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  • People

    playwright, actor, artist: Colleen Wagner

    by Colleen Wagner | Apr 17, 1998

    Colleen Wagner’s art, whether acting, writing or as a playwright, expresses her experiences in life in ways true to her calling. Having seen human rights atrocities in Poland, Asia, China and India, she has written a number of award-winning plays that are testaments to her ability as an artist to translate human suffering into art. Her live experiences have also shown how she has taken control of her life at every turn to follow her artistic instincts. read more

  • People

    manager: Mabel Bell

    by DG Graham | Mar 20, 1998

    The first powered flight in Canada was on February 23, 1909. It would not have happened without Mabel Bell, the wife of the more famous Alexander Graham Bell. It was not long before women were flying planes all around the world. Alys McKey Bryant became the first woman pilot in Canada in 1913.  read more

  • Ideas

    March 20: spring equinox

    by Pat Hacker | Mar 13, 1998

    Can’t wait for spring to arrive? In the northern hemisphere, March and April mark the earliest time young animals could be born after the winter of gestation and survive the weather conditions. In ancient Greek terms, it is when Persephone returns from the underworld to be reunited with her mother, Demeter, and her sisters, and the promise of the growing herbs and grains is fulfilled. Through ritual, let’s make the connection between our bodies, the universe, and friends. read more

  • People

    activist: Carrie Best

    by DG Graham | Feb 25, 1998

    Carrie Best changed laws and changed lives for blacks in Nova Scotia. She stood up for her community. Carrie Best used her voice and magnified its power and reach through local and national media. Carrie Best was a doer, not a complainer; a problem-solver, not a critic. read more

  • Ideas

    February 2: Imbolc – Groundhog Day

    by Pat Hacker | Feb 2, 1998

    Groundhog Day, is the modern version of St. Brigid’s Day and Imbolc (or Candlemas). A time of intuition and looking forward, it is held that the groundhog comes out of her hole and looks for her shadow. If she sees it, she knows there will be six weeks more of winter. The spirit of life is born at the winter solstice when the sun begins its gradual return. In February, at Imbolc, the earth, the physical, has its first experience of life stirring deep within, waiting to appear in the spring. read more

  • Ideas

    poet, novelist: Elizabeth Smart

    by DG Graham | Jan 20, 1998

    Elizabeth Smart’s now-famous love novel, By Grand Central Station I Sat Down And Wept, could have sent her off on a brilliant writing career. However, in the fact of strong social and familial resistance, she focused on raising four children as a single mother. She supported her children without the help of their father, whom she still passionately loved, creating a new paradigm for the boundlessness of love. read more

  • People

    photographer: Edith Watson

    by Frances Rooney | Dec 31, 1997

    Meet one of the world’s first photojournalists, Edith Watson. Watson started out traveling and painting with her sister in New England and New York. In 1890, she switched to the camera. She spent 40 years wandering Canada, photographing mostly rural women. She captured many intimate moments of women helping create the country Canada would become. She recorded that women did build this nation.  read more

  • People

    writer, activist, performer: Ramabai Espinet

    by Reshma Budhu | Dec 9, 1997

    Ramabai Espinet speaks from the outer margins of mainstream society – a space inhabited by = women of colour. To writer, activist, performer, poet, artist, mother, Indian Carribean and Canadian, she has now added novelist. Her first novel, The Swinging Bridge, was published in August 2003. Joining the ranks of many exceptional women in Canada, the multiple roles of Ramabai Espinet are a result of her extraordinary ability to be heard from one invisible place. read more

  • People

    physicist: Prof. Ursula Franklin

    by Ursula Franklin | Oct 16, 1997

    At the May 10, 1995, University of New Brunswick “More Than Just Numbers” conference on women and engineering, Dr. Ursula M. Franklin, C.C. FRSC spoke of the December 6, 1989, murder of 14 young women at Montreal’s L’Ecole Polytechnique and the sexism and misogyny that was – and still remains today – at the root of the problem. read more

  • People

    first woman MP in 1921: Agnes Macphail

    by Pat Staton | Oct 9, 1997

    Agnes Macphail was the first woman in Canada elected as a Member of Parliament – less than two years after many women were granted the right to vote and hold office federally. For 15 of the 19 years that Agnes Macphail served in Parliament, she was the only woman out of 244 members! read more

features

  • Seasonal Feature

  • February 2: Imbolc – Groundhog Day

    by Pat Hacker

    Groundhog Day, is the modern version of St. Brigid’s Day and Imbolc (or Candlemas). A time of intuition and looking forward, it is held that the groundhog comes out of her hole and looks for her shadow. If she sees it, she knows there will be six weeks more of winter. The spirit of life is born at the winter solstice when the sun begins its gradual return. In February, at Imbolc, the earth, the physical, has its first experience of life stirring deep within, waiting to appear in the spring. read more