WOMEN CARING
for KAMLOOPS
1890 – 1975
ANDREW YARMIE

Published by
Textual Studies in Canada
900 McGill Rd
Kamloops, B.C.
V2C 0C8

and

Kamloops Museum and Archives
207 Seymour St
Kamloops, B.C.
V2C 2E7

Women Caring For Kamloops: 1890-1975
Andrew Yarmie
ISBN 978-0-9916871-1-4
Printed and bound in Canada by Gauvin Press, Gatineau, Quebec.
Copyediting by James Hoffman, and Elisabeth Duckworth.
Book design by Emily Hope.
Front cover image, Kamloops, 1891. Image 478, courtesy of Kamloops Museum and
Archives. Back cover image, Kamloops in the 1950s. Image 5636, courtesy of Kamloops
Museum and Archives.
No part of this publication may be produced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted
in any form or by any means-electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise-without
the prior permission of the copyright owner.

Contents

AcknowledgEments

6

preface

7

chapter one
Introduction: Volunteer Associations From the Era of Individualism to the Welfare State

8

chapter TWO
Caring for the Sick: Ladies’ Auxiliary to the Royal Inland Hospital

44

CHAPTER THREE
The Drink Problem and the Kamloops Woman’s Christian Temperance Union

70

Chapter Four
Kamloops Red Cross: From Guild to International Society

100

Chapter Five
Strength in Union: the Kamloops Council of Women

143

Chapter Six
Kamloops Young Women’s Christian Association: Volunteerism and Social Action

170

CONCLUSION

202

AcknowledgEments
My personal interest in women’s history began in the 1980s when students at Cariboo
College requested more insights into women’s social, cultural and political role in society
and therefore I would like to acknowledge their interest and research as a stimulus for this
book. Colleagues at Thompson Rivers University, friends and many people I contacted
for information on women’s volunteer groups were also very supportive in the research and
writing process. The history writing group, Tina Block, Ann Gagnon, Emily Hutchison,
and Anne St. John provided encouragement while Tina’s critique of my introduction
was especially valuable in giving the book a solid direction. I would like to acknowledge
support from David MacLennan, Wayne Norton and the anonymous readers from
the Communities-Universities Research Alliance, (Thompson Rivers University) who
provided valuable commentary on the first draft of the manuscript. I am grateful to James
Hoffman and Elisabeth Duckworth who completed the final copy editing and to Emily
Hope for the book design and layout.
Most of the primary sources are located at the Kamloops Museum and Mary Balf
Archives where I received valuable assistance from Susan Cross, Elisabeth Duckworth
and Cindy Mochizuki. The staffs at Thompson Rivers University Library, Vancouver
City Archives, Special Collections, University of British Columbia and BC Archives
and Record Services were also helpful in the acquisition of material. Personal interviews
with Mary Hedley and Lois Hollstedt were extremely useful for filling in the gaps of the
evolution of the YWCA.
The Small Cities Communities-Universities Research Alliance funded by the
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and under the direction of Will
Garrett Petts and James Hoffman supplied research and writing time as well as financial
support for publication costs.
Textual Studies in Canada and the Kamloops Museum and Archives provided
the necessary assistance in the publication process and brought this book to its final stage.
My final acknowledgement is to Cherrill for her encouragement, computer skills
and overall support at every stage of this publication.

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WOMEN CARING FOR KAMLOOPS: 1890-1975

preface
This book attempts to fill a major gap in Kamloops history. In the last decade there have
been some important publications on the city’s past but more studies are required to
reveal the contributions of large sectors of the population. In essence, men have been
given credit for shaping the community and the intent of this study is to shift the balance
by acknowledging women’s role in moulding societal values, developing community goals
and providing essential services.
The purpose of this study is to track the evolution of women’s volunteer
associations and document the important contributions they made in caring for
Kamloops. The associations selected demonstrate women’s caring in the fields of health,
culture, education, social assistance for the poor, and the welfare of the community during
times of crises. The work of women caring for the community that began in the pioneer
period continues to the present and remains an integral part of our community.
Women’s volunteer associations can be found in every province and often have
similar goals. This book therefore takes into account national and provincial associations
to evaluate trends in women’s history. While Kamloops women’s volunteer associations
shared many of the same objectives and adopted similar strategies to improve our
community, local disparities made their history unique. To capture their true objectives,
struggles and success they need to be studied from a local perspective.

ANDREW YARMIE

[7]

chapter one
Introduction: Volunteer Associations From the Era of
Individualism to the Welfare State
In 1949, it was estimated that well over a thousand women were involved in
volunteer organizations, an impressive number for a small town.
Meryl Matthews

“Women themselves recognized the need to transpose their vision of a more caring
society into the creation of services for women and children.”
Carol Baines

After a ten year lapse the Kamloops Council of Women felt local social issues in 1977
warranted its re-establishment. In many ways the Council was representative of women’s
volunteer work as it acted as an umbrella group for a wide cross section of women
from church groups, service clubs, auxiliaries and charitable clubs. The Kamloops News
“thought it was right on track in becoming a vehicle through which local women may
voice their concerns and study area problems.” What it failed to note is that the Council
of Women had been “right on track” nationally since 1893 and locally since 1933. Each
generation of women faced major social issues and in the 1970s high priority concerns
included day care facilities, education, health services, women’s low income, and human
rights for women. At the organizational meetings it was agreed that these were complex
problems to tackle and the Council would have its work cut out for it but they would
rise to the challenge. As one member succinctly summarized, “But someone has to try
—nobody’s doing it for us.”1
In Kamloops and throughout Canada, two major groups of women’s organizations
attempted to improve the quality of life within their communities. The first major group
incorporated middle class associations that historically had religious affiliations and who
often brought their concern for morality into action. The second group constituted secular
organizations who were generally motivated by the need to improve living, sanitary, and

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WOMEN CARING FOR KAMLOOPS: 1890-1975

health conditions in their community. By 1912 it was estimated that one out of every
eight women in Canada belonged to a women’s organization and the majority were local
groups dedicated to improving the quality of their community. Their importance has
been recognized by numerous studies of national, provincial and large city associations but
more research on small communities is required to reveal different perspectives and the
impact of localism on their endeavours. Local problems and issues were the driving force
for women’s agency and this provides a new approach to understanding volunteerism. In
Kamloops, women were not always motivated by maternal feminist beliefs and tactics;
instead they were driven to curb problems created by a new frontier town environment
and to create a viable infrastructure for themselves and for future generations.
The Thompson region and the community of Kamloops were unique in their
historical, economic, social, cultural and political experience and created different
responses. In his review of the evolving meanings of region in Canada, Gerald Friesen,
for example, has argued that “those who wish to understand the region should not forget
place and history in order to come to terms with its continuing relevance.”2 While
women’s associations in Kamloops were a part of national and provincial associations
and influenced by them, they also set their own path. Within the city there were many
women’s organizations within both major categories but due to limitations of space
they cannot all be incorporated into this study. These organizations included church
groups such as the Women’s Missionary Society, Catholic League, Women’s Business and
Professional Association, fraternities like the Excelsior Rebekah Lodge, Ladies’ Orange
Benevolent Association, Imperial Order, Daughters of the Empire, Pythian sisters,
Order of the Eastern Star, (Masons), Order of the Royal Purple, (Elks), auxiliaries to
men’s groups like Kinette Club, (Kinsmen), Ladies’ Auxiliary to the Brotherhood of
Locomotive Engineers, Ladies’ Auxiliary to the Great War Veterans, self-help groups in
the form of Women’s Institutes, charitable associations like the Salvation Army, Soldiers’
Comfort Club and numerous other groups.
The diversity of local women’s volunteer societies and the strong leadership
provided by women stands out. Their presidents and executive members often acquired a
social status comparable to male politicians, businessmen, and professionals. While most
societies were organized by middle class women, their histories reveal a heavy reliance

ANDREW YARMIE

[9]

on all sectors of society in order to carry out their campaigns. The work they did for
material, spiritual, intellectual, and cultural development as well as their promotion of
social reform to assist women, children, the poor, sick, and elderly all merit praise. In
1949 Meryl Matthews, a reporter for the Kamloops Sentinel and activist noted that there
were forty-four recorded women’s auxiliaries, lodges, service and social groups in the city
and more women were also involved in mixed gender groups such as the Red Cross, the
Cancer Society, the PTA, the Little Theatre Club, and others. She estimated that well
over a thousand women were involved in these organizations, an impressive number for a
small town.3 To reveal women’s contributions to caring for Kamloops a few organizations
from those with religious affiliations and secular groups were selected to disclose the main
themes and their evolution from the frontier period to the 1970s. Among the former, the
Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, and the Young Women’s Christian Association
were chosen while the secular organizations to be examined include the Hospital
Women’s Aid Society, Ladies’ Auxiliary to the Royal Inland Hospital, the Red Cross, and
the Council of Women. All of these organizations were extremely important to the lives
and well-being of Kamloops citizens. Collectively, their histories reveal the significant
stages of community development from an era when the provision of social services was
reliant on volunteer action to a modern state-based welfare system.
Throughout the settlement period and into the twentieth century Kamloops
women’s organizations provided essential services for the health and well-being of the
community. Not only did they take care of Kamloops, they helped shape its social
and cultural framework through their support of arts and cultural organizations by
promoting the establishment of vital community institutions like libraries, museums, art
galleries, and parks. Despite their central importance to the history and development of
Kamloops and improvement in the quality of life, women have not been given sufficient
attention and credit by historians and society in general. Part of this neglect stems from
the general societal belief that if work is not waged it is of little importance. Like domestic
work, women’s volunteer efforts have been greatly undervalued. Often it is assumed that
caring is a natural attribute belonging to women and is their responsibility. As mothers,
daughters, wives, nurses, teachers, and community volunteers, they were expected to do
the work of caring. It has become so highly gendered as feminine that caring according to

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WOMEN CARING FOR KAMLOOPS: 1890-1975

Carol Baines has been “perceived as an embedded part of women’s identity.”4 In reality,
they became active agents in developing the community because the existing social system
failed to provide proper care for its citizens.
Women’s activism was at the forefront of the community and typically it fell
upon them to provide the necessary social services and even when the State became more
interventionist and began to employ professional experts it still called on volunteer groups
to assist it. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century Canada remained in the
pre-professional era and social organization relied heavily on the unpaid work of women’s
associations. They were the main care givers as the State maintained an individualist
philosophy and a poor law mentality that ensured that social services remained in a
primitive condition.
Provincially the government retained a residualist attitude and left health,
education, and social welfare to municipalities. From its point of view it fulfilled its
responsibility by providing grants to municipalities, charity organizations, hospitals and
schools. Under constant pressure from reform groups and women’s organizations, the
provincial government gradually passed social legislation like the minimum wage laws,
workmen’s compensation and mothers’ pension plan. The Great Depression also forced the
government to become more concerned with welfare and culture and in the 1940s major
legislation introduced a comprehensive Social Assistance Act, a Department of Health
and Welfare, social housing, income security, and a provincial hospital insurance plan.
Collectively, this shifted responsibility from municipalities to the provincial government
and necessarily led to the development of more departments and the professionalization
of services and staff. Despite the State’s expansion, Kamloops women’s organizations
remained important contributors to the community’s social and cultural development.
In reality, the women in these organizations were the social service and cultural providers
before the province created a professional corp of social workers and bureaucrats to
administer welfare and culture and therefore remained important providers of service
during this transition.5
Many thought that the great expansion in the welfare state would lead to the
demise of volunteer community groups but the opposite proved to be true. Only a few
groups in Kamloops like the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union and the Council of

ANDREW YARMIE

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Women failed to make the transition. Others grew in number and adapted to work with
government agencies and obtained funding to meet new social needs and provide more
services. Governments in the post-war era generally accepted social welfare liberalism
and used volunteer groups to expand services that were low priority for them or that they
were incapable of providing. For a period there was an expansion of volunteer work but
the rise of neo-conservatism and market based economics in the mid-eighties changed
government’s relations with volunteer groups. This led to a shifting of responsibility
from the government to third parties that actually increased the services required from
volunteer groups. The downside of this government approach was an accompanying
decline in funding for social welfare community agencies and increased pressure on
volunteer groups to provide needed services. Many volunteer groups found the offloading of social services to the community made it difficult to meet the increasing social
needs and when combined with a decrease in government funding it became difficult
to operate.6 Nonetheless, Kamloops volunteerism remained unshakeable and again it
increased to counter the rising tide of social problems. Kamloops as a small town and
now a small city still retains a strong sense of neighbourliness and responds quickly and
generously to local needs.
The histories of these associations also map women’s entry into the social
organization of the Kamloops community and its public and political life. To evaluate
their initiatives, action, and accomplishments, they need to be compared to women’s
efforts within national and provincial associations and larger communities. Specifically,
what this reveals is that women became involved in important social activity at a time
when the dominant social culture assigned women to a domestic role. These comparisons
also provide a unique opportunity to investigate whether the social attitudes of the late
nineteenth century and early twentieth century were more defined and restrictive within
smaller communities like Kamloops than in larger centers of population. One of the
paradoxes that become evident in frontier and settlement communities was that women
were both socially confined and offered greater freedoms at the same time. Kamloops
had a definite Anglo-Canadian patriarchal culture that controlled politics, commerce
and societal values that placed women in the domestic sphere. At the same time, the
new environment still allowed for greater social mobility and opportunities for women

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WOMEN CARING FOR KAMLOOPS: 1890-1975

like Alice Mara, Antoinette Saucier, Winnifred Fulton, Eleanor Potter, Violet Lee, Mary
Spencer, Emily Beattie, Edith Fitzwater, and Lena Corey to become recognized figures
in the community. Often like women in larger cities they joined women’s associations
out of social duty but they also responded to local social, health, cultural and service
problems. In frontier and settlement communities, men generally viewed these issues
as feminine concerns and deliberately stayed away from them.7 The histories of the
Kamloops’ Hospital Women’s Aid Society, Ladies’ Auxiliary to the Royal Inland Hospital,
the Woman’s Christian Temperance Unions, the Red Cross, the Council of Women,
and the Young Women’s Christian Association reveal responses similar to larger cities
and associations but they were also reacting to the specific needs of a small community.
Overall, they were the principal instruments for breaking free of cultural restraints, caring
for the community, and providing women with the opportunity to become a force within
the city.
Historical Background and Women’s Motivation
In order to place Kamloops’ volunteer associations into their historical context, a brief
account of the national situation is necessary. Since the late nineteenth century, women’s
volunteer work became a part of a national reform movement that enabled them to use
maternal feminism to obtain their objectives. While this volunteer movement has at
times been identified as evidence that women did not have “a public component and
no impact upon the judgment and development of community affairs,” Naomi Griffiths
dismisses this interpretation as it fails to acknowledge that women “have always had a
public voice through their work for the social and cultural welfare of the communities
in which they lived.”8 The reform movement gave them the opportunity to break out
of the roles assigned to them by the accepted domestic ideology and claim a space in
the public sphere. For women, the domestic ideology was a major societal constraint
but it eventually became the key to obtaining a public voice. Imported to Canada as
part of the cultural baggage of English immigrants, it stressed the middle class woman’s
role in the maintenance of family respectability and the home and thereby placed them
into a separate feminine sphere. Reinforced by the English evangelical religious values of
the late eighteenth century, this ideology sought to create a new national morality. The

ANDREW YARMIE

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position of women in the family was central in this attempt to reconstruct the morals and
manners of society. It viewed the home as the best place to curb all the evils of the new
urbanization and industrialization and designated women as the guardians of the home
and family: she was the “angel in the house” who would regenerate the morality of the
nation. Throughout the nineteenth century this domestic ideology became entrenched
within English and later Canadian society. The growth of evangelicalism, the dominance
of middle class values and the growth of a commercial society that separated the home
from work were the principal reasons for the establishment of a domestic ideology and
separate spheres concepts. In Canada, its impact was delayed until the latter part of the
nineteenth century.9
The first wave of feminism in the nineteenth century at first challenged and then
adapted this dominant ideology in order to gain women’s place in the public sphere. This
goal was achieved in stages and women’s volunteer organizations were a major part of
its history. In Canada, the need for reform stemmed from the major transformations
being experienced by society in the late nineteenth century. Rapid industrialization,
urbanization and massive immigration with the accompanying issues of urban slums,
unemployment, poverty, child labour, poor sanitation, the drink problem, and other
public health concerns awakened a new social responsibility. Middle and upper class men
and women, particularly members of the Protestant church, spearheaded a new social
reform gospel. Faced with immense social problems and scientific and historical criticism
of the Bible, the church responded by emphasizing the social regeneration of society.
Christians felt that they had to regain lost ground by taking on a leadership role as social
reformers. This social gospel movement emphasized Christianity as a social religion. Like
its eighteenth century English counterpart, the church required women’s assistance and
agency to initiate social evangelism.10 It was not the men who pushed them into social
action; instead women who were the most active part of congregations frequently took
the lead in finding remedies for social problems.
Prior to World War II a dominant problem according to social reformers was that
British Columbia was the least religious province in Canada. The blame was generally
directed at the higher percentage of single young men particularly in resource, railway,
and agricultural areas. In reality, census material for 1901 indicated that gender was not

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WOMEN CARING FOR KAMLOOPS: 1890-1975

the determining factor for secularism in British Columbia as the province had a higher
incidence of atheism among single and married women than Ontario men.11 Lacking
historical hindsight, evangelicals only saw men as the problem and the need for reform
appeared urgent. The urban reform movement initiated by social gospel followers was
according to Mariana Valverde’s research closely tied in with “the self-styled social purity
movement which along with temperance and Sunday observance helped to constitute
a powerful if informal coalition for moral regeneration of the state, civil society, the
family and the individual.” Often the same people and groups were involved but “while
the focus of the social gospel activity was the economy and the social relations arising
from production, social purity focused on the sexual and moral aspects of social life.”12
This coincided with the goals of groups like the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union,
(WCTU) and the National Council of Women of Canada, (NCW).
Motives other than Christian ethics also have to be considered. The success of the
suffrage campaign energized women to seek better laws for the protection of women and
children. The Vancouver New Era League, the Vancouver Council of Women and later
members of the Commonwealth Co-operative Federation (CCF) like Dorothy Gretchen
Steeves and Grace MacInnis adopted a more secular approach and pushed for political
solutions to the economic and social problems facing women and children. As Carol
Baines noted, “Women themselves recognized the need to transpose their vision of a more
caring society into the creation of services for women and children.”13 Their social duty
was matched by their capability. With increased wealth, leisure, and a declining birth
rate, middle and upper class women now had sufficient resources to pressure governments
to initiate social reforms in housing, health coverage and education. They became part of
the movement that attempted to find solutions to the problems of industrial and urban
growth.
Because the focus of their organizations was to provide essential services for the
health and well-being of families and children in the community, these women have
often been categorized as maternal feminists. While this is an acceptable description,
it is necessary to go beyond general labels and the usual institutional histories of these
associations to reveal the more individualistic motives for women’s entry into civic
affairs. A closer analysis is required to determine the role of agency in stimulating their

ANDREW YARMIE

[15]

involvement. Sociologists like Anthony Giddens and others have argued that individuals
have the power to shape their society. Instead of being helpless victims of social
circumstances, individuals are capable of achieving change by “selfhood, motivation, will,
purposiveness, intentionality, choice, initiative, freedom and creativity.”14 The personal
histories of the women involved in these Kamloops organizations like Winnifred
Fulton, Edith Fitzwater, Helen Millward, Joyce Sowerby, Mary Hedley, Lois Hollstedt
and others reveal their strong motivations, will, selfhood and strengths. Some of these
women took their volunteerism to another stage of activism by running for and holding
civic offices. Important incentives for social participation in groups included religious
and moral convictions, status, comradeship, social conscience, altruism, and personal
satisfaction in their accomplishments. They expressed their individuality, freedom, and
creativity within these organizations.15 Nonetheless, they still remained constrained by
the dominant patriarchal cultural values even until the 1970s.
In the frontier and settlement period, Kamloops women volunteers rarely overtly
challenged existing gender relations but by the early twentieth century they often spoke
out for the need for greater equality and representation for women. Within the province,
Helen Gregory MacGill and Helena Gutteridge became well known activists and leaders
of the suffrage movement. Later in the Post World War II era, particularly the 1960s
and 1970s, both a greater secularization of associations with religious affiliation and a
transformation to modernism occurred as women expressed their agency through their
associations to improve their lives and society.16 From one point of view, their success
in this type of activism can be viewed as counter-productive as it tended to diminish
their ambition to hold public office. The comfortable environments within volunteer
organizations gave them the ability to gain a stronger voice than through the existing
male dominated political parties that relegated them to auxiliary assistants. On the other
hand, a broader definition of politics than simply office holding demonstrates that their
organizations enabled them to shape and impact the political world without holding
public office. Direct action to achieve specific improvements in the social and cultural
life of the community was their primary tactic. With politics defined in this broader
context, the entry of women into public office in Kamloops and other communities
was not as high a priority and was a slow process. Men might bring about social change

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WOMEN CARING FOR KAMLOOPS: 1890-1975

through politics while women affected social policy through voluntary action. For many
women in these groups they already felt that they were accomplishing change within the
existing political system.17 Other women, however, emphasized the power of lobbying
and direct political involvement and, in Kamloops, Margaret Macnab, Helen Millward,
Meryl Matthews, Joyce Sowerby, and Lois Hollstedt challenged the old stereotypes of
domesticity, attacked chauvinism, and pursued election to public offices.
The Kamloops Experience
Another issue to take into account was the uniqueness of the Kamloops experience. Its
local history and that of women’s associations was determined by a sense of place. This
did not just consist of the geographic and political boundaries that defined the region.
Historians now view regions as being cultural constructions that change over time. In
her research on Pacific Northwest Coast religion and irreligion, Tina Block emphasized
the importance of place in establishing the region’s secularism and quotes John Agnew,
a geographer who aptly defines its relevance to this study. Agnew remarks that place
“represents the encounter of people with other people and things in space. It refers to
how everyday life is inscribed in space and takes on meaning for specified groups of people
and organizations.”18 Katherine Morrissey’s study of the Inland Empire surrounding
Spokane and Patricia Nelson Limerick’s observations on “Region and Reason’ add
to this theme. Morrissey notes that “While territorial politicians and environmental
circumstances influence the shape of regions, the boundaries that govern the residents
are those they draw themselves. Perceptual regions are created and developed in people’s
minds.” Nelson Limerick maintains that “regions are much more the creations of human
thought and behavior than they are products of nature.”19 Local historians like Mary
and Ruth Balf, Ken Favrholdt, Elisabeth Duckworth, Susan Cross and Wayne Norton
as well as B.C. historian Margaret Ormsby all comment on how each generation of
citizens who lived in the area created their own images of their environment. Kamloops,
for example, changed from a fur trade post dominated by the Hudson Bay Company
to the “commercial hub” of the interior with the coming of the CPR. By 1911 the city
boosters made it the “Pacific Treasure Chest” and during the interwar period the Board
of Trade promoted it as a health resort and tourist area based in the Heart of British

ANDREW YARMIE

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Columbia’s Inland Empire. In the post-World War era it continued to advertize itself
as a tourist area but by the 1960s it transformed to a city based on resource industries.
Throughout these changes in image one constant theme was that of progress symbolized
by the city logo and coat-of-arms that was designed in 1911. The logo, “Salus et Opes,”
Latin for Health and Wealth and the coat-of-arms with beavers, rivers, fish, a bull, and
a winged railway wheel symbolized its history and expectations for the future. These
images created by civic leaders, businessmen and developers were obvious boosterism and
to find the real image recent researchers on Kamloops’ culture like Rachael Nash, Will
Garrett-Petts, Donald Lawrence and David MacLennan argue that you have to look at a
“more vernacular sense of place.” The values held by the people rather than city hall and
other institutions provide a better insight into the community.20 Boosterism didn’t solve
the city’s social, cultural and health problems and women’s volunteer associations stepped
in to remedy these issues and were significant community builders.
While the majority of local women’s organizations were connected to either
provincial or national associations, it should not be assumed that they all acted in a
similar manner to existing social issues and problems. Although Kamloops may have
transformed itself from a rural town to a small city within this period, it still retained
distinctive features that separated it from larger cities. Women’s associations developed
and were shaped by local conditions that made their objectives and for the most part their
activities different from other communities. For example, the social and cultural impact
of a smaller population placed more emphasis on social and status ranking, connections
between individuals, caring, neighbourliness, social pressure, and local cultural customs.
By the 1890s its colonial sense of place was established with its hierarchies, AngloCanadian culture and class structure. Some women, like Annie McQueen found the
social conventions already too limiting and chose to teach at the smaller community
of Nicola because “I am freer here than I could be in Kamloops.”21 In the more settled
town environment she felt she could not be herself. On the other hand, once outside
the restrictions of elite society, the new environment of Kamloops still permitted greater
freedom to be independent and to achieve goals more easily than in the more established
regions of Canada.
The women’s organizations that developed in Kamloops reflect this dichotomy

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WOMEN CARING FOR KAMLOOPS: 1890-1975

and require independent analysis to understand their uniqueness and difference to other
associations. Some like the Ladies’ Auxiliary to the Royal Inland Hospital, (LARIH)
had an elite membership but at the same time were fiercely independent and determined
to help resolve the health issues that were more problematic than in other parts of the
province due to the growth of the town and expansion of the population in the large region
the hospital served. Another example is the Red Cross Guild’s restriction of membership
to single women that made it exceptional to the norm. These young women fulfilled

Kamloops, 1891, as seen from West End hillside.
Image 5850 courtesy of Kamloops Museum and Archives

their patriotic duty during the Great War by doing full-time work and volunteering. Its
successor, the Red Cross Society was more conventional in its membership but it was
also motivated by local concerns about the lack of health services particularly that for
women and babies, and by issues of poverty. Similarly, it was local conditions such as the

ANDREW YARMIE

[19]

“wild and wooly” boom town environment of pre-World War I Kamloops with its rough
single male culture of drinking, gambling and prostitution that led local women to form a
branch of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union. One visitor to Kamloops, Harold
McCracken, described the Canadian Northern construction workers he encountered
on the streets in 1913 as “the roughest of all elements of humanity, the riffraff and the
unholy.”22 Two other associations, the Kamloops Council of Women (KCW) and the
Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) again sprang from women’s agency and
determination to improve conditions in this continually evolving place. While influenced
by affiliations with provincial and national associations, the lack of local health and social
services and cultural amenities underlay women’s motives and their participation in
community affairs.
Women’s associations need to be placed in their local context to understand
their differences to other groups and to reveal their unique history. Each generation of
women had strong commitments to the Kamloops’ region and made their own decisions
as to what activities they pursued. This sense of place was succinctly described by Meryl
Matthews in an interview when she proclaimed that she was “proud of Kamloops.” “I
like Kamloops” and “Never wanted to move from Kamloops.” “I have everything here.”23
She was involved in numerous women’s associations’ projects and through her role as city
councillor initiated numerous improvements in the community.
Feminism, Volunteerism and the Public Sphere
From our present perspective, it would be easy to construct an account of women
progressively moving from the private to the public sphere. This portrayal of women
overcoming oppression by a patriarchal culture is too simplistic as it places women into
the role of victims and minimizes their agency. Outside social pressures, however, did
exist and led women to express themselves and their feminist concerns in diverse ways.
Some feared public criticism for their actions and used the protective veils of religion
and morality to care for those who needed help in the community. Others more openly
attacked social injustice and feminine stereotypes by demanding the vote and equality.24
Until recently, historians generally placed women’s community activity into either the
maternal or equal rights feminist camps. Maternal feminists were depicted as remaining

[20]

WOMEN CARING FOR KAMLOOPS: 1890-1975

in a more traditional domestic stance but out of necessity they carried their nurturing
and caring into the public sphere. Social feminists, on the other hand, were regarded as
women who not only demanded a public place through legal and political reform but also
attempted to break down the typical stereotypes that reinforced social inequality.25 The
women’s organizations in Kamloops generally fall into the maternal feminist camp but
individual members were within the social feminist category.
Whether viewed from a national or local level maternal feminism has come under
criticism for its moralist attitude by historians like Margaret Little and Mariana Valverde.
Judith Fingard and Janet Guildford, on the other hand, accept that moralism existed but
feel that their maternalism was “a genuine concern for improving the lives of women and
their children and recognition of women’s valuable unpaid reproductive work.”26 Here we
need to acknowledge that the values held by these organizations were socially constructed
and, therefore, not without their social prejudices. Culturally, women also played an
important role in constructing a “white” rural British Columbia and many of the early
women’s organizations promoted this Anglo-Canadian culture and at times expressed
discriminatory and racist behaviour. Maternal feminism was a middle class movement
and not based on universal sisterhood with working class, native or ethnic women.27
These organizations should not be glamourized nor the women made into heroines, each
must be judged on its own merits. In a final evaluation, however, women’s organizations
were extremely important to making and caring for Kamloops.
Increasingly, the maternal and social feminist labels are being discarded for a
much wider reading of what constitutes feminism. The new approach recognizes that
while women were divided in their principles and objectives, there were some similarities.
Maggie Andrews, in her history of the National Federation of Women’s Institutes, for
example, argued that if the definition of feminism is stripped down to its basics then
“any activities by groups of women which challenge the boundaries of feminine behaviour
whether in economic, political or cultural terms,” may be regarded as feminist.28 Andrews’
study led her to “feel there is a real problem in the assumption that, unless an organization
rejects domesticity it cannot be feminist.”29 Using this framework, the maternal and social
feminist, the moral and secular groups and all other diverse women’s organizations can
be seen as part of the same movement rather than divided. The more heavily politicized

ANDREW YARMIE

[21]

organizations that rejected domesticity can be viewed as parallel to those that did not
openly challenge it.
What is important about these organizations is that they gave women the agency
to be themselves. Along with Maggie Andrews, other researchers like Carol Baines,
Judith Fingard, Janet Guilford and Marilyn Callahan support this theme. Baines, for
example, generally notes women’s growth of independence within these organizations.
“In promoting an ethic of care, women were fund-raisers, managers, planners, and
policy-makers as well as providers of concrete services to poor women and children.”30
Organizations empowered women and they developed their own subculture and took
advantage of societal opportunities to benefit themselves and the community.31 Applied
to Kamloops, this new definition incorporates the diverse groups under investigation
like the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, Ladies’ Auxiliary to the Royal Inland
Hospital, Red Cross, Council of Women and the Young Women’s Christian Association.
Many women in these groups retained conservative and maternal values but they were
also actively involved in social action. For example, Mrs. Lilly Johnstone, the retiring Red
Cross president, demonstrated this commitment by announcing the new challenges that
faced women in the post-World War II. “We cannot sit back. We must be determined to
carry on. Ours is a privileged responsibility.”32 Collectively, they refused to be victims of a
social system that failed to provide proper care and cultural opportunities for its citizens.
Despite discriminatory societal attitudes and legal restrictions, women broke
through the barriers and were active in the public sphere through their volunteerism. The
existence at times of over forty women’s groups in Kamloops and the diversity of women’s
organizations was a primary indicator that they were involved in a wide spectrum of
community development.33 Whether they were concerned with religion, charity, health
and welfare, or intellectual and cultural matters, organizations like the Ladies’ Auxiliary to
the Royal Inland Hospital, Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, Red Cross, Council
of Women, and Young Women’s Christian Association brought women together. In the
post-World War II era Meryl Matthews observed that everyone wanted to get involved in
community affairs. As a Soroptomist and delegate to the Kamloops Council of Women
she noted that “women wanted to work and be together in improving the city.”34 They
provided a female space where they had an opportunity to demonstrate their skills and

[22]

WOMEN CARING FOR KAMLOOPS: 1890-1975

resources. Outside their homes and domestic duties, they gained opportunities to interact
with other women, organize themselves into associations, develop resources, handle
business and accounting issues, start fund-raising campaigns, speak out at associations
and public meetings, present their views and objectives to the press and prepare some
women for political offices. Mrs. P.H. McCurrach the president of the KCW argued that
maintaining a household budget was good training for handling public finances. She
believed that women “could be of great service on the city council, the school board,
the hospital board and the parks board.”35 Volunteer work gave women the chance to
step outside the domestic role and make worthwhile contributions to the Kamloops
community. It also enabled them to express their cultural background by promoting
the arts. Generally, the social recognition they received was their major reward. They
were able to expend their energy and humanitarian feelings and acquire social prestige
and power. Whereas men might join volunteer organizations to improve their public
image and careers, women often made their volunteer work into careers. Some women
like Fulton, Fitzwater, McCurrach, Sowerby and others were involved in more than one
organization and these often created alliances that made them more effective in serving
the community.36 Their work in volunteer organizations gave them a voice and entry into
public life despite major societal pressure to remain in the private sphere.
Women’s Volunteer Membership
While the leadership and formulation of ideologies and policy were generally controlled
by married middle class women, it has long been recognized that the thousands of
rank and file both in national and local organizations were from a more diverse social
composition and equally as important to the success of organizations.37 In her study of
Vancouver associations, Gillian Weiss observed that although the majority of members in
organizations were married, a significant number of single women gave a great amount of
time to improving society. The leadership tended to be drawn from mature women who
were over forty. Among the younger women in the rank and file were teachers, nurses,
journalists, librarians and secretaries, the majority of whom did not have university
degrees in the period she studied between 1910 and 1928. The majority of these working
women who made up twelve percent of the women in organizations were middle class but

