Each of my children went everywhere with me during their first year, including to Cabinet and Opposition lobby sessions, meetings, conferences, you name it! And I breastfed on-demand, leaving the room only when I needed to, not when someone else believed I should!

My children are now 17 and 14 so I am appalled that an attitude such as that displayed by a Saskatchewan Rawlco Radio producer is begin voiced today! What was said is, in some ways, not that big a step away from that voiced by Tom Lukiwski, Brad Wall, Kathy Young and unnamed others in an infamous video recorded 17 years ago! It is an attitude that conveys the idea that women should be barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen, as opposed to in boardrooms, on TV news and in the political eye. What a disgrace for the station! And what a disgrace for our province! Here’s how the producer referenced Amber Jones’, Green Party of SK Leader’s, decision to hold her child during a media scrum:

Here’s an idea for Jones – how about she gets her own priorities in order before she starts worrying about what the government’s should be.

Breastfeeding moms respond:

About 35 breast feeding mothers brought their babies with them to protest a News Talk Radio blog site at the Saskatoon station.

Note the different story in the newspaper coverage:

SASKATOON — Mothering and public life can and should coexist, say moms who held a “mother-in” outside Rawlco Radio’s Saskatoon headquarters Monday.

About 70 mothers and children attended the event, prompted by a blog post in which NewsTalk 650 producer Tammy Robert commented on a politician’s choice to breastfeed during a press conference. Her entry, entitled Children and the Places They Don’t Belong, created lots of debate after it was posted last week. In it, she criticized Saskatchewan Green party Leader Amber Jones’s decision to include her six-month-old daughter in a media event.

The StarPhoenix used ‘Mother-In’ in the headline’! And the story is more in depth. I love it!

I think the Leader-Post may be publishing the letter I wrote immediately after I read their story.  Watch for it.  It is neither so kind, nor so pretty as this blogpost!

Written by The family of Jolene Cook

Monday, 24 March 2008

Jolene was last seen on Sunday March 9th, 2008 leaving her apartment with a man by the name of Russel Knife…..also know as ‘Diamond Jewel.” It is not like her to go off for days without her wallet, keys, overnight bag, or notifying her family as to where she is going.

If you have any information please contact:
Brad Cook 306 768 3629
Dorren Cook 306 981 4059
or you may contact the Carrot River RCMP 306-768-1200

If you have seen her or know of where she is please let us know…..we want to know where she is………and that she is ok……

Please forward to all your contacts…….That would be greatly appreciated=
…and would also help us alot…….Thank you

What is it with the Conservatives in Ottawa? They can’t seem to leave women alone, have to keep at it, have continue to attack women’s hard-won rights! Are they afraid of our power or something?

First, they nailed Status of Women Canada which forced the doors of many women’s organizations across the country to close. Then they (with the support of the Liberals) allowed Ken Epp’s wedge issue Bill C-484 to pass Second Reading in the House of Commons. And now the right-wing extremist, Maurice Vellacott, the MP for Saskatoon-Wanuskewin has introduced, for what I think is the 3rd time, his ridiculous Bill-537!

Fortunately, the folks in Quebec have it together! Their National Assembly unanimously condemned C-484 after one of their doctors’ associations condemned it as a backdoor attempt to restrict women’s right to abortion. I fight it incredibly interesting that a province, whose traditions are based in Roman Catholicism, can be so progressive!

Here’s hoping Vellacott’s Bill will not make it beyond First Reading in the House of Commons. The Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada / Coaltion pour le droit a l’avortement au Canada,outlines reasons for opposing C-537:

– It’s discriminatory against women (mostly).
– It would decrease access to abortion and contraception, and stigmatize both.
– It’s an abortion restriction that can be used as a wedge to re-criminalize abortion.
– It confuses the definition of “human being” under the CC by defining the term “human life” as including fertilized eggs and embryos.
– The patient’s conscience and rights must be paramount.
– Medical professionals have an obligation to help patients.
– It is broadly worded to the point of absurdity, basically exempting medical personnel from the duty to practice medicine.
– It would force medical institutions to hire personnel who refuse to perform services the institution specializes in – for example, it would force abortion clinics to hire anti-choice staff who refuse to do abortions.
– It would impair the ability of professional medical organizations to regulate health professionals (e.g., if an individual complains to the College about sub-standard care, the physician can say it’s related to his/her religious beliefs).
– It conflicts directly with Harper’s promise not to legislate on abortion.
– It’s a matter for civil law, not criminal law, so cannot be included in the Criminal Code.

