REGINA – A provincial politician offered advice for Saskatchewan farm women who feel overwhelmed by falling incomes and their own ineffectiveness.
Call a press conference and tell people, said Joanne Crofford, Saskatchewan’s minister responsible for the status of women.
Her department financed a conference last weekend for representatives of the three major farm women’s groups in the province.
“These are not just personal issues,” said Crofford.
“But they’re also issues about the way farmland will be owned in the future and the way farmers are paid. It’s a fundamental issue and it’s worth figuring out what you want to say to who.”
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The minister also suggested that since the federal government is withdrawing from funding agriculture due to trade deals and the banks are becoming increasingly reluctant to lend, rural Saskatchewan has to decide who will put money into it.
Falling grain and hog prices during the past few months have drastically cut farm incomes. Ottawa has promised financial aid, but Saskatchewan and Manitoba disagree with the federal government over how to share costs of the aid package.
Sara Irwin of Weyburn said she is worried the package will be shaped without Saskatchewan input.
However, Crofford said the pro-vincial and federal governments are still negotiating. “There’s no way we’re going to leave out Saskatchewan farmers.”
The minister said the issue is how much support each Canadian taxpayer should give farmers. Saskatchewan has 40 percent of the country’s farmland but only three percent of the population.
Doreen Holden, vice-president of the Saskatchewan Women’s Institutes, asked how farmers like her son could use the Net Income Stabilization Account in the future if they are being told to use up their accounts before accessing upcoming federal-provincial aid. Crofford said to check the NISA rules again because her understanding is some money could still be kept in individual’s accounts.
Shannon Storey, women’s president of the National Farmers Union, said the federal government has been sending mixed messages about whether farmers had to drain their NISA accounts. However, her main concern is “we won’t see any money until long after the seed has to go in the ground.”
Crofford said farm women may need to develop “an old girls’ network” to help each other be heard by government and business. She said this conference is one step on that path. The women agreed and will write Crofford asking for funding to set up a committee with representation from the three groups to work on common issues.
SWI president Doris Pattison said while the groups have different focuses, they have common factors to deal with including rural depopulation and the need for support for the rural family.
While the WI has a focus on adult literacy this year, Pattison said the weekend conference has put the issue of balancing work and family life onto its agenda. SWI will be doing three workshops in the province this year dealing with lifestyle squeeze.
“Maybe Dad needs to go to the
1 p.m. drama at school,” Pattison said in talking about the pressures of on- and off-farm work for women.
Storey agreed with the importance of the conference in highlighting issues and allowing the groups to “complement and reinforce each other.”
Lil Sabiston, vice-chair of the Saskatchewan Women’s Agricultural Network, said the Jan. 22-23 conference was “the beginning of a valuable partnership.
“SWAN will keep doing things as long as resources of time and money are there. There is lots to be involved in and in a lot of male-oriented agencies.”