ANDREW YARMIE

[23]

a small number of working class women also participated and some were active members
on committees. Another characteristic was that most were either of British, Canadian
or American origin and Protestant in religion, particularly from the socially active
Methodists and Presbyterians. Although the majority of women in these organizations
fit into the standard interpretation of being middle class and Anglo-Canadian, the
exceptions need to be noted especially in B.C. where there was more social fluidity than
in Eastern Canada.38
This local study of Kamloops reveals that the social structure was still fairly
open due the newness of the town. While Kamloops’ clubwomen fit into the pattern
of middle class leadership, exceptions like the all single, lower middle and working class
membership of the Red Cross Guild stand out. The Women’s Institutes, Ladies’ Auxiliary
to the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, and Salvation Army were other groups
that demonstrate the involvement of rural and working class women in volunteerism.
Mrs. Lilly Johstone, the president of the Red Cross in 1938 observed that the Society
“belongs to the people as a whole, not merely to the small group that direct its policies.”39
Furthermore, the ability of local women’s organizations to obtain support from a wide
cross section of the town’s population also indicates the existence of a more open and
neighbourly society.
Since the church was the primary institution of this era, women’s most common
entry into volunteer organizations was often through its auxiliaries. Almost all
denominations had women’s auxiliaries for charity and general fund-raising. In Kamloops
there were the St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Women’s Missionary Society, the
Methodist Church Ladies’ Aid Society, the Catholic Women’s League, United Church
Ladies’ Aid Society and other auxiliaries. The popularity of this type of activity was
evident in the history of the British Columbia Methodist Women’s Missionary Society
which grew from 900 members supporting two missionaries in 1882 to 44,135 members
with 120 missionaries in 1906. This Society was not organized or directed by men.
Instead women used the Society to develop a “sense of sisterhood and collectivism to
foster its maternal feminist goals.”40 Their desire for autonomy ensured their refusal to
become an auxiliary to male missionary societies. In this manner, these organizations
enabled women to both maintain their domestic roles and make their first entry into the

[24]

WOMEN CARING FOR KAMLOOPS: 1890-1975

public sphere. Public caring became an extension of what they did in the home for their
families.
By the 1890s, women across Canada had formed religious, charitable, public
health, cultural, and political organizations to deal with social problems. The existing
patriarchal culture remained a major hurdle as it dictated that women remain in the
home or private sphere and avoid public affairs. Legal and political restrictions, such
as the lack of the vote, further disabled their efforts. Unstoppable, they overcame the
societal constraints of the domestic ideology by emphasizing the need to protect women
and children from an increasingly dangerous environment. The emphasis that the urban
reform movement placed on the role of mothers and children in the community enabled
them to be active agents for changing society and providing proper care for its citizens.
Being white, Anglo-Canadian and middle class they sought to re-affirm their class, race
and status by reshaping society according their values. Furthermore, social problems like
unemployment, drinking and tobacco smoking were often still viewed as moral rather
than economic issues and this gave them further power as moral crusaders. Most women’s
associations made positive changes but some also acted in a negative ethnocentric and
sometimes racist manner to impose their social and moral regulations on natives, ethnic
groups, and the working classes.41
Provincial and Kamloops Gender Imbalance and Social Problems
In British Columbia’s colonial period up to 1871 and the settlement period up to 1914,
the resource based nature of the region created its own set of perceived social problems.
The colony and later the province attracted a young working class population who created
a rough male subculture based on work, drinking, brawling and frequent liaisons with
native women. Church groups were anxious about the large number of “wild” young
single men who were atheists, agnostics, or free thinkers and considered prone to
disorder. These characteristics were out of step with the middle class Victorian values of
respectability, thrift, sobriety, domesticity, and family. To correct this situation, colonial
leaders and reformers emphasized women’s respectability and morality and hoped to
overcome the existing social dislocation by the emigration of British women. The first
“Brideship” arrived in Victoria in 1862 and thereafter the British Female Middle-Class

ANDREW YARMIE

[25]

Emigration Society, the Colonial Intelligence League, and British Women’s Emigration
Association continued to bring women to the west. This process solidified the links
between Empire, white women, race and respectability and women became contributors
to the “construction and maintenance of white superiority.”42 In the Kamloops region,

Canadian Pacific Railway workers at the Kamloops Roundhouse, 1891.
Image 91 courtesy of Kamloops Museum and Archives

fur traders John Tod and Donald McLean were among the many men to take native wives
in the fur trade period. This practice was also common among early ranchers and ranch
hands. In the Cariboo, Harry Marriott noted that the early pioneers depended on “an
Indian gal, or klootch as they were called,” to establish their homesteads and families.
Ken Mather’s study also observed that “A list of ranchers who lived with Native women
reads like a who’s who of the early ranching community.”43 As more white women came
into the Interior discrimination against mixed marriages became stronger and many men
either abandoned their native wives for white women or kept two separate households
for each. Although white women gained power and status above natives and Orientals,

[26]

WOMEN CARING FOR KAMLOOPS: 1890-1975

their position within the patriarchal culture of a resource economy and the male oriented
political and legal system limited their potential for work and social action. Despite
attempts to create a new moral and industrious society, British Columbia remained
economically and demographically insecure well into the twentieth century. The socalled “white man’s province” experienced slow population growth and Aboriginals
still outnumbered settlers until the last part of the nineteenth century. Furthermore, it
remained male dominated, racially split and scattered over a large geographic area.44
In the Interior, a reliance on resources, ranching, and orchard economies
predetermined an even slower growth rate than on the coast and as a consequence, a
rougher and harsher society and culture. Between 1880-1900 Kamloops remained a
small fur trade post and ranching and farming area that was too small to be separately
recorded in the 1881 and 1891 censuses. When the Canadian Pacific Railway reached
Kamloops in 1885, a small village began to take form and the town was incorporated
in 1893 with an approximate population of 500. Fortunately for Kamloops the C.P.R.
chose to establish a station and maintenance yard in the town that provided employment
for approximately eighty men and was a major stimulus to the local economy.45 The 1891
census recorded that of the 98,173 British Columbians, Kamloops and its surrounding
district had a population of 1,517 – 928 males (288 married, 28 widowed and 712 single)
and 589 females (261 married, 36 widowed and 310 single). Railway construction,
mining, forestry and ranching ensured a higher proportion of men in the district.
Kamloops was first recorded as a separate district in the 1901 census with a population
of 1,591 - 975 males and 616 females. In 1911 the population of the city increased to
3,772 but still was disproportionately male – 2,483 men (757 married, 35 widowed and
1,602 single) to 1,289 females (530 married, 62 widowed and 696 single). Kamloops was
basically following the provincial trend in that year with only thirty percent of the white
adults being female.
Across the province there were twice as many men as women and therefore
earned John Belshaw’s title for it as a “Man’s Province.” This also created what Adele
Perry has described as a rough homosocial culture based on work and drinking. In this
environment, the gender imbalance could either be an advantage or disadvantage for
women. They could disregard traditional social conventions, act more freely and defy

ANDREW YARMIE

[27]

constraining customs or, if they felt it necessary, defend themselves by staying within the
social barriers constructed by a patriarchal society. By 1921 the gender balance began to
shift throughout the province and was reflected in Kamloops with 2,436 males and 2,065
females being recorded in the census.46

Resource industries created Gender Imbalance. Early logging crew.
Image 1204 courtesy of Kamloops Museum and Archives

The demographic changes that occurred between the completion of the C.P.R.
in 1886 and World War I solidified Anglo-Canadian social and cultural values. The nonnative population expanded tenfold but B.C. remained more racially diverse than other
provinces. While the Euro-Canadian population tripled and the Chinese doubled, the
Aboriginal population continued to decline since the smallpox epidemics of 1862-1864
and other diseases hit the province. As this demographic process evolved, the new social
structure and culture reflected the domination by white males and British and eastern
Canadian cultural values. The arrival of more British settlers, particularly those from the
middle class, perpetuated a colonial mentality that attempted to recreate the British class

[28]

WOMEN CARING FOR KAMLOOPS: 1890-1975

structure with all of its institutions like social clubs and private schools. Culturally, they
infused their communities with British social norms, values, and morals. In the Interior,
the Okanagan valley with its Coldstream Ranch and the Thompson valley British enclave
at Walhachin were symbolic of these attempts to preserve colonial links. Joan Weir in
her study of Walhachin observed how both the men and women maintained the British
way of life despite being 6,000 miles from home. While the general population of
Kamloops criticized their upper class behaviour as “snobbish,” the elite citizens were eager
to participate in the formal activities like balls and copy the latest fashions brought from
England. At Walhachin men retained their patriarchal and numerical supremacy with
forty-six men to ten women in 1910. When the issue of women’s suffrage was debated
in that year seventy-five percent voted against it. These social attitudes permeated the
province and impacted towns like Kamloops and reinforced gender divisions.47
Despite this infusion of Anglo-Canadian culture, the frontier nature of

Crew from Iron Mask Mine outside their boarding house.
Image 1143 courtesy of Kamloops Museum and Archives

ANDREW YARMIE

[29]

Kamloops’ society in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century maintained a social
fluidity that created numerous contradictions in gender relations. On the surface the
masculine culture and British social values placed women in a very restricted domain
but the necessity for social action in the development of education, health, and culture
provided new opportunities for women to challenge the normal gender restrictions.
The predominant domestic ideology and separate spheres concepts generally allocated
women to the home, family, and feminine roles. Accordingly, women were constrained
in their occupational and social activities and obstructed from full participation in the
public sphere. Normally, this culture expected women to marry, to stay at home and
look after the family. The myth that the frontier provided golden opportunities for
men to achieve their dreams of prosperity, marriage, family life and be the breadwinner
was deeply engrained in society. North American concepts of exceptionalism that held
separation from Europe created unique socio-economic and cultural traits reinforced
the belief that a perfect family life could be established with male breadwinners and
women confined to the domestic responsibilities of raising children, cooking, cleaning,
and sewing. Paid outside employment by married women was viewed as destructive of
proper family life and interpreted as a failure on the part of the male breadwinner. It was
more acceptable for single women to work, but only specific feminine occupations like
teaching, nursing, clerical, domestic service, laundry, and the food processing trades met
with societal approval.
One of the ironies of these prescribed values was that they did not suit the needs
of a frontier society that often called for the whole family to contribute in order for it to
survive and prosper. In town, married women often did part-time work in stores, offices
and restaurants or did cleaning and ran boarding houses.48 The requirements of the
pioneer farm also quickly broke down the gendered separation of work particularly in the
‘drybelt’ areas of Knutsford and Beresford where climatic conditions and the limitations
associated with the quarter sections provided by government grants made farming even
more difficult. Although the government lured settlers to the “Last Best West” through
propaganda and the promise of 160 acres there was no support given and settlers from
Eastern Canada, America, England, Scotland, Italy, Poland, Ukraine, Norway, and other
European countries had to rely on the whole family to survive. Large families tended

[30]

WOMEN CARING FOR KAMLOOPS: 1890-1975

to be the norm in all local homestead areas with the largest being that of John and Rose
Anderson with seventeen children but the average was six. The traditional patriarchal
structure was common but a few women did own their own homesteads or became the
sole owners when their husbands died. Because of the heavy demands of farm work most
women usually married other homesteaders. Farm women not only did the housework
and tended to vegetable gardens and the animals that produced the dairy products but
sometimes also did the heavy work of ploughing and harvesting. Dorothy Haughton
of Beresford recalled how she helped her mother to supplement the family income by
making ninety pounds of butter a week for the family and to sell. “We churned butter
until we looked like butter! That’s when we made twenty loaves of bread every week, too.”
When haying crews were present the women cooked three hot meals for the large crew
and also at times helped in the field. On ranches, women again were responsible for all
the domestic work but also took part in the hard labour of horse and cattle round-ups.
Whether in town or rural areas, men’s frequent absence to make money in construction,
mining or railway projects often made women the sole providers of labour and family
care.49
Another dichotomy evident in pioneer societies was the desire to keep women
within the home when in reality it was essential to seek women’s assistance in building
the vital components of a community infrastructure. The hospitals did not have adequate
equipment and funding, the public lacked health care, the city’s infrastructure required
development to provide clean water and sanitation, the poor needed charitable assistance
and the city lacked suitable cultural activities. Here women’s organizations grasped the
opportunities created by the fluidity of the frontier environment and a lack of government
support to effect many positive changes.
Government Neglect and Women’s Entry to Public Life
One of the major inadequacies that existed throughout the province was the lack of social
services to protect against illness, old age, unemployment, widowhood, and poverty. PreWorld War I governments relied on paternalism, individualism, and volunteerism to deal
with these issues. Volunteer organizations attempted to provide essential services but the
need to meet a basic standard of life for every citizen proved to be beyond their reach.

ANDREW YARMIE

[31]

The State finally began to acknowledge its social responsibilities in the inter-war years but
it did not supplant volunteer activities particularly in the Interior. Geographic factors,
a dispersed population, and the lack of adequate bureaucratic structures within small
communities such as Kamloops retarded the development of social services. Those who
required assistance for financial, medical or social reasons were provided for on a local,
personal, and individual basis by the basic services that existed. The Provincial Indigent
Fund, a form of outdoor relief similar to a poor law was in place from 1880 but it was
not sufficient or universal.50 The small cities and rural areas of the Interior still remained
patriarchal and paternalistic, controlled by male government agents, male municipal
officials and male provincial police. Without sufficient funding, personnel, and a mandate
from the government, small communities had to rely on their own resources.
These inadequacies created female “spaces” or opportunities for women’s volunteer
organizations, female teachers, nurses, and female social workers to develop what Megan
Davies identified as a “maternalist welfare state.” Other historians like Temma Kaplan
have argued that “feminist awareness” was not the only motivating force and that women
were inspired by a “female consciousness” to “preserve, feed, care for and protect their
entire communities”51 For example, The Ladies’ Auxiliary to the Royal Inland Hospital
provided necessary supplies and equipment to the hospital, the Red Cross developed a
Well Baby Clinic and the Council of Women worked for proper water treatment and
other health issues. The women in these organizations were not all feminists but were
ready to be the social welfare workers of the community before a professional corp
developed.
In the early twentieth century the gap between the middle class ideal of a cultured
British society and the harsh realities of settler and working class life became increasingly
evident. Trade unions and middle class reformers called for a more equitable society.
In B.C. as in the rest of Canada, middle class women and Christians were among the
principal advocates of reform and generally wanted to recreate a society based on middle
class Anglo-Canadian respectability. Temperance and female suffrage were the social
reformers’ major focus. In B.C., the main social gospellers who advocated prohibition
were Methodists but they were outnumbered by the more moderate Anglicans who did not
favour a total prohibition. Beginning in the 1870s, women presented bills to legislature

[32]

WOMEN CARING FOR KAMLOOPS: 1890-1975

for a female franchise with the campaign being led by the WCTU in the 1880s. The
WCTU formed a branch in Victoria in 1882 and soon after a Young Women’s Christian
Association developed. Similarly, in Vancouver, the WCTU was established in 1883,
the Council of Women in 1894, the YWCA in 1897. For rural areas, the development
of Women’s Institutes from 1909 became a significant resource for rural women. They
applied the same objectives as urban reformers and sought to improve home economics
and child welfare to prevent disease, and to encourage the general improvement of social
conditions. Support from the provincial Ministry of Agriculture provided financial
backing and educational resources.52
The first sign of political progress to give women a voice in achieving reform was
the inclusion of women in school board elections in 1892. In Kamloops it would have to
wait until 1914 for the first woman to gain a public office when Mary Margaret Clements
was elected to the Board of School Trustees. She had gained entry into the public sphere
by being the president of the Imperial Order, Daughters of the Empire during World War
I which was recognized for its valuable war work. When she was re-elected to the School
Board in 1918 the Kamloops Sentinel remarked “It had been generally anticipated that
Mrs. Clements would be returned on account of her manifest fitness for the office, and
also as an acknowledgement of the privilege and responsibilities of Woman (sic) in social
matters.”53 Provincially, the fight for women’s legal and political rights came under the
leadership of Helen MacGill and Helena Gutteridge and supported by women’s groups,
labour and by the provincial Liberal party. The Liberal victory in 1916 ensured passage
of bills for prohibition, women’s franchise and the right to be elected to the legislature.
Federally, women received the vote on the same terms as men in 1918.54
Increasingly these reform-minded women turned to maternal feminism as an
effective method for gaining women’s entry into the public sphere but it was not without
its problems. As women moved into organizational activity they adopted maternal
feminism by directly connecting the solutions to social problems with the vote for women.
Their efforts were often curtailed by working class resistance to middle class regulation of
their lives and governments that supported the status quo or merely feigned interest to
get elected.55 Across the nation religion and reform created maternal feminism. For the
WCTU, it became obvious that a male dominated political system would never pass a

ANDREW YARMIE

[33]

Nellie McClung and the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union
Image E-0619 courtesy of Royal BC Museum, BC Archives

prohibition act. Similarly, when the NCW’s campaigns for legal rights, reform of housing,
immigration, education and public health were blocked by insensitive governments,
it priorized the vote as its major goal. Frustrated by government inaction, women
increasingly turned to maternal feminism as their strategic weapon to bring change.
Designated to a mothering and caring role within the domestic sphere by Victorian ideals,
women now brought these concepts into the public arena. They accepted their special
duties to protect the home, family and the morality of the nation, but emphasized that the
only way this could be achieved was by full participation in public life and by having the
right to vote. The Kamloops Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, for example, was
evangelical and concerned about local morality but it gave full support to the provincial
political campaigns.56 While it gained important social, legal, and political rights for
[34]

WOMEN CARING FOR KAMLOOPS: 1890-1975

women, this more conservative philosophy buried the more progressive feminism based
on natural rights. Nonetheless, the ideology of maternal feminism combined with new
theories by social scientists and reform-minded churches created a new public culture by
the First World War that called for reforms to a create a more stable society. Increasingly,
a growing belief developed that the home and the State were indivisible and that more
legislation was necessary.57
Gradually this type of progressivism and maternal reform was replaced by a more
scientific welfare state but during the transition women’s organizations remained essential
to the community. The process began in the 1920s when male middle class social scientists
became the new reform elite. They emphasized a rational and scientific approach that
upheld the ideals of efficiency and social stability. This placed women’s volunteer
organizations with their focus on maternal and moral reform in a subordinate position.
Organizations like the Kamloops Red Cross continued to provide health, education and
welfare services but the new professionalism based on a male ethos ensured that men
controlled the administration of government agencies and policy. Another step away
from an individualist social philosophy, government relief based on a poor law mentality,
and maternalist provision of services came in 1933 when T.D. Patullo’s government
created a more professionalized, systematic and effective bureaucracy. Megan Davies’
research argues that this was particularly important for rural areas and small towns when
the B.C. Welfare Field Service sent a small group of social workers into the Interior in
1935. They formed the backbone of the welfare state by assuming the responsibilities of
male government agents, provincial police, and volunteer women’s organizations. While
this statement reflects the future takeover of welfare by the government there was still a
major role left for women’s organizations during the early years of the welfare service in
the interwar era. By 1934 the Red Cross Well Baby Clinic had functioned for twelve
years and was uniquely under the independent supervision of its nurse and received
full support of the local doctors and authorities. Social workers often sought volunteer
associations’ support within communities and this relationship exists to the present day.58
World War II witnessed a major breakthrough in women’s participation in work
and societal involvement. Women’s volunteer organizations spearheaded efforts to help
soldiers overseas and to ensure that their own local communities continued to function.

ANDREW YARMIE

[35]

In Kamloops, the Red Cross, the Kamloops Council of Women and the Kamloops
Civilian Auxiliary co-ordinated their efforts to knit and sew clothing, made up prisoner
of war packages and provided hospitality centres for new recruits. The NCW and local
councils came to the aid of the government in controlling inflation by ensuring that the
guidelines established by the Wartime Prices and Trade Board were followed. Across
the country women’s associations supplied 10,000 liaison officers to inform consumers
of proper prices and the board’s regulations. It also helped the government’s National
Selective Service recruit married women for part-time work in the service industries. In
rural areas the Women’s Institute helped women cope when they became responsible
for the ranches and farms during their husband’s absence overseas. Throughout the
war women worked in munitions factories, service industries, the Farm Girls’ Brigade,
Women’s Land Brigade and in volunteer organizations but the federal government and
public opinion still treated their war work as temporary and that their true calling was
in the home. Immediately after the war a major campaign by the government and media
emphasized marriage and motherhood as women’s real goals but women, especially young
women without children, continued to enter the workforce in larger numbers during the
fifties.59
The post-war concerns of national and Kamloops women’s organizations reflected
this new reality. Even during the war women were actively making plans for a better
world and most local women’s organizations were set on improving their communities.
While post-war critics patronizingly labelled organizations like the NCW as “club
women” who were “great hands at passing resolutions,” these organizations were laying
the groundwork for the new “second wave” of feminism of the sixties. Generally, they
continued their interwar concerns that moved them beyond moral issues and sought
improvements in women’s status, better economic and working conditions, political
advancement and inclusion, urban planning, daycares, health care, recreation, peace
movements and the arts. They carried on their work for the local community and made
significant improvements. Nationally, their greatest success was the passage of equal pay
for equal work legislation by the federal and provincial governments. It was pressure from
the NCW that forced the federal government to enact equal pay for the 70,000 women
working under its jurisdiction. Other pressure came from twenty-one YWCAs that set

[36]

WOMEN CARING FOR KAMLOOPS: 1890-1975

up Public Affairs committees to lobby for anti-discrimination employment legislation.
In Kamloops, the Red Cross, the KCW, and the YWCA developed new programs to
assist the public, especially women and children, in health clinics, daycare, recreation and
education until the government took responsibility.60
In the late sixties and early seventies these women’s organizations were to be joined
by new associations with more radical objectives to begin the “second wave” of feminism.
The “second wave” came to Kamloops a bit later than in larger communities but it did
have an impact. Beforehand, groups like the Federation des femmes du Quebec and the
Committee on Equality for Women started the process of change but much of the support
for the latter group came from numerous established organizations like the WCTU,
YWCA, and the NCW. Under pressure the government created the Royal Commission
on the Status of Women in 1967 but stalled on implementing its recommendations. This
led women to organize the National Ad Hoc Committee on the Status of Women in
1971 and the National Action Committee on the Status of Women (NAC) a year later
and its provincial groups were very effective in influencing governments usually through
its bureaucracy. It had acquired many of the traditional associations’ characteristics in the
form of effective organization, development of coalitions, and lobbying the government
in the expectation of reform. Like the generations of women volunteers before them
NAC members were very service oriented and organized locally to create the services
they and the community required. At the same time young women began a women’s
liberation movement and pushed the more sensitive issues like abortion and sexuality
to the foreground. These new groups moved away from maternal and family concerns
and moderate politics in favour of Marxist or Socialist theory. These rapid changes and
new concepts of consciousness-raising were to be too dramatic for some of the traditional
supporters of women’s organizations while others adapted or found greater strength in
the new activism. On the reverse side, radical women’s groups were quite often willing to
work with the older established organizations.61
The second wave of feminism was to continue what women had been advocating
since the 1890s – improvement in women’s health care, education, legal rights, work,
and family life. The sixties women’s liberation movement actively promoted a woman’s
right to control her body. This had massive implications on societal attitudes and existing

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health services. Previously male opinion, whether it was that of professionals or ordinary
citizens, formulated the societal norms that controlled women’s lives. In particular, any
matter concerned with the female reproductive system like birth control, abortion, sexual
diseases, and cancer treatment fell under male control. The first major campaign, the
Abortion Caravan of 1970 attempted to make abortions more accessible. In a similar
manner to the older associations, women’s liberation groups offered direct services to
help poor and needy women but they expanded this to a concern for women’s bodies
and sexuality by promoting abortion, rape crisis centers, transition houses, and women’s
shelters.62
In Kamloops the 1970s and 1980s were a transition period in which opportunities
for education and new services for women became the focus. Following the lead taken
by the University of British Columbia the Counseling Department at Cariboo College
opened a Women’s Access Centre in 1979. Funded by the B.C. Ministry of Education
whose objective was to encourage mature women to obtain education and return to the
labour market the Access Centre provided informational material on available educational
and training programs and courses on Life Planning in order to balance family with
educational pursuits, Assertiveness Training, Study and Job Search Skills, and Women in
Non-Traditional Jobs. Second wave feminist concepts were brought to the foreground by
advisory Board members, Lynn Thomson, Anne Molnar, Jeanne Perrault, Dian Aylwin,
and Donna Cameron by organizing a number of regional Women’s Conferences. The
Women’s Work Conference co-ordinated by Sandy Northrup in March 1981 anticipated
an attendance of over one hundred women to discuss women’s position in the paid labour
force. Another conference revealed the need for more services for Kamloops women and
led to the establishment of the Thompson/Nicola Assault Centre in 1982. When the
Ministry of Environment and the College Board withdrew its funding after two years,
Lynn Thomson recalled that the “Advisory Board members, who were committed to
continuing services to women, oversaw the Access Centre’s transition to a communitybased Women’s Centre.”63 From 1984 it attempted to provide social services and
empower women in their rights. Increasingly it suffered decreased government funding.
One researcher observed that “because the work which genuinely seeks to empower the
powerless is potentially challenging to those in power, women’s organizations which aim

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WOMEN CARING FOR KAMLOOPS: 1890-1975

to empower women remain largely unsupported by national governments and bilateral
agencies.”64
Within this book all chapters overlap each other in one consistent theme –
women caring for the community. The objective is not to provide a complete history
of Kamloops women’s organizations but to selectively demonstrate their evolution from
volunteer groups that worked independently and at times at odds with governments to
the modern association that maintains its independence but also co-operates and assists
welfare state agencies. The chronological framework provides evidence of change over
time and women’s increasing voice in public affairs and politics. The following chapters
provide key elements in the progress of women’s entry into community life. The support
systems that they developed were essential to maintaining the city’s infrastructure
especially during crises like the 1918 Influenza Pandemic, the Great Depression, two
World Wars and during various demographic surges.
The Ladies’ Auxiliary to the Royal Inland Hospital featured in chapter two reveals
the crucial role it had in the early stages of hospital development and its continuous work
to the present day. In its early days the impulse to assist the community came from their
“female consciousness” to provide for the better health of the small emerging town. Over
the years its elite middle class membership became more diffuse as it looked for ways to
engage a wider cross-section of the community. At each stage of its existence in over a
century it provided the hospital and its patients the vital equipment and services necessary
to improve the health of Kamloops and the surrounding region. For the women involved
it gave them an outlet to escape from the societal pressure to remain in the domestic
sphere and gained them the respect of the community.
Chapter three focuses on the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union that used
its connections with church groups and moral issues to bypass society’s accepted role
for women. Faced with the social problems created by the homosocial culture of the
pioneer and settlement eras they made it their objective to fight heavy drinking and all
the abuse that women and children faced as a consequence. The national and provincial
associations’ adoption of maternal feminist tactics, its struggle for women’s suffrage
and electoral pressure politics set the stage for Kamloops women to participate in the
fight for social and moral reform. With membership restricted to women, the WCTU

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provided the space for them to learn important organizational procedures, tactics and to
become active voices in the community. Local problems called for local solutions and
the Kamloops WCTU demonstrated success in its influence over City Council. It also
stepped into the campaign to improve conditions for women and children throughout
the province.
The activities of the Red Cross discussed in chapter four confirm women’s key
role in building the Kamloops’ infrastructure, particularly in the area of health. The
formation of the Red Cross Guild by single young women contradicts the stereotypical
views of women’s associations being organized by middle class married women and
illustrates the diverse nature of these organizations. Despite its evolution to middle class
women’s leadership and then to mixed gender membership, women remained the driving
force and initiators of post-World War I plans to build a better community. Establishing
one of the province’s first and most successful Well Baby Clinics, a public nurse and other
health services, the Red Cross provided social action at a grassroots level. While the
separate spheres ideology still kept politics predominately a male preserve the women
of Kamloops did not wait for provincial or civic legislation but instead sought to resolve
social problems in the community. As the primary co-ordinator of assistance to the poor

Red Cross Guild appeals for support in World War I by entering a float in a parade in September, 1915.
Image 418 courtesy of Kamloops Museum and Archives

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WOMEN CARING FOR KAMLOOPS: 1890-1975

during the Great Depression it exemplified the theme of caring for Kamloops and by
its work with government agents it was the precursor of future interactions between
government and volunteer associations.
Chapter five reveals the activation of women’s political voice on a national,
provincial and local level through the Council of Women. The Councils explicitly
denounced separate spheres ideology that blocked their political participation.
Following the lead taken by the national and provincial Councils, Kamloops women’s
organizations came together into the Kamloops Council of Women to co-ordinate
their individual efforts to improve the community and to gain a more public voice. Its
history demonstrates the diversity of Kamloops’ women’s associations and their ability to
unite to achieve better housing, health, education and cultural development. The local
Council also served as a training ground for greater political participation at all levels of
government. Women who sought civic offices like Helen Millward, Meryl Matthews and
Joyce Sowerby were KCW members who felt City Council required input from women
to achieve social action.
The Young Women’s Christian Association dealt with in chapter six illustrates
the persistence of separate spheres ideology into the1960s and women’s determination to
release themselves of the social and cultural vacuum that existed in Kamloops. Socially
active women refused to accept the continuance of married women still being relegated to
the home and family. To overcome the isolation of being homemakers, they built on the
experience of the Vancouver YWCA to provide a social, recreational, educational, and
cultural center for women. Successes and setbacks were part of its developmental history
but the women within it stood up to all challenges. In a period when government agencies
were increasingly moving into areas where volunteer associations provided services the
YWCA adapted and worked to be a part of the system by gaining government grants
to support programs and acted as consultants to assist government policy. The new era
of second wave feminism also gave some of its members stronger arguments to achieve
improvements for women and the entire community.
Collectively these associations and numerous other women’s groups made
significant contributions to the health, welfare and cultural development of Kamloops
from 1890 to 1975. Before the rise of the welfare state they provided essential social services

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[41]

and would continue to contribute even after the State assumed its social responsibility.
The importance of their work has not been given sufficient credit and, at times, it was
assumed that women’s caring was a natural part of their mothering role. The domestic
ideology and separate spheres concepts stereotyped and placed them in a secondary and
private role. In Kamloops, women faced stronger conservative cultural restraints and
were more subject to the community’s scrutiny than in larger cities. The rougher frontier
male culture emphasizing patriarchal values took longer to dissipate and communal
control over marriage, women’s work, and social behaviour remained evident. Women’s
volunteer associations challenged these gender roles and provided women with entry into
social, public and political life. They broke free of cultural restraints and became an active
force in the making of Kamloops. Many of the associations were branches of national and
provincial associations and this added strength to their social and political agenda but
their activity was also unique due to local conditions. Living in a frontier environment
and lacking provincial government support, these women’s associations took it upon
themselves to overcome the inadequacies of the local infrastructure by providing for the
health, social and cultural needs of the community. These issues changed over time and
with each decade these women’s associations evolved to meet the needs of Kamloops.

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WOMEN CARING FOR KAMLOOPS: 1890-1975

chapter TWO
Caring for the Sick: Ladies’ Auxiliary to the Royal
Inland Hospital
“Humanity demands that the sick be taken care of.”

