Clearwater,
January 22, 2007
The Women’s Centre

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Facilitators: Jennifer deGroot & Becky Thiessen
Participants: 12 women

— Thanks to the Clearwater Women’s Institute for hosting this workshop. —

The following ideas were generated by workshop participants as part of our gender budget consultations. Please note that this list does not represent the official position of the UN Platform for Action Committee Manitoba (UNPAC). Neither UNPAC nor all of the participants have endorsed these suggestions.

1. What are key concerns for women in your community?

• Farm/rural living
  • Support small farms
  • Keep people in communities
  • People need job off of farm to stay on farm
  • Must be a viable financial choice
  • In order to keep town alive, need services to stay
  • Population decreasing
• Housing
  • 4-plex currently empty
    – senior housing — small units
    – government-owned — what is the plan?
  • Houses for sale — nobody buying
• Health care — no extra services/availability for community, especially seniors
  • Quality care
  • Emergency care
• Rail service — abandoned — Heritage people want to save it
• Education
  • Inequity in education funding formula
  • Difference in rural education and city
  • Need more options
  • Teach youth basic living and employability skills
  • Not much funding for technology
  • Grade 11 student in class by herself (subject is televised)
  • Need equal access — should not be debatable
  • University more expensive for rural when accommodation is considered
• Childcare
  • Limited opportunity and choice
  • Doesn’t pay to drive to work pay for childcare and work minimum wage
• Maternity leave/Employment Insurance
  • No employment measurable — maternity leave doesn’t make sense or work for many women
• Technology divide

2. a) What Government programs and services have really worked to meet women’s needs and concerns? How could they be expanded upon or made better?

• Emergency health care
  • Distance problems
  • Language barrier between patient/doctor
  • Ambulance service is the most important and is improving
  • Calling 911 should be best response choice
• Childcare
  • Rely too much on grandparents/extended family
  • 4H babysitting course is good

2. b) What ideas do you have for programs and services that could meet women’s needs?

• Work at home
  • Would help mothers if their work at home was monetarily recognized
• Childcare
  • Allow choices — outside daycare to continue career
  • Provide better services
  • If parents were to divorce, would a value be determined for childcare?
• Maternity leave
  • Could be on a per child basis instead of number of hours worked in between (hard to qualify for 2nd and 3rd children)

3. Women often do not have enough money to do the things they need to do and they often do not have enough time to do the things they need to do either. Where are you crunched for time? What could the government do to give you more time to do the things you need to do?

• Farm paperwork
  • Government forms, income tax
  • CAIS over and over
  • 10 hours a week for 3 months
• Volunteer time
  • Fewer people in community who volunteer
  • Idea to offer free childcare for volunteers (ie. for women who cater at community funerals)
  • Women now working so much, cannot help as they used to
• Seasonal work
  • Time crunch — especially at times like harvesting, calving, seeding
  • Hard for childcare, not regular times
• Driving
  • Long distances to get services

4. What ideas do you have on how the Government could earn more money? Examples include: raising existing taxes, introducing new taxes, or stopping programs that don’t work. Use the creativity you have learned from your experience as a woman living with a tight budget.

• Increase corporate tax revenue
• Think long-term about ways to conserve spending
  • Example: Railway transit rather than semi-trucks wrecking the roads and environment
    – Would help with Kyoto protocol — fewer emissions
    – Reduce health budget (fewer accidents)
• Increase cigarette and liquor taxes
• Do away with government budgets that reward spending — reward people that are under budget

TAKE ACTION!

• Spreading information should be like a river — all the tributaries join together
• Join WI (Women’s Institute) for more of a voice
• More workshops like UNPAC
• Make more noise in election years
• Be ready with your concerns
• Be informed
• Realize how much power we can have
• Connect with other groups — UNPAC, WI
• Get out of the coffee shop. Stop complaining to each other and voice your concerns
• Work together — government is us
• Use media better
• Vote!
• Write letters — they read them — power in penmanship
  • MLAs