Get Better Together

Celebrating Thirty Years of Equality: 25th Annual Person’s Day Breakfast

Manitoba W.I.S.E. (Working in Support of Equality), formerly known as LEAF (Legal Education and Action Fund), celebrated at their annual breakfast, October 16, in support of equality at the RBC Convention Centre. The organization, formed in 1985 to educate and strengthen the substantive rights of women and girls as guaranteed by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms also advances public understanding of women’s equality rights through education programs.

Shireen Ahmed, the keynote speaker, is a mother, writer, public speaker and a sports activist and mentor focusing on Muslim women in Sports. She is an athlete, advocate, community organizer, and works with Youth of Colour on empowerment projects.

Shireen was born in Halifax but now calls Toronto home. Her father worked in the mine in Lynn Lake so she has some Manitoba roots. She strongly believes that sports are a vehicle for human rights and works to ensure that marginalized women are able to participate in community sports. Shireen has worked with schools to help Muslim girls have the proper headscarves and clothing for sports participation.

She commented that there were more important election issues such as health care, gender wage gap, murdered and missing indigenous women, jobs, poverty and seniors than a woman’s head covering.

Women’s voices are not being heard. All women from all diverse backgrounds need to start connecting and speaking as a united voice. Issues are inter-related, not separate and need to be addressed as a whole package. The community needs to question policy, work together and celebrate diversity to ensure that every individual is equal before and under the law.

Attending from the Retired Teacher’s Association were Peggy Prendergast, Guy Hansen and Carol Pelton, directors on the RTAM Board. §

As an experienced teacher, you are already dedicated to helping children achieve their potential in a warm and supportive environment.

Would you like to combine your love of teaching with world travel and the chance to experience new cultures?

If so, please consider this unique teaching opportunity.

Beginning in September 2016, our family will be taking a year off to travel. The main objectives will be to allow Michelle and Julianne (by then 9 and 11, pictured above) to develop their language skills while simultaneously broadening their understanding of the world.

The travel will consist of two trips of four months each. The first will be mostly spent at a language school in Guilin, China, where the girls will take their knowledge of Mandarin to the conversational level. Side trips will be taken to Hanoi and Chungking (the girls’ birthplaces) as well as Hong Kong.

The second will involve a month of Spanish language training in Antigua, Guatemala, followed by three months of travelling in South and Central America:

Overland trip from Santiago to Iguazu Falls • Rio de Janiero

Manaus and a cruise up the Amazon • The Galapagos

Islands • The Panama Canal • Cuba

The children will be homeschooled during each trip, focusing on math, reading and writing skills. Other educational opportunities will be taken advantage of as they arise. Each trip will be followed by a two month period in Canada, which will consist of two weeks of time off and six weeks of home schooling in science. This would take place in Sudbury, Ontario.

Your tasks would be to provide most of the homeschooling (Grades 4 and 6). Duties would begin in late July of 2016 and end in late July of 2017. Benefits would include: • All living expenses • All travel expenses (a value of approximately $50,000) • Language courses during the girls’ own classes, if desired • A generous stipend

For the perfect person, this will be the perfect job. Please reply to portray@vianet.ca if interested.

Dr. Ray Wiss, MD, CSPQ (EM), CFPC (EM) Department of Emergency Medicine Northern Ontario School of Medicine

Delta Kappa Gamma (DKG) – 85 Years and Beyond Heather Meginbir

Since 1958, women educators in Manitoba have proudly worked together as part of Delta Kappa Gamma International - an honour society involving key women educators from the United States, Canada, Europe, Latin America and Japan, established to promote leadership, as well as celebrate the success of women in academic careers. DKG is the world’s largest philanthropic women’s organization with almost 82,000 members.

Membership in DKG offers networking and mentoring opportunities for early career teachers. As well, each year DKG International scholarships, awarded by the State/Province organization, support women seeking further education and post-graduate degrees. At the University of Manitoba, the Delta Kappa Gamma Mary E. Lamont scholarship is given annually. DKG members can also apply for additional scholarships at the local and International level.

Regional conferences and international conventions unite DKG members for professional development through renowned speakers and breakout sessions with emphasis on networking and camaraderie. In July 2015, the Saskatchewan Province Organization in Regina hosted a Northwest Regional Conference, with 300 members attending from four provinces and twelve states in the Northwest DKG region. The Canadian Forum met to discuss issues closest to the Canadian members’ concerns. The 2016 DKG International Convention (July 5-9) will take place in Nashville, Tennessee with over 2000 women educators expected to attend.