Kamloops Sentinel, October 29, 1918

“We desire to place on record our appreciation of these lives so faithfully lived
so strong in service, and whose devotion to the social welfare of this community
tended greatly to its development as we have it today.”
President, Ladies’ Auxiliary to the Royal Inland Hospital, Annual Report, 1928

Central to the quality of life for any community is the care provided by its hospital and in
Kamloops the Ladies’ Auxiliary to the Royal Inland Hospital became a major provider of
assistance. Lacking government funding, frontier communities were left on their own to
develop hospital facilities. The struggle to provide public care required volunteers and in
the late nineteenth century cultural norms assumed that women’s nurturing role over the
family naturally extended to public care. Here the standard belief that women confine
themselves to the domestic domain was set aside to meet the needs of the community.
Kamloops women took on this responsibility in the frontier-settlement era, creating
associations that brought them into public life, and continue to be involved to the present
day. Up to the First World War the Auxiliary made important contributions toward the
provision of the basic necessities required by the hospital. The Great War distracted
volunteer work for the hospital as the Auxiliary joined numerous women’s groups in a
co-ordinated effort to supply overseas troops with needed supplies; at home they looked
after the injured and those suffering from illnesses like tuberculosis. The 1918 influenza
epidemic placed these organizations in a frontline position and the Auxiliary increased
its public service. More challenges awaited volunteers in the interwar years as the Great
Depression reduced the hospital’s abilities to provide care when the government cut back

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[43]

its funding. Volunteerism was essential and as in the Great War, women’s organizations
pulled together to overcome the harsh conditions. The growth in the local population also
strained resources and by World War II, new innovative tactics like the creation of a new
branch in North Kamloops alleviated some of the financial shortfalls. The familiar theme
of government underfunding remained a constant problem in the post-war era and the
Auxiliary did its best to supplement the hospital’s revenue. By its seventy-fifth anniversary
in 1974 the Auxiliary had definitely proved itself to be an effective and efficient fund
raiser by becoming a part of the Thompson Valley United Appeal, establishing a thrift
shop and gaining control of the concessions within the hospital. It moved from a small
group to one commanding community wide support and from providing supplementary
funds to bringing in substantial earnings. A hundred years of service to the hospital was
recognized in 1999 and the Ladies’ Auxiliary must be acknowledged for its unfailing
assistance to the city.

Original Kamloops Hospital opened in 1885 on Lorne Street. Matron Eleanor Potter in buggy with nurse and
Chinese cook. (1890)
Image 695 courtesy of Kamloops Museum and Archives

In their frontier origins, hospitals and care giving was subjected to separate
spheres ideology that delegated men and women to gender specific roles. Male doctors

[44]

WOMEN CARING FOR KAMLOOPS: 1890-1975

controlled the internal operations of the hospital while prominent male citizens filled
the leadership roles on the board of directors. Women, both nurses and volunteers were
left in the caring roles of maintaining health standards and initiating improvements. The
coming of the C.P.R. was the catalyst for change and as the population of the district and
the town expanded a campaign by the local population led to the construction of the
first public hospital in the Interior called the Kamloops Hospital; it opened in 1885 on
Lorne Street near the C.P.R. station. It was a two storey wood frame building with only
a few beds and was expected to serve the 300 permanent residents, the outlying district,
and the C.P.R. construction workers. When it first opened Dr. S.J. Tunstall administered
the hospital and as only men were allowed as patients in the first two years, male nurses
looked after them. Most of the patients were C.P.R. workers injured on the job. It soon
became necessary that the town take over running the hospital since as the Inland Sentinel
observed, the railway contractors had taken no steps to fulfill their responsibilities.65
Traditionally, however, nursing was a female profession and the male nurses were replaced
by women. In 1887 the hospital appointed Eleanor Potter, a graduate of the University of
Toronto School of Nursing as the matron. She effectively ran the hospital for the next few
years but when she married in 1900, social expectations made her give up her career to be
a housewife. The separate spheres and domestic ideologies were strong forces in the makeup of early Kamloops culture and other single women like Annie McQueen, a school
teacher, provides another example of women who left their position when they married.
Women, according to common assumption, were not to remain in the classroom after
marriage. Jean Barman notes that marriage in frontier areas remained much more under
communal control than in the more settled areas of Canada and that the “community’s
approval mattered.” In frontier areas, marriage provided women with the culturally
sought after respectability and Annie, for example, revelled in “the marriage state.” Other
female teachers like the exceptional five Beattie sisters who opened the Kamloops Select
School in 1893 followed social convention and remained single. Gender bias was also
evident in the School Board’s refusal to appoint Emily Beattie as principal of Kamloops
Public School in 1914 despite her position of seniority over all male teachers.66
After the completion of the C.P.R., the town’s population rose to 500 by the
time of incorporation in 1893. The hospital expanded to accommodate fourteen beds

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in five wards. It officially changed its name to the Royal Inland Hospital when it was
incorporated in 1896 by a legislative act that gave the property to the city. The Directors
at the time were well established community leaders, professionals, and developers such
as F.J. Fulton, R.H. Lee, J.O. Grahame, J. Vair, J. McIntosh, R.E. Smith, G.C. Tunstall,
J.A. Mara, M. Sullivan, W.W. Spinks, R. Marpole, and W.O. Miller. Prominence within
the community, however, did not necessarily mean that the Directors had the resolve or
capability to organize an efficient hospital on their own.67 The opposite appeared to be
the case in 1897 when the board of Directors came under heavy criticism from the editor
of the Inland Sentinel who accused them of gross mismanagement of funds when the
hospital was shown to have a deficit of $1,160.46 for 1897.68
Often, women’s auxiliaries were the main source of assistance that the Directors
had for fund-raising and planning future developments. The first to attempt to help
the struggling hospital to establish itself was a precursor to the Auxiliary, the Hospital
Women’s Aid Society organized in September 1890. Its task was to furnish the hospital
with the necessary comforts, fund-raising, and planning for the future. Its executive
consisted of Mrs. Emily Nash, Mrs. W.M. Cochrane, Mrs. Eliza Wentworth and Mrs.
R.E. Smith. The social prominence of the hospital’s male Directors was paralleled in
the membership of the Society. The group consisted of nineteen married women whose
husbands were either business, political or social leaders in the community and three
single women.
These women were not just idle socialites who sought outlets for their charitable
impulses but instead worked hard to improve hospital conditions. Their motives stemmed
from a combination of meeting their social position’s duty or responsibility, maintaining
status, and as a means to express their inherent humanitarian impulses. Since the majority
of the executive came from the same social elite, they shared similar social values and
gained social power within Kamloops society by making these influential connections.
At a personal level, their involvement was often due to restrictions placed on female
employment outside the home and the opportunity volunteerism provided to contribute
to worthwhile causes.69 For women in this class, it was an effective method of by-passing
separate spheres concepts that relegated them to the private and domestic roles and for
entering into the public sphere. Often the only rewards they received were tributes given

[46]

WOMEN CARING FOR KAMLOOPS: 1890-1975

to the group. For example, the second medical director, Dr. Furrer acknowledged their
efforts and praised the work of the Society in his annual report of 1893. He stated that
“The Ladies of Kamloops have this year again made great efforts both to assist in defraying
expenses and in purchasing whatever seemed needful for the comfort of patients, so
that today the Royal Inland Hospital is a credit to Kamloops and the country. I take
this opportunity to personally thank the ladies for the kindly interest they have shown
towards the hospital.”70 Their efforts, however, were not always in agreement with the
social expectations and goals of the community.
Despite their elite and conservative background the women in the Society
ignored cultural restraints and pushed for equal care for women. The Society’s belief
that a Maternity Home or Women’s ward was a major necessity did not receive public
approval. The existing patriarchal enclave that dominated opinions was ignored and the
Society set it as its main objective. After three years of fund-raising, the Sentinel’s editor
praised them for collecting $532.35 but questioned their goal of putting the money
toward a women’s ward. From a modern perspective this appears to be a very chauvinistic,
exceptional and unjust criticism but in her study of medical attendance in late nineteenth
century Vancouver, Margaret Andrews observed that this attitude was not unusual as
women did not normally receive the same medical attention as men. “The discrepancy,”
she notes, “should not be attributed to a difference in need, but rather to a difference
in the importance assigned by society to the two sexes’ receiving medical care.”71 Men
were viewed as the breadwinners for the family and therefore accorded more care. In the
end, the editor relinquished his position by stating that because they were volunteers,
they could spend the money on what they deemed suitable.72 Nevertheless, his comments
revealed women’s secondary position within Kamloops’ conventional society.
Social prominence did provide a degree of protection to go beyond the confines
of the domestic sphere and the next group to assist the hospital, the Ladies’ Benevolent
Society established in 1894 had a membership that was even more socially prominent.
The president was Mrs. Alice Mara and the rest of the executive consisted of Mrs.
Violet Lee, Mrs. Nora Grahame, and Mrs. Emma Gordon. High family status was their
common bond. Their husbands, J.A. Mara was a well known merchant, former MLA,
MP, developer and Director of the Hospital Board, R.H. Lee, an architect and surveyor,

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and Marshall Gordon, a businessman.
The women continued the work of
the Hospital Women’s Aid Society
and brought one of their objectives
to completion. Increasingly, women
wanted prenatal care and although
most still expected to have their babies
at home which had been customary,
there was a growing shift to hospital
births between 1890 and the turn of the
century. When in 1895 the government
granted $1000 for the establishment
of a Kamloops Maternity Home the
Ladies’ Benevolent Society took up the
task of raising the rest of the money to
build the ward and complete it in the
following year.73
In spite of the Society’s efforts at
fund-raising, the hospital remained in a
precarious financial position and still
lacked proper facilities. This negative
environment prompted Dr. A.P.
Procter, the resident doctor, to expand
volunteer efforts by calling upon the
Family status and volunteerism exhibited in Violet Lee with
daughter Edith. On the executive of the Ladies’ Benevolent
women of Kamloops to set up a Ladies’
Society, Vice-President of Red Cross, 1920.
Image 5757 courtesy of Kamloops Museum and Archives
Auxiliary to the Royal Inland Hospital
in May 1899. At the first meeting,
Procter observed that although the state of the hospital was not ideal, it was not as bad
as some made it out to be. It needed help with building maintenance, heating, internal
supplies such as bedding, and more nurses. Like the Hospital Women’s Aid and the
Ladies’ Benevolent Society that previously supported it, he expected that they would “not

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WOMEN CARING FOR KAMLOOPS: 1890-1975

only assist in raising money and supplying necessaries, but who will not hear it slandered
without cause.”74 From the thirty-four women attending, the officers elected were Mrs.
Emily Nash, president, Mrs. Jessie Wells, vice-president, Mrs. Emma Gordon, secretary
and Mrs. J.Vair, treasurer. Three committees for entertainment, sewing and refreshment
were established and for its first fund raiser it organized a “ball” on December 28, 1899
that proved to be a tremendous success.75
Criticism of the Hospital Directors continued into 1900 and the Auxiliary’s
attempt to revitalize positive opinion only drew it into the crossfire. Their support of the
Directors led them to be criticized as incompetent and disorganized. Displeased by the
circulation around the city of flyers criticizing the Auxiliary, the executive moved.
That this meeting desires to express its regret that there should exist in
Kamloops some person or persons so devoid of good feeling and sense of
decency as to be capable of writing and publishing the scurrilous dodger
and which appears to have been intended to bring into ridicule this
society.76
The Auxiliary placed the resolution in the paper with a reward of $25.00 for anyone
providing information on who was defaming them. In a small community, gossip and
anonymous attacks could damage reputations and had to be stopped. Ignoring the
negative publicity, the Auxiliary continued with its fund-raising and according to the
Inland Sentinel, its next dance was a “brilliant success.”
This “scurrilous dodger” incident and the next dance once again demonstrate
how place played an important role in determining types of behaviour that were either
condemned or accepted in small towns. Kamloops as a place was socially constructed
by its frontier culture and the dichotomies it created were evident at the turn of the
century. Charity events like dances were meant to bind the community together but at
the same time they could be racially exclusive and insensitive. The Auxiliary organizers
decided to add an unusual twist to the ball to attract more people. Unlike the normal
fancy dress ball, all the adult participants were asked to come dressed as children. Two
participants were described as “a demur little maiden of say 8 summers and close behind
her an exceedingly well developed and healthy baby of six feet.”77 Although the dance
was viewed as a respectable function, the socially constructed values of a frontier society

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proved, by modern standards, to be coarse and racist in some aspects. After a program
of dances, the newspaper reported that there was “an unexpected visit of ten little nigger
boys appropriately dressed in costume, and the little coons contributed considerably to
the evening’s amusement.” The common acceptance of racist language at the turn of
the century allowed this incident to occur without criticism. Instead the entire dance
was regarded as “one of the greatest successes, both financially and saltatorially ever held
in Kamloops.”78 What makes this incident even more paradoxical was that although
discrimination against blacks was common throughout B.C. and Kamloops was not
exempt, the town elected John Freemont Smith as its first black alderman three years
later. Place worked to create a different local response to blacks. Discrimination was
evident in general parodies of black people at masquerade dances and by local musical
bands where people and band members wore black face costumes. While minorities such
as blacks and Chinese faced racial slurs, Kamloops citizens accepted those individuals like
Smith who was a storeowner in Louis Creek and jokingly called himself the first white
man to live in that area. Business respectability allowed him to become a member of the
Board of Trade and alderman. Fifty-seven years later, the same inconsistency still could
be found when the first Chinese alderman, Peter Wing was elected despite an historical
record of prejudice against Chinese in the community. Again, he gained respect through
business connections, the Board of Trade, and became Canada’s first Chinese mayor in
1966.79
Charity events like the Auxiliary dances, bazaars, teas, and the annual balls worked
to bring the community together and were financially successful. The Inland Sentinel , for
example, remarked that “One of the most enjoyable balls of the season and one which is
always eagerly looked forward to is the Hospital Ball.”80 It had become a major social event
not only for the town but also for a large number of people from Revelstoke, Ashcroft and
the “Country.” Throughout the whole district, people responded to assist and to be a part
of a hospital that provided for them.
The activities and fund-raising tactics of the Auxiliary were diverse and for the
most part effective. Their work was “very necessary” as a great number of patients were
unable to pay for treatment and this placed even more financial stress on the hospital.
To assist the hospital the Auxiliary formed sewing groups that made sheets, pillowcases,

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WOMEN CARING FOR KAMLOOPS: 1890-1975

towels and nightshirts. They organized social teas, bake sales, card parties, raffles, tag
days, rummage sales and fashion shows. Social evenings often drew over 200 guests and
included a variety of entertainments like card playing, ping pong and dancing. By the
end of 1902 they demonstrated their success by purchasing one of the B.C.’s first X-ray
machines, furnishing two hospital rooms and supplying linen, nightshirts and dressing
gowns for patients.81 The next year they continued their work by spending the $450.00
raised on furnishing a private ward, renovation and painting, covering floors with carpet
and linoleum, purchasing a bathtub and supplying the usual linen and clothing. The
newspaper attributed its success to “the interest shown and the help given by the people
of Kamloops and the surrounding country.”82
These were significant accomplishments for a town that for the first decade of
the century was described as “wild and wooly.” Some newcomers like Miss May Wilton,
the first trainee at the new School of Nursing provided her initial impression of the
town in 1910. Typically, trains from the East arrived at 2:00 a.m. and gave travellers,
especially women, a unique and at times frightening experience. The train, she noted, had
a cowcatcher in front of the engine and a large bell which clanged the whole way through
the center of Main Street. The beguiled and confused trainee was accidentally dropped
off at Pete’s Saloon for her accommodation but after a quick look she beat a hasty retreat
to the Dominion Hotel. While registering she observed one of the disadvantages of
the train tracks being on the main thoroughfare of the town, (nicknamed the longest
streetcar in the world). As the train pulled out to the West clanging its bell a big crowd of
cowboys in chaps and spurs grabbed their horses and with a great uproar of shouting and
swearing had to pull them onto the narrow sidewalk. Her stay at the Dominion was also
memorable as she was given a room with two doors that did not lock. “The one close to
the head of my bed,” she complained, ‘was open about a foot, through it came groans and
deep snores.” She had to push a chest of drawers against it and then she “laid on the bed
fully dressed until daybreak.”83
Despite its social nuisance, the C.P.R. trains stimulated the expansion of
Kamloops to the point where it required a new hospital. The population in Kamloops
increased to 3,772 by 1911, and the Lorne Street Kamloops Hospital became extremely
overcrowded. Already the hospital board under the chairmanship of J.T. Robinson

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[51]

Main (later Victoria) Street West during the days prior to 1914 when the C.P.R. operated trains through the middle of the
original business thoroughfare of the city. “The longest streetcar system in the world.”
Image 1625 courtesy of Kamloops Museum and Archives

realized that a new hospital was a necessity and acquired the Columbia Street property
in 1910 and began construction soon after. The citizens of the community willingly
passed a city by-law in support of the new hospital. Its completion in 1912 was a year for
celebration as it was also the centenary of the Fort Kamloops trading post. Recognizing
the importance of the hospital to the community, the city had it officially opened by the
Duke of Connaught, the Governor-General. The new hospital was a large three story
Victorian style brick building with 128 beds. The larger facility was a definite progressive
step for the community but it also required more financial support.84
The nature of Kamloops’ location and government attitudes determined the
absolute necessity for an Auxiliary and it fell on it to do whatever possible to help the
hospital. The government’s failure to fund hospitals properly was a constant problem and
often created crises in B.C. communities. This was particularly the case for Kamloops
because the hospital not only served the town but all the nearby small communities that
lacked medical services and the large surrounding rural district. To overcome budgetary
shortfalls, fund-raising on the part of the Kamloops Auxiliary remained its primary
activity but for an inexplicable reason it became the subject of harsh criticism from Mayor

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WOMEN CARING FOR KAMLOOPS: 1890-1975

J.T. Robinson in 1912. In language that was reported to be “more forcible than polite”
he went so far as to “deprecate and question their usefulness.”85 The Inland Sentinel took
exception to the Mayor’s accusation that the Auxiliary’s fund-raising efforts for a year
could not support the hospital for two days and therefore it might as well disband. The
newspaper felt that this attack could only be explained as another of the Mayor’s arbitrary
actions and defended the Auxiliary’s work as “a labor of duty and charity, the value of
which cannot be estimated in dollars and cents.”86 One can only surmise that Robinson
identified the limitations of relying on volunteer fund-raising in order to emphasize the
need for increased provincial government funding. The cost of operating the hospital
strained the city’s budget and in 1914 it had to pass a $15,000 by-law to support the
hospital in order to obtain a matching Provincial government grant to pay off existing
debts. This still was insufficient and the Provincial government finally provided another
$10,000 in 1916. While Robinson’s term in office ended in 1913, the community still
continued to support the Auxiliary. Disagreements among the executive did occur but
were resolved and they remained determined to continue their work despite the attempt
to belittle them.87 While Robinson’s criticisms failed to decrease support, the Great War
disrupted the Auxiliary and drew women’s energies elsewhere and as a consequence it
ceased to function during some of the war years. In February 1918, it was revived in
order to overcome the hospital’s urgent need for assistance. The Auxiliary wanted to
remind the public that the hospital looked after the entire district and at times took
care of patients without receiving any payment. World War I generally pushed women’s
associations to even greater efforts and the revived Auxiliary was no exception. The
War drew associations like the Auxiliary, the Ladies’ Auxiliary to St. Paul’s and the Red
Cross together into working groups to provide clothing and other supplies for soldiers.
Collectively, these activities were moving women into the public space and the further
need for community assistance during the great flu pandemic of 1918 increased their
involvement.88
Volunteerism by women became the major method of countering the Spanish
Influenza epidemic that began in 1918 and lasted to 1920. Without any cure, the
only way to survive the flu was through constant provision of nursing care. It has been
commonly held that the Spanish Flu spread across Canada with the return of troops who

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contracted the disease in Europe. The epidemic had a devastating impact in most cities
and Kamloops was no exception. Across Canada there were approximately 55,000 deaths
and the infection rate was many times more. Winnipeg, for example, experienced 1,300
and Vancouver 900 deaths by the disease. Vancouver reported its first case on October 14
and within four days it had 758 cases of flu and 17 deaths. Its rapid spread to the general
population weakened cities like Vancouver where 30,000 out of the 100,000 population
were sickened.89 Furthermore, the lack of knowledge about the flu meant that the medical
profession remained either undecided or divided about what steps should be taken. In
Vancouver, the Medical Health Officer recommended personal hygiene and community
sanitation but was opposed to closures of all public meeting places whereas the Mayor
wanted town closure. Pressure from the provincial government finally settled the issue
and most public buildings were closed but schools remained open as the Medical Officer
felt children were more protected in school than out on the streets.90
In Kamloops, the location, size and culture of the community all had an impact
on the response to the epidemic. On January 15, 1918 the Kamloops Medical Health
Officer reported that the community had been free of any epidemic or infectious disease
during 1917 and gave the city a good health report. That changed dramatically after the
first cases of flu were reported on October 11, 1918. Within a week there were twentytwo cases and two deaths from influenza. City Council and the Medical Officer, Dr.
M.G. Archibald reacted to this sudden threat and without hesitation decided to close
all public buildings including schools, churches and theatres on October 18. Alderman
Crawford summarized their views in his statement that “it was better to take the most
drastic measures and err on the safe side rather than be too late in taking action.”91 Since
Kamloops was the health service centre for a large region that only had the Royal Inland
Hospital to provide for it made the fight against influenza according to the hospital
director, J.T. Robinson, “much more strenuous then in other parts of the province.” The
hospital was already financially troubled due to the War and the government only provided
“an entirely inadequate per capita allowance” that was not increased despite the influx of
patients from the logging, train tie construction and other work camps up the North
Thompson.92 Three major outbreaks of influenza placed stress on the medical facilities
and required the opening of two emergency hospitals. When a number of regular nurses

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WOMEN CARING FOR KAMLOOPS: 1890-1975

became ill and it proved impossible to find nurses from other communities who were also
under pressure to cope the Kamloops Standard Sentinel placed an emotional appeal for
any retired nurses to come to the hospital’s assistance in these extraordinary circumstances.

Royal Inland Hospital, 1921. First opened in 1912.
Image 1892 courtesy of Kamloops Museum and Archives

It noted that “The increase in the number of patients from outside and sickness of the
nurses has placed a burden upon those who are working that is hard to bear. There have
been volunteers and they are doing noble work.” It added that “Humanity demands that
the sick be taken care of. Those coming from camp and smaller towns in the district
cannot be left in the streets to die.”93 The newspaper continued to blame outsiders for
increasing the dangers of the epidemic but it recognized that it was a local issue and had
to be dealt with internally. “No help can be secured,” it observed, “from outside, and the
burden falls upon those here at home.”94 This was an early recognition of what historians
now identify as place. Although officials felt it their duty to provide health services for
everyone, racial discrimination was evident. While white patients were taken in at the
hospital and emergency quarters at the Patricia Hotel, First Nations patients were treated
separately at the army barracks. The barracks’ hospital remained open until December
3 and the Patricia Hotel closed on December 10 while the ban on public meeting places

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remained in effect until December 13.95 The Royal Inland Hospital reported treating 600
people in 1918 and the deaths of over forty people. This may appear to be a small number
compared to what occurred in larger cities but the population of Kamloops according to
census data was only 3,772 in 1911 and in 1921 it was at 4,501.96
The size of the community further identified Kamloops’ citizens with a sense of
place and as a consequence the impact of sickness and deaths was a more personal affair
than in larger cities. Within a small community people knew each other more intimately
and whenever a death occurred the person was in many cases known to the general public.
One by one, the deaths were reported in the paper and what made it more difficult was the
high incidence of deaths of young men and women. One example reported on October
22, 1918 revealed the community’s personal response: “The unexpected death of Fred
Lauder last Saturday about one o’clock was a shock to this community and many could
not believe that death had come so quickly to one who only a few days before had been in
the best of health and spirits with the full strength and vitality of strong manhood.” He
was thirty-four when he died but a high number were between the ages of eighteen and
twenty-five. Another example was the death of W.T. Summers, “a young man, in the prime
of life with the world before him, ever courteous and genial, energetic in public affairs,
unselfish to the extreme and recognized as a leader among the younger businessmen. No
man stood higher in the city, no man enjoyed the confidence of the people to a greater
extent. The community could ill afford to lose such a citizen.” His death was a “woeful
shock to the entire community.” Lionel Stobart, aged thirty, a well known stockman
also died in the same month.97 Examining the social distress created by this experience
the Kamloops Standard-Sentinel commented, “Never before in the history of Kamloops
have the people passed through such trials and tribulations, suffering and sorrow. But the
trouble has brought out the very best qualities of the Kamloops people and the spirit of
sacrifice and sympathy has been demonstrated to the fullest extent.”98
When another wave of influenza reoccurred in 1919, the newspaper labeled it
the “Black Plague.” City Council and the Medical Officer, Dr. Archibald again debated
whether closure of all public buildings was necessary but in the end decided to enforce a
ban. Fortunately this reoccurrence had less impact. The last outbreak that started in early
February 1920 saw 226 cases in one week and the closure of public buildings for three

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WOMEN CARING FOR KAMLOOPS: 1890-1975

weeks but there were fewer deaths because the hospital was better prepared. Again almost
every women’s organization within the city participated in setting up a Diet Kitchen to
assist families that could not cook their own meals. During the peak of the epidemic the
women supplied food for 110 people twice a day and continued to provide meals until
it closed on February 27. Joining in the volunteer work that the newspaper described
as a fight for humanity was the newly formed Elks Lodge, the United Brotherhood of
Railway Workers, and the Knights of Columbus. At the conclusion of the epidemic, the
Chief of Police, E.C. Simmons, who coordinated relief efforts, remarked that “Words
are wanting to express my admiration for the many women who assumed the task of
preparing invalid food for patients who, under the already abnormal conditions which
existed, were absolutely unable to provide for themselves.”99
Whether it was Winnipeg, Vancouver or Kamloops, women acted quickly to
assist those infected by influenza. Their roles in providing assistance were, however,
prescribed by separate spheres concepts. Within the patriarchal structure of local society,
it was the men on the Hospital Board, the male doctors and Medical Officer, and male
civic officials who assumed the leadership roles and decided what preventive action and
the relief work was necessary. Society’s view of women as natural caregivers created an
expectation that they would physically care for the sick by cleaning, bathing, and feeding
patients. Middle class women were viewed as doing their social duty by helping the sick
and poor and therefore their work was contributing to the social good and maintenance
of order. Although not mentioned in the press, this activity also provided women
with the opportunity to step outside their normal domestic sphere into the public
arena. It also brought them into contact with the working class and ethnic sectors of
the community. While men might care for their own families, their public assistance
with a few exceptions remained in gender specific roles such as drivers to take patients to
hospital and maintenance work.100
In every community, the epidemic acted as a historical agent that brought multiple
societal forces to the surface. A recent study of Winnipeg by Esyllt Jones reveals some
interesting comparative insights on the motives and impact of volunteerism that can be
applied to Kamloops. Over 650 mostly Anglo Canadian women supported Winnipeg’s
main relief campaign. Described by the press, public health officials and politicians as

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heroines, these women were publicly viewed as essential caregivers that provided social
order in the chaotic situation created by the epidemic. Like Adele Perry’s study of white
Anglo Canadian women who acted as gatekeepers and caretakers of frontier society,
these volunteers were providing reassurance, order and stability. Their “volunteerism
can be understood as an attempt to reinforce the status quo, life as usual, in an unstable
context.”101 Women were important in organizing the response and in fund-raising but
they did not direct the policy, instead they remained caregivers who physically healed
the sick. Although their work was within a maternalist and nurturing sphere, Jones
along with other new research by Linda Quiney and Magda Farni argue that women
entered into an expanded public role by their organizational efforts, fund-raising and
interaction with working class and ethnic women. While they were in a more public
space, the press, politicians and others saw it as a necessity of social duty and therefore
still within the public’s image of where women belonged. Larger cities like Winnipeg set
up an Emergency Nursing Bureau and Emergency Diet Kitchen, both run by elite Anglo
Protestant women. Some members had husbands who were politically active while many
were unmarried, educated school teachers or clerical workers and belonged to the Local
Council of Women. Its president, Margaret McWilliams was noted for her activism
and feminist views. The class based nature of volunteerism was further accented by the
fact that teachers who were laid off retained their salaries and could therefore offer their
services to the community. The workers in entertainment and public buildings that were
mandatorily shut down did not receive any compensation. Class issues were heightened
in Winnipeg due to the recent civic workers’ strike that divided society. In contrast,
working class women and organized labour in Vancouver were a part of the planning and
organizational groups.102
In Kamloops, a positive aspect was the number of volunteers who quickly offered
their service to assist the ill despite the dangers that existed. Trained nurses “who had
given up their profession for duties in their home” returned to work and other women
also came forward and were quickly trained in basic nursing. A few were married but most
were single women, many of whom belonged to the Red Cross Guild. Other volunteer
efforts were made by the Salvation Army and two Sisters from St. Ann’s Convent who
nursed the natives at the barracks. The newspaper praised these “noble women and

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WOMEN CARING FOR KAMLOOPS: 1890-1975

self-sacrificing men” who were meeting the “demands of humanity” and saved the lives
of those in danger. The newspaper provided a list of twenty women volunteers. Mrs.
Jane Anne Burton was a member of the Ladies’ Auxiliary to the Royal Inland Hospital
while Misses Slavin, Bannerman, Hudson, Costley, Curtis, and Winterbottom were in
the Red Cross Guild. The rest appear to be independent volunteers.103 The Hospital
Board later publicly acknowledged these volunteer nurses whose “generous sympathy
more than compensated for their lack of training.”104 The extent of the crisis is revealed
by the numerous appeals for assistance. On October 29, 1918 the Kamloops Standard
Sentinel asked for any trained nurses to come forward to help the volunteers who were
doing noble work but under a great burden. By November 5 the crisis had escalated and
the hospital was facing a shortage of nurses. The Board noted that it would be in a “sad
predicament” unless more volunteers came forward. Then on November 8, Mayor H.M.
Miller placed a public call for volunteers on the front page of the newspaper. The need for
volunteers was urgent as almost every house had one case or the whole family was sick.105
Although there are no records of what motivated Kamloops women, Esyllt
Jones in her study of Winnipeg, observed that most volunteers were middle class women
who had the time and felt it to be their social responsibility to help their fellow citizens.
Individually, more complex motives like testing their courage, humanitarianism, and
searching for adventure might also have led to volunteerism. Whatever the reason, in
Kamloops as elsewhere, the newspaper noted that “a few of these volunteers have paid for
their bravery and self-sacrifice with their lives, while many others contracted the disease.”
It felt that “Kamloops would be a veritable stricken city” without the women who
volunteered. As in Winnipeg, the type of assistance was gender based with women doing
the nursing and men assembling hospital beds and preparing rooms.106 Twenty-four year
old Miss Lucy Jones who first nursed her sister to health at the hospital saw the great need
for nurses and volunteered her services. To her misfortune, she contracted the flu and
died of double pneumonia soon after. Men also volunteered and the Hospital Directors
readily gave their assistance and one of them, W.T. Summers, a previously mentioned well
known community member died as a consequence. Throughout the epidemic Kamloops
citizens, particularly teachers whose schools were closed for two months, pulled together
to help the hospital cope with the “Great Flu.” To demonstrate their gratitude to the

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teachers, the Kamloops School Board agreed to provide teachers their salary despite the
schools being closed for two months. J.T. Hopgood, chairman of the board of school
trustees felt that “those teachers who were able had been exceedingly diligent in taking
care of the sick without compensation and that since it was no fault of theirs that the
schools had been closed, he thought it would be unjust to deprive them of their regular
pay.”107
On the surface this appears a justifiable acknowledgement of the teacher’s
volunteerism, but it also reflects the class and gender based nature of many decisions
made by authorities in this era. Other volunteers, particularly women, were not paid.
The more mundane work of setting up and running a Diet kitchen in Kamloops to
provide families that had been struck by the flu and who remained at home received no
wages. Nor was compensation offered to workers who lost their jobs during the closure of
public buildings and theatres.108 Women received their reward only in the praise offered
for their work. When the Patricia Hotel and Barracks emergency quarters closed, J.T.
Robinson, the president of the Hospital Board had a special luncheon for the volunteers
and “thanked them for what they had done laying special stress upon the performance of
the women during all the hard weeks of sickness.” They, he noted had “spent so many sad
hours together in the service of humanity.” He also acknowledged the “ladies who just as
unselfishly devoted themselves to the unavoidable drudgery of the kitchens or wards and
the making of pneumonia jackets and masks” and all others “who so cheerfully gave of
their time and labors in the cause of humanity.”109
Women and specifically the Auxiliary were also important players in assisting
the hospital deal with the rising financial difficulties. The hospital budget was already
strained due to increased demand during the war and government assistance was still
based on a per capita allowance for the district. This was totally inadequate particularly
because it was not raised during the crisis. The hospital was very hard hit during the
epidemic as it served the whole region and a large number of cases came from the outlying
North Thompson district. To overcome some of the deficit the Board organized a major
fund-raising drive that was to culminate in a Ball organized by the Auxiliary. The special
drive raised $6,600 and the hospital also obtained $10,000 from the government after a
delegation visited Victoria to plead its case and $3,000 from the city.110

