Diane Rogers

SASKATOON – Approval for Saskatchewan’s first Farm Women’s Week seems like the kiss of death for provincial agriculture ministers. Noreen Johns laughs as she recounts how her organization has asked for the week. And each time the Saskatchewan Women’s Agricultural Network gets permission to proceed from the minister, he disappears. First Darrel Cunningham lost his […] Read more

REGINA, Sask. -Emmie Oddie, reflecting on a 50-year writing career with The Western Producer, credits two women for leading her to the path she followed. One is her mother, Emma Ducie, who was active in the homemakers’ clubs and the other is Edith Rowles, an extension worker who later was dean of the home economics […] Read more

ST. JOHN’S, Nfld. – When it comes to making donations, men and women have different motivations, says a Toronto fund raiser. Bev Wybrow told the recent Canadian Farm Women’s Network conference men give money based on who asks them. “It’s prestigious or an exchange such as ‘I’ll give to your hospital if you give to […] Read more

ST. JOHN’S, Nfld. – The phone rings shrilly. A staff member picks it up and there’s an outpouring from the woman on the other end. “My husband threw me against the wall. He’s got the only keys to the car. Am I going crazy? Is this a normal relationship?” In Saskatchewan and Manitoba, stress line […] Read more

ST. JOHN’S, Nfld. – Every farmer should have a cellular phone, says Susan Hickey, a Newfoundland poultry business owner. It’s a “necessary thing” for safety and for communication, she told the Canadian Farm Women’s Network conference here. Hickey, who does the books for the 150,000-broiler operation she owns with her three brothers, uses the phone […] Read more

ST. JOHN’S, Nfld. – The Canadian Farm Women’s Network is asking its members for a big commitment. There won’t be any federal government funding for administration of the network after this year, so the CFWN is changing its funding focus, says president Linde Cherry. In an interview at the network’s 7th national conference here, she […] Read more

SASKATOON – While government funding cuts to their organizations worry rural women, they are also concerned issues are being shunted aside as relevant only to their gender. Child care is an agricultural health and safety issue, says Shannon Storey, of the National Farmers Union women’s program. Too many children die or are injured because their […] Read more

SASKATOON – Clashing hockey players and catcalls from the crowd are part of every prairie winter as each community’s pride takes to the ice. But that sports rivalry is a barrier when towns must band together to survive. Two panel members raised it as a problem during a Nov. 2 forum held by the Saskat-chewan […] Read more

SASKATOON – Either the issues were clearer or the voters more excited, but rural Saskatchewan had double the turnout of urban areas during the Oct. 25 health board elections. Saskatoon and Regina, with the biggest health board budgets of hundreds of millions of dollars, drew only 15 percent of potential voters. The overall turnout in […] Read more

SASKATOON – While federal and provincial governments are fighting over what procedures they can afford to pay for under medicare, health academics agree it’s a controversial area. Factors used by the health-care system to determine needs include the population’s age, gender, premature death rate and low birth weight. But these are no longer sufficient, said […] Read more