In Manitoba, Alpha Chapter was founded by Esther Hinds in 1958. Currently, there are three chapters in the province, two in Winnipeg and one in Brandon. Chapter members now include university professors, superintendents, educational administrators, as well as elementary, junior high, and high school teachers.

Manitoba DKG chapters have provided support to such worthy projects as BookMates - promoting family literacy; Nova House Women’s Shelter - supporting women fleeing from violent domestic situations; N.E.E.D.S - helping immigrant families adapt to Canada, and the Osu Children’s Library Fund in Ghana (founded by honourary Alpha Chapter member Kathy Knowles) - promoting literacy abroad.

Looking to the future and its approaching centenary, Delta Kappa Gamma seeks to maintain its status as a vibrant women’s organization, helping women educators find opportunities for leadership roles and developing skills for excellence in education.

The biennium theme for DKG International 2013-2015 is Expand the Vision: Educate, Inspire, Encourage. As an organization, DKG desires to broaden its audience, by opening membership to diverse women educators in a variety of fields, including nursing, and other university faculties. Membership in Delta Kappa Gamma Society, by invitation only, is considered a prestigious honour with a variety of benefits and privileges.

If you know a woman involved in the field of education, who would enjoy the camaraderie, networking and professional growth offered by involvement in DKG or who could benefit from our joining our organization, please pass along this article.

More information about the three Manitoba chapters of DKG is available on our provincial website - www.dkgmanitoba.org. You can also email our provincial president, Heather Meginbir, hmeginbir@gmail.com for more information if you are interested in joining our honour society. §

Heather Meginbir, current President of DKG Provincial Executive, is a retired teacher-leader from Lord Selkirk School Division has been a member of DKG for over 30 years. Heather is grateful for assistance with this article provided by Gwen Watson, a member of DKG Alpha Chapter.

The Manitoba Teachers’ Society seeks

photos, artifacts and other records of teaching and Society activities from 1919 to the present. The Manitoba Teachers’ Call Mireille Theriault at 204-888-7961 ext

Society seeks photos, artifacts and 354 or email mtheriault@mbteach.org

other records

of teaching and Society activities Grands n More Winnipeg with the Stephen from 1919 to the Lewis Foundation presents: present. THE ASK HER TALKS Date: November 25, 2015 Place: Metropolitan Entertainment Centre, 281’Donald St Time: 7:00pm Tickets: $20 - from McNally Robinson Bookstore or SLF website Reception to follow Five dynamic African women from sub-Saharan Africa will speak about the inspiring change their projects are making in the lives of the grandmothers who are caring for their orphaned grandchildren due to the AIDS pandemic.

Call Mireille Theriault at 204-888-7961 ext 354 or email mtheriault@mbteach.org

A Day at The Forks

June 2, 2016 Manitoba Teachers College Class of 58-59

The Reunion Committee has arranged an opportunity for us to gather once again to meet, chat and reminisce with colleagues on this fifty–seventh anniversary of our year at MTC.

We have chosen The Forks as our venue. At this historic merger of the Assiniboine and the Red River we have places to eat, an opportunity to visit the beautiful Museum of Human Rights situated close by and to walk the paths or visit the shops of this iconic Winnipeg location.

The committee plans to contact members by letter with the details by April 1st 2016. If you do not receive a letter contact Bert Suss at blsuss@gmail.com. 204-326-9470.

House sit for expenses

Nanaimo, November 01, 2015 to April 01, 2016 hewebber@msn.com

Scottsdale, AZ

Condo vacation rentals by owner Kathy Robins (Goldman). www.29desertsunescape.com; 519-720-0267 Brantford, ON

Normal School Class of 1955 - 56

60th Anniversary June 11th 2016, Winnipeg MB For more information contact: E-mail:normalschool56@mymts.net or write 60th Reunion 330 Montrose Street, Winnipeg MB R3M 3M8 Please send your address, e-mail and information on other class members. More information will be mailed out in Fall 2015

Don't get stuck inside this winter!

Deer Lodge Ladies Curling Club is looking for curlers for its Tues./Thurs. morning league starting after Thanksgiving. Curl once or twice a week; flexible schedules an option. New curlers and stick curlers welcome! Training Provided. Call Karen at (204) 889-1450 for information.

Open House - Whirlaway Westerners Square Dance Club

Enjoy Modern Square Dancing! New dancers, both singles and couples, are welcome on Friday, January 15, 2016 at 7:00 pm, at Kirkfield- Westwood Community Centre, 165 Sansome Ave. Your first three dances are free! Come for the fitness; stay for the fun and friendship! For more info call Carole at 831-8954 or Pam at 414-7637