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During the interwar era the Auxiliary continued to raise funds by holding dances,
annual linen showers, tag days, bridge parties, teas, and concerts that not only successfully
supplied the hospital with needed equipment and supplies but provided the community
with much needed social functions and cultural activities. These activities not only
made money for the hospital but also contributed to a sense of community. Its major
project in 1920 was to supply the new hospital laundry with equipment. Fund-raising
continued with 1927 being a banner year that led to the completion and furnishing of a
nurses’ home and additional beds being added to relieve the congestion in the hospital.
In her report for 1927, the president Mrs. Annie Wyllie observed the “development and
general progress all along the line.”111 Each year, however, it became more difficult to find
sufficient funds to meet the hospital’s ever increasing need for up-to-date equipment.
The president recognized this problem and remarked that the Auxiliary would do its
best until the city fulfilled its responsibility and adopted a “community chest method for
carrying on its social welfare work.”112 This tactic was successfully put into place by the

Royal Inland Hospitel Float at Dominion Day Parade, 1924.
Image 438 courtesy of Kamloops Museum and Archives

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Women’s Auxiliary to the Vancouver General Hospital and it received funds from the
Community Chest for a number of years during and after the Depression.
In Kamloops, the concept did not develop until the fifties and unfortunately
the Depression era only worsened the situation because the Provincial government cut
support to the Royal Inland Hospital by twenty-five percent. To meet the financial crisis
the whole west wing closed and the city had to cover the $500.00 per month operating
budget. The Auxiliary members remained dedicated to its cause and in 1933 it had it best
fund-raising year since 1927 and almost reached the $1000 mark. It was with pride that
the president remarked “I have been conscious of a readiness to do without hesitation
anything asked of you.”113 Fortunately, the provincial government restored the hospital’s
original funding in 1934. To overcome the continuing deficit problems, an innovative
insurance scheme that charged everyone who joined $1.00 per month in exchange for
free care was developed. This proved to be very popular and pulled the hospital out of
its troubled financial state by 1935. The Ladies’ Auxiliary tried to assist by acquiring
donations from local merchants and then holding raffles. In its work the Auxiliary also
received financial donations from other women’s groups such as the Beresford Women’s
Institute. Like the crises created by the Great War and the Influenza epidemic, women’s
organizations pulled together to overcome the harsh conditions.114
During World War II the Auxiliary carried on its work but as in the previous war,
found it more difficult to fund-raise. Nonetheless, it expended over a $1,000 on linen,
pajamas and equipment for the hospital in 1942. The annual St. Valentine’s dance, St.
Patrick linen shower and tea, a home cooking stall, a fashion show and the usual cedar
chest draw brought in the normal amount of donations.115 At the same time the population
now stood at 5,959 and strained the hospital’s financial and accommodation capabilities
to an extreme. Renovations and two new wings were proposed in order to bring it up
to modern standards. A city by-law for $155,000 was approved and matched by the
provincial government. Construction began in 1945 but another by-law of $90,000 was
required to cover increased building costs.116 In order to obtain more support to furnish
the new wings, a new North Kamloops and District Hospital Association was formed
in February 1945. This direct inclusion of the North shore, Brocklehurst and Westsyde
expanded the number of people involved in supporting the hospital and increased its

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WOMEN CARING FOR KAMLOOPS: 1890-1975

potential for raising money. Like the Ladies’ Auxiliary, the North Kamloops and District
Hospital Association found that fund-raising could create controversy. When it decided
to have a May Day fund-raising campaign at North Kamloops School, some people
questioned whether Japanese children should be allowed to participate. Mrs. Beal, the
principal, quickly brought the issue to an end by ensuring that they would be included as
they went to school there.117 By June 1946, the new Association raised $550.00 for the
hospital ward but the women in the group felt that they could achieve more by creating a
women’s auxiliary. They “all thought that it was an auxiliary that was needed. Because all
at sometime or other were glad to go to the hospital when really sick.”118 In the following
years, the North Kamloops Ladies’ Auxiliary continued to assist the main Auxiliary as an
important fund-raiser. Another form of expansion took place in 1947 when the Auxiliary
moved beyond local issues and joined the Women’s Aids in B.C. Hospital organization
and sent a delegate to B.C. Hospital Association’s convention. The president felt this
created a spirit of co-operation with other hospitals in the province and was a “step in the
right direction.”119
In the post-war era, the growth in the population and the hospital’s very large
district remained problematic but the public appeared to be “realizing that a well-equipped
hospital is an asset to the community and that the support given is a good investment.”120
Nonetheless, the hospital still had a deficit in 1950 and its ability to provide service to
patients failed to comply with the requirements of the American College of Surgeons.
George H. Ellis, the chairman of the Hospital Board expected the addition of new
equipment and a Radiology department would bring it up to the required standards. He
blamed the hospital’s financial difficulties on the government’s failure to force everyone
to be 100 percent insured. Those without insurance were not paying for treatment and
the hospital was losing twenty percent of its income. While critical of the government,
he only had praise for the Auxiliary which continued to make major contributions to the
improvement of the hospital by providing equipment and other necessities for patients.
Another successful method of raising money was the sale of an Auxiliary Cookbook in
1946, 1952 and 1958. In 1952 the Auxiliary had a record year by raising $5000 that it
applied to hospital equipment and supplies. Under funding remained the major problem
throughout the fifties. The North Kamloops Ladies’ Auxiliary did its best to help out but

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there were still problems. To increase revenue the Auxiliary discontinued the traditional
tag day and joined the Thompson Valley United Appeal in 1959 and received a $500
donation that was twice as much as the normal tag day proceeds. This community chest
concept had been proposed by the Auxiliary in 1929 as a solution to the city’s social
welfare needs and finally it was a reality. Some progress was made in the sixties with a
new Nurses Residence completed in 1964 and a nine storey South Tower that brought
the number of beds to over 300 in 1965.121
In December 1974, the Auxiliary celebrated its seventy-fifth anniversary and
compiled a historical report that provided the Auxiliary with a sense of identity. The
importance of their historical record had already been showcased in 1968 when eight
members re-enacted the first meeting in 1899. All wore clothing from the period and
read excerpts from the original minutes. This type of activity helped meld and energize
their members and increased their profile in the community. The “Seventy-five Years
of Service” compiled by Norma (Betty) Dalgleish emphasized the contrasts between its
early fund-raising and that of the seventies. Originally it was reliant on teas, bake sales,
dances and membership fees of 50 cents from thirty members. The treasurer’s records
reveal periods of strength prior to the First World War with revenue ranging from $795 in
1910 to $1,166 in 1913. The war, however, reduced funds to between $500-$600 but it
recovered in the interwar years and Great Depression to $1,000 and the forties witnessed
a recovery to $2,000.122 There was a steady expansion in revenues but two major leaps
forward occurred when the Auxiliary opened the Thrift shop in 1963 and acquired control
over the hospital concession in 1967. Both were run by volunteers and these successful
money-raisers were able to provide $5358 for new equipment within a short time of
their operation. The Vancouver Auxiliary also widened its base of volunteers and now
included young men and women over the age of fourteen and as a consequence changed
its name by dropping Women’s from its title in 1975. Like its Kamloops counterpart it
gained most of its revenue from the gift shops it opened. The Vancouver Auxiliary had
already demonstrated the profitability of opening a shop and since 1949 had continued
to accumulate more funds for the hospital. By 1966 its net profit was $28,590 and a
year later its annual budget was at $32,900 with over 500 volunteers. In Kamloops the
Auxiliary was also doing well and in 1974 the concession brought in over $15,000 and

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the Thrift shop collected over $10,000.123
Conclusion
Although the Ladies’ Auxiliary to the Royal Inland Hospital was similar to other hospital
auxiliaries in its objectives and tactics, place made its problems unique. From its earliest
days to the present, the hospital always had to serve not only Kamloops but also the
smaller communities and a large rural district. Throughout its history this situation
and the inadequate government funding often placed the hospital in a budgetary crisis
that was partially resolved by the Auxiliary. It also required city hall and the citizens of
Kamloops to come to its assistance and typically small town generosity and togetherness
came to the forefront by support for hospital by-law funding and through donations. A
small population created cordiality of neighbourly relations but it also heightened the
emotional impact when well known citizens and neighbours became the victims of the
Spanish Flu epidemic. It also meant that the pool of volunteers was much smaller than
in larger cities.
The social composition of the Auxiliary reflected the gradual evolution of
Kamloops into a more diversified and modern community. From a small number of elite
women who saw it as their social duty to engage in volunteerism, the Auxiliary expanded
and recognized the need to bring in other sectors of the population to assist the hospital.
Over the seventy-five years the membership grew slowly from the thirty-four original
members to 146 in 1971. While this was not a substantial figure, the services expanded
greatly and demonstrated the dedication of the membership. The Auxiliary expanded to
seventy-three by 1914 but the executive remained women whose family had status in the
community like Mrs. Winnifred Fulton, Mrs. Jane Anne Burton, Mrs. R.A. Bethune and
Mrs. Elizabeth Burris.124 By 1928 some of the pioneer founders like Mrs. Halla Benzie
who served as president for seven years and Mrs. Violet Lee, another strong contributor
died. The annual report recorded “We desire to place on record our appreciation of these
lives so faithfully lived so strong in service, and whose devotion to the social welfare of this
community tended greatly to its development as we have it today.”125 Mrs. Annie Wyllie
served for four years as president before resigning due to illness and was succeeded by
Mrs. R.M. Turner. At that point it had a membership of ninety members and remained

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at this approximate level for the next decade.126 In the 1938 report, the president, Mrs.
S.A. Wallace noted the death of Mrs. R.W. Irving “one of our most esteemed and faithful
members. Her bright personality and willing helpfulness in this organization can never be
forgotten.”127 On the fiftieth anniversary she observed that a few of the original members,
Mrs. Rlandral Herchmer, Mrs. Mary Aikens, Mrs. Fanny Herod and Mrs. Eleanor Irwin
still lived in the community.
The success of the Auxiliary was measured not just in its aid to the hospital but
in the spirit of volunteerism that emerged among the members. Mrs. Bessie Whyte, the
president in her report for 1947 congratulated the members on the outstanding year of
service and attributed it to their “fine spirit,” “splendid co-operation” and that “Christian
urge” to help others.128 Another president, Mrs. Nellie Scott, saw volunteer work as her
“pet hobby” and it was the appreciation expressed by patients, staff and the Board of
Directors that was her reward. Providing the extra comforts to make the hospital more
livable and a better institution was a worthwhile cause. She summarized her motive by
quoting the motto, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”129 Organizing the numerous
fund-raising events, however, could be taxing, especially for the president. It was perhaps
the realization of these demands that led to the Auxiliary being unable to find a member
willing to serve as president in 1953. It recovered soon after and numerous succeeding
presidents ensured expansion, development and the adoption of modern fund-raising
techniques. With life expectancy increasing and the population expanding more work
could be expected. One delegate to the National Convention remarked that “The lady
in the smock was becoming as indispensable as the lady with the lamp.” Growth in
Auxiliaries was necessary and by 1968 Kamloops Auxiliary had 109 members.130
Separate spheres ideology kept the Auxiliary in a secondary and supplementary
role of assisting but never leading and always answerable to the Board of Directors.
Societal views of women as caregivers made it an assumption that women were doing
their social duty. At the beginning it was only the upper middle class women who had
the free time and resources to become involved. Nonetheless, the high social status of
the women placed them as community leaders that won recognition for selfless work,
humanitarianism and determination to succeed at their objectives. They were also given
the opportunity to bond with other women and gain access to a public space. Societal

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norms that expected women to be the caregivers of the community remained evident
during the Great Flu pandemic but volunteerism was more an individual choice rather a
consequence of social pressure. Whenever the need increased as in the Great Depression
women in the Auxiliary became more resolved to assist the hospital; it was not only in times
of emergency that the Auxiliary excelled. Chronic government under funding constantly
strained the hospital’s capability to meet the health requirements of the population not
only for Kamloops but the large surrounding region where health facilities were totally
absent. In the post-World War II era the challenges shifted but were constant. Population
growth placed additional strain on the hospital’s resources and required more effort on
the part of volunteers to keep pace. Traditional methods of supporting the hospital were
partially successful but by the seventies new fund-raising techniques became the path
for the Auxiliary to continue to be of future assistance. In the end it was the dedication
and determination of generations of women that cared for Kamloops and improved the
health of the community.

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CHAPTER THREE
The Drink Problem and the Kamloops Woman’s Christian
Temperance Union
“Kamloops had a very unenviable notoriety last winter, Pistols and Knives were
frequently drawn, in one case it was little short of a miracle that a man was not
shot.”
John Mara, Kamloops’ politician and developer.

“Intemperance was a moral issue to be fought with spiritual weapons.”
Mrs. D. Campbell, Kamloops Woman’s Christian Temperance Union.

Local social problems, particularly heavy drinking, were evident in the1880s and 1890s
and this became the driving force that brought women together to form the Kamloops
Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (KWCTU) in 1898. Railway labourers, miners,
cowboys, and common labourers, many of whom were young and transient exacerbated
the problems of drinking, gambling and prostitution. A rough homosocial culture evolved
that at times gave the town a “wild and wooly” or “wild west” reputation. In this instance,
place had a negative connotation and the KWCTU worked to change Kamloops from
a frontier to a respectable settlement image by emphasizing Christian morality and the
family. Although only a few primary records of the Union have survived, it is possible
to pull together a fairly accurate sketch of its activities by comparing it to the national
and provincial associations. The Kamloops WCTU was formed twenty-four years after
Letitia Youmans organized the first Canadian WCTU in Picton, Ontario. Her interest
in temperance stemmed from her concern over the damage that alcohol was having on her
community. Influenced by the American temperance movement and the formation of the
American WCTU a month earlier, she decided it was time to engage in political lobbying
to achieve a solution to this problem. She was a stable and moderate leader who attracted
other women into the organization by developing a conservative but active strategy. This
concern for the community would also be the primary reason for the formation of the
KWCTU.131 While the national Union evolved to a take a strong political stance, small
town conservative values and evangelicalism ensured that the KWCTU developed its

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WOMEN CARING FOR KAMLOOPS: 1890-1975

own brand of volunteerism.
Throughout the late 1870s and early 1880s provincial branches were established
across Canada. In 1883 British Columbia organized its provincial branch in Victoria.
Local support from each province made the WCTU a national organization and led to the
creation of the Dominion WCTU in 1885. By 1900 the WCTU had 10,000 members
which made it larger than any suffrage group. The reason for its rapid growth was because
it organized unions in both large and small towns whereas suffrage societies located only
in large towns. The main goal of the WCTU was prohibition but unlike other reform
groups, it did not try to change the individual but instead attempted to create a new
moral society. Temperance and social purity became interconnected as the Union set
up a department of Moral Education to teach mothers how to give advice on sexuality,
reproduction, and family life, a Department of Purity in Literature, Art, and Fashion, and
a Department of Health and Heredity. Its main purpose, however, was temperance and
this could only be accomplished through legislation. From its standpoint, alcohol caused
crime, disrupted homes and families, and victimized women and children. Its objective
was to create an environment that would protect women and children in order to “uplift
the race.” In their opinion, “women did not merely have babies: they reproduced the
race.”132 Popular eugenics theories on racial degeneration and the need to purify the
race by the institutionalization and sterilization of the feeble-minded were presented in
its journal and at national conventions. It was not alone in this belief and most reform
minded women within the Provincial Council of Women pressured the government
to establish institutions for the feeble-minded in the 1930s.133 The WCTU leaders,
however, kept their distance from direct involvement in the campaign. Nonetheless, they
reflected the stereotypical views of the period and blamed working class and immigrant
men as the greatest abusers of alcohol and held that they had to be controlled. Being
white middle class Anglo-Canadian and Protestant, WCTU members saw themselves
as racially superior. Its executive members were also mostly married to lawyers, doctors,
businessmen, journalists and clergymen who shaped an Anglo-Canadian culture that was
intolerant of outsiders and anyone deemed deficient. Although the leaders avoided the
worst aspects of eugenicist concepts they acquired ethnocentric and sometimes racist
attitudes from their traditional religious, missionary, and imperialist views that equated

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white as light and purity and coloured as darkness. They were only saved from the
outright racism by their evangelical beliefs that all people were potentially useful citizens
no matter their race as long as they followed Christian principles. These prejudicial views
meant that they treated native, coloured, and immigrant women as children who needed
to be moulded into their image.134
In order to create an environment where women could take an active role and be
safe from public criticism, the WCTU confined the organization to women. It created a
female cultural space and gave women a place in a male dominated society. Nineteenth
century social values generally excluded women from public speaking and tended to
make them anxious about involvement in organizations, but the WCTU gave them a
personal female space where they could explore their creativity. The organizational
structure provided women with the opportunity to express their agency. Here, they
learned to overcome some of their nervousness and fears of male criticism. Their new
experience within the organization and at public meetings diminished these feelings and
they developed their own value system and goals. As they became more comfortable,
their confidence grew and they gained public recognition for their efforts. The WCTU
worked hard to win over the upper strata of respectable women to its membership.
Often competing with other reform organizations, it attempted to attract members
by creating an active association. A Plan of Work Department ensured efficient and
diversified meeting schedules. Meetings started with a short religious service and each
committee had an opportunity to be the focal point on a rotational basis. To maintain
interest and attract new members it had parlor meetings at prominent women’s homes
and encouraged rural support by distributing temperance literature to those areas and
maintaining links to the local union. To win over the younger generation it began the
Young Woman’s Christian Temperance Unions and the Loyal Temperance Legions for
children that provided education on temperance issues. In 1884, the Woman’s Journal
became its forum for temperance literature. To make the public aware of their campaign,
all members wore a white ribbon symbolizing purity and temperance. Further publicity
was achieved by announcements, the reporting of meetings and by publishing temperance
material in local newspapers.135
In these early years, its major focus was to appeal to the government at both the

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WOMEN CARING FOR KAMLOOPS: 1890-1975

local and provincial level to restrict the sale of alcohol. It was a moderate policy that
reflected the members’ social and religious background. At this stage, it preferred not
to appear aggressive as it might “alienate support for their cause in the community.”136
Petitions to the government, however, failed to bring in legislation. Instead, the
government held a national plebiscite on prohibition in 1898 and every province except
Quebec favoured it. Its reliance on Quebec’s political support ensured the government
would not move forward. Frustrated by the unwillingness of male politicians to act on
social issues, women now turned to suffrage as the tool to care for the home and family.
This emphasis on women’s maternal role made prohibition and suffrage
respectable and won over many women who were reluctant to become involved in radical
reform activity. By continuing to accept the existence of separate spheres, the WCTU
members established that they were not ‘new’ women and emphasized their role as
the guardian of the home and family. They would create a moral society by providing
leadership and guidance. The WCTU held that mothers had to train their daughters
while schools should offer domestic science for girls in order to train them to be good
mothers. This attempt to create a moral society, at times, led them to over-react about
such issues as nude art, gambling, clothing styles, theatre, movies, and women working
as bar maids. On a more positive side, it maintained that women required a greater role
in looking after society. For example, the WCTU lobbied for female factory inspectors,
women on school boards and in civic offices, and for matrons within the police and in
jails. In this manner, the WCTU attempted to extend their social roles but still remain
within the accepted domestic ideal for women.137
By 1891 British Columbia had the highest Canadian per capita membership in
the WCTU. Part of the explanation may be that there were fewer competing women’s
organizations in the west and therefore the WCTU provided women with the support
they required to bring stability and respectability to a male-dominated pioneer society.
Moreover, the strength of the provincial membership came from its appeal to women in
small towns. While it had Unions in all the major cities, numerous small towns formed
their local branches between 1884 and 1898. These included Vernon, Revelstoke,
Armstrong, Ladner, Trail, Hope, Moodyville, and Kamloops. Wendy Mitchinson
provides three reasons for this pattern. First, intemperance became a social rather than

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an individual issue when a town reached a higher population. Secondly, small town
residents wanted to stop the drinking problem before it escalated as it had in the major
urban centers. The third reason was that prohibition was a local option and therefore
each town had to organize a WCTU in order to campaign and win legislation against
intemperance.138
Other factors that need to be added to Mitchinson’s account were the existing
social conditions in British Columbia and, in particular, in railway towns like Kamloops.
John Belshaw’s recent population history describes how the “gold rush ushered in a decade
of dramatically distorted sex ratios” and British Columbia became a “Man’s Province.”
Every census recorded a high number of single young men and those at age twenty
outnumbered women by more than two to one until 1914. This overrepresentation of
single men created an environment that Adele Perry has described as a rough homosocial
culture. The resource-based nature of the province attracted thousands of young men

Frontier Male Culture personified by photo entitled, “Big Game Hunters.”
Image 1204 courtesy of Kamloops Museum and Archives

who lived in logging and railway camps, mining towns and ranches where their leisure
activities consisted of drinking, gambling and sex with prostitutes.139 The respectable
middle classes, Church groups and WCTU were anxious and concerned about their

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WOMEN CARING FOR KAMLOOPS: 1890-1975

behaviour and attributed it to their lack of religious conviction. According to Lynne
Marks’ research, their fears were justified as B.C. in 1901 had the highest number
of atheists and lowest church attendance in the country. She notes that “There was a
common late-nineteenth century saying that men left their religion behind them when
they crossed the Rocky Mountains.”140 This exaggerated statement has some truth to it as
more people in B.C. declared themselves to be atheists, agnostics or of no religion than in
any other province. Although atheists numbered only 2,674, they made up 1.5 percent
of the population and were symbolic of the greater number of people who were hostile or
indifferent to religion.
By 1900 B.C. was definitely a Christian province but most Protestant
denominations had difficulty attracting people to their churches. Church leaders blamed
the quest for material gain and transient young men who were no longer under the
influence of their Christian families for this religious indifference. Geographically, the
Interior of B.C. appeared to be the most irreligious and also had the highest numbers
of single young men. Marks’ study of the 1901 census confirmed that in the Yale and
Cariboo district only 32.4 percent of the population was female and this correlated with
the “highest proportion of atheists, at 2.4 percent of the total population.” The census,
however, also revealed that a significant number of atheists were married men, and single
and married women but contemporary Christian critics and social reformers focused on
the young man problem and called for temperance and Sunday closing legislation.141
Throughout the province, the male dominated pioneer population was prone to
heavy drinking. Gold rush miners, lumbermen, cowboys, railwaymen, prospectors and
hard rock miners, were generally single men who had very few sources for recreation
other than drinking. From the earliest gold rush, mining towns including Kamloops
were the centers of drinking, gambling and prostitution. Attempts by the churches to
convert them were dismal failures. One missionary, Luden Brown remarked “The mass
of people were reckless and ungodly.” A.J. Heibert’s research on prohibition observed
that “Men drank to get drunk and the quicker the better.”142 Payday was the occasion
for mass drinking and generally led to drunkenness, fights, accidents, crime, poverty,
prostitution, and disrupted family life. The police were kept busy dealing with all the
social problems caused by excessive drinking. In the nineteenth century, people consumed

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Drinking and Male Culture
Bar of Montreal Hotel, Kamloops, 1905
Image 4363 courtesy of Kamloops Museum and Archives

large quantities of alcohol and considered it a healthy drink that was often more readily
available than tea, coffee, and clean water. It was a province wide phenomenon and
residents of B.C. surpassed their eastern Canadian counterparts by consuming one and
a half times as much liquor. Seasonal unemployment in the lumber and other resource
industries only added to the problem and increased the tendency to drink.143
The building of the Canadian Pacific Railway which required thousands of
transient workers magnified the problems. Railway camps were seedbeds of vice and
drinking that could spread their negative characteristics to nearby communities like
Kamloops. Railway towns soon became known for their drinking, gambling, and
prostitution. The B.C. Provincial Police and local police whose jurisdiction they
fell under proved incapable of controlling the situation. Early attempts to legislate
prohibition such as the Public Works Peace Preservation Law, commonly called the Dry
Belt Law that provided for a 20 mile “dry strip” along the tracks brought in during the
building of the C.P.R. in the 1880s and 1890s was unsuccessful because of jurisdictional

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WOMEN CARING FOR KAMLOOPS: 1890-1975

disputes between the federal and provincial governments. B.C. law continued to allow
licensed saloons and hotels to sell liquor even in the construction zone. The town of
Yale symbolized all the social problems that went along with the C.P.R. construction and
every night turned into a “tawdry carnival, its long main street resounding with drunken
laughter and raucous shouting.”144 After the usual twenty-four hours of drinking on a
Saturday in 1881, an editorial described the situation on Sunday.
“Yale was en fete that day, in a wild and woolly sense and the one long
main business street, fronting on the river, presented a scene and sounds
at once animated and grotesque, bizarre and risqué. The shell-like shacks
of saloons, whereof every third building nearly was one, fairly buzzed and
bulged...Painted and bedizened women lent a garish colour to the scene.
On the hot and dusty road-side or around timbers, rails, and other R.R.
“construction” debris, men in advanced stages of intoxication rolled and
fought in bestial oblivion.”145
Law and order proved to be an impossible task for the one Constable, John
Kirkup, who controlled the district. Other laws like the Sunday Law passed in 1891

Montreal Hotel with patrons outside the bar in early 1900s.
Image 9714 courtesy of Kamloops Museum and Archives

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were generally ignored by saloon owners, their patrons and the police. The same was
true of a night closing act as saloon owners refused to limit their profits by closing early.
Before 1900 saloons were open twenty-four hours, seven days a week and were the centre
of social life. They were not only a place for drinking and entertainment but served as
union halls, employment offices, and club centers.146
Kamloops fit in with the provincial pattern of heavy drinking. Without many
social amenities and a high proportion of young single men, a rough male culture created
numerous social problems in the nineteenth and early twentieth century. Complaints
about the “wild west” nature of Kamloops were forwarded to the attorney general in
1872 by John Mara, a local politician and developer. He was mainly concerned about
the “Drovers and Packers from the Wagon Road” as well as the men connected with the
railway survey. “Kamloops,” he remarked, “had a very unenviable notoriety last winter,
Pistols and Knives were frequently drawn, in one case it was little short of a miracle
that a man was not shot.”147 Mara was expressing a common desire on the part of the
respectable part of the community that law and order be maintained and to a great extent
it retained a good reputation with few gun fights or murders. One flaw, however, was
alcohol consumption and in 1884, the Inland Sentinel placed another warning against
heavy drinking after a man’s body was found on the Main Street. After a night of drinking,
it was believed he fell and broke his neck. Its statement was short and clear, “Whiskey did
it.”148 The construction of the C.P.R. through the centre of the town in 1885 led to the
same social problems as experienced by every community on its route.
In 1895 there were eight hotels with liquor licenses and more applications were
pending. Mr. Hardwick from the Independent Order of Good Templars criticized the
excessive drinking in the community and noted that there was one saloon for every 120
people and one for every fifty males.149 The situation was not to improve because one
third of the population was between sixteen and thirty and young males still were the
largest proportion and mostly worked as common labourers. The annual police report for
1900 stated that twenty-nine of the eighty-one crimes recorded crimes were for “drunk
and disorderly” or other related liquor offences and this remained the most common
crime throughout the decade. In 1912 four women owners of separate ‘bawdy houses’
received fines for selling liquor without a license and although the police announced their

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WOMEN CARING FOR KAMLOOPS: 1890-1975

intention to enforce the law and also instructed ‘bawdy houses’ to remove their red lights
from the front door it proved difficult to break established patterns.150
It was not only the transient railway workers who sought drinking as their main
social activity. Cowboys from local ranches took any opportunity to visit the saloons.
On one night in May 1906 four ranch hands were sent to town to round up a herd of stray
cattle near town and instead went straight to the Montreal Hotel and got drunk on $30.00

Cowboys assembled at the Edwards Ranch, North Thompson.
Image 1196 courtesy of Kamloops Museum and Archives

worth of whiskey. When they finally left the saloon, each took a bottle of whiskey with
them to fortify themselves while they did the job. While not causing any damage in the
bar, they did knock down some fences while herding the cattle and collapsed in drunken
stupors at the bunkhouse without properly looking after their horses. Besides whiskey,
local drinkers had easy access to beer after the Imperial Brewery established itself in 1894.

