OLDS — A history of the Alberta Women’s Institutes (AWI) is on display until March 30 at the Mountain View Museum & Archives.
The building was packed as display was officially opened recently. Several members of the AWI were in attendance.
Two main speakers addressed the gathering.
Linda Toews, the current AWI president and a member of the Olds branch of the AWI (known as the Wild Rose Go Getters), spoke on the history of the organization.
Mae Deans, a volunteer for the Provincial Archives of Alberta and a curator of the AWI exhibit, spoke about the creation of the exhibits and the volunteers who were involved.
The first Women’s Institute was created in Ontario in 1897. The Alberta chapter was formed in 1909 near in Lea Park, between Bonnyville and Lloydminster.
The group’s first provincial convention was held in Olds Feb. 17 and 18, 1915.
Deans told the crowd that the AWI has come a long way from those early beginnings.
“At that time, women couldn't even hold meetings because they weren't (legally) persons,” Dean said, adding that as a result, a man had to schedule the meeting for them.
“Rural women in those days were isolated. There were very few people they could talk to; they're out there by themselves, and they often didn't know how to do things that would be helpful, to them."
The AWI became a way for women to meet get together to learn about or how to do different things, she said.
“They learned all these things about home economics, about sanitation, childcare, first aid and they brought with them some of the crafts they had and they learned other crafts,” she said.
Over the decades, AWI has been a major contributor to Alberta life.
“AWI is an organization whose work and projects have touched families and communities throughout the province and beyond,” she said.
“Hospitals, halls, arms safety, cancer projects are only the tip of the iceberg of the many ventures that AWI has done over the course of its 100 years of community service.”
During an interview with the Albertan, Toews noted that she became a member of the AWI way back in 1973 through the auspices of her mother.
Toews said like all organizations, the AWI has seen membership decline over the decades.
She said in its heyday, the AWI probably had about 15,000 members. Deans said membership now is probably more like 600. Toews said it might even be smaller than that.
There’s a push on now to recruit more members, especially young people.
Toews noted that decades ago, AWI members shared knowledge of how to do various crafts.
“For a while, they were kind of out of vogue. Nobody wanted to crochet, ‘what’s that?’ Knitting, what’s that? Quilting, what’s that,’” Toews said.
“Now all of a sudden people are really interested in doing that, because they see the benefit of it. They see all the wonderful things they can make and there’s the camaraderie too of getting together with other women and doing things together.”
She said the Wild Rose Go Getters branch of the AWI, which started up about five years ago, has some younger members now.
“That’s why they’ve joined, is because they want to learn those things,” Toews said.” They also want to learn about other topics that we can bring speakers in on.”
Deans added that the AWI is especially relevant as the province experiences an influx of newcomers.
“I can see the Women’s Institutes in the small communities going back to its roots, which was to welcome newcomers and support newcomers,” she said.
“We have a lot of newcomers coming into the country who need as much support as anything with the education of their children, health care services, getting involved in the community.
“Those are all difficult things for new Canadians to access on their own. And I can see WI playing that part, which is what they played when we had Nellie McClung as one of the original organizers.
“They didn’t know the culture, many of them didn’t even speak English, so there was a lot of that, and we can do that again.”
Nellie McClung was one of members of the famous five who fought for women to be included as persons in law, which finally occurred in 1929.
Toews said the AWI is “non-political” and everyone is welcome to join, including men.
