The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
The 56th Annual Provincial Catholic Women's League (CWL) of Canada held their convention in Flin Flon at St. Ann's Parish last weekend. There were 89 delegates registered, with 20 from Flin Flon and the rest from Snow Lake, The Pas, Thompson and Winnipeg. In attendance were the provincial executive and provincial President Sandra Brynes, along with President-elect Terri Scott as well as the National President, Marie Cameron. The convention began on Saturday night with a Mass with co-celebrants Fr. Denis Bourbonnais and Fr. Paul Bringelson. After a dinner, entertainment was supplied by Susan Fulford and her choir, the Coppertones, made up of young people aged 9-14. Sunday was a day of getting down to business, with reports getting read and two resolutions brought to the floor. The first resolution, which unanimously passed, was to encourage Canadian Parliament to honour their promises in meeting the challenge to end child and family poverty, and to urge Parliament to work toward implementation of priorities as outlined in a previous report. A few years ago, the CWL had urged the government to develop a comprehensive national strategy to ensure all families have adequate income levels to meet the basic costs of raising children. In 1989, the House of Commons unanimously resolved to "seek to achieve the goal of eliminating poverty among Canadian children by the year 2000." However, in spite of consecutive years of economic growth, more than one million children, or one in six children, still lived in poverty in 2001. The second resolution, which also passed unanimously, concerned ovarian cancer and encouraged CWL members and women to become more aware of their bodies and the symptoms of this cancer. It also encouraged women to write to the College of Physicians and Surgeons requesting that more seminars be provided on the symptoms and treatments for ovarian cancer. See 'Resolutions' P.# Con't from P.# Also, women are asked to write to their provincial, territorial and federal health ministers to increase funding for ovarian cancer research and awareness. The symptoms of ovarian cancer are non-specific and include diarrhea/constipation, indigestion, bloating, nausea, flatulence, urinary frequency especially at night, back pain, pelvic discomfort, weight gain or loss, tiredness, depression, and stress. The CWL serves God, community and country and gets very involved in social issues concerning all people. Resolutions in the past that have brought about government legislation include: Enforcing car manufacturers to make cars in such a way that when the car's ignition is started the head lights go on; Had the age of sexual consent raised from 14 to 16 years; Letters were written to the Solicitor General and the Minister of Justice to expedite the implementation of a national strategy and to enable law enforcement agencies to enforce this strategy by increasing funding to eliminate computer-based child pornography. Action has been taken on past resolutions on family violence, literacy, same-sex marriages, child pornography, sweat shops, breast cancer and bulk fresh water resources, water quality in Canada, labeling of pre-packaged food and healthy living for life. CWL is not just a fundraising organization, but is very socially conscious and cares about the world problems. "Did you know that there were 5,000 abortions done last year?" said Sandra Byrnes. "One wonders how many potential doctors, peace leaders, cancer researchers, teachers, nurses, musicians, scientists and astronauts have been lost because their birth was inconveniencing someone, or for medical reasons." It was the opinion of everyone in attendance that this convention was a great success and that the organizers should be congratulated, especially Blanche Gira, Donna Coles and Cathy Daneliuk as well as the members of St. Ann's Parish. Also noted were all the beautiful banners hanging throughout the hall. They were done by a member of the Flin Flon CWL, Mary Zollen, who has passed away.