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Kamloops definitely was a drinking town and to meet the demand the brewery produced
eight hundred gallons of beer a day for local and export consumption. Prohibition put
an end to local sales but the brewery managed to survive on its exports and it was bought
by Rainier Brewery Company in 1920 just before Prohibition was repealed. Despite the
problems created by these local issues, Kamloops civic leaders still retained a small town
approach to drinking and the law in the 1890s. The Inland Sentinel, for example, felt that
the best way to avoid confrontations between drinkers and the authorities was to hire
policemen who were well known and well liked in order to enforce the laws.151
Other groups like the Temperance Society, the Good Templars and the KWCTU
faced the local social problems more directly and tried to ban the booze. Like most
communities, the citizens of Kamloops wanted to create a respectable and responsible
town where they could raise their families and not be subjected the problems created by
excessive drinking. One of the first steps to accomplish this was the establishment of a
Temperance Society in 1888 but it only lasted a year. The Independent Order of Good
Templars also promoted temperance and campaigned within the community for both
young and old to take the pledge. They gained public recognition when they tried to
block the Queen’s hotel from obtaining a liquor license in 1895. The owner protested
that the petition against him was unfair as there were eight other establishments that
had been granted liquor licenses and many of the petitioners were women and young
people between the age of fourteen and twenty and therefore did not have legal rights.
On behalf of the Templars, Mr. Hardwick stated that the reason for the large number
of women petitioners was because “It was women who suffered more from increases in
drinking habit than men.”152 He was countered by a leading citizen, James McIntosh,
who argued that a great many people used liquor, especially businessmen and without a
license at the hotel they would go elsewhere to stay. Surprisingly, Mayor R.H. Lee did not
agree and denied the Queen’s Hotel a license but in a short time it circumvented the law
by establishing a club where alcohol could be purchased. The Good Templars continued
their campaign for prohibition during the 1896 Dominion election and tried to make
it an election issue. Without success, they continued to meet until 1900 but lost their
motivation. It had a brief revival in 1914 and the forty-six members vowed to “further
moral advancement due to the efforts of temperance advocates in the fight against the

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chief curse of civilization.”153 The Good Templars diminished in strength throughout
these years but women founded a more successful local branch of the WCTU in 1898.
Except for closure due to the First World War from May 1918 to November 1920 it
became a constant force in the community.
On the surface the WCTU can be viewed solely as a temperance organization but
some historians feel that its importance is only revealed when its role in defining middleclass women’s culture is taken into account. Its creation of an evangelical vision for society
was at the centre of the WCTU’s culture and enabled women to break free of traditional
domestic roles. Described by historians as “evangelical feminism” it envisioned a reformed
society based on the family and Christian values. This ideology appealed to middle class
women and enabled even very conservative women to take progressive steps to reform
society and rid it of male vice. The Union’s morality campaign came directly from its
religious background of Protestantism and, in particular, sects like the Methodists that
supported prohibition and made up forty-three percent of the executive. The Methodist
mandate for religious activism stimulated the growth of voluntary associations and gave
women a public role. In comparison, those who were not as strong prohibitionists like the
Presbyterians made up eighteen percent while the more moderate Anglicans numbered
ten percent.154
In Kamloops, the Union’s membership fluctuated from a fairly large number
to years when only a few dedicated women kept it going. Its social composition
tended to be middle class or respectable working class but its defining feature was the
religious orientation of its members. At the turn of the century, Kamloops had a strong
representation of religious groups such as Methodists, Baptists and Presbyterians who
were strong advocates of temperance. In the early years one member of the executive
was Mary Spencer, a Baptist and the photographer who was best known for her portraits
of the infamous train robber, Bill Miner.155 Its middle class membership was evident at
the annual meeting in 1911 where Mrs. Lena Corey whose husband was the pastor at
the First Baptist church was elected president, and Mrs. Jane Taylor, vice-president was
Methodist and married to a contractor. Other middle class women such as Mrs. Austin
were the recording secretary, and Mrs. Robertson, the treasurer. Following the national
pattern, it appointed department superintendents. Mrs. Annie McCannell took control

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of the flower department, Mrs. T. Howell, Sunday school work, Mrs. J. W. Rice, the
lumbermen and miners section, and Mrs. Lena Corey, moral education. In the same year
another eight new members joined and in the next year, the membership increased about
sixty percent. In 1912, another respected citizen, Mrs. Mary Dalgleish, wife of a well
known pioneer and entrepreneur, joined the executive as one of the vice-presidents. This
social composition fits into the typical volunteer association membership pattern and it
continued to remain the same into the post-World War II era.156
Women had always been active in church affairs and the WCTU provided an even
greater opportunity to express their views and act together to bring change. It became
their religious duty to agitate for prohibition and the suffrage. As stated by Wendy
Mitchinson, the women in the WCTU were “social feminists, not feminists.”157 They
still believed women’s role was to care for the home but this could only be accomplished
when women became active in changing society. Prohibition was central to the health of
society and this could only be accomplished after women gained the right to vote.
became the accepted culture for the WCTU in the late nineteenth century but its
conservatism had to modernize and liberalize in order to deal with increased secularism,
industrialization and immigration.158
These changes in strategy led to divisions between the WCTU locals after 1900.
While the national and provincial organizations adapted to modern requirements,
Sharon Anne Cook argues that the local unions she investigated in Ontario retained
their conservatism. Evangelicalism divided into two camps with the “liberals” approach
being more society oriented and the “conservative” more individually oriented. Letitia
Youmans’ decision to follow Francis Willard’s American example moved the national
organization in a political direction. Legislation became the only way to gain temperance.
The national organization also moved to an environmental approach and began to view
drunkenness as a consequence and not simply the cause of poverty. The local unions, on
the other hand, continued their personal evangelical beliefs. They still valued the family,
responsible mothers, and dedicated themselves to support the spiritual and temporal
needs of society and saw it as their public duty to help its weaker sectors.159 Local WCTUs
retained a conservative evangelical culture that can be traced back to the middle class
ethic of respectability. From here the responsibility to the family and then to society

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developed and brought them into active campaigns to improve their communities. This
evangelical vision remained strong among local groups but decreased among leaders of
the national organization.160
Small town conservative values ensured that the KWCTU would develop its own
brand of evangelical volunteerism rather than follow the national Union. The evangelical
culture was at the core of the Kamloops association and determined efforts were made to
change society particularly working class men who had a reputation for heavy drinking and
gambling. The regular monthly meetings were set up like church services with opening
prayers, hymns, a collection, and addresses by clergymen, and closed with a benediction.
They believed that religious faith was the key to a moral society and supported any
legislation that increased the church’s social position. The members assumed that when
people gained faith they would stop drinking and lead a respectable life.
This evangelical approach formed the basis for its Departments that helped the
needy or those who they viewed as requiring moral guidance. In 1912, for example, the
Union specifically set up a committee led by Mrs. Howell, a member of the mission and
literature department, to bring a much needed civilizing tone to the Canadian Northern
railway camps where the men were known for their rough hard drinking and unruly
temperaments.161 Faced with this working class culture the KWCTU continued its
evangelical approach into the 1920s long after the national and provincial Unions became
more politically oriented. The Kamloops minute books reveal that it dedicated an entire
year to “Women of the Bible” as a theme and often had solos and recitations to reinforce
their spiritual ties. Regular meetings at times hosted special guest speakers on Scientific
Temperance that focused on the effects of alcohol on the mind, body, and society while
other meetings conducted book and pamphlet studies. Together, they reinforced the
need to remove the problems of alcohol at a local level by evangelical methods.162
These differences between Unions were a common feature of the WCTU.
While most unions followed national leadership, there were differences in policy and
direction between them. For example, Nancy Sheehan’s research on Saskatchewan
WCTUs during the period, 1886–1930 bears resemblance to the Kamloops Union. The
Saskatchewan Unions were more concerned with charitable and benevolent activities
than the Alberta Unions which had prohibition and suffrage as their focus. She attributed

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these differences to “local leadership, political differences, and contrasts in economy
and settlement patterns.”163 In a similar manner, Kamloops was less political than the
national and provincial Unions but it did demonstrate progressive leanings by giving
strong support for their objectives. The Unions in Saskatchewan, on the other hand,
passed very few resolutions dealing with legislation most of their work was charitable
and educational. They tended to emphasize moral suasion and work among the poor
and youth. Saskatchewan was more involved in charitable work through its Flower,
Fruit and Delicacy departments and viewed it as important work because this outside
work brought rich and poor in contact. Another activity, the Loyal Temperance League,
consumed its energy by trying to introduce temperance to children at the age of seven
through meetings and games. It also established a Social Service Department to find
solutions to child welfare problems, mental and disease issues.164
Similarly, the Kamloops Union concerned itself with local issues and was more
evangelical than political. The standard tactics were applied to influence and encourage
the local population to stop alcohol consumption. Public temperance meetings occurred
annually and special public meetings held whenever officers from the Provincial WCTU
visited. The members went to all the Sunday schools in town to promote Temperance
lessons and established Youth branches like the Little White Ribboners and Loyal
Temperance Legions for children to ensure that the young population became aware
of temperance ideas. Other tactics included poster and speech contests, a celebration
of Francis Willard Day, an annual World Wide Day of Prayer, and the distribution of
Temperance literature at public venues like the Fall Fair and to schools. It maintained a
public profile by writing letters, circulating petitions that opposed more liquor outlets,
beer by the glass, race tracks and other activities that might lead people astray.
The local Union’s main concern was to contribute to the community and it created
a number of departments to assist the more needy members of society. The Kamloops
WCTU was similar to the Ontario and Saskatchewan locals where the Evangelical
Departments focused on the spiritual needs of both members and community and often
were the largest department.165 In Kamloops, the “Departments of Work” distributed
Christian tracts, created reading rooms, sewing and gardening clubs, and literacy and
temperance lessons. Much of the work was at a very local level and non-political. The

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Temperance cartoon; Victoria
Image D-07520 courtesy of Royal BC Museum, BC Archives

Fruit and Flower Department, for example, made 210 visits to the hospital in one year
and provided bouquets of flowers, baskets of fruit, baby clothes and other clothing.
Throughout the twenties, the Union was active in providing assistance to needy families
and took on special cases such as befriending a woman who shot her husband in selfdefense, caring for a young man who had his leg amputated after an accident, and funding
a young English woman so that she could get to her destination.166
The KWCTU was often fighting an uphill battle against a rough social environment
but it made strong efforts to alter working class drinking habits. In the first decade of the
twentieth century, Kamloops attempted to improve its image but it remained tarnished
by heavy drinking. The population increased from 500 in 1885 to 3,772 in 1911 as the
benefits of the C.P.R. began to take effect. Its role as a major employer remained after
construction when it established a station and mechanical works in 1887 that employed

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seventy-nine officials and employees. Further prosperity occurred as Kamloops developed
into a transshipment center. Within the surrounding rural district the population stood
at 8,362 and these people visited Kamloops for supplies and entertainment. While part
of the population became more stable, there still remained a higher proportion of single
young men in both rural and city regions that were prone to heavy drinking. In rural areas
there were 3,963 single men as compared to 1,466 married while in the city the ratio was
1,602 single to 757 married. The prohibitionists still had their work cut out for them. To
overcome some of the problems the Union created a department that worked among the
lumbermen and miners to provide them with alternative recreation rather than drinking.
By 1910, the KWCTU appeared to have City Council on its side as it passed a by-law that
went beyond the provincial Liquor law by requiring all bartenders to be licensed. It also
stated that drunks could not be served and were not allowed to stay in the barroom.167
This caught the attention of the Victoria Daily Colonist and it commented that,
“if it were possible for civic legislation to be more drastic than Attorney
General Bowser’s new liquor act, the Kamloops aldermen have succeeded
in promulgating such. The new regulations have followed closely the
provincial law, but in several particulars have gone one better. If a city
can be made moral by law, then Kamloops will soon wear a halo.”168
The KWCTU continued to remain active in the community and by 1912 it increased its
membership by sixty percent.169
In the next few years, a few other steps were taken by the provincial government
against the drinking problem. A 1911 provincial law stated that saloon owners had three
years to convert their saloons into more respectable hotels and in 1913 the Sunday Law
and the night closing laws were tightened and more closely controlled by the police.170
By enforcing these new laws Kamloops appeared to be taking action and visitors and
locals were more favourably impressed with the community. A local Methodist minister,
George Farris, described Kamloops as “a tidy little city,” and like other small railway cities
“noted for their family spirit.”171 This image deteriorated rapidly when the Canadian
Northern construction workers poured into the saloons in 1913.
Laws might exist, but they were constantly broken and infractions were common
and often noted in the local newspaper. The courts were kept busy with people charged

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with being drunk and disorderly, possession of liquor, supplying liquor to Indians, and
intoxication. Saloons in the Red Light district were notorious for their infractions of the
laws. The Pioneer Saloon, for example, was often charged for selling liquor to prostitutes.172
Police and court records tend to demonstrate that those charged were repeat offenders.
From a reform perspective, the most damaging evidence against drink was that many of
those charged with robbery or other serious crimes were intoxicated at the time.
The continuance of poor social conditions throughout B.C. gave the
prohibitionists greater cause to call for tighter local laws and province wide prohibition.
Since its inception in 1883, the Provincial WCTU like the national organization accepted
the political views of Francis Willard on the need for women’s suffrage as a step to solve
the drink problem. When the provincial female franchise failed to be accepted in 1883,
the Provincial Union attempted to make inroads into the political system by electing
women as school trustees.173 The political solution remained in the forefront and from
1885 it conducted annual campaigns to gain the women’s franchise. The right to vote and
be elected onto school boards was won in 1884 but removed by the government decision
to appoint trustees. In 1892 elections were reinstated and Maria Grant became the first
woman school trustee in Victoria. It was an important victory as women had proven that
reforms could be achieved by lobbying the government to change legislation. Subsequent
elections also led to more women being elected to the School Board. Part of the reason for
their success was its close alliance with the Victoria Local Council of Women established
in 1894 and the WCTU’s members’ influence on the Council. Together, they created an
effective lobbying force. It also worked with the Victoria LCW on numerous campaigns
to improve conditions for women and children. In 1901 a Children’s Protection Act
initiated action to care for neglected, vagrant and delinquent children.174
In 1898, the year the KWCTU was formed, the Provincial WCTU was pleased
that the population of B.C. voted in favour of prohibition during the National Prohibition
Plebiscite. It was a short lived victory because the Dominion government pulled away
from making it a national law when Quebec opposed it. At the provincial level, the
WCTU faced opposition from the Richard McBride government since 1903 and in
1909 it blocked a Local option law. It did, however, bring in the aforementioned Sunday
Closing laws and forced saloons to convert to hotels in 1911.175 Under the leadership of

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its president, Maria Grant, the provincial WCTU turned away from politics in 1899 and
decided to focus on children in order to save the next generation from the evils of alcohol.
What brought the provincial WCTU back to politics and greater strength was
the provincial government’s decision to cancel the municipal franchise in 1908. A new
campaign brought in 300 new members and by next year it had thirty-seven unions in
the province. This activity continued between 1912-14 and together with the Council
of Women the primary focus was on the suffrage campaign. Social reform drew many
WCTU women like Nellie McClung into political action and they formed the Political
Equality League whose mandate was to win the vote for women. Morality issues such
as rescue work among young women and girls, censorship of movies, women’s work,
and curfews for youths also remained important.176 The focus on women and children
continued and generally the provincial organization felt that society created dangers for
them that only could be overcome by legislation. Often the law still worked in favour
of men and had to be changed. For example, the provincial WCTU attempted to alter
a law that placed girls age of sexual consent at sixteen while a male seducer could not be
prosecuted until the age of twenty-one.177
Like other small Unions, the KWCTU maintained an interest in politics by
following the Provincial WCTU mandate. It strongly supported the Women’s Franchise
and members, no doubt, attended meetings of the local branch of the Political Equality
League. At a November 1912 meeting the League set out principles that WCTU women
would find appealing. It called for the vote on the same terms as men in order to remove
the dual standard that disabled women. The other League objective that was in agreement
with the WCTU was “to remedy existing evils and to bring to the knowledge of the public
the inefficacy of some of the laws of British Columbia especially as they affect women
and children.”178 The campaign continued and the next major step came with the 1916
Referendum that enforced prohibition province wide with a vote of 36,392 to 27,217. In
Kamloops, the vote for prohibition was 456 as opposed to 168 while women’s suffrage
received 449 as opposed to 109. The Liberal candidate won.179
The First World War brought negative and positive effects that impacted the
WCTUs. Like other women’s organizations it refocused its work to fund-raising and
providing soldier’s comforts by knitting clothing and providing other necessities. Its

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membership reached a high point of 1700 members and 58 unions in 1914 but began to
drop as women took up the war effort. As the war progressed suffrage and prohibition
resurfaced as major concerns and it continued to press for reform legislation to improve
conditions for women and children. The War gave the WCTU more arguments for
restricting alcohol as it decreased the amount of grain available for food and lowered the
war workers’ efficiency. Prohibition became a way to express self-sacrifice and duty. It
was also a way for women to demonstrate their involvement in the war effort.180 Progress
appeared to take place when Harlan Brewster’s government enacted a prohibition law
in 1917 but it was later rescinded in the post-War period by the Dominion and B.C.
government. The confusion over the laws, the erratic enforcement and the ease of
procuring illegal alcohol led to another plebiscite being held in 1920. With women now
having voting power, prohibitionists expected a victory. To their surprise, many women
joined those who felt prohibition was not a feasible or desirable goal and it failed to pass.
While reformers saw young women’s involvement in entertainment such as dance halls,
amusement parks and movies as dangerous to their moral purity and might lead them to
drink in beer parlours, young middle and working class women chose to be independent.181
“John Oliver Drugstores” became the government’s solution in 1921. The
Government Liquor Act that established government liquor stores where liquor and beer
would be sold at set prices throughout the province marked a new phase in government
involvement in public affairs. Tight regulation on sales and enforcement were its hallmark.
Bars and public drinking remained banned and tougher penalties for bootlegging were
instated. Hotels, however, avoided the laws by setting up private beer clubs and by 1923
pressure mounted to the point where the government held a plebiscite on beer by the glass.
The campaign against beer being sold by the glass brought the WCTU, the Methodist
Conference, the Federation of Nurses, the Women’s Missionary Society and fifty-four
societies affiliated to the Local Council of Women into action as they feared that it would
bring back saloons and immorality. The plebiscite was conducted by electoral district. In
his study Robert Campbell observed that it was the non-metropolitan ridings of Fernie
(78%), Lillooet (71%), Mackenzie (70%) and Cariboo (69%) that included Kamloops
which supported beer sales. The overall vote for the province was however against beer
by the glass. The close results with 73,853 against to 72,214 supporting it enabled the

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government to ignore the issue and bring in beer by the glass to be sold in beer parlours.
Although they failed in their objective, these organizations demonstrated the growing
voice of women and their ability to organize into alliances. It has to be recognized that
their campaigns sometimes defended their moral values rather than gender equality. This
was particularly noticeable when Vancouver women were banned from beer parlours.
Instead of defending women’s rights, the coalition under the Vancouver Council of Women
remained silent because they saw beer parlours as a threat to women and children.182
These were steps back for the WCTU but positive reform legislation such as
increased benefits for widows and children under Workmen’s Compensation Act, the
provision of public school nurses, and the establishment of kindergartens were definite
signs of progress. The end of the war also gave five women the opportunity to run for civic
offices on school boards and City Councils.183 Along with other women’s organizations,
the WCTU campaigned for a Mothers’ Pension as a way to reform society. Many of
the members reinforced their maternal feminist beliefs about the importance of the
family and agreed with Mrs. J. A. Gillespie from the WCTU when she told the Health
Insurance Commission investigating the issue that “We feel the place of the mother is
in the home with her child.”184 In this belief they had the support of the majority of
women’s organizations, reformers and politicians who saw the family as the stabilizing
unit in society.
In the interwar era the Kamloops WCTU still felt it had a lot of work ahead of
it and became more political in its activities. Laws did not stop people from drinking
alcohol in whatever form they could find it. The local police found that many were
becoming intoxicated from drinking lemon extract that was still laced with alcohol
while others obtained prescriptions to buy alcohol-laced medicine. In B.C. “over
300,000 prescriptions were issued from the date of the prohibition law to April, 1919,
during which time only nine doctors were prosecuted for flouting the law.”185 Of course
prohibition also encouraged bootlegging and Kamloops was no exception. In the North
Thompson construction camps liquor was brought in “kegs of nails, in jam or lard cans
and even in carcasses; two or three bottles easily fit into a gutted hog and quite a supply
could be carried in a matron’s padded corset.”186 Throughout the twenties and thirties, the
KWCTU continued a temperance campaign by placing newspaper advertisements and

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ads at movie theatres, and distributing temperance literature to members and the public.
A surge of political activity took place in 1921 and the KWCTU “received the Banner, as
the smallest Union giving the greatest help at the last election.”187 Annual meetings and
conventions of the Okanagan, North Thompson and Selkirk District WCTU in 1925,
1933, and 1939 provided opportunities to reinforce their views and spread the word.
Kamloops hosted the District convention in June 1925 and outlined the work done by
its numerous local departments such as scientific temperance, public and parlor meetings,
young people’s work, little white ribboners, fruit, flower and delicacy medal contests,
legislation, petitions, suffrage, and work among railway employees. The major concern at
the time of the convention was the recent law of licensing beer parlours and the twentyeight percent increase in liquor sales.188 Mrs. Gillespie, the provincial president, spoke on
the “Call of Today” which was for service. “Our characters are developed by our action.
Character spells efficiency, which is to be accomplished by study, application, sacrifice,
hard work and perseverance.” She finished with an appeal to save the nation of tomorrow
by saving the children of today. Another speaker, Mrs. D. Campbell of Armstrong
captured the Evangelical spirit that still prevailed by noting that “intemperance was a
moral issue to be fought with spiritual weapons.”189
During the Great Depression the KWCTU moved in a more political direction
and provided women with opportunities to enter the public arena. Conversely, the main
focus across B.C. was on charitable work and as people turned in this direction there
was a decline in the organization. Provincially, it dropped to twenty-seven unions with
only 556 members. The Kamloops Union continued its work and affiliated with the
Kamloops Council of Women in 1933 to co-ordinate charitable and reform issues. When
American prohibition came to an end in 1933 the British Columbia Temperance League
suffered a major defeat and decided to try to restrict alcohol rather than eliminate it but
in Kamloops the campaign against the evils of drink remained strong. There appeared
to be a definite need for action as liquor related crimes were becoming a very high profile
item in newspaper accounts. In June and July twenty-five people were arrested in eleven
days, three for breaking the liquor act by serving alcohol on Sunday or to natives while
fifteen were charged with drunkenness. These conditions no doubt explain why it became
a more active lobbyer and when the WCTU held a district convention in Kamloops that

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year, the vice-president, Mrs. Annie Campbell got strong support from the mayor, D.B.
Johnstone. Although not a prohibitionist, he spoke strongly against the sale of alcohol
through government liquor stores and the rapid spread of beer parlours. More definite
views were presented by Rev. R. J. McIntyre who addressed the convention with a speech
“Protecting the Race” that compared the present decadence to other civilizations like
Babylon, Persia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome which he claimed declined and fell due to their
debauchery. He identified the three great evils of the race as T.B., venereal disease, and
drink. Alcohol, he stated, “was a narcotic, a drug, a poison affecting self-control, a great
enemy of the individual.” Connecting biology to hereditary purity he appeared to be
reflecting the widely accepted eugenics theories of the late nineteenth and early twentieth
century. “Their children,” he stated, “had a right to be well-born. Biology knew of one
unforgivable sin and it demanded that life should be unimpaired.” “We must keep our
bodies free from this poison and the result will be a better race.”190
World War II provided the WCTUs of the Okanagan, Thompson and Selkirk
District with greater incentives. Continued concern for children’s health and education
were evident at the 1939 convention and the speeches contained a mix of patriotism,
evangelicalism and feminism. Mrs. J. Grey, former provincial president called for an
embargo against all aggressor nations while Miss Sabbe from Kamloops wanted teachers
to set a better example and to promote temperance. As it was the centenary anniversary
of Frances Willard’s birth, the Unions planted a double white lilac at Riverside Park
and gave a speech in her honour. Mrs. Mary Reekie, past provincial president of the
Saskatchewan branch, remarked that “better than any monument to the W.C.T.U. founder
is the work to raise the place of women in our national life; to increase their opportunities
for service; to help them to give as she gave, of their gifts and intellect.”191 When they
held their thirty-fourth annual district meeting in May 1942 with Mrs. Elizabeth Dierks
and Mrs. Annie Campbell of Kamloops as the president and treasurer it confirmed the
dedication of the KWCTU to the movement. The local unions reported increased
membership and more activity. War work had been added to their list of departments
and money and supplies were provided through the Soldiers’ Comfort Club. Speeches
and resolutions emphasized the need for greater vigilance at a time of war because “we
cannot drink ourselves to victory.” The Minister of Defense was asked to investigate the

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“whole problem of excessive drinking by men in uniform as it is detrimental to recruiting,
harmful to themselves and a disgrace to the King’s uniform.”192 The Kamloops branch
denounced the sale of liquor to soldiers and supported a delegation sent to the provincial
government in 1942 that called for the closure of all-night liquor stores, the curtailment
of liquor advertizing, that men and women be segregated in beer parlours and that they
close at 6:00 pm.193 The provincial government’s response was to bring in some rationing
of beer but it was due to a shortage rather than to outside pressure.
In the post-war period the WCTU continued its campaign against drinking and
the moral problems associated with it. Many Protestant church leaders agreed with its
position and remained concerned with the growing secularism within modern society.
They explained this phenomenon to be a consequence of the province’s position as the
last frontier that remained isolated, rugged and based on resource industries. It was a
place that valued freedom and lacked strict social conventions. From their point of view,
it still attracted rougher transient types of people who were less religious and unwilling
to accept Church restrictions. One example was the constant resistance to the Sunday
closing laws that were supported by the WCTU and Church leaders. The laws prohibiting
the sale of liquor on Sundays were easily by-passed by bootleggers and other back door
sales while legislators and the police turned a blind eye. This stereotype of the last frontier
still attached blame to white working class men, particularly loggers and miners as the
chief perpetrators of secular culture. In reality, religion was being challenged by men
and women from all walks of life. Assumptions of female piety also began to fade in the
1950s and 1960s when many women began to view churches as places of patriarchy and
sexism rather than centers for social interaction. Tina Block’s research has shown how it
was class, race, gender, family, regionalism, apathy, rationalism, and other modernist ideas
and not just imagined frontier characteristics that account for the province’s secularism.194
By the 1950s, the temperance cause found that its moral issues campaign no
longer gained much support and this led them to consolidate their position by changing
the British Columbia Temperance League to the Alcohol Research and Education
Council which based its arguments on scientific facts. The old themes initiated by the
WCTU were no longer in vogue and could no longer compete with modern views.
With the election of the temperance leaning Social Credit government in 1952 there

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were expectations that some recovery might be achieved. Mrs. W.S. Watson from the
Provincial WCTU wrote to Premier W.A.C. Bennett congratulating him on his party’s
recent victory and noted that it was “especially gratifying to us the chief objective of your
party is to apply Christian principles in the political realm, and thus endeavour to work
for the highest good of this province.” “We are indeed grateful that the whole subject
will be given earnest consideration by people, who like yourself, are sympathetic to the
temperance view point.”195 To placate both the temperance advocates and those who called
for expanded public drinking, Bennett called a Liquor Inquiry Commission to examine
the distribution and sale of alcohol. The WCTU’s goal was to block greater access and
especially public drinking as well as placing a ban of liquor advertising. The Commission’s
report was heavily critical of existing conditions in the province but the government did
little to satisfy temperance groups except to provide for a local option clause in the new
Government Liquor Act. In 1965 the Kamloops-Okanagan WCTU held its fifty-fifth
convention in Kamloops and elected Mrs. J.W. Reeves of North Kamloops as president
and given a life membership for her dedicated work among children. The warnings of
the evils of alcohol, physically, mentally and spiritually remained the same from most
speakers.196
Provincially, the WCTU felt the need to revive its case in 1969 when the
Bennett government appointed another Royal Commission to investigate its liquor laws,
regulation and the possibility of extending places to drink such as neighbourhood pubs.
The Commission in the end did not support neighbourhood pubs but called for greater
liberalization and favoured community clubs that provided food, all types of alcohol and
entertainment. Mrs. Rogers from the WCTU attempted to prevent this liberalization
and although the Commission recognized her “sincerity and zeal,” “her words fell on
stony soil.”197 The Commission generally accepted moderate drinking and looked for
methods to stop abuse through “prevention, education, treatment, and rehabilitation.”198
Under the New Democratic Party a new move to liberalize liquor laws began in
1972 that would allow neighbourhood pubs. The argument that this would promote
moderation was not accepted by a revitalized temperance movement. Another name
change from the Alcohol Research and Education Council to the Alcohol-Drug Education
Service was designed to keep up with what it perceived to be the modern social problems

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of marijuana, LSD and cocaine. This so-called New Temperance movement combined
different groups from secular, moral and political quarters. The WCTU continued its
opposition to alcohol but was generally being ignored by the press. To gain more support
it joined with other groups like the Alcohol-Drug Education Service, (formerly the B.C.
Temperance League) and condemned liquor liberalization as leading to abuse. By the
seventies politicians like David Anderson, provincial Liberal leader remarked on the
atrophy of the temperance movement and how this meant that “We lost a podium, a
forum, for discussion of the whole problem of alcohol; the “drys” have been obliterated
in effect by the ‘wets’.”199 Even he admitted that the majority of the province’s citizens
wanted more liberal liquor laws. With the return of a Social Credit government in 1975
liquor policy still continued toward liberalization but focused on moderation and greater
attention to alcohol abuse. Basically, it tried to find middle ground between advocates
of liberalization and temperance by making moderation the key to its liquor policy but
liberalization in the form of greater access to alcohol, privatization, and more promotion
of it as a consumer item and removal of negative moral connotations relating to drinking.
At the same time these moves revived an interest in temperance but government policy
both of the Social Credit and New Democratic parties worked against them in order to
satisfy popular pressure. Both parties appeared to be more concerned about the public vs.
private system of liquor control than with the issue of alcohol abuse.200
Conclusion
Since its formation in 1898 the Kamloops branch of the WCTU remained concerned
with the community on a number of different levels. Temperance was just one of many
issues its members became involved in to improve societal standards. Small towns had
drinking and other social problems equal to that of large cities. In fact, boom town
conditions in nineteenth century Kamloops and the higher proportion of single young
men created a rough homosocial culture that made it worse and expressed itself in heavy
drinking, gambling, and prostitution. Kamloops women joined with thousands of others
across Canada who wanted to create a new moral society. At the core of the Unions was
a maternalism that held women could only guard the family and society when they had
the vote. This “evangelical feminism” challenged existing governments and called for a

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reformed society based on the family and Christian values. Increasingly, they rejected
their confinement to the domestic sphere and lobbied for women on school boards, civic
offices, legislatures, and parliament. Perhaps the greatest benefit for individual members
was its creation of a female cultural space within a patriarchal society. It gave women
opportunities to express themselves, become involved in community affairs, and increase
the meaning of their lives.
Diversity was a major characteristic of the national WCTU and created a split
between the more politically active and conservative Unions. Local historical events,
place and different cultural values between communities created these separate responses.
In the early period, the Kamloops’ branch reflected the local conservative values and fit
more into an evangelical role. Defending Christian values and temperance, it placed most
of its energy into charity in the hope that providing assistance to the needy was a step to
creating a more respectable and moral society. Encouraging public temperance through
meetings, educational tracts for schools and the general public, petitions, and charity to
needy individuals and hospital patients, the KWCTU remained a steady force within
the community. Despite its conservatism, it conducted some successful campaigns at
the local level and gained City Council support to tighten liquor control in 1910 and on
other occasions.
Politically, the KWCTU generally took its cue from the provincial mandate
for prohibition legislation and suffrage but it demonstrated individual initiative on a
number of issues. It was adamant in its attack on beer by the glass in 1923 but it failed to
gain the support of the general populace. More success was achieved by its support for
provincial campaigns to improve conditions for women and children and health care.
Other indicators that it was evolving and moving beyond evangelicalism were its alliance
with the local Council of Women in 1933. In that same year the district convention was
noted for its strong resistance to government liquor stores and beer parlours. Crises like
the Great Depression and World War II naturally saw a return to charitable and soldier
assistance programs but the liquor control campaign was always central to its objectives
and became even stronger in the post-war period and the Kamloops branch remained
active and experienced some growth. The WCTU, however, had to contend with the new
societal trends of the sixties and seventies that undermined the old WCTU principles.

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In Kamloops some of the members had been with the Union for many years
and in 1965 Margaret Frisken received honourary recognition for her almost fifty years
of service from the president of the branch, Mrs. H.E. Woodrow. In the same year the
Kamloops-Okanagan district WCTU held its fifty-fifth annual meeting in Summerland
and forty-eight delegates representing six unions with 172 members attended. The theme
remained the same and the main message from the speakers was on “the evils of alcohol
physically, mentally and spiritually.” In 1971 another long time member, Dorothy
Hungar wrote a brief sketch of the KWCTU’s history highlighting the peaks and lows
of the Union’s record.201 Increasingly, however, the government was taking control of
liquor sales and with the liberalization of liquor laws by the New Democratic Party in
the seventies the WCTU was pushed into the background. When the Social Credit
government continued the same liberalization program, the WCTU continued to resist
but had little impact. The days of effective lobbying had passed and the majority of the
population had lost interest in the WCTU’s moral causes.

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Chapter Four
Kamloops Red Cross: From Guild to International Society
The Red Cross demonstrated “the fact that as individuals we can do very little and
have found out what a power there is in organization.”

Violet J. Lee, Kamloops Sentinel, January 16, 1925.

“The Red Cross belongs to the people as a whole, not merely to the small group
that direct its policies. It is truly a people’s movement, with a splendid record of
achievement; however, if we are to go forward helping those in distress, our true
strength must lie in the numbers of our supporters.”
Lilly Johnstone, President, Red Cross, Kamloops Sentinel, January 24, 1939.

