COLUMN: Viewpoint – 40 years of column writing

This year marks my 40th year as a Carillon columnist. In 1986 I sent a letter to the newspaper in response to a regular contributor who had written a critical article about daycares. Editor Peter Dyck liked my letter. He asked if I’d consider having a regular column in the paper. I agreed to give it a try. Here I am 40 years later, still writing my Viewpoint column.

I thought it might be interesting to look back and see what topics I was covering in 1986. Thanks to my mother who cut out and saved my columns in scrapbooks I still have copies of many of my past Viewpoints.

In September of that year I started a teaching assignment in the brand-new elementary school in Mitchell. One of my columns was about the wonderful parents who had helped me unpack boxes of new materials and supplies and set up my classroom. More than half of my students’ parents signed up to come into my class on a regular basis to act as educational helpers. Parents brought baked goods and flowers to the staff room for the teachers, offered to serve on a parent-council and helped set up the library. I was impressed.

In another column I talked about why so many more women than men lived in poverty in Canada. I outlined the ways Mr. Jake Epp, who was my Member of Parliament at the time, and was serving as the Minister of Health and Welfare in the Mulroney cabinet, was trying to address the problem of poverty amongst Canadian women. He was proposing that women who were homemakers should be able to contribute to the Canada Pension Plan and receive benefits from it. He had also instituted a nation-wide task force to study the need for a national daycare system which he said was necessary for women to achieve economic equality.

I also talked about Mr. Epp, in a column I wrote for Labour Day, since he was presiding at the unveiling of a plaque in Winnipeg to commemorate the General Strike of 1919. In his speech, Mr. Epp talked about the courage of the men and women who had fought for the unity of labourers, the involvement of unions in the political process, and increased recognition of the important role workers had played in the creation of a caring and democratic society.

In November of 1986, I addressed the issue of abortion in a column and the way women were so often blamed for their decision to terminate a pregnancy rather than being shown love and understanding. I talked about the need for society to offer funded maternity leave, affordable and accessible daycare, comprehensive sex education, free birth control and other supports.

We lived on Westwood Street in Steinbach in 1986 and between its 14 households there were 24 children. I wrote a column about what a friendly and open-hearted neighbourhood it was with children playing freely in each other’s homes and yards, people helping each other with repair projects and taking an interest in each other’s lives. It was such a wonderfully safe and supportive place to raise a family.

I also wrote a column about the opening of a new restaurant in Steinbach in 1986 called d’8Schtove. I included my fond memories of two former eating establishments, Pete’s Inn and Millers which had stood in the very same spot.

Since 1986, I’ve written about 1,500 more columns about every topic under the sun. I am so grateful to The Carillon for giving me the opportunity to express my “viewpoints” in its pages for four decades.