In the early 1970s, two things were very apparent: the changing attitude toward women in society and the need for prairie farmers to reduce their dependency on cereal grain crops.
Among the news stories of 1971, an article by Catherine Shorten, in the Jan. 6, 1972, issue of The Western Producer, revealed that the world was taking a long, hard look at women’s roles in society.
This debate was sparked by a report from the Royal Commission on The Status of Women that was given to Parliament on Dec. 7, 1970. Both individually and in groups, women were beginning to question their own and society’s attitudes toward marriage law, abortion and family planning, equal pay and discrimination because of sex.
During 1971, some doors were opened to women. For example, the first woman member of the Winnipeg Grain Exchange, Lee Edith Johnson, was appointed after a change in the bylaws took the description “male” out of membership requirements. In the Senate and the Manitoba and Ontario legislatures, female pages appeared for the first time. New federal unemployment insurance legislation gave 15 weeks of maternity benefits to employed women.
For the first time in its 39-year history, there wasn’t a separate women’s program at the University of Saskatchewan Farm and Home week in Saskatoon and in January 1971, the 61-year-old Homemakers Clubs of Saskatchewan officially changed their name to the Saskatchewan Women’s Institute, to be in line with equivalent organizations in the other nine provinces.
A Jan. 20,1972, news article said the number of women working outside the home had dramatically increased by 62.3 percent since 1960, but they were still paid less than men in similar jobs.
This information came from a booklet, Women in the Labor Force 1970, released by the women’s bureau of the labour department. The number of married women had increased to 56.7 percent of the female labour force, as compared with 45 percent in 1960.
The National Council of Women presented eight resolutions to the federal cabinet in January 1972. The 35-women delegation led by national president Helen Hnatyshyn of Saskatoon asked the federal government to take dirty movies off the CBC, to take abortion out of the Criminal Code and have tougher laws for drug dealing and drug trafficking, but alternatives to criminal proceedings in dealing with marijuana offences.
One indication of growing interest in women and their status was the number of universities offering courses in women’s studies. Hundreds of people across Canada, both male and female, were enrolled in these courses, which ranged from full credit to six-week extension lectures.
In 1975, Saskatchewan amended the Saskatchewan Married Person’s Property Act. It specified “that the judge shall take into account respective contributions of the husband and the wife whether in the form of money, services, prudent management, caring for the home or family or any other form whatsoever.”
Manitoba passed a Matrimonial Property Law in October 1978 and on Jan. 1, 1979, Alberta’s Matrimonial Property Act came into effect.
Pat Mackay, president of the Canadian Council on Children and Youth spoke at a Saskatchewan banquet launching the 1979 celebration of the International Year of the Child. She highlighted that although there were seven million children in Canada, they were never mentioned in the constitution or human rights legislation.
There was no agreement across the country about the age of majority, the age to which the parent must support their children, the legal age to drive, drink or give medical consent or be held criminally responsible, she said.
“Adults are either confused or just don’t care.”
The first conference to look at family planning in Canada met in Ottawa in February 1972. Attendees concluded that services and information were sadly lacking in Canada, especially in rural communities.
In the early 1970s, it became apparent that Canadian prairie farmers were too dependent on just a few cereal crops: wheat, barley, oats and flax. Wheat prices were low due to global overproduction and the marketing of most grains was tied to the Canadian Wheat Board.
Some farmers were developing interests in alternative crops that could be rotated with cereal crops and sold as a cash crop, such as rapeseed.
In 1972 the University of Saskatchewan Crop Science department shifted its focus to include speciality crops such as field peas, sunflowers, buckwheat, safflower, soybeans, lentils, beans, crambe and horse beans. One of the researchers they recruited was Al Slinkard (1931-2022), a pea and grass breeder from the University of Idaho.
One of the first things Slinkard did was obtain the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s collection of lentil varieties and grew them out to see which ones were suited for Saskatchewan. By 1975, he had identified 10 promising lines. Through field tests, he discovered that lentils grew equally well on summerfallow and wheat stubble.
Laird green lentils were commercially released in 1978, followed by the small-seeded green Eston lentils in 1980. Eventually more disease-resistant lines were introduced, and farmers adapted their harvest equipment to pick up the short growing plants.
An added advantage of growing lentils was that they fixed nitrogen in the soil, so the next crop grown required less nitrogen fertilizer. Farmers earned a good return on lentils, and they quickly became a popular crop. Slinkard became known as the father of Canada’s lentil industry.
The recently formed Manitoba Farm Vacations Association was actively seeking farm families interested in providing holiday facilities for urban families. The program offered farm families an opportunity to earn dollars as well as introducing non-farm families to the farming lifestyle.
In 1976 Emmie Oddie, a Western Producer columnist, became president of the Federated Women’s Institutes of Canada. She developed its statement on land use that urged all levels of government to develop land use policies. The statement emphasized Canada has a limited amount of food land resources and urged zoning and preservation of prime farmland for agriculture production.
The first Agribition in Regina ran from Nov. 30 to Dec. 3, 1971.
With seatbelts required in all new vehicles in Canada in 1971, Saskatchewan was the third province to mandate seatbelt use in 1977, after Ontario and Quebec. At that time, only drivers, front-seat passengers and children were required to wear a seatbelt. The rule didn’t extend to all passengers until 1980.
Betty Ann Deobald is a home economist from Rosetown, Sask., and a member of Team Resources. Contact: team@producer.com.