While the Red Cross is perhaps the best known charitable organization in the world,
one of the best analytical studies of the organization, Champions of Charity: War and
the Rise of the Red Cross, by John Hutchinson comments that “Professional historians of
medicine, war and philanthropy seem to have ignored the Red Cross; one suspects that
like their fellow citizens they have largely taken it for granted.”202 To date, the majority
of books on the Red Cross are either idolizing biographies of its founder or institutional
histories that praise its charitable works. In Canada, most histories of the Red Cross like
P.H. Gordon’s Fifty Years in the Red Cross and McKenzie Porter’s To All Men: The Story of
the Canadian Red Cross fit into the latter category. A more analytical and research based
history has recently been provided by Sarah Glassford’s Ph.D. thesis, “Marching as to
War.” The Canadian Red Cross, 1885-1939,” 2007 and her article, “The Greatest Mother
in the World” Carework and the Discourse of Mothering in the Canadian Red Cross
Society during the First World War.” Much of her work is based on the more regional,
local and gender histories like Hugh MacLean Miller, Our Glory and Our Grief, Robert
Rutherdale, Hometown Horizons, Katie Pickles, Female Imperialism and National Identity
and Linda Quiney, “Bravely and Loyally They Answered the Call.”203 While national
and regional studies provide important background, more local studies like the history
of the Kamloops Red Cross are necessary to understand the diversity of how societies
were formed, differences in membership patterns and the unique challenges that arose in

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caring for a small community.
The scarcity of histories is surprising for an organization that dates back to 1859
when Henry Dunant, a Swiss businessman, witnessed the aftermath of a battle between
the French and Italian armies. The suffering of the sick and wounded compelled him
to promote a relief society and in 1863 a prominent Swiss citizen, Gustave Moynier,
president of the Welfare Society of Geneva took up the cause. He organized an
International and Permanent Committee for the Relief to Wounded Military Personnel
and called the Geneva Convention that drew up codes of neutrality for those who
assisted the wounded in the battlefield that was signed by twelve countries. The emblem
they chose to symbolize the organization was a Red Cross on a white background – the
reverse of the Swiss flag and the Committee immediately became known as the Red Cross.
Under the official name of the International Committee it set out to create a world-wide
movement. When Britain signed the convention in 1865, Canada automatically became
a participating member but it did not gain any recognition until the 1885 North West
Rebellion when Dr. George Sterling Ryerson hoisted a Red Cross flag on a wagon. While
he is credited for its Canadian origins, there were many other contributors to its real
formation in 1896. Originally, it was organized by men to help men. In these early years
it was a weak organization that was always close to collapse until the South African War,
1899-1902 gave it a purpose and direction in helping Canadian soldiers abroad. For
assistance it looked to women and particularly the NCW to form branches and soon after
it had provincial and city branches in most provinces. Prominent Vancouver citizens, for
example, met in March 1900 and established a branch. With most of its assistance being
the provision of clothing, bandages, food and comforts, the Red Cross became associated
with women’s work. It was nurturing and humanitarian but the development of Red
Cross Societies during wartime meant that international humanitarian concepts gave
way to patriotic endeavours to support their own troops. Later as countries prepared for
World War I patriotism became the driving force behind the national Red Cross bodies
and a citizen’s value began to be measured in the amount of work or money he or she
contributed to the Society.204
Both male and female leaders tended to hold strong conservative ideologies about
gender relations in society and held that women’s role was to serve the nation’s interest. It

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was assumed that women intrinsically were caring and compassionate and with the men
serving on the battlefield, women should do their duty at home. In countries like France
and Britain these views led to the Red Cross taking on a strong anti-feminist position
and it reminded women that “maternity is the patriotism of women.” In wartime, the
only rights women enjoy are “the right to serve and the right to give.” Wartime work
was identified as “the real feminism.”205 In Canada, there was a similar tendency to
place women into this nurturing role. From its origin, the Canadian Red Cross Society,
(CRCS) was gender based with the men controlling the business and political affairs
while women undertook the domestic roles of sewing, knitting, fund-raising and sending
comfort packages to the troops. Uncharacteristically, P. H. Gordon, the Chairman of
the National Executive Committee from 1941 to 1944, dedicated the last chapter of his
Canadian Red Cross history to women and found that he could not adequately express the
importance of their contributions. He remarked, “I regret that I feel utterly incompetent
to put into words what the Red Cross owes to the women of Canada. In fact without our
women there would be no Red Cross as we know it. Surely posterity will “Rise up and
call them Blessed.””206 Gordon’s observation written in 1969 still applies to the Kamloops
Red Cross. It exerted a considerable social influence and made outstanding contributions
to the city but has not been properly acknowledged.
Since its formation in 1914, the Kamloops Red Cross went through a number of
different stages that were fairly representative of women’s organizations. It, however, had
an unusual beginning as it was set up by single women rather than the typical middle class
married women who founded most associations. Once it moved beyond being a response
to the First World War, it became more maternal in its principal objective and concerned
with the welfare of mothers and children. This new role of caring for the community did
not restrict women; instead they became more independent and established their place
in society. The Red Cross provided them with opportunities to demonstrate their diverse
capabilities and its members became renowned for their hard work, organizational skills,
and efficiency. Furthermore, they expanded their role beyond caring for mothers and
children to being custodians of social services for the poor and needy during the Great
Depression. At a time that State assistance was minimal and ineffective, the Red Cross
provided the essential services for family survival. The challenges of meeting the needs

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WOMEN CARING FOR KAMLOOPS: 1890-1975

of soldiers during World War II shifted its priorities and created gender based structural
changes that continued into the post-war era. The crisis of war brought men into the
organization to deal with international affairs but it was the women who continued to
look after the community. Assistance to all citizens remained at the forefront and it
attempted to overcome some of the racist attitudes that developed against the Japanese,
Italian, and German population. After the War it continued to expand its social service
functions by re-introducing the peace program. It became involved in veteran’s assistance,
home nursing disaster relief, blood donor clinics and more relief work both at home and
abroad.
The above themes capture
the purpose, activity, and successes
of the Kamloops Red Cross but
essential to its story and to an
understanding of its motives are
the real-life stories of its members.
Although all volunteers deserve
attention, especially long term
members like Lilly Johnstone and
Janet Hall, one individual stands
out and symbolizes what the Red
Cross represented. Edith Norven
Bannerman, who married John
Edward Fitzwater in 1924, devoted
much of her life to the Red Cross.
Edith came from a middle class
Edith Fitzwater, 1956. Red Cross President in the 1930s and served the
background and her father, James Red
Cross for 35 years. Also Vice-President 1933, and President, 1941,
of the Kamloops Council of Women.
was involved in the community
Image 5917 courtesy of Kamloops Museum and Archives
as the Indian Land Agent for the
district. She was one of the single women who founded the Red Cross Guild in 1914
and demonstrated her organizational skills by effectively scheduling the cutting and
distribution of thousands of garments made during the war. She became president of the

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Guild between 1916-1919 and was instrumental in establishing the official Red Cross
branch in 1920. This was difficult to accomplish since the average person in the community
did not see the need for the organization in peacetime. Seeing beyond the present, she
and the other members of the Guild envisioned their involvement in peacetime activities.
She acted as the secretary-treasurer when the new branch opened in 1919 and retained
that position until 1928 when she then assumed the role of president. During the Great
Depression Fitzwater not only administered the funds of the Red Cross but also coordinated the donations of other volunteer associations. In the interwar years she also
acted as the convenor of the busy Well Baby Clinic that established important precedents
for the care of children.207 When World War II began, she took charge of the workroom
committee and put her experience from the previous war into practice. For seven years,
she organized sixty-two sewing groups, thirty-three in the city and twenty-nine within
the outlying districts. Their hard work was evident in the 63,369 articles they produced.
With such a large number of groups involved, it was a logistical challenge to distribute
the raw material and wool, and then collect the finished garments. To her credit, she set
up an efficient productive system whereby the material was cut out, distributed to sewing
groups, inspected, packed and shipped. Fitzwater and the women who worked with her
on the committee developed their organizational skills and through efficient management
ensured everything balanced. The Kamloops Sentinel felt the system was so effective; it
“might well be used as a pattern for streamlined production.”208 Fitzwater served as the
local president until 1936 and also as a delegate to the provincial branch. On a number
of occasions, she was the province’s vice-president and president and responsible for the
Red Cross’ work for the whole province. She was rewarded by being made an honorary
member of the national central council and awarded the highly honoured Coronation
medal. Janet Hall, the Red Cross secretary in 1946 described her as a “modest, retiring
woman who has filled all the offices in our society and who takes no credit for what she
has done,”209 In 1950 after thirty-five years service, she was given the coveted distinction
of being made the first vice-president of the Kamloops branch for life. Her zeal for
volunteerism went beyond the Red Cross and led her to be a founding member of the
Kamloops Council of Women in 1933. She was a consummate clubwoman and served
as its president during World War II and first vice-president of the Provincial Council of

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WOMEN CARING FOR KAMLOOPS: 1890-1975

Women. By re-electing her as president of the Local Council in 1952, the women in the
community acknowledged the social power she acquired over the last four decades.210
War, patriotism and the need for home front support for soldiers explain the
origins of the Kamloops Red Cross and yet the response as in communities across Canada
was based on local circumstances. Robert Rutherdale in his Hometown Horizons: Local
Responses to Canada’s Great War agrees with other historical studies by Joan Scott, Angella
Wollacoat and Billie Melman that there were enormous differences between localities.
This divergence in response was evident in Kamloops where young single women were
the first to take up the patriotic call and married women followed by forming their own
Soldiers’ Comfort Club. In August 1914 an urgent appeal for every woman in Kamloops
to come to the assistance of the Red Cross in providing soldier’s comforts such as knitted
socks, mitts and wristlets, generated a typical patriotic response but it was unusual in a
number of ways.211 First, the twenty-four women who responded formed a Red Cross
Guild rather than organize themselves under an official charter. Secondly, the women at
the inaugural meeting held on September 3, 1914 were single unmarried women except
for Mrs. Emily Milton who provided the meeting house and acted as a matron. The
Guild established that it was “open to all young girls of Kamloops who wish to help.”212
While restricted, the Guild added the proviso that “so long as the organization lasted any
member who became married did not lose her rights and privileges in the organization.”
This policy remained in place and while thirteen of the original members did marry by
1918, only unmarried women joined as new members.213
Unlike most middle class volunteers who were married homemakers and sought
activities to break free of domesticity, these young women were in the workforce. After
large numbers of men left for overseas, they stepped into their places to work in banks,
stores, and offices. Their dual undertakings as paid workers and volunteers made them quite
exceptional.214 The first executive included Nan Bulman, president, Beatrice Allen, vicepresident and Norma McNab, secretary-treasurer. Other founding members were Edith
Bannerman who served as president from 1916–1919, Maude Batchelor, Alice McDaniel,
Hilda and Winfred Hudson. Pre-war census material provides possible explanations for
the young women’s involvement in volunteerism. It reveals that there were more single
women, (696) than married women, (530) in the community. Secondly, prior to 1914

ANDREW YARMIE

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young single men outnumbered women by two to one but all that changed as men went
to the battlefront. For the first time the gender balance shifted from a male to a female
dominated community. Further information from city directories reveals that these
young women in the Guild were either clerks, stenographers, teachers or nurses and their
education, occupations and single status gave them a common bond. Most of the clerks
and stenographers worked in government offices such as the B.C. Hydrographic office
or the Land Registry office and some might already have been friends or acquaintances.
Each year the Guild attracted more young women from similar occupations and it soon
had over forty members involved in its activities.215
Fund-raising also became a community event and the focus of numerous wartime
cultural activities. The Guild acted quickly to raise money and provide clothing for
soldiers and allies overseas. Individual members provided the base funds for the Guild by
contributing 50 cents as an admission charge to the meetings and providing their labour.
Committees established tag days, benefit nights at the New Opera House, sock days that
collected on average 200 and up to 600 pairs of socks, auctions, home cooking sales, dances
and war teas. Collectively, the Guild later to be called the Junior Red Cross Auxiliary of
Kamloops made contributions to the Canadian Patriotic Fund and arranged for food,
socks, underwear, shoelaces and cigarettes to be sent overseas throughout the war both for
soldiers in the field and those, the newspaper reported in the typical jingoistic language
of the day, who were “languishing in the Hun prison camps and facing virtual starvation
only avoided by reason of the donations of sympathizers at home.”216 Beginning in 1915,
the Guild directly supported five prisoners of war and sent $100 to the prisoners of war
fund that became a major focus for the Red Cross as the war progressed. Its international
affiliations gave it resources to help POWs whereas other volunteer groups lacked this
capacity. From being mostly an unknown organization at the beginning of the twentieth
century, the CRCS became the “Good old Red Cross by 1918. Despite its overseas
concerns, the Kamloops Red Cross did not neglect the home front and attempted to
alleviate the dislocation caused by the war years by providing for the poor and entertaining
poverty stricken children with an Ice carnival in January 1915.217
At the same time, more traditional women’s organizations composed mostly of
married middle class women like the Imperial Order, Daughters of the Empire, (IODE),

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WOMEN CARING FOR KAMLOOPS: 1890-1975

and the Soldiers’ Comfort Club expressed imperialistic and maternal views in their
support for a “final victory.” For Kamloops, the Soldiers’ Comfort Club is of particular
interest as it had close ties to the Red Cross Guild and its members not only helped to form
the first official Red Cross branch in 1920 but also constituted most of its executive. It
began in 1915 with prominent citizens like Mrs. Winnifred Fulton as president and Mrs.
Violet Lee as vice-president and Mrs. Annie Wyllie, Mrs. Emily Milton, Mrs. Jessie Anne
Bulman, and Mrs. Jane Anne Burton as members. Their exclusion from the Red Cross
Guild explains the formation of the Club and in many ways parallels the motives and
actions of most Red Cross branches. Sarah Glassford’s research observed that comforts for

Red Cross Guild presenting the colours to the 172nd Rocky Mountain Rangers Battalion just prior to the departure
overseas in World War I.
Image 7584 courtesy of Kamloops Museum and Archives

soldiers were comparable to comforting a sick child and provided them with “something
familiar, homelike, and personal into the austere and regulated existence of recuperating
soldiers.” “By framing their care work for sick and wounded citizen-soldiers in terms of
mothering, Canadians bestowed that work with symbolic and moral power that boosted

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domestic support for the Red Cross, and simultaneously helped some Canadian women
extend their work and influence into the male-dominated public sphere.”218
Like the Red Cross, the self-proclaimed “Greatest Mother in the World,”
the Soldiers’ Comfort Club sent knitted socks, clothing, and other comforts such as
chocolates and cigarettes to assist the men overseas. All of this took time and skill to
ensure that the goods met the required standards. Not all women had the skill to use four
needles to turn sock heels and to avoid rough seams so the Red Cross sent out instructions
to its branches and inspected items to guarantee good quality. The Club maintained
the same objectives and by July 15, 1915 had 300 boxes of comforts ready for shipment.
A few setbacks occurred such as when some volunteers knit socks, scarves and mitts in
colours that were unsuitable for the battlefront. Knitting socks also became somewhat
of a universal joke as it was thought that it was impossible to use the millions of socks
sent overseas. Nonetheless for the women involved it remained an important task and
when thanking those who knitted for the Club, Fulton noted how many might think of
it as routine but in reality “the importance of work being done in these regular and quiet
ways cannot be over-rated.”219 One historian, Paul Ward who examined Britishness and
imperialism in women’s lives in the Great War verifies Fulton’s statement and argues that
the most common patriotic act by women was knitting for the troops. At the time the
majority of women were still confined to the domestic sphere but knitting became a form
of active patriotism that brought them out of the home and provided opportunities to
express their citizenship. Glassford confirms that Red Cross work provided women with
an outlet to serve their country and demonstrated that they had fulfilled their collective
responsibility as a moral community. Rutherdale also found that responses across the
country tended to be local initiatives and gave citizens the feeling that they were working
for the national cause.
In small towns like Kamloops peer and societal pressure could also play a role
in motivating women to contribute to the war effort. Young women openly answered
the patriotic call to help soldiers but they could also have felt obligated to join their coworkers at government offices and schools to volunteer. In a similar manner, prominent
women were under pressure to fulfill their public duty. Gwen Szychter’s study of the war
work of rural women in Delta revealed similar pressures to be actively involved in some

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WOMEN CARING FOR KAMLOOPS: 1890-1975

form of public patriotism by contributing to the war effort. Expectations existed that
women knit goods, sew, hold teas, or organize fund-raising raffles and women stepped
up to these tasks. As their reward they received public praise but this was a double edged
sword. Often the names of contributors were published in the newspaper and this gave
them recognition but in a small community those who failed to make an effort would be
identifiable. This lack of privacy, therefore, was an added reason to participate.220
Whether the motive was caring, mothering or societal pressure, generally
Canadian Red Cross women and other women’s groups like the Soldiers’ Comfort Club
received accolades throughout the war for their patriotic and humanitarian endeavours
even from the patriarchal and conservative sectors of society. Some anti-feminists
converted to recognizing women’s right to vote because they proved their capabilities.
Across Canada, newspapers viewed their work as being “second only to that of soldiers”
and that it gave them “a new and higher status.” Through her volunteer work woman “has
placed herself beyond all question the equal of man; hers is no longer the weaker sex, but
one that in a great emergency proves itself strong and true.”221 For the greater part, most
feminists placed the suffrage campaign on hold when war was declared and became ardent
supporters of numerous groups dedicated to assisting the war effort. Like the Woman’s
Christian Temperance Union, the Council of Women and others, the Red Cross concept
of caring fit in with maternal feminism and at the same time helped women to cross over
the barrier of the domestic ideology into the public sphere. Combined, war work and
maternal feminism created a new political awareness among women. Their control over
associations and the aid they provided gave them a public power despite the continuance
of patriarchy.
In Kamloops the Red Cross Guild’s dedication to war relief work generated
praise from both local and Vancouver newspapers. In the 1918, The Kamloops StandardSentinel stated that “no patriotic club in any city of this size has done better work than
the Red Cross of Kamloops, and members as well as the people of the town and district
appreciate the tribute paid by Mabel Durham, a special correspondent of the Vancouver
Province.” Durham commented that “To raise nearly $8,000 for patriotic purposes since
the beginning of the war is not a small achievement for a group of forty girls.”222 The
generosity of the local population was evident on numerous occasions. In one instance,

ANDREW YARMIE

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the public contributed $1000 in support of a two day “Bazaar of the Allies” just before
Christmas. This money was sent to buy surgical tools for the front and then it became
necessary to raise another $1000 to support hospital treatment of invalid soldiers at
home. Undaunted, the president rose to the challenge. “We’ll have no trouble in getting
it.” “Our girls always work better when they have something big to work for. When we
are just going along in a routine their enthusiasm flags, but when they have some big
definite object before them they bend all their energies to it. Difficulties seem to stimulate
them.”223 Providing for returned soldiers consumed much of the auxiliary’s time and it
worked hard to give soldiers suffering from tuberculosis at the Tranquille Sanatorium
items to brighten up their lives like fruit, croquet sets, fishing tackle, clothing and other
leisure items. They also assisted in the welcome back soldiers’ campaign by visits to the
trains where they handed out 350 packages of cigarettes donated by the YMCA over a
four month period. Often regarded as merely a symbolic gesture, these greetings were in
reality a very important morale boost for war weary veterans.
At the end of the war, the care of returned soldiers continued until December
1919 and then the Auxiliary decided to follow the pattern of the Soldiers’ Comfort Club
and gave notice that it had served its purpose. To wrap up its work it held a New Years
Dance that was described by the newspaper as a grand affair and the best of the season. It
recognized their work caring for soldiers in the trenches, the wounded, sick, and POWs
which was deemed important at the time but once the war ended their volunteerism no
longer seemed essential and could easily be forgotten. Like other Red Cross societies across
Canada their work according to Sarah Glassford has “been overlooked or trivialized, cast
in the deep shadow by male-dominated aspects of Canada’s war effort such as munitions
production, recruitment efforts, political battles and military campaigns.”224 This local
history of Kamloops women recaptures their importance to the war effort both on the
home front and overseas.
In the interwar years the CRCS changed its mandate to public health and this
enabled it to move beyond being strictly a wartime association. Nonetheless, it still had
to convince Canadians that it could resolve the problems in public health care better
than the government or other health agencies. At the international and national level
it focused on supporting public health services, particularly venereal disease, typhus,

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WOMEN CARING FOR KAMLOOPS: 1890-1975

malaria, tuberculosis, child welfare, public health nursing and preventive medicine. It
also had to prove to its own provincial branches, volunteers and other associations that
this was the right path to take. Some women’s organizations like the IODE, Victorian
Order of Nurses and Women’s Institutes felt that the Red Cross was intruding into their
areas of service and might make their groups redundant. Progress in this direction,
however, was slow and the change in mandate from assisting the sick and wounded in war
to helping the public unfortunately came too late to be of any assistance to the victims of
the 1918-1919 influenza epidemics. The national society left it to the provincial and local
societies to handle this major crisis and in Kamloops the Guild was one of the principal
volunteer groups to work with the LARIH to alleviate the suffering taking place. The
epidemic did make it clear that public health was a major issue and locally tuberculosis,
child welfare, public health nursing and preventive medicine became the driving force for
a new movement.225
It was not by chance that a woman, Adelaide Plumptre, whose outstanding
service to Red Cross leadership and the NCW, drew up the plans for CRCS National
Peace Policy. To give the Society a new direction and a justified purpose the public health
program was equated with nation-building. It was a strategic move but one that was
very suited to the needs of most Canadians who lacked adequate health services both
in towns and rural areas. The pre-World War I social reform movement’s concern about
race degeneration had increased during the war as more people became aware of the poor
physical condition of those who signed up to be troops and of the general population.
The loss of the young men during the war and the influenza epidemic gave reformers
more cause to look after women and children as the building blocks of the nation. The
Red Cross theme of being the Greatest Mother on Earth continued to be used but now
for promoting the public health movement. Maternal themes were applied to Red Cross
work and emphasis placed on safer motherhood and better babies. This civic work gave
women greater access to the public sphere and broadened their objectives beyond the
pre-war focus on women to concern for the wider community. It also extended this
community outward and recognized the need to improve health services in rural areas.226
The CRCS launched into health services and maintained control by acting as
an auxiliary to the new federal Department of Health and co-ordinating and assisting

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the provincial branches. But because health and education were under provincial
jurisdiction, the provincial and local branches were on the frontline to interpret the
National Peace Policy and provide the necessary programs that were required for their
region. This proved to be a workable solution as health care requirements and standards
varied greatly by region. Another good reason for giving provincial and local Red Cross
societies more control was that they expanded during the war and now had a greater sense
of autonomy. In some provinces its involvement in health care directly impacted the
formation and direction of provincial departments of health but in B.C. its new direction
created distrust. Later in 1939, George Davidson, Director of Social Welfare criticized
the Red Cross as being opportunistic.
“They serve as just another example of those people or organizations
who think they have a mission in life and, because they have some official
recognition from the Federal Government, they think that they have
reserved to themselves the divine right of doing anything and everything
that government departments are not doing in a given community.”227		
This complaint had some validity in that the CRCS was stepping into the new area of
public health but it did not overstep its role and continued to be an auxiliary to municipal
and provincial governments.
After the war Kamloops citizens generally felt that there was no longer a need
for such an organization, but a core group of members realized that the Red Cross still
retained an important place in looking after the community. On December 14, 1920 a
reorganization meeting was held to create a chartered branch and to join in the national
and provincial CRCS peace program. The main focal areas were to be care for veterans,
public health, Junior Red Cross, and outpost hospitals. Moving from a Guild status to a
chartered member decreased independence and tied the group into the directives set by
the provincial and national Societies. Nonetheless, the main focus in these years was in
helping the local community. After acknowledging the auxiliary’s tremendous work in
raising over $10,000 during the four years of the war, the new group outlined its Peace
program to continue assisting sick and wounded returned soldiers and the general public.
Practically all veterans with tuberculosis in B.C. were at Tranquille Sanatorium and

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WOMEN CARING FOR KAMLOOPS: 1890-1975

benefited from Red Cross assistance as did the civilian population who contracted the
disease.228 Two other important community needs that captured the Red Cross’ attention
were general public health and child welfare. In the immediate post-war years when health
care was inadequate and government assistance non-existent, the Red Cross maintained
that the community’s quality of life was dependent on creating a healthy population. In
the interwar years it would often concern itself with improving the material conditions of
life by its concern for health, housing, water supply, and recreational facilities. Its first step
was to initiate a program of preventive medicine and care to improve the community’s
welfare.
The reconfiguration of the Guild into a chartered branch added a new dimension
to its social composition that changed the gender balance and appeared to comply with the
general post-war reversion to a patriarchal society. Once the soldiers returned the normal
expectation was that women would go back to their family and home duties. In the Red
Cross the standard practice of the national organization was for the Council to the local
executive to be dominated by men but women’s experience in associations during the
war ensured that they remained at the forefront of the executive and controlled the real
work. Locally, the men who joined the Council were prominent lawyers, businessmen
and politicians that included F.W. Anderson, H.F. Mytton, W.A.G. Marlatt, A.E.
Dodman, S.C. Burton, and G.M. Sinclair. Similarly, the women leaders, many of whom
had been on the executive of the Soldiers’ Comfort Club, were important members of the
community like Winnifred Fulton, Edith Fitzwater, Violet Lee and Adelaide Johnstone.
Across Canada, the Great War confirmed women’s place in the public sphere and in the
Red Cross they held important offices at the branch and auxiliary level. These women
continued to be active and often took on executive roles in other associations as well.
Winnifred Fulton became the new president and was an exemplary representative
of women who devoted themselves through organizational activity to the community.
Within the fifty-two years that she lived in the city, she belonged to four important
volunteer groups. Winnifred was the third daughter of a well known pioneer family.
Her father was Hon. A.E. Davie, premier of B.C., 1887-1889, and her mother, Constance
Skinner, came from another pioneer family and her uncle was provincial premier, 1892
-1895. Winnifred married Frederick John Fulton in 1909 who was minister of lands

ANDREW YARMIE

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and works in the Sir Richard
McBride government. Soon
after he resigned they moved
to Kamloops and she had four
sons, Alexander, Edmund
Davie, Frederick Joseph, and
John. Her husband served
as MP for Cariboo riding
from 1917-1921.
Of the
four sons, two became well
known to the community.
John (Moose) Fulton was a
famous World War II bomber
ace and first commander of
No. 419 (Moose) Squadron
of the RCAF. He was killed
in a bombing mission over
Germany in 1942. Edmund
Davie became the MP for
Kamloops in 1945 and
Winnifred Fulton, c.1910
Soldiers Comfort Club, 1915, President of the Red Cross, 1920, and
represented it for a long period.
Kamloops Council of Women, 1933.
Image 4278 courtesy of Kamloops Museum and Archives
Like many women, Winnifred
gained some of her volunteer experience through church activities. Early on, she involved
herself with the Catholic Women’s League and through the years served in almost every
office. She was known for her organizing ability and concerns for education.229 During
the First World War she was elected president of the Soldiers’ Comforts club that supplied
clothing, knitted and donated socks, and other items for soldiers at the front.230 She also
helped organize the Kamloops Council of Women and became its first president in 1933
and national vice-president in 1934. Winnifred was also well known for her work with
the SPCA but the Red Cross was the one organization that she helped the most. Her
multiple roles on executives gave her power and a strong public presence that transcended

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WOMEN CARING FOR KAMLOOPS: 1890-1975

the normal expectations placed on a politician’s wife. She appeared to be working for
herself, other women, children and society.
Other elite women in the Red Cross included Edith Bannerman, vice-president,
whose father James was the Indian Land Agent, and Mrs. Violet Lee secretary, whose
husband was on City Council, a surveyor and the City Engineer. Violet first gained
mention in the local newspaper because she and her daughter were on the Titanic
when it sank on April 15, 1912 but it was her volunteer work that won her recognition.
When she died the Red Cross president remarked that Violet Lee was a “faithful and
enthusiastic worker since the branch was granted its charter” while the secretary added
“It needs no word of ours to eulogize Mrs. Lee-her keen and sympathetic interest in all
that was for the betterment of society, her wonderful executive ability and tact, and most
of all her unfailing charity to those who were unfortunate will long be remembered.”231
Edith Bannerman married John Edward Fitzwater who later served as mayor from 19521961. Another president, Adelaide Johnstone elected in 1923 had a successful husband
who was a realtor, owned an insurance company and was an alderman. While the new
branch was founded and run by middle class women, its membership and the day to
day work relied on a wide cross section of society. Much of the fund-raising came from
the work and resources of ordinary citizens, the working class, farmers, ranchers, ethnic
groups and they were actively involved in sewing clubs, social teas, balls, and other diverse
functions.232
The first step taken in Kamloops to develop the Peace Program was the hiring
of a district public nurse, Miss Christina Thom in 1920. Her annual salary of $166.22
was half paid by the city. Then in 1921 she was appointed as the regular school nurse so
that her salary and responsibilities were now in the hands of three agencies.233 Following
the post-war trend toward public health education, Thom offered home nursing and
hygiene classes for high school girls and evening classes for adults. The classes provided
information on “the structure of the body, and the location and functions of the various
organs.”234 She emphasized that health was the normal condition. The local Kamloops
Standard Sentinel reporter noted that it was comforting “in these days when the word
bacteria was on everybody’s tongue to learn that while there are over 1500 known germs,
only seventy-five of these are harmful.”235 Members of the medical and dental professions

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assisted Thom in her public lectures but she provided the core material for the twenty
lessons in 1922 attended on average by ten adults. Equally important was her position
within the schools because it gave all children the same chance of “timely discovery and
remedy of retarding defects.”236 By 1922 Thom was making a difference to the city’s
health and within one month she made forty-three home nursing visits and attended
three medical cases. She also made thirteen visits to schools, four home school visits
and gave four school treatments. Altogether, she found sixty-seven defects and provided
treatments.237
At times, it became difficult to maintain the momentum for the Peace Program
but the determination of its members carried it forward. Across Canada wartime
volunteers drifted away and many did not view public health as their issue and questioned
whether the Red Cross was the appropriate association to deal with it. Often, it was only
the old regulars who attended meetings and spearheaded the Relief, Tranquille, Royal
Inland Hospital and other committees. Progress, however, occurred and throughout the
twenties, membership increased particularly among teachers and nurses and the Council
expanded from twelve to sixteen members while the general membership increased
to 376. For the Kamloops Sentinel, this indicated that the city believed the Red Cross
was doing “real work in the community.”238 According to the president, Violet J. Lee, it
demonstrated “the fact that as individuals we can do very little and have found out what
a power there is in organization.”239 Although the work continued to be mostly done
by small committees, the general membership rose to 508 by 1930. To ensure that its
program reached the younger population, a Junior Red Cross was established in 1928
thanks to the help of teachers and the school nurse at Lloyd George School. Like the
CRCS, it viewed the Junior Red Cross as an important influence on the next generation’s
physical and moral development. Initially, it started during World War I, and had three
objectives, education in health, self-government and international relations. For Canada,
it could help build a better nation by creating healthier and more socially responsible
citizens. It would maintain what was considered the most important aspect of the war
years, the spirit of service and sacrifice shown by millions of Canadians. Internationally,
its membership in the millions was considered a tool for generating better understanding
between countries. These ideals made the Junior Red Cross a symbolic activity that

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WOMEN CARING FOR KAMLOOPS: 1890-1975

promised rejuvenation and world peace.240
Throughout B.C., the Red Cross Peace Program’s main theme was preventive
medicine. The Great War with its loss of young men led women’s organizations, physicians
and the government to view the health of children as a patriotic duty. For the State, children
were viewed as national assets that would improve future productivity and efficiency and
therefore much of its focus was on childhood diseases such as rickets, diphtheria, scarlet
fever, whooping cough and measles. To overcome these illnesses, governments launched
campaigns to vaccinate, isolate infected children and programs of public education. The
Federal government established a Department of Health in 1919 and provided funding
but left most of the responsibility to the provinces. The Red Cross, for example, provided
funding to the Provincial Health Branch to support a public health nursing program and
also funded a Chair of Public Health at the University of British Columbia.241 While the
medical authorities were fully aware of the benefits of preventive measures, the public still
remained fearful of immunization programs. The Vancouver smallpox epidemic in 1925
led the Provincial Board of Health to establish free smallpox clinics throughout B.C. but
at first they were not successful. As elsewhere, Kamloops citizens feared that vaccination
might actually increase the chance of contracting the disease. One positive step was taken
when the local School Board made it compulsory for children to be vaccinated except
when the parents objected. The school nurse proceeded to vaccinate 302 children but
there still remained 649 parental exemptions. With more public education, the fears
diminished and by 1930 when a diphtheria epidemic threatened, forty percent of children
were inoculated and in 1934 an even greater number. Slowly, preventive medicine was
being accepted and the education provided by the Red Cross can be given much of the
credit for this transformation.242
In Kamloops, the local branch decided that one of the best methods for caring for
the future population was to establish a Well Baby Clinic. In the post-war period the State
was becoming more involved with the development of child welfare clinics and visiting
nurse programs within larger cities. Both symbolized the new preventive medicine in
action. For healthier babies, they encouraged breastfeeding, better quality milk for
artificial feeding and improved infant formulas. In smaller communities like Kamloops,
women’s organizations continued to lead the way in providing better standards for babies.

