About Us

1981

• Sudbury’s first Women’s Centre established
• Participated in International Women’s Week
• Facilitated Laurentian University placements for student work
• Host to Rape Crisis Centre
• Created the Rosebud logo, symbolic of women’s potential to grow and flower
• Moved locations in August (Beech Street)
• Supported striking clerical workers
• Joined NAC (National Action Committee on the Status of Women)

1982

• Facilitated workshops on violence against women
• Started section in newsletter to encourage women to express their voices through letter writing campaigns
• Joined national movement during Sudbury’s first “Take Back the Night March”

1983

• Lobbied for abortion rights and rights of women, in general
• Speaker Bureau created to discuss topics such as sexual harassment, pro choice, and pay equity
• SWC is the region’s largest feminist women’s organization
• Pornography Action Group fought against pornography

1984

• Conferences for teens and teen moms (activities focused on families)
• Co-sponsored four-part series on wife battery
• The overall goal of the Women’s Centre was to provide education and to advocate for women’s equality. In 1984 the Women’s Centre started to dream about creating a Family Resource Centre to meet the needs of their families. In approximately 1988, the Playcentre/Joujoutheque of the Women’s Centre rented the Ukrainian Cultural Centre basement. The two organizations decided to pool their resources and envisioned a centre that would house both a Play Centre and a Daycare Centre. They approached the Ministry of Community and Social Services for funding to purchase and renovate the existing Cultural Centre. The dream became reality in 1992 when les resources familiales Jubilee Heritage Family Resources opened its doors to the public. jhfr.ca/about/our-history/

1986

• First free legal clinic
• Published resource book, No More Roses: Handbook for Battered Women in Sudbury
• Strike support for clerical workers at Laurentian University
• First women’s art exhibit organized
• Centre moved to Minto Street

1987

• Creation of SWC Calendar
• Event of the year: production of “Nellie’s Cabaret”
• Another event: “Words and Wine”

1988

• Another move (Victoria Street)
• Monthly newsletter created
• Bilingual pamphlet
• “Soup’s On” Luncheon, made sweaters for fashion show to support women in Africa
• Participated in first “Walk Around the World”

1990

• Rebirth
• Ethnic potluck supper
• Participated in “Separate Paths,” an informative series on women’s rights during divorce
• Co-sponsored first intensive two-day self-defense workshop
• Strike support to unionized workers at The Sudbury Star
• SWC banner flies at Parliament Hill

1991

• SWC’s ten-year milestone had celebrations such as International Midwifery Day, Women’s Centres Day, and Volunteer Recognition Night
• Women’s Health and Research Steering Committee’s assessment on women’s health is completed
• Labour support to OPSEU laboratory technicians
• “Take Back the Night” March

1992

• Campaign to keep the Centre open
• Health minister Murray Elston’s recommendation that midwifery becomes a recognized part of the health care system was finally implemented
• Full Moon Dance
• WENDO workshop
• Community Action Coalition formed
• Sudbury Coalition to End Violence Against Women
• October became Women’s History Month

1993

• Centre undertook a research study to stop workplace harassment
• Custody and Access workshop
• Centre undertook the recording of “Her Story”

1994

• Continued to work on the workplace harassment study
• Started a meditation group
• Started a “Sharing and Caring” Circle
• Engaged in the concepts of unity and diversity

1995

• Canada adopted the Beijing Declaration and the Platform for Action where we committed to advance the goals of equality, development and peace for all women and girls

1996

• The Canadian Human Rights Act was amended to prohibit discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation

1999

• United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW Canada) holds its first “Independent Women’s Conference”

2000

• 58.9% of women aged 15 and older were part of the Canadian labour force
• UFCW Canada women members participate in the “Women’s World March” in Ottawa and New York

2001

The Canadian Human Rights Commission recommends to Parliament that a proactive pay equity system be established so that employees proactively get equal pay, without needing to file a complaint to receive it