver.
  The School of Social Work was a co-sponsor as was
  Women North Network, Northern Womens
  Forum/Active Voice and Stand Up for the North. I
  have also been involved with the (In)visibility
  Conference Giving Women a Voice (2007). Through
  my role with various organizations, I have
  assisted in locating resources for the NWC
  e.g., from the School of Social Work, Northern
  Womens Forum/Active Voice Coalition, and Stand
  Up for the North. As well, I always bring baking
  for bake sales (although I dont bake!) and have
  often purchased

53
Dawn Hemingway

• tickets for other women to attend Jezebels Jam
  when I couldnt attend myself. I have also helped
  with practicum placements my commitment to the
  value of the learning opportunities provided
  through the Centre and its projects is also
  reflected in advocating/supporting the
  development of social work student practicum
  placements at the NWC.
• An overarching aspiration I have for the NWC is
  to see an end to short-term, uncertain, limited,
  project-based funding. That the Centre is able
  secure base funding that is adequate and ongoing
  and that reflects the necessity for and quality
  of its work. In a broader, long range sense, in
  partnership with the NWC and other organizations,
  I hope and work toward the day when society
  recognizes womens equality in both words and
  deeds. Such that womens centres become places
  primarily focused on recognizing, strengthening
  and celebrating the role of women in a society.
  In which not only women, but all people facing
  oppression and exploitation, are emancipated and
  conditions are created for all to be full
  contributing members of a new society

54
Dawn Hemingway

• In my multiple roles at the university and in
  the community, a central focus of my
• involvements is to bring women and womens
  organizations together and to inspire
  collaboration to create change. Some examples
  include the following activities. Women North
  Network/Northern FIRE Chaired the leadership
  team and research project that initiated the
  Women North Network a primarily web-based
  network of more than 300 northern women who share
  information undertake community-based research
  and policy development social action campaigns
  (e.g., mobilization against the 2 year rule for
  obtaining welfare benefits cuts to womens
  programs/funding and government -review? of the
  disability benefits process) and work together
  toward social justice for women for our children
  and for our communities. As steering committee
  member, Chair and Centre Director, I worked to
  ensure the sustainability and development of
  Northern FIRE the Centre for Womens Health
  Research at UNBC Northern Womens Forum. One of
  the organizers and founding members of the
  Northern Womens Forum Against Poverty and Social
  Injustice which brought women and womens
  organizations together from across the north and
  resulted in the establishment of Northern Womens
  Forum as part of the Active Voice Community
  Coalition. Most well known ongoing work of the
  Northern Womens Forum is the Chili Blanket
  Anti-Poverty Event held every December, but we
  organized other demonstrations, rallies and
  meetings over the years (e.g., against the cuts
  to womens programming, health care, welfare,
  etc.)

55
Dawn Hemingway

• I am also a founding board member of the
  Northern Womens Wellness Information Centre
  (NWWIC). Like the Women North Network, NWWIC grew
  out of a Northern FIRE community-based project
  and the work of a social work practicum student.
  Dancing in the No-Fly Zone A Womens Journey
  Through Iraq and speaking tour of Hadani
  Dittmars. Along with the Northern Womens Forum,
  Active Voice, Womens/Gender Studies, School of
  Social Work and others, initiated an
  International Womens Day 2006 speaking
  engagement for Hadani Dittmars both on and off
  campus. As part of my leadership role with the
  WNN/Northern Fire, examples of other initiatives
  include In partnership with the Canadian
  Research Institute for the Advancement of Women
  (CRIAW), organized and co-facilitated a workshop
  on Participatory Action Research (2003) In
  partnership with CRIAW, organized and facilitated
  the Intersectional Feminist Frameworks for
  Research Workshop (2007). Through collaboration
  with the Quesnel Womens Centre helped organize
  and presented at the Connecting Northern Women
  Northern Womens Conference (2009) in Quesnel
  working with the Prince George and District
  Labour Council Womens organization and community
  womens groups. I have helped to organize and
  have been invited to speak at the annual IWD
  breakfast.

56
Dawn Hemingway

• I am also a long time member of the board of
  AWAC (Association Advocating for Women and
  Children) and Surpassing our Survival (formerly
  Sexual Assault Centre) working on a whole range
  of projects, actions, funding raising, policy
  issues, etc. with and within these organizations.
  At different times over the years, participant,
  organizer and/or speaker at Take Back the Night
  I was part of the steering committee member and
  organizer with the Community Response Network
  addressing elder abuse issues. I am also a
  Provincial advisory and oversight committee for
  the Womens Health Research Network I have helped
  initiate and provide leadership to multiple
  PAR/community based research studies focused on
  the rights, needs and experiences of women all
  within the framework of Women North
  Network/Northern FIRE. I wrote or co-wrote
  related articles, reports, policy statements,
  leaflets, and organizing, etc.

57
Dawn Hemingway

• It was a challenge to try and capture 15 years
  of involvements of necessity, its only a
  partial picture. Although I have focused mostly
  on more recent years, reflecting back on many
  years of work made me realize just how much has
  been accomplished in such a short period of time
  (historically speaking - 15 years is brief) - and
  how much more there is to tell (and still to
  do!). So much collective work is yet to b