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Kamloops Red Cross Well Baby Clinic officially opened with Christina Thom, public nurse and Dr. M. G. Archibald in
attendance, 1922.
Image 1724 courtesy of Kamloops Museum and Archives

Preliminary steps to start a Well Baby clinic were taken in June 1921, and it opened its
doors on a fortnightly basis in May 1922. The Clinic was one of a few established in B.C.
and maintained a high standard.243 At the initial clinic over a dozen mothers had their
babies weighed and height recorded by Dr. Archibald and Thom. Fulton stated that the
work of the clinic was “To weigh and measure each baby to ascertain whether it comes
up to the average weight and development for its age and if not, to inform the mother
when it fails and suggest to her the best way to remedy it.”244 Statistics were provided
to demonstrate that once underweight children were detected, steady improvement was
recorded in the following months. By September 1923, it had forty-three babies on the
roll. Thom proved to be a popular and efficient school and public nurse. Her “charming
and unobtrusive helpfulness” had “endeared her to the people of Kamloops” and there
was a general regret when she resigned in May 1923.245
In its first three years, the Red Cross established a solid foundation but like most
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volunteer organizations, it encountered tensions that tested its own internal structure. The
difficulties arose as a consequence of the personality of the successor to Christina Thom
who was sent by the provincial branch and assumed all her responsibilities. Unfortunately,
the new nurse, Mrs. A.E.F. Pope became the central figure in a public controversy with
the school board. In January 1924, parents accused Pope of mistreating the children by
placing iodine on children’s faces for ringworm, writing “dirty neck” on a child’s neck
with an indelible pencil and kicking students who did not stand in line properly. Pope
denied the charges and called for an enquiry. Mrs. Adelaide Johnstone, president of the
Red Cross, brushed off the charges as “frivolous and trivial,” but the accusation remained a
serious concern. Dr. Archibald defended Pope as a hard worker and efficient while others
noted her war record and that she was a recipient of three King George medals.246 Since
the Red Cross had brought Pope to the community, the Society was more responsible for
her actions than the other authorities. After a long public meeting over the charges and
whether Pope’s reputation had been undermined, Mayor Colley stepped in and offered
to mediate between the parties. In the end the parents and school board withdrew the
charges. The newspaper agreed with the chairman of enquiry, Rev. H.R. McGill, that
cooperation with the nurse would provide the community its best results and that she
should be supported by all. It added that “Her work is no sinecure, it is often thankless.”
Most agreed that the nurse did a good job of training children in cleanliness and “this
helps toward keeping down epidemics and making the city and community generally
safer and happier.”247 Despite her exoneration, Pope resigned on May 1, 1924 after she
became involved in an internal conflict with the executive. Perhaps disillusioned with
the school scandal, Pope planned to apply for a position at the Tranquille Sanatorium but
came under criticism from some executive members for attempting to leave her position
without the proper thirty days notice. Pope, on the other hand, denied the charge but
felt she could no longer work with the Society and put in her notice to resign. After the
resignation of Mrs. Pope, the clinics were discontinued but revived when Miss Campbell,
the school nurse began to help out in 1925. The local Red Cross survived its first setback
and remained determined to serve the community248
Gender bias within the Canadian medical profession and society were also
potential obstructions to the success of the Well Baby clinics. In Kamloops, however,

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local conditions cleared the path for a woman to take leadership in the management of
the Clinic. The situation came to a crisis during the interwar period when the continued
success of the Clinic was marred by the difficulty of finding a doctor to attend on a regular
basis. When it was first suggested that the new nurse hired in 1927, Olive M. Garrood
handle the clinic by herself, it raised concerns about the proper spheres for doctors and
nurses as well as engrained societal expectations of each. Winnifred Fulton, the president,
felt that a nurse acting on her own “might cause the mothers to lose confidence in the
clinic and defeat the very thing it was formed for which was that the doctors by their
examinations should be able to detect ailments in their first stages and thus be able to
treat them.”249 Fulton still retained the accepted public belief that in a male dominated
medical profession men did the curing and women the caring.
Generally, the traditional women’s support system that relied on other women
disintegrated as the male medical profession took over from maternal caregivers like
midwives. In her recent research, Debra Brown notes that there was a “paradigm shift”
from personal to professional care in the 1920s. Doctors had social authority because
they wanted it and the public supported this premise.250 In Kamloops, Dr. Archibald
and Dr. Irving proved to be exceptional in that they felt that Garrood’s excellent
training gave her the competency to be in charge. She had trained under the famous
New Zealand child specialist, Sir Truby King, who founded the Mothercraft Training
Society in London, England in 1918.251 She was also a recognized authority who the
Red Cross Geneva headquarters chose to review a child welfare book. The situation in
Kamloops was rather unique. Generally doctors recognized that nurses were essential
to spreading knowledge on child and maternal welfare but were usually determined to
keep control of the nurses. The patriarchal medical profession found it difficult to allow
nurses to be independent. By placing Garrood in charge in 1929 Kamloops was in a
“unique position” with a female in charge and as being the only baby clinic running under
rules established by King. Nothing similar existed until 1931 when Toronto began a
Mothercraft Centre following the English model.252 In Toronto, this created opposition
from the male medical profession as the Centre was staffed entirely by Truby King nurses
and not under the supervision of physicians. In particular, the nurse’s role of prescribing
infant feeding challenged doctor’s authority and therefore met heavy criticism from

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pediatric experts. Large cities like Toronto already had a Division of Maternal and Child
Hygiene department and this organization resented any intrusion in its established and
recognized authority. Dr. Archibald and Dr. Irving were unusual in their acceptance as
most doctors in small towns according to Comacchio’s study of Ontario found child
welfare nurses, their “modern” teachings and clinics to be a threat to their livelihood and
status in the community. Many doctors treated child welfare nurses with indifference or
open hostility.253 In Kamloops the opposite appeared to be the case.
The small number of doctors in Kamloops and the heavy case load from the town
and surrounding region created a different situation and may explain their willingness to
accept Garrood’s management of the Clinic. The public also appears to have accepted
her leadership and again in 1933 the Kamloops Sentinel praised her work. “Kamloops
is indeed fortunate in having a nurse of Miss Garrood’s reputation and ability in charge
of the baby clinics.”254 Under her direction, the clinic’s attendance increased to the point
where they had to be held every week rather than fortnightly. Forty-one clinics were
held during 1933 with an attendance of 969, an increase of 304 over 1932. To add to the
Clinic’s program, Garrood also established pre-natal clinics in 1928 that supplemented
the doctor’s advice to expectant mothers. Nonetheless, the president Edith Fitzwater still
felt that “A good deal more should be done in child welfare work in the city and district.”
She concluded her 1930 report by stating “It is better to place a fence at the top of the cliff
than maintain an ambulance at the bottom.”255 After twelve years in operation, the 1934
annual report noted that the Well Baby Clinic’s “importance cannot be overestimated for
upon it depend not only the health of the infant but also the education of the mother in
the care and feeding of her child, and, to a large extent the future health of that child.”256
Although the Red Cross focused on the care of women and children, it remained
cautious of more progressive feminist objectives. In 1933 Laura Vaughan from the
Vancouver Birth Control Clinic was invited to Kamloops by a group of women to speak
at a public meeting chaired by Margaret Macnab, a strong supporter of the CCF. Interest
in the community was very high and the meeting so well attended that many had to be
turned away. One of the Kamloops women attending the meeting, Vivian Dowding,
went on to become the strongest campaigner for birth control in the Interior. Unable to
stop pregnancies by traditional methods of douching she was one of the many women to

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acquire a diaphragm at a special meeting held after Vaughan’s public talk. So concerned
by the difficulties of low income women who faced annual pregnancies, she obtained
a position with the Parent’s Information Bureau and from 1937 to 1944 travelled
throughout the Interior over rugged roads into logging and mining camps to provide
women with information on how to obtain birth control supplies such as contraceptive
jelly, condoms, and diaphragms. At the 1933 meeting discussions occurred about opening
a birth control clinic but it would take another forty years for one to be established.
Because the Red Cross Society ran the Well Baby Clinic and expressed concern for
women’s health people in the community assumed that the Society was involved in these
plans. Strong opposition from the Catholic church ensured that the Society would keep
its distance from such a controversial issue. Soon after it decided to publish a clarification
denying its sponsorship before it began to affect its fund-raising.257 While it avoided a
public controversy over the birth control issue, other problems arose.
Despite outward appearances of harmony, some internal conflicts existed between
the Well Baby Clinic’s convenor, Fitzwater and Garrood. The minutes indicate that the
March 12, 1937 meeting featured disagreements, “very stormy discussion” and “much
unpleasantness.” Undisclosed accusations levied against Fitzwater by Garrood divided
the executive until Garrood admitted making a mistake on how Fitzwater expended
money and provided an apology.258 There was also a decline in attendance at the clinic
during the latter part of the thirties and by the time war began both Garrood and the
executive felt the Society’s attention should be focused on the war effort. Although
Garrood still considered “child welfare work” to be of “prime importance,” she felt that
doctors were now providing effective post natal advice.259 In reply, the Society thanked
Garrood for the years of efficient service and her unselfish work to provide for the health
of children and to make the clinic “one of the outstanding ones in Canada.”260 While
Garrood and the executive agreed to close the clinics, the Kamloops Sentinel criticized the
withdrawal of this important community service. In retrospect, the newspaper reflected
the real situation because Canada generally lagged behind in providing proper medical
care for pre-natal mothers, at delivery and in the post-natal situation. Despite the work
carried out by the Red Cross and other volunteer organizations, there was still a need for
government intervention to overcome health problems.261

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An even worse scenario existed for women in rural areas and led the Red Cross
to develop a very valued Outpost hospital program. First started in Alberta in the 1920s,
it was part of the new program of public health that focused on rural rather than urban
problems. Studies had shown that women and children in remote areas were worse off than
their urban counterparts. To overcome the problems created by isolation, particularly for
pregnant women, the CRCS worked to provide graduate nurses for these areas. Outpost
nurses faced many hardships due to remoteness, long hours and the need to travel long
distances under rough conditions. Like the rural school teacher they often became one
of the most valued individuals in the community. The Kamloops branch, for example,
set up a nursing station in the Shuswap region and the nurse allocated there was revered.
“To mention “Red Cross” there is to have the nurse’s name referred to with veneration.
Ask any doctor what these nurses are doing and he will tell you that in many cases they
are rendering aid as skillful as physicians.”262 Seeing the need for a resident nurse in the
Blue River region, the Society wrote numerous letters to the Department of Health and
Canadian National Railway Employees Medical Association to achieve this goal. From
1930, two outpost hospital services were provincially started and maintained at Pouce
Coupe and Grand Haven near Fort St. John. Each province sponsored its own projects
and expected the community to supply the building and general upkeep while the Red
Cross provided the nurse’s salary, equipment and other supplies. When the community
became established, the Red Cross moved on to another area. This program which the
local society contributed to was of “inestimable value in pioneer districts.”263
During the interwar period, another major component of the Peace Program
was the Tranquille committee that continued its frequent visits to soldiers suffering from
tuberculosis. The CRCS contributed $90,000 to the Canadian Tuberculosis Association
between 1918-1925 but because the sanatorium was a provincial institution, visiting and
gift expenses for magazines and other comforts were paid for by the provincial branch of
the Red Cross. In 1920 they gained assistance from the Kamloops women’s auxiliary of
the British Columbia Anti-Tuberculosis Society when it decided to dissolve and merge
with the Red Cross to be able to carry on its work. The Society had run into financial
problems in maintaining Tranquille Sanatorium and began to negotiate with the
government for its takeover. Throughout its history, women kept the Kamloops branch

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functioning particularly through the service of long term executive members like Isabel
Costley and Susan Wood.264 Like other societies it raised money through Tag days, and
social events to maintain the Sanatorium and help poor patients in the institution and
the city. The women of Kamloops, Susan Wood declared were “every bit as interested
in public matters as the men,” and in field of anti-tuberculosis work, they were definitely
more involved than men.265 In 1924, the Red Cross soldiers and civilian committees
visited the sanatorium twenty-two times, and this was regarded as a great accomplishment
as the institution was nine miles out of town. During the Depression the number of visits
reduced to fourteen per year as expenses needed to be cut back. The committee was still
visiting soldiers and citizens twenty years later and had to increase the size of its members
because the sanatorium had added thirty more beds.266
With the onset of the Great Depression, many Red Cross branches suffered
severe financial setbacks with the loss of fund-raising but in Kamloops it became the core
social welfare institution for the community. Janet Hall, the secretary in 1946 recalled
how “no one had any money, and everyone came to us for help, for we were the clearing
house for all those in trouble, doing the work now undertaken by the social assistance
branch.”267 Since its foundation, the local branch adopted this role by setting up a social
service committee for the purpose of assisting needy families with clothing and food.
The 1920s already witnessed depression conditions in the surrounding agricultural areas
due to drought and plagues of grasshoppers. While the close knit farming communities
shared water, food, equipment, and labour to survive, in the city the Red Cross assisted
eight families and several individuals in 1922 and thereafter took on a leadership role
in caring for the community. It often appealed to the community to become more
involved by providing assistance to needy families in the form of clothes, boots, food,
money, and moral support. Its other relief work included providing money, clothing and
furniture for a family who lost their home to a fire, and helping two children to go to the
Vancouver school for the blind.268 Throughout the twenties, its relief work grew and in
1928 the committee supplied thirteen women, 140 children and thirty-nine men with
630 articles of clothing. Working in conjunction with other associations like the Imperial
Order, Daughters of the Empire and the Ladies of the Royal Purple and the provincial
authorities, the Society was able to provide room and board for two weeks in 1929 to a

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family whose father had taken ill.269
The work of the relief committee took on a new dimension as the Great
Depression began to take its toll. In Kamloops as throughout British Columbia and across
the nation the Red Cross became the first defense against the ravages of unemployment
and poverty. Within the city, it often became the co-ordinating agent for the entire
community and acted as a constant liaison between the poor, civic officials, and the
provincial government authorities. In 1931 Edith Fitzwater the president reported that
“the Red Cross has a place of importance in this community as well as in the province
and the dominion.”270 The local population experienced unemployment, low wages, and
diminished financial resources and it was the volunteer agencies through past experience
that had better administrative and investigative tools than municipal governments to deal
with the problems. City Council only offered sporadic relief in the form of a public
works program to employ men in 1930 and provided a soup kitchen in 1931 but both
quickly ran out of funds as local citizens and transients pushed the demand from fifty to
over a hundred meals per day. The city did not work out a relief plan until 1935 when it
finally began to provide relief assistance to 222 married men and twenty-eight single men
in the community. This program cost $2,600 per month for the city while the province
contributed sixty percent of the cost.271
Despite women’s lower wages than men, this did not save them from
unemployment. It still remained customary for employers to maintain the breadwinner
ideology and to hire men. During the post-Great War prosperity period the average male
industrial wage in Kamloops was $29.20 while single women who worked at Woolworth’s
received only $12.50. Women who worked in the tomato canneries were paid piece rates
that were also much less than the men’s hourly wage. Another disadvantage was the
continuance of the “marriage bar” concept at many places of female employment. This was
evident in the teaching profession where School Boards automatically expected women
teachers to resign when they married despite the fact that they made up seventy percent of
the profession. This practice continued up to the mid-century and during the Depression
the overall opposition to married women working increased and the male breadwinner
concept was reinforced. Men and women were separated by a two-tier welfare system
whereby men were covered by a federally funded rights based unemployment scheme and

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women were under a provincial and municipal needs based relief fund. They lost the preDepression women’s rights based on maternalism. In B.C., the Department of Labour
recorded that women lost twenty-two percent of their jobs by 1933.272 In Kamloops,
paid employment for women tended to be seasonal in the canneries, domestic service,
waitress or other feminine work. In this year seventy-eight of the 117 employees at
Bickford’s tomato canning plant were women. To survive and provide for their families
many women also did part-time work such as sewing, selling preserve foods or taking in
boarders as well as maintaining a family garden.
Locally the Red Cross assisted eighty-six families with an average of five children,
eighty-two single men and fifteen single women and twenty infants in 1929. By 1931
the situation had worsened and 169 families in the city and district required assistance.
Each monthly Relief report indicated the increasing problem of poverty.273 In 1932, the
government Relief Agent issued approximately 2000 relief slips per day that entitled an
unemployed person to twenty-five cents per day. These relief tickets only allowed for
the purchase of meat or other groceries. It was not permissible to buy clothes, shoes or
tobacco and items of that nature could only be obtained from the charity and volunteer
organizations in the city. Transients received $2.00 for groceries on condition that they
“don’t come back.”274
While other associations helped their own members, the Red Cross was the
main provider of direct relief for the entire community. At a time when government
relief payments provided only for food and rent, the donations of blankets, clothing, and
other comforts collected by the relief committee were extremely valuable. After a couple
of years, the executive felt a need to co-ordinate relief efforts with local churches and
organizations in order to prevent overlapping. It called a public meeting that was attended
by city officials, churches and other organizations and concern was expressed that some
individuals might be getting more than their share of relief through duplication of services
while others might not obtain enough help due to increased demand. Following the
example of other communities they decided to establish a Community Chest in 1932 to
collect and distribute all relief funds.275 The Red Cross, however, could not join this local
association as it had to maintain its independence as stated by the national constitution.
Furthermore, the Community Chest restricted itself to relief within the city while the

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Red Cross served the entire region. Nor did it deal with issues that were important to the
Red Cross like child welfare. As a consequence, it remained independent but continued
to work with the Community Chest.276
Due to its location and particularly the existence of the C.P.R. and C.N.R.
large numbers of transient unemployed congregated in the community and placed
more pressure on Kamloops than on other small towns. Two “hobo jungles” formed,
one for B.C. transients at the north end of the Red Bridge and one for out of province
transients at Mission flats. In his personal account, Depression Stories, Sydney Hutcheson
described life in the “jungles” and the relationship of transients to the local population.
There he found “a continuous flow of men going through the jungles every day. While we
were there at least a thousand men and women were living in the Kamloops jungles.”277
With so many men in the camps, the Kamloops jungles were large enough to constitute
a small town. Within them, Hutcheson noted that every type of man could be found
from doctors, lawyers, dentists, barbers and men from every trade. They had their own
code of laws and ensured that good relations were maintained with the city. Theft from
city stores, for example, was prohibited. The police chief, Anderson, did not go into the
camps but kept tight control over anyone who crossed the bridge and came into the city.
While some citizens regarded the “hobos” as nuisances and loafers who would not take a
job and instead preferred relief payments, others did all they could to help out with food,
clothing and shelter.278
Some historians have questioned the motives behind the assistance given to the
poor by volunteer organizations and have asked whether their objectives were altruistic
or concerned with social control and societal stability. The Red Cross is not free from
this debate as the majority of its executive were from the middle class and those assisted,
in most cases, were working class.279 While organizations like the WCTU had the
alteration of morality, attitudes, and behaviour as their principal objective, the Red Cross
was less concerned with manipulating societal norms. Nonetheless, it had a solid middle
class executive and at times their cultural background determined who they felt to be
deserving of assistance. In Kamloops, the executive and committee members during the
Depression were staunchly middle class and therefore their motives require clarification.
The members included Mrs. Edith Fitzwater, president, Mrs. Evelyn Sadler-Brown, vice-

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president, Mrs. D. Menzies, secretary, Mrs. Janet Hall, treasurer, with Mrs. Elizabeth
Burris Mrs. Winnifred Fulton, Mrs. Maud Whitmore, and Mrs. Edgar Jackson on the
executive committee. Mrs. Elizabeth Turner, Mrs. Lilly Johnstone, and Mrs. Jane Anne
Burton were on the supply, relief, and purchasing committee respectively.280 Their middle
class background gave them the time to do the volunteer work and their husbands’ status
and positions as lawyers, doctors, politicians, and businessmen gave them a great deal
of influence in the community. While their social position placed them among the
defenders of social order, the record of their dedication and self-sacrifice provides clear
evidence of their altruism and humanitarianism.
The personal record of Lilly R. Johnstone who almost single handedly dealt with
all relief issues throughout the Depression effectively illustrated their commitment to
societal improvement. Arriving from England in 1927 she dedicated her life to improving
the welfare of the community by volunteering for the B.C. Tuberculosis Society, Red
Cross and later the Cancer Society. During the Depression the newspaper reported
that the relief committee really meant “Mrs. Johnstone,” who found “she could be in
closer touch with the people by doing it alone.”281 Her work was described as “decidedly
onerous” as she had to visit those in need throughout the entire district in every type of
weather and at any time of day. Her efforts were backed up by “willing and enthusiastic
workers” and the general public. The committee provided an assortment of clothing
items and footwear, furniture, groceries, milk and the old standby, cod liver oil. At times,
it also helped to ensure that the poor received proper relief assistance by reporting their
cases to the provincial authorities.282 Johnstone’s perseverance was recognized in 1934
when she was honored by the national Red Cross and elected to honorary membership in
the central council. This “coveted distinction,” the Kamloops Sentinel noted, “cannot be
purchased with money or procured by ‘pull.’” It was in recognition for her outstanding
service in co-ordinating the relief committee since 1925 which became the main focus of
the local Red Cross and the reason for its success.
In its assistance and defense of the poor the Society appeared above and beyond
the accusation of self-interest. Another factor that diminished the need for social
control tactics was the size of the community. Class divisions were not that evident and
tensions during the Depression arose outside the community in the form of the relief

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camp protests and the On To Ottawa trek.283 Only one issue that never became public
marred its reputation. Racial prejudice against natives persisted within the community
and in 1935; Johnstone and Whitmore moved “that a committee be appointed to
investigate possibilities of having the Kamloops reservation removed as it was considered
detrimental to the health and morals of both Indians and whites to have the reservation
so close to town.”284 On investigation the committee found that it was impossible to move
the reserve and the issue was dropped.
For the most part, citizens were strongly connected by place and small town
community values came to the foreground and the Red Cross noted that the “people
of Kamloops are very generous, often not even waiting to be asked for donations.”285
Although most of the work was done by a core group from the executive, there was no
lack of interest from the local citizens and it never had to cut back on its operating budget.
With support from all sectors of the community, the branch’s running expenses for 1930
were only $33.87 as everything required was donated. The executive was also surprised
that the annual membership drive remained strong despite high unemployment in 1930
and they were able to enroll 508 members and collect over $90.00 in donations. During
1933, the Red Cross relief committee continued its work and remained the main welfare
association. It assisted 285 families and 40 single men. Besides clothes, bedding, food,
and fuel it attempted to ensure the health of the community by supplying milk and cod
liver oil to families with small children, the elderly and invalids. The public health nurse’s
report held that malnutrition among children decreased as a consequence. City Council
provided it with a headquarters at the old court house that included light and heating,
the Sentinel provided free publicity, White Way Laundry did the laundry for the Well
Baby Clinic at no charge, and they had the cooperation of the provincial officials, the city
police and road departments. Most important, however, were the citizens of Kamloops
who provided donations in money, clothing and services and this generosity continued
throughout the Depression.286
Looking back over the last few years, the 1933 president, Edith Fitzwater
commented on the “weary road the world had been travelling” and how the crisis had
“none of the excitements of the war.” “It has been a monotony of disheartening and
dispiriting weeks and months, weakening the natural optimism and energy of our people.

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But it has called forth reserves of courage and devotion and drawn all classes together in a
fine sympathetic co-operation that has meant much to every community.”287 Urban people
gave to farmers whose crops failed and farmers sent food to those who had insufficient
funds to sustain themselves. Different classes and districts worked together to overcome
the hardships. In an annual report for 1938, the president, Mrs. Lilly Johnstone, remarked
the Red Cross “is truly a people’s movement, with a splendid record of achievement;
however, if we are to go forward helping those in distress, our true strength must lie in the
numbers of our supporters. We want sharers in the work, rather than mere spectators.”288
She felt fortunate that new members were taking up the work.
To overcome some of the weariness of the Depression, the Red Cross developed
a new method of raising funds by combining charity with entertainment. A clothing
benefit was organized in 1933 with the assistance of the Little Theatre players and several
local artists who sang, played music, and performed skits. It was a great success with 600
in attendance and raised two and a half truckloads of clothing and $100 cash. The Little
Theatre benefit became an annual event and in 1934 it drew 700 people into a full house
performance at the Elks auditorium. Over 470 parcels and $67.00 were collected at the
door. The audience was entertained by a three-act comedy by the Little Theatre players,
Irish and Spanish dancing, a variety of songs and skits.289
As the Depression continued there was little change in relief tactics until
the Kamloops branch independently created a unique Self-Help workroom in 1937
that demonstrated its ability to initiate new schemes. In its normal relief work, the
Community Chest generally supplied the funding while the Red Cross purchased and
distributed the clothing and footwear. This co-ordination provided assistance for 301
families and thirty-eight single men in 1934.290 By the fifth year of this relationship, the
Red Cross was looking for an alternative scheme to assist the poor. At this point the
local branch developed the innovative Self-Help workroom that opened on December 2,
1937. Here, under the direction of a competent seamstress and with materials supplied
by the Red Cross, women could make garments for themselves and their families. The
self-help workroom continued until the war when the room was taken over for making
war materials. Like the NCW that established sewing centers where women received
wages for re-working used clothing, the Red Cross project was not without its faults

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as it restricted women to domestic labour and contained an element of moralism in
its attempt to inspire initiative and morale among poor women. Lilly Johnstone, for
example, commented that “From my experience I find the right people would rather work
than accept relief.”291 Despite this underlying tone, the Society in 1938 noted that the
plan received “the highest commendation from our provincial division and is being used
as a model for our provincial program.”292
The relief committee still remained the backbone of the Society and in 1939
it assisted 457 families and 211 single persons. Community support still remained
strong with the BOPE (Elks), Monte Lake Ladies’ Guild and others providing money.
It also received vegetables and fruit from T.G. McBride and the “foreign settlement” in
Brocklehurst made up of German, Japanese, Chinese and other immigrant groups.293
Relief work continued into the war period but by 1942 a decline was finally recorded due
to greater employment opportunities. Only thirty-two families and twenty-eight single
persons were given assistance.294
Throughout the interwar years, the Kamloops, provincial and national Red Cross
made enormous contributions to the betterment of society by implementing its National
Peace Policy but they could not remove the major impediments to a safe and healthy
society. Reviewing the situation in 1940, the Royal Commission on Dominion-Provincial
Relations reported that to improve the health of society required the involvement of all
three levels of government. The inadequacy of health services stood out across the country
and despite the efforts of the CRCS and other voluntary public health groups large sections
of the population were not receiving care. The Great Depression worsened conditions
particularly in the western provinces where poor health, poverty and government inaction
made the problems faced by the CRCS insurmountable. The federal government’s refusal
to accept responsibility for relief or to offer any support to the CRCS efforts to provide
hostels, soup kitchens and other forms of assistance multiplied the suffering. Later the
Royal Commission report recognized the earnest work of volunteer groups during the
interwar years but recommended that they co-operate with each level of government
and that government agencies become more active. It was a forewarning of the future
when volunteer public health services would be replaced by the welfare state constructed
during and after World War II.295 For the present, the outbreak of World War II ensured

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that the Red Cross at all levels remained a leader in supporting the troops, public services
and emergency response.
War also led to a major gender shift in the Kamloops Red Cross structure but as
in the Great War women remained the core members. Prior to the outbreak of war, the
Red Cross already called a meeting to prevent overlapping of work with other groups
and to avoid the mistakes of the Great War where many unsuitable articles were sent
overseas. An emergency co-ordinating committee, later called a War Council, consisting
of the Red Cross, Women’s Council, IODE, Rebekahs, Monte Creek Ladies’ Guild and
Women’s Auxiliary to the Canadian Legion was set up for supporting soldiers. Thirteen
men, half of them from political and military spheres like T.J. O’Neill, MP, H. Carson,
MLA, Mayor C.E. Scanlan, Alderman C. Spencer, Lieutenant-Colonel, D.O. Vicars,
Major A.E. McElligott and other leading figures like Judge J.D. Swanson, Bishop Wells,
Rev. R.R. Morrison, Canon Bushe, R.E. White, J.E. Andrews, Charles Miller, (St. John
Ambulance) were on the War Council. Almost two hundred volunteers, mostly women,
attended this meeting and enrolled in emergency war work. Structurally, many of the
Red Cross committees became gender specific with the men handling areas like Disaster
Relief, Transportation, Finance and Publicity. Committees like the Home Nursing, Next
of Kin Relief and Welcome Home were consigned to women where it was thought their
feminine and maternal instincts would be useful. The time consuming and arduous task
of canvassing for community funding also became their responsibility. They were the
foot soldiers of the organization while the men tended to be the managers. The one
exception was the Kamloops Red Cross Corps established in 1941 whose young female
members carried out the feminine task of being hostesses at the Hostess House but also
worked in the more masculine areas like the Air Raid Precaution Unit control room and
as ambulance and truck drivers. Meryl Matthews was one of the first to join under the
commandant Mrs. Elizabeth Burris and later assumed this leadership position.296 Women
were dedicated to Red Cross and by the end of the year it had thirty-nine sewing groups
in the city and district working on an assortment of goods – socks, bed gowns, sweaters,
bandages, and other comforts. At the 1939 annual meeting Bishop Wells praised women’s
contributions during the Great War and drew laughter when he described how some of
the socks were “fearfully knitted” but he concluded that “You can’t send them too many

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socks.” In January 1940 the Red Cross vowed that all money “collected since the outbreak
of war will be spent on war work and war work only.”297 Despite this patriotic statement
the Red Cross continued to support the Kamloops Council of Women’s resolutions for
better health care, daycare, improved working conditions for women, and larger Mother’s
Allowance payments.298
Some of the groundwork for emergency conditions had already started in 1938.
The National Red Cross began country-wide home nursing classes and Kamloops joined
in and produced a series of twelve lectures presented by nurses and doctors for sixty-one
participants. “The need for such home-training was most clearly demonstrated during
the influenza epidemic of 1918 when thousands of Canadians died from lack of proper
care.”299 With the outbreak of war, the president, Mrs. Lilly Johnstone, noted that these
classes were of value to women in their ordinary life and invaluable to those who want to
take an active part in emergency nursing services.”300 Once the War began, the executive
established a Disaster Relief Committee in case any local emergency occurred and a
transportation committee to organize both local and overseas shipping of materials.
Community support was the key to Red Cross success. Teas, bazaars, art
exhibitions, and raffles were sponsored by local citizens, artists and businesses. Free
services were provided by the Sentinel and Advertiser in promoting events; City Council
arranged for free rooms and electricity for the War Work and Relief committees and B.C.
Coachlines provided the transportation. The city and district generously donated funds
and in October 1940 it could report that it passed its objective and raised $7,498.301 At
the annual meeting reviewing 1940, T.J. O’Neill, MP remarked that “for a town of its
size Kamloops Red Cross was an outstanding one in Canada.”302 Behind the statistics of
money, food and clothing collected or made, were hours of labour by “women, girls and
children and men too.” Three tons of completed soldier and civilian comforts were sent
from Kamloops in 1940 and two years later its success was even greater when it collected
“breath-taking” $20,422 for supplies.303 There were a large number of groups within the
city, North Kamloops and the district working directly for the Red Cross while numerous
church auxiliaries and fraternal orders offered assistance. In 1943 a separate Kamloops
Civilian Auxiliary was set up to provide supplies to two specific groups, the warship,
H.M.C.S. Kamloops and the RCAF (Moose) Fulton Squadron. The Red Cross branch

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now not only included Kamloops, North Kamloops, and Tranquille, but extended north
to Albreda, south to Stump Lake, west to Savona, east to Magna Bay into the Okanagan
to Falkland and into the Cariboo to Alexis Creek.304

Red Cross sending parccels overseas during World War II.
Image 8174 courtesy of Kamloops Museum and Archives

During the war, the Red Cross rose to become the most important relief agency
both at the local, provincial and national levels. Locally, a Hostess House was established
in 1941 at the Leland Hotel so servicemen would find a home away from home. The
women in the Red Cross Corps and local branch ran the House that had a recreation
room, library and dining room that provided Sunday evening meals. By the time the
Canadian Legion War Services took over in 1943 and established a new recreation centre
the House served as a base for thirty men a night. The branch’s Disaster Committee and
Corps also worked with the Air Raid Precaution Unit to supply it with ambulance drivers

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and other personnel. It participated in several blackout practices in order to improve the
city’s readiness and home nursing classes were held to prepare for an emergency. The one
committee to experience a reduced workload was the Relief Committee as unemployment
evaporated. With their entire attention devoted to the war, the treasurer reported that
it raised over $20,000 in 1942.305 Again, its success was assisted by church, fraternal,
patriotic and welfare societies who recognized that under the Geneva Convention, the
Red Cross was the only vehicle for providing certain types of assistance to “our armed
forces, civilian war victims and prisoners of war.” The president, nicknamed Red Cross
Johnstone by local residents, noted the “ever-increasing reliance which the whole civilized
world is placing in the Red Cross as the greatest national and international vehicle ever
devised in the relief of human suffering.”306 In the last year of the war the Red Cross
reached a peak in its success with 4,225 members and raised $25,669.58.307
With the end of the war, the CRCS refocused its efforts into a peace program but
at times the Kamloops Society had difficulty meeting the demands and standards set by
its immediate superior, the provincial branch. The growth of the welfare state meant that
the CRCS could not repeat its interwar year’s leadership in a public health movement.
While it continued some of those activities, its wartime focus on blood collection for
overseas now became the vehicle for ensuring the Society’s survival by creating a nationwide free blood transfusion service. The CRCS once again had to reshape its objectives
and take a new path.308
Priorities for Kamloops included supplying plasma to Canadian hospitals,
continuance of the Outpost hospitals and supplying liberated European countries with
necessary food and clothing. It also provided a war brides and returning soldiers welcome
service.309 Some controversy developed when the Red Cross was accused of failing to
welcome troop trains when in reality it was the responsibility of an independent Citizens
Committee. Another area that the Red Cross was accused of neglecting was the Home
Nursing class in 1946 and here it admitted being at fault and acted to remedy the problem.
On the positive side, Connie Vicars, a volunteer noted that planning for a Blood Donor
clinic began in October 1946 and the first clinic was successfully held in September
1947.310 In June 1948 it demonstrated its ability to act quickly during emergencies when
the region experienced flooding. The Disaster Relief Committee was the one committee

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run by men and provides another example of the segregation of tasks according to gender.
In the same way that the War Council had its contingent of male participants, the job
of handling emergencies was given to men, Frank MacCallum, chairman, and Charles
Spencer, acting chair. Due to MacCallum’s absence, Spencer made all the arrangements
to deal with the flooding that occurred in June, 1948. It was expected that 250 people
would have to be evacuated but fortunately it only turned out to be seventeen women
and children. They were provided with tents, mattresses and meals. It should be noted
that Mrs. H.J. Smith, the president, did not let herself be pushed into the background and
instead went with Spencer to Heffley Creek to deal with the flood.311
The local branch was not without its faults and in 1950 it again came under
criticism from the Vancouver headquarters for failing to take part in the province wide
emergency program “Operation Mercy.” To its credit the local society demonstrated its
preparedness for an emergency that occurred in 1950 when two passenger trains collided
at Canoe River. The local branch quickly responded with the necessary nursing personnel,
blood transfusion packs, and transportation needs but in the end the accident was not as
damaging as first thought and its services were not required. Janet W. Hall the secretary
summarized events, “Talk about a topsy-turvy year! We were lauded to the skies, then
raked over the coals; lived for a while on top of the world, and were then relegated to
the doghouse; fell down on routine duty and then redeemed ourselves by rising to an
emergency.”312
Except for these few instances, post-war activities remained regular and constant.
Reporting in 1948, the secretary, remarked “How can an annual report avoid repetition,
be interesting and still stick to the facts.”313 True to her statement the reports for this era
outline the steady progress of the Blood Transfusion Committee, outpost hospital at Blue
River, Disaster relief, home nursing classes, swim lessons, junior Red Cross, and Tranquille
visiting.314 Although it might be routine work it did not decrease its importance. For
instance the annual blood donor clinic collected an amazing 2000 pints within four
days while the Tranquille visiting committee assisted patients since 1926. The women’s
work committee continued to help the needy by sewing and knitting clothing. While
it received little publicity, the Kamloops Sentinel acknowledged that it “accomplishes
much toward the happiness and well-being of many.”315 One change did occur in 1950.

