Briarpatch articles from March 1999

Briarpatch archives from March 1999

New alternative (Prairie Alliance for the Future).
March 1, 1999... They're tired of rural roads being pounded to pieces by large trucks, and rail branch lines and elevators being dismantled. So a group of farmers, workers and community activists have offered to work with the British Columbia and Saskatchewan...

For whom the Bell tolls: Bell Canada sells out its female employees.
March 1, 1999... In January, Bell Canada announced it was selling its profitable telephone-operator division to Excell Global Services, a U.S.-based company that runs a low-wage, non-union call centre business. The move will affect 2,500 employees, most of them...

Marianne Livant: Saskatchewan loses a dance pioneer.
March 1, 1999... Marianne Livant died on November 24, 1998 in Victoria Hospice after a brief conflict with cancer. She was 69 years old. Marianne arrived in Regina in 1967, after her life had already taken her from Berlin to England and then to the United...

Healing women.
March 1, 1999... In this issue celebrating International Women's Day, Briarpatch looks at notions of healing as interpreted or experienced by women. We chose the title "Healing Women" because it can refer to women as healers, and to women's desire to be healed....

Medicine woman: how I became a naturopathic doctor.
March 1, 1999... My health care career started when I was eleven. I made poultices from flour, water, grass and flowers and applied them to mosquito bites. As a teenager, I was an active first aid member in the St. John Ambulance Brigade. At the age of 19, I...

Witches & the healing arts.
March 1, 1999... Oxford's definition of a witch is "a sorceress, especially a woman supposed to have dealings with the devil or evil spirits; an ugly old woman, a hag." Covens of witches have been mistakenly connected with the naked orgies and the animal...

Blooming in the Desert: women with breast cancer explore the spiritual resources which might support them in their journey.
March 1, 1999... A "Blue Moon" indicates something that is out of the ordinary, like, for instance, a rare treat. It was under just such an astronomical phenomenon that the first Blooming in the Desert retreat was held. On'a bright winter evening at the end of...

Midwifery: a matter of control.
March 1, 1999... Like most issues in women's health, and in particular reproductive health, the debate around the legalization of midwifery appears to be centering on the issue of "choice" - choice in venue, choice in practitioners, choice in the means by which...

Healing Indigenous communities.
March 1, 1999... When I first thought about the idea of a book about women's healing, I wanted it to be a celebration of the work that Indigenous women are doing locally and internationally. I also recognized the healing ability of putting thoughts into...

Power to the provinces? Questioning the "new" social union.
March 1, 1999... The social union deal signed by Ottawa and the provinces in February has been proudly trumpeted by nearly everyone involved. Prime Minister Jean Chretien called the deal a victory for Canada. "It's a tremendous day," concurred a beaming Mike...

Manufacturing majorities.
March 1, 1999... So often as to be almost always, our electoral system gives power to the party most people don't want. The 1997 federal election is a case in point. It is not an exceptional case; it is more the rule. Thirty-eight percent of voters decided...

One true thing.
March 1, 1999... by Anna Quindlen Dell Publishing, New York, 1994, $16.95. reviewed by Cara Banks One True Thing begins with a young woman, Ellen Gulden, charged with the murder of her mother, who has died of a drug overdose after an intense...

Redwood cathedral: Dick Gaughan.
March 1, 1999... Appleseed Recordings, PO BOX 2593, West Chester, PA 19380; phone (610) 701-5755; fax (610) 701-9599; folkradicl@aol.com reviewed by Norm Walker If you were looking for a great artist with a poetic vision, an...

Y not? (YWCA Women of Distinction Awards).
March 1, 1999... At the end of April, the Regina YWCA will host their 17th Annual Women of Distinction "Gala." For a mere $75 or so, you can attend this glamorous dinner, and watch women from nine categories win the acknowledgement of their "community." And, at...