Federated Women’s Institutes of Canada celebrates its 90th anniversary this month.
But it’s not as old as some of the groups that came together in Winnipeg in 1919 to form it.
Manitoba Women’s Institutes is 99 years old this year, Saskatchewan’s WI is 97 and the Alberta and British Columbia WIs are 100.
They will all be marking WI week in Canada Feb. 15-21 with teas, workshops and newspaper articles. WIs began as groups to lobby and educate people about the problems of women, their families and communities.
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While FWIC is the largest national organization for rural women in Canada, it is grappling with rural depopulation and a declining and aging membership.
SWI president Ellen Stachiw said the 100 women in her group receive no funding from the provincial government, unlike other WIs in the West. She said the organization operates on less than $10,000 a year, mainly from annual membership fees of $35 a year and donations. While Saskatchewan Agriculture has funded the SWI convention in the past, there has been no money given for five years. A ministry spokesperson said that’s because the group has not requested it.
Stachiw said the money raised by SWI members goes to causes such as buying books and clothes for northern communities, assisting an Indian orphanage and providing a post-secondary student bursary.