Sixteen years ago, I was a new mom volunteering for local women’s organizations. Before my first-born was six weeks old, she had attended her first lobby sessions, one with the Devine Conservative Cabinet and one with the NDP Official Opposition. Undoubtedly, I made mistakes during that time of my life but giving birth to my daughter and volunteering in the women’s community in the province of Saskatchewan were not mistakes. My daughter is one of my greatest teachers. And my volunteer work was important to ensuring the electoral defeat of Grant Devine and his scandalous Conservatives.

It does not surprise me that the political hack and devout Mennonite who is now the Premier of Saskatchewan, Brad Wall, was party to racist, sexist and homophobic antics during the Devine years. We’ve recently tasted the flavour of bloggers who supported him in his climb to power. Along the way, he has had to appease many moderate voters, to be sure. However, the piece of Saskatchewan’s culture captured on that video has changed very little over the past two decades.

So, I am also not surprised that the homophobic commentary of another political hack, the Member of Parliament for Regina-Lumsden-Lake Centre, Tom Lukiwski, is also on the video. In fact, it would not surprise me if the entire video had been recorded last week — well, except for the hairdoos and the outfits.  In Saskatchewan, we all know someone who is just like that, someone who is right now applauding the comments made in that old recording. This is a province of extreme homophobia, such that in 2005, when same sex marriage became legal, then Minister of Justice and MLA for Saskatoon Meewasin, Frank Quennell, had to insist that the province’s Commissioners of Oath conduct same sex marriage ceremonies.  We live in a part of the world where that is what is, politically and weather-wise.

I remember admiring Lynda Haverstock, despite the fact she led the Liberal Party of Saskatchewan in the 1990’s. She was making great gains for women within the province and, given half a chance, would have done much to ensure a better situation for women here. Unfortunately, the Old Boys in the Liberal Party felt threatened and had her ousted. Clearly, they shared at least some of the attitude displayed by Lukiwski, Wall and others in the early 90’s. Although she did not view the video, the always diplomatic Haverstock issued a statement, saying,

If it denigrates and marginalizes individuals based on their ethnicity, gender and sexual orientation, I hope that the parties involved will take full responsibility for their actions.

No one has yet apologized to Haverstock, who went on to become one of the finest Lieutenant Governors in the Province’s history.

And no one has apologized to Barb Byers, former President of the Saskatchewan Government and General Employees Union (SGEU) and the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour (SFL) and current Executive Vice President of the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) who was also denigrated in the video. Nor has George Roseneau, another former president of SGEU, received an apology.

The statements the Conservative party-goers made about the union leaders could also have been made today. The governing Sask Party recently introduced Bills 5 and 6, two pieces of legislation which have been soundly condemned as being attacks on workers’ rights by Larry Hubich, current President of the SFL. Hubich and labour lawyers across the country have also spoken out about the Wall government’s attack on the Labour Relations Board. Again, none of this should be surprising to anyone who pays any attention to the goings-on in Saskatchewan, particularly given the extreme right-wing’s hold in the province.

Some have condemned the NDP for releasing the video; I am not one of them. Had it not been carelessly left behind in the offices of the Official Opposition, it may well have not come to light. I would hope that no matter who found it, a politician or otherwise, they would add it to the public record, a record already besmirched by scandalous politics. Wall’s people, many of whom are holdover’s from the Devine and Mulroney eras, including Wall’s Executive Director of Communications, Kathy Young, who also features in the historic piece, must now face the music, so to speak.