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Frank A. MacCallum replaced Mrs. H.J. Smith and became the first man to be elected
president. At the time, Mrs. Edith Fitzwater who served the branch for the 35 years since
it began was made a honourary vice president for life.316 Other long term members, Mrs.
J. MacEwan, Mrs. A.C. Taylor, and Mrs. Janet W. Hall, also received honours at annual
meetings. In 1956 the Red Cross recognized Janet Hall “to be unequalled in volunteer
service to the community.” She served as secretary, publicity chairman and “indefatigable
worker” for the Red Cross during the last 28 years. Three years earlier she explained her
dedication to the Society. “There is something about the Red Cross that gets right into
your blood and you can’t give it up. No one knows that better than I.”317
The older executive gradually began to retire in the fifties and to be replaced by
a new generation like Mrs. Joyce Sowerby, who was president both of the Red Cross and
the Kamloops Council of Women. Other members of the executive in 1955 were for
the most part middle class women and three men. While men like George C. Hay and
Fred Scott acted as president and vice-president in 1959 the majority of the working
committees were controlled by women as were most of the volunteers. A case in point is
Phyllis Marion Parkes who started volunteering with the Red Cross in Salmon Arm, then
England during World War II and when she moved to Kamloops in 1948 she continued
to be an active volunteer at Blood Donor clinics, a social convenor, and fund raiser. She
also served as Disaster Services manager in the 1970s and directed assistance for people
who lost their homes due to fires and the major flood of the Thompson River in 1972.
In a recent interview she stated that “after her family, the Red Cross has always been my
first priority.” Her dedication stemmed from personal motives and a sense of repayment
to an organization that helped some friends who were prisoners of war survive and by
the memories of a Red Cross nurse in Salmon Arm assisting her mother to save her life
when she had scarlet fever at the age of nine. Her summary of the Red Cross is a succinct
explanation of why it survives to the present. She remarked that “Though the Red Cross
Society has undergone many changes since my involvement at a very early age, it is still
“People helping people.” This also drew her to volunteer for the Women’s Institute, the
LARIH, John Howard Society, YWCA and other associations. Her constant work
for the Red Cross since 1918 was recognized by a seventy-one year service pin in 1989
and a Volunteer in Profile Award Trophy in 2002.318 The Red Cross has always been a

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community effort and had the support from a large membership and city sponsors like the
Kamloops Daily Sentinel, CFJC television, City Council, Junior Chamber of Commerce,
church auxiliaries, fraternal and social organizations, Graduate Nurses Association, and
numerous businesses.319
Conclusion
Throughout its history the Red Cross provided women with access to community affairs.
Personally women were given opportunities to move outside the domestic realm and
develop organizational skills, and be managers of complex aid groups during wars and
peacetime. Besides the personal satisfaction acquired by its members, the Red Cross
stood out in its contributions to the city. It was very open in its community mandate and
established links with city and provincial government officials and numerous associations.
It not only received assistance from associations like the BOPE (Elks) and the Ladies’
Guild of Monte Creek, but supported others like the Community Chest and the Council
of Women.320 It became an affiliate of the local branch of the Council of Women in
1933 and involved in pressure group activity. Although it assisted the Council in various
campaigns to improve social welfare, there were numerous cases when it would not give its
approval to projects. In 1934, for example, it approved of the Council’s attempt to get the
government to restore to mothers the amount established by the Mothers’ Pension Act,
but rejected a call to enforce medical inspections of both men and women before marriage
as this might complicate marriage laws. Nor did it support a minimum wage for boys as
the executive believed it was better to work for a small wage than to be unemployed.321
The Society continued to discuss various resolutions presented by Vancouver Council
of Women on law reforms regarding sex crimes involving children, drinking, and labour
legislation.322 It was still providing support in 1944 by approving a number of the local
Council of Women’s resolutions. Included was an item to improve the position of
household workers in the post-war period, to establish more infant schools, and training
through a home demonstration bureau for new farm women that it regarded as essential
to the government’s land settlement plans. It also voiced support for an increase of the
present inadequate sum of $30.00 for Old Age Pension to $50.00 per month.323
The Kamloops Red Cross was a vital component in maintaining and building the

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community’s infrastructure. Although its national and provincial affiliations determined
general policies, it was local issues that provided the focus for their volunteerism. Its
support for soldiers during two World Wars was in response to the large enlistment of
men from the town and district into the armed forces. In civic affairs, women provided
the time, dedication and work to improve the quality of life in the city. While the
Society never adopted an overtly feminist philosophy, women’s involvement and actions
demonstrated their civic importance and undermined social conventions. Women
entered into the role of caring for the community not because they were natural nurturers
but out of necessity. Comparatively, these women were similar to nurses who were also
branded as being natural nurturers but in reality were trained specialists who acquired
skills, attitudes, behaviour patterns, and responsibilities. The majority of young women
who provided support to overseas soldiers developed numerous skills to organize their
home front and overseas campaigns and continued to offer their services to make much
needed improvements to the city’s health and living standards.324 Prior to the post-World
War II era government assistance was non-existent particularly in small towns and as a
consequence the women in the Red Cross took it upon themselves to create preventative
medicine programs to establish a healthy population. Key elements of this program were
the hiring of a public nurse, health education classes, immunization and the Well Baby
Clinic. Women had found that there was power in organization and in this manner
improvements could be made to the city. Crises like the Great Depression made it the
principal social welfare institution and provider of assistance for the unemployed and
poor. Small town values of neighbourliness, cooperation, and a community spirit that
crossed class lines led to a strong support of the Red Cross’ efforts and made it a people’s
movement. With the outbreak of World War II gender divisions came to the forefront as
men assumed control of the War Council while women were assigned to committees that
emphasized their maternal and nurturing capabilities. With the cessation of War and the
return to a peace program women came to the forefront in most programs that once again
concentrated on improving public health and community living standards.

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Chapter Five
Strength in Union: the Kamloops Council of Women
Women’s Associations were attracted by the Council’s objective “to unite women’s
organizations so that they may be a force for progress in the community.”

Kamloops Sentinel, December 14, 1934.

The Council could “be of use to the community only if you take a keen interest in the
needs of the city.” “The Council should be what its title implies – a clearing house
for the ideas and ideals of the women of the city.”

Edith Fitzwater, President, Kamloops Council of Women, Kamloops Sentinel,
January 29, 1945.

Like other women’s organizations that have contributed immensely to the community’s
quality of life by promoting social welfare, recreation, and culture, the Kamloops Council
of Women has been ignored by historians. The Local Council established in 1933 was to
generally follow the guidelines and principles of the National and Provincial Councils. At
the same time it adapted and added new features to meet local needs. The Local Council
provided the network for supporting diverse women’s organizations in the community
which under normal circumstances would have remained fragmented. The importance
of the Council to women’s social, cultural, and political progress definitely merits a closer
historical examination. When the women of Kamloops organized their own Council
they were becoming a part of a forty year history, and therefore some account of the
National Council of Women, (NCW) and Provincial Councils is necessary to place it into
perspective. Some historians like Mariana Valverde maintain that “the NCW probably
had little effect among rural and small town women,” when in reality there were numerous
councils in B.C. small towns and they were also assisted by women’s rural groups.325
Even before Kamloops women formed a Council many independent associations like
the KWCTU, Red Cross Society, Beresford Women’s Institute, and LARIH supported
the provincial and national councils’ lobby activity to improve women’s positions and
therefore were already a part of its history.
From its earliest origins in 1888 when the American activists and suffragists,
Susan Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton founded the International Council of
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Women, it acted as an umbrella organization for all women’s associations. Under the
general rubric of reform it attempted to change society by philanthropy, temperance,
missionary work, improvement in hospitals, prisons, and working conditions, and by
altering the legal and political system. These issues remained its core objectives. After a
delay of five years, Lady Ishbel Aberdeen founded and became the first president of the
Canadian NCW with the same premise. It welcomed all women’s organizations, placed
ideology to the side, overcame existing differences between religious denominations, and
allowed its branches great autonomy. The NCW was organized on a national, provincial,
and local level. This strategy gave the Council both a regional and national capability.
Being the wife of the Governor General added to Lady Aberdeen’s power and influence
but what made the NCW special to British Columbia was her part-time residency at
their Coldstream Ranch in Vernon and her tremendous drive to provide the West with a
woman’s voice to match that of Central Canada. Diversity, a wide range of objectives, and
consensus policies became its hallmark and enabled it to last and obtain major changes.
In the process, women gained a political space and a public voice.326
The National Council did not try to change the social or political structure of
society. Instead, its leader, Lady Aberdeen, and the Council believed that women had an
important role to play in improving the existing society. Veronica Strong-Boag categorized
it as a “gigantic maternal union.” The Council, she noted, applied society’s view that
women had more humane feminine characteristics and were a nurturing, spiritual, and
moral force for the purpose of bettering society.327 By the time of its formation, there existed
numerous women’s associations like the YWCA, WCTU, women’s missionary societies,
and the Girl’s Friendly Society that were trying to improve conditions for women and
children. The Council’s mandate was to provide a forum for these community-minded
women and to increase the efficiency and power of these separate women’s associations.
The early activities of the NCW that included lobbying for women’s suffrage,
improved legal and working conditions for women, better health care, education, and
child care have often been labelled as belonging to the maternal feminist camp. Like
other “maternal feminist” organizations it has been criticized as being conservative and
holding back a women’s rights movement in Canada, but more recent studies emphasize
its feminist rather than feminine role. As feminists, the Council organizers made it their

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goal to acquire a public voice and become civic leaders. In this manner, they turned an
essentially conservative position of women’s moral responsibility into an activist role
to not only protect the home but also women and children in all aspects of society.328
“By conflating homemaking with nation building and motherhood with statecraft they
created a new political creed that both challenged and conceded the practical division of
male and female labour prescribed by the middle-class ideology of separate spheres.”329
The evolution of this theme can be seen at the national, provincial, and local level.
In British Columbia, the first local councils owed their existence to Lady
Aberdeen. The Aberdeens had already purchased two ranches in the Interior in 1890
and 1891 named Guisachan and Coldstream. As the Governor-General’s wife, Lady
Aberdeen travelled the country and took this opportunity to establish local councils, first
in 1894 in Vancouver and Victoria and then Vernon in 1895. The Vernon Council was
personally formed by Lady Aberdeen in 1895 and its main concerns were health issues
such as the anti-tuberculosis movement and the establishment of the Vernon hospital in
1896. At the time, local women remained apprehensive about joining an organization
that had feminist and suffrage objectives but admiration for Lady Aberdeen’s good works
won them over. Recruits like Alice Barret Parke admitted her reluctance to step outside
her designated feminine role and yet joined in order to improve women’s conditions.330
The Vancouver Council was particularly concerned about the lack of medical and nursing
services throughout the province, especially in small towns and rural areas. In 1896 it
sought the NCW’s support in finding a means to overcome the perils faced by women
in the rural West during childbirth. Over the next few years Lady Aberdeen and NCW
lobbied government officials and the medical profession to accept the establishment of
the Victorian Order of Home Helpers and then the Victorian Order of Nurses. The
Home Helpers specific purpose was to help women during and after childbirth while
the latter organization gave smaller communities and rural areas what they wanted
and desperately needed, trained nurses. From the beginning, the NCW was an active
supporter of cultural activities and each Council had an Arts and Culture Committee to
support local libraries, craft shows, music and drama festivals. For children, they provided
reading clubs, art and science lectures, and scholarships.331

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In the first decade of the twentieth century the local councils worked for
improvements in women’s suffrage, women’s working conditions and minimum wage,
health, divorce laws, homestead rights for women, custody rights over children, and
benefit issues. The Victoria Council that had the strong backing of the WCTU was the
first to pass a provincial Women’s Suffrage resolution in 1908 and the NCW established
a Standing Committee on Suffrage and the Rights of Citizenship in 1910. Along with
the Councils, other women’s organizations became more active and it led Helen MacGill
to claim that “From 1905 to 1910, inclusive, was a heyday of social and public welfare
organizing in Vancouver.”332 Throughout these years the NCW attempted to gain a
women’s minimum wage and the Vancouver Council made a submission to the British
Columbia Royal Commission on Labour Conditions in 1913 but it was ignored.333
The First World War changed the focus of the councils to war work, and most affiliated
societies assisted the Red Cross in fund-raising but they also continued a home front
campaign for better housing, health and women’s employment.
During the War the State still clung to pre-war individualist beliefs and a reliance
on charity. The one exception was its involvement in the regulation of activities that were
within women’s sphere in order to establish a healthy population and future workforce.334
To ensure that they had influence over government legislation effecting women and
children the Vancouver Council felt that a provincial Council should be formed. At the
time, Lady Aberdeen felt that provincial councils might weaken the national organization
and therefore did not support the concept.335 Despite her resistance the Victoria local
passed a motion on the need for a provincial council in 1918. Their argument stated,
“What cannot be obtained through appeals from individual local councils could often be
obtained through appeals from united women of the province. A provincial organization
would unite rather than separate Council nationally.”336
After a series of meetings that began in 1919, the Provincial Council was formed
in 1921 and represented as well as co-ordinated the work of the local Councils, including
the future Kamloops Council of Women. “Because women during the war had become
used to taking a more prominent part in public affairs, and had achieved the vote in
B.C. in 1917 and nationally in 1918, a need was felt for provincial councils in order to
petition provincial legislatures.”337 They had to wait until 1921 for the NCW to change

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its constitution. In the interim, the provincial vice-president and executive committee
were endorsed to present resolutions to the government. The concerns of these meetings
were women’s employment, the Factory Act and the appointment of a woman inspector,
compulsory teaching of English to aliens, the admission of the wives and families of
Hindus into Canada, and Civil Service Pensions. Other major issues included the need
for legislation to allow women to sit on municipal or school boards and to gain greater
representation in the legislature.338
Women were forcing entry into political life and in 1918, Mrs. Mary Ellen Smith,
who was a council member and campaigner for women’s and children’s rights, became an
MLA but would be the only woman in the provincial legislature for the next ten years.
Her activism enabled a number of pieces of legislation that the Councils supported to pass.
These included a minimum wage for women, an act setting the standard for registered
nurses, and mothers’ pension.339 Throughout the war the NCW and Vancouver local
advocated a minimum wage as necessary to protect future generations and the government,
business and labour movement began to see some advantage to the legislation. If enacted,
the government would fulfill its responsibility, business might prevent a larger tax burden
by this minor legislation rather than pay more for unemployment insurance or free health
care, and labour might block the unfair competition of lower paid women. Lobbying
activity by the NCW and the WCTU branches including Kamloops led to the formation
of the B.C. Minimum Wage Board in 1918 but the minimum wage for women remained
nominal and could not be regarded as a step forward. The legislation also treated women
as secondary due to their lack of full citizenship and contractual rights and identified
them as needing protection because they were the reproducers and nurturers of the next
generation.340
One of the largest issues of the early twentieth century and one that bound many
women’s organizations throughout the province together was the Mothers’ Pension
campaign initiated by the Vancouver Local Council. The protection of women and
children became of paramount concern as the province industrialized and working
conditions for the male breadwinner became more dangerous in lumbering and mining
camps. Family stability appeared threatened from increased deaths, disability, and
separation of men from their families. The impact of the First World War and the 1918

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influenza epidemic increased the incidence of widowed, deserted, and unwed mothers
who could not properly look after their children some of whom were neglected or became
delinquent. In her research, Cynthia Comacchio found that the NCW pushed for a
post-war reconstruction based on maternal feminist principles and focused on improving
the health of children. In its lobbying it stated, “Now, when so many valuable lives are
being sacrificed for the cause of greater world freedom, the prevention of infant mortality
becomes, more than ever, a vital necessity of national importance.”341
Collectively, women’s organizations called for a mother’s allowance and placed
pressure of the State to redefine its role and responsibilities. The great loss of men provided
women with the argument that they required government support to repopulate the
nation and create a healthy population. Together, women and the State would create
a new national efficiency. The NCW, for example, argued, “if women were to be the
most ‘valuable asset’ of the nation-that is, fit citizens-then the state should pay for this
female burden of developing Canada’s future citizens by funding well-baby clinics, free
milk stations, and education for scientific motherhood, as well as a national scheme of
mothers’ pensions.”342 Other organizations like the Red Cross were also promoting a
similar post-war reconstruction. In Kamloops, the Red Cross initiated its Peace program
by hiring a public nurse and establishing a Well Baby Clinic.
Women’s organizations’ repetitive use of the argument that motherhood was the
means for national social regeneration developed a “sense of community” that tied the
State to the family. It created a new definition of social citizenship that entitled women to
State protection through legislation like mothers’ allowances. In B.C. there was added the
perceived fear that the white Anglo Celtic population was being overtaken by immigrants
and attention focused on the large number of Asians being drawn to the province as cheap
labour. For many middle class women it became their duty to save the race and preserve
the ideal white family with the man as the breadwinner and the mother and children in
the home. When this became threatened by the absence of the husband, women needed
to be supported by the State.343
Other women’s groups like the WCTU and the University Women’s Club joined
them to lobby the government for reforms. Influential women such as Helen MacGill,
the first B.C. female judge, and University Women’s Club, Helena Gutteridge, labour

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activist, Cecilia Spofford, WCTU and Children’s Aid Society and Maria Grant, WCTU,
convinced the government to establish a Commission on Health Insurance in 1918.
They maintained strong beliefs in the importance of the family but their concern about
single mothers led them to break away from standard moral definitions and almost every
woman’s organization supported the inclusion of unwed mothers as recipients of the
pension. While liberal in this sense, no organization was willing to extend these rights to
non-British subjects and this revealed the strong sense of racism that prevailed at this time.
With the leadership of Mary Ellen Smith in the legislature the B.C. Mothers’ Pension
Act was passed on 17 April 1920 and was the most progressive in the country and based
on a mother’s right to bring up her children. It was a very inclusive act for white single
mothers but it still remained racially tainted by excluding all non-British subjects and
even naturalized citizens of Asian origin. Another problem with the Act was that the
allowance paid out was well below the subsistence level and further cutbacks were made
as the economy worsened in the 1930s.344 Nonetheless, it was a first step in developing a
new public culture that broke away from individualist philosophy and charitable relief by
recognizing the state’s responsibility to the family.
The progressive steps made in mothers’ pensions and attempts to gain legislation
ensuring welfare for mothers and children met strong resistance in the interwar period
due to continued beliefs in economic individualism. Across the nation, government
administrators undermined the concept of State support and reverted back to self-help
themes. They replaced the concept of mothers’ pensions that allowed them to stay at home
to look after the family with mother’s allowances restricted to widows and women with
incapacitated husbands. Instead of social citizenship, they emphasized social obligation
and scrutiny by the State before allowances were given.345 A further deterioration of
women’s rights to State support would take place during the Depression when fears
turned from a lack of population and manpower to unemployment.
More success was achieved in the political arena when in 1929 the National
Council’s campaign to have women legally declared persons won the approval of the
Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in England, the highest court of appeal in
Canadian law. Specific campaigns to improve child welfare, education, culture and town
planning were launched. The Provincial Council also made significant inroads to the

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political system by establishing regular meetings with the Premier and cabinet in 1932.
Women continued to be lobbyists as all parties still treated politics as a man’s game. Of the
800 candidates nominated for elections during the interwar years only four percent were
women. Even the entry of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation into provincial
politics in 1933 did not alter the situation dramatically as the party was more concerned
about economic rather than feminist issues. Some progress was made with the election of
two socialist women, Dorothy Steeves in 1934 and Laura Jamieson in 1939.346
At the time the Kamloops Council of Women organized, the Provincial Council
was lobbying for a diverse set of objectives. These included major issues on Health
Insurance, opposition to the amounts paid out under the Mother’s Pensions Act, Juvenile
Delinquency laws, Old Age Pensions, and minimum wage for boys. Other concerns were
health examinations for men and women before marriage, the conditions for women in
Oakalla prison and their safe transport on release. The onset of the Great Depression
required that they alter their focus to the relief of the poor. Directly related to the
Depression, the Provincial Council attempted to persuade the government to prohibit
the placing of boys under twenty-one in camps with older unemployed men, and to have
a woman representative on all relief boards. Subsequently, the B.C. Economic Council
asked the president of the Provincial Council, Anne Bagley, to offer suggestions on how
to improve conditions and another member participated on the Industrial Relations
board that administered the Minimum Wage Act, the Female Minimum Wage Act, and
the Hours of Work Act. Like other local Councils the main way they helped women was
to provide aid to the unemployed and the general population.347
The inaugural meeting of the Kamloops Council of Women, (KCW) took
place on November 28, 1933 and was immediately recognized as a step forward for civic
progress. The Provincial Council felt that Kamloops was a key city and an excellent place
to expand its organization throughout the Interior. Mrs. Annie Campbell, president of
the local WCTU initiated the organizational meeting by asking the provincial council
to organize Kamloops women’s associations. Women in Kamloops enthusiastically
accepted the Council’s structure and recognized its potential for achieving social change
more effectively than possible by independent associations.348 Anne Bagley, the provincial
president did not hesitate to start a new local branch. She emphasized that the Council

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was not just another organization, but a federation of women’s associations whose
objective was “civic, provincial and national service to humanity.”349 By co-ordinating the
aims of various organizations it could prove the need for action and present a united front
for legislation at different levels of government. No doubt the large number of women’s
organizations in Kamloops and their record of success impressed the Provincial Council
and it expected Kamloops to be “very active.”350 Twenty-one women’s organizations were
at the inaugural meeting but only a small number immediately joined. They included the
Business and Professional Women’s Club, Canadian Daughters’ League, Cherry Creek
Women’s Institute, Daughters of England, Grand International Auxiliary to Brotherhood
of Locomotive Engineers, Imperial Order, Daughters of Empire, Ladies’ Aid of St.
Andrews Presbyterian Church and Caledonian Society, Women’s Association of the
United Church and the KWCTU.351
As with the Red Cross, the KWCTU and other women’s organizations, the
executive of the Local Council was to a great extent drawn from the middle classes. Mrs.
Winnifred Fulton was elected president, Mrs. Annie Wyllie, first vice-president, Mrs.
T.J. O’Neill, Mrs. Edith Fitzwater, Mrs. R. Butterfield and Mrs. J. Furiak, vice-presidents,
Miss Margaret J. Hall corresponding secretary, Mrs. P.H. McCurrach recording secretary,

Kamloops Council of Women planting a maple tree in Riverside Park.
Image 1517 courtesy of Kamloops Museum and Archives

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and Mrs. C. Anderson, treasurer.352 The first real meeting in January 1934 drew fifty-two
women and signaled its success. The local was immediately drawn into the provincial
council’s agenda and discussed the thorny subject of advocating health examinations
before marriage. After a long discussion the difficult resolution was tabled but agreement
was reached to support the re-establishment of the original amount of mothers’ pension
aid and for the government to administer it.353 During the next year, the local Council
gained strength and stability with the inclusion of well established associations like the
Beresford Women’s Institute, Red Cross, Ladies’ Auxiliary to RIH, and Pythian Sisters.
They were attracted by the Council’s objective “to unite women’s organizations so
that they may be a force for progress in the community.”354 As the number of affiliates
increased, the Council gathered more strength to develop their programs.
With the Depression already in full swing, the NCW decided that the best way
to deal with its problems was to leave relief programs in the hands of local councils as
they had better knowledge of their communities’ needs.355 In Kamloops, the Red Cross
had established itself as the main relief organization and the co-ordinator of all volunteer
efforts. The KCW joined in and worked to improve conditions by the provision of basic
needs like food, clothing, shelter, and health services.
By 1935, the Kamloops Council established a number of standard committees
and throughout the thirties it achieved important progressive changes in the welfare of
the community. Although the government closed the relief camps in the area in 1933, a
camp hospital was maintained and the Council at the request of the Federal government
helped the unemployed and transients whenever possible by providing reading material
and games for it from 1934 until it closed in 1936.356 Its natural resources committee also
made a report on the operation of local canneries. A laws committee studied Helen G.
McGill’s book, “Laws for Women and Children” while the public health group examined
means to prevent diseases. The housing and town planning group placed pressure on the
school board to beautify the school grounds which at the time were a “blot on an otherwise
well kept city.”357 While the city was well situated, envied by Californians because of the
rivers, and well kept with tree-shaded streets, there was room for improvement. There still
existed old sheds being used for dwellings without proper sanitation, and outbuildings
that had no purpose and were in a deteriorated state. City by-laws had overcome previous

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overcrowding by providing clear spaces between buildings but more still needed to be
done.358
Another major concern for the Kamloops local was support for cultural
developments in the community. Since its foundation the National Council had sought
to provide cultural leadership by establishing an Art and Letters committee. Generally it
supported Canadian artists at a national and local level. In her centennial history of the
association, Naomi Griffiths remarked that “the support of cultural activities was another
area where the activity at the local council level was traditional, effective and essential for
the quality of life in many communities.”359 In Kamloops, the local Council encouraged
City Council to support libraries, museums, auditoriums and other cultural forums. It
also attempted to set proper standards for books, radio, and film, particularly for children.
To ensure that quality movies and plays came to the city, it established a cinema and
printed matter committee to vet material.360 The local council’s agenda generally followed
the lead taken by the provincial and national body but it also demonstrated initiative by
presenting resolutions for prohibiting the entry of “salacious” magazines into Canada and
supporting the need for visits by the government mental clinic to the Interior, and the
development of a highway commission to the provincial and national councils.361
Each step taken by the Councils accessed women’s entry into the social, cultural,
and political life of their communities. Despite the progress in women’s citizenship
rights, communities were predominately controlled by men and, therefore, women’s
organizations provided parallel means of influence and overcame their exclusion from the
establishment. While the executives of the Councils retained an upper and middle class
membership and, therefore, have been criticized as class based organizations, they were
the driving force behind women’s general entry into the public sphere.362 For example,
in the thirties, the Provincial Council pushed for the representation of women on the
Board of the Tubercular Sanatoria and other public offices.363 The National Council was
also concerned with who and how politics was run. In 1938 it advocated placing women
on all public boards, electing them to city council, legislatures and parliament, and
appointing them to the Senate. In Kamloops, the local president, Mrs. P.H. McCurrach,
urged women to join in despite their tendency “to shrink from public work.”364 Her call
for women to enter public life was echoed by Mrs. Rolston, the Provincial president, at

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the annual meeting in 1939 when she stated that “in British Columbia the women in civic
life are all Council women – three members of Provincial Parliament, two on the parks
Board and one on the School Board.” It seems that leadership is the prime requisite for
our times, Councils must give it, or step down!”365
The first woman in Kamloops to fulfill this challenge was Helen Millward who
became the first woman alderman in 1947 and re-elected in 1953 and 1957. She had
before her the example of Margaret M. Clements who was the first woman elected to
public office as School Board trustee in 1914 and became its chairman in 1918. Mrs.
Adelaide Johnstone also broke ground by being the first woman to run for City Council
in 1921 but she failed to gain a place. Millward gained experience in the public sphere
by joining volunteer groups like the Imperial Order, Daughters of the Empire and the
Women’s Institute. When some women suggested that she run for City Council she did
because she “liked a challenge.” Her personal philosophy was “better to try and fail than
not try at all.”366 From Millward’s first day in office she worked energetically to improve
the city. One observer noted that she was an “Amazonian go-getter” whose name could be
viewed most frequently in the newspaper as she got involved in one project after another.
Among her many accomplishments were improvements in school playgrounds, the first
woman to serve on the Parks Board, chairman of housing and town planning committee,
director to the Aquatic Society, member of the Arts and Crafts Club, Heritage House, Art
Gallery, promoter of a by-law that transformed the library from a volunteer association to
a city run institution, supporter of the Museum and the Women’s Institute campaign for
the formation of Kamloops Restroom Association. Commenting on the Heritage House
and Art Gallery in a later interview she said that they “gave the people of Kamloops a
pretty sound understanding what art can hold in the progress of a city and people’s lives.”
She also acknowledged the community spirit that existed and noted that “no one does
anything alone. You have to do it with like-minded people.” Her numerous efforts to
create a better community were recognized at KCW dinner in her honor where Mayor
J.E. Fitzwater presented her with a symbolic key to the city.367
During her second term in office beginning in 1951 she continued to initiate the
formation of community groups and to take positive steps for the health of the regional
community by promoting the establishment of the South Central Health Unit and

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then acting as the first chairman. Commenting on her efforts, the KCW felt that “Mrs.
Millward has proved that a woman whose ideals are high and who is not afraid of working
a full day to further those ideals can fill the position of Alderman well and truly.”368 As
a member of the KCW she was chairman of the housing and town planning committee
and organized the first public meetings to form the Kamloops Senior Citizens Housing
Society in order to construct the low rental Glenfair homes. To enhance the culture of
the community she pushed through the formation of the Thompson Valley Community
Concerts Society and worked to promote it. While a supporter of women’s equal rights
and involvement, she was ambivalent in her gender politics. She remarked that she “still
wanted to retain feminine aspects” in City Council but did not want to be treated as “a
woman, just an alderman.” By not creating “any bad feeling toward women” she felt that
this opened the gate for other women to move into public offices.369 The next woman
to gain a position on City Council was Meryl Matthews in 1973 whose experience in
volunteer associations like the Red Cross Corps, Soroptimists, Council of Women and
work as a reporter for the Kamloops Sentinel gave her valuable knowledge of the city’s
needs. A strongly independent person, Meryl later commented in an interview that she
“never felt that I was inferior to a man.”370 After years of work on City Council, the School
Board and Hospital Board she was awarded the Freedom of the City in 1987.
Whether it was at the national, provincial or local level, the main focus of the
Councils was the provision of social welfare and health services and cultural development
to improve the quality of life. By 1943, the fiftieth anniversary, the NCW included
twenty-one nationally organized societies from diverse ethnic, religious, and social
backgrounds. Among the national groups being examined in this study, the WCTU,
Red Cross and YWCA were prominent members, but what made the NCW unique
was the melding of groups like the National Council of Jewish Women, Federation of
Business and Professional Women’s Clubs, Salvation Army, and Ukrainian Women’s
Association of Canada. Many of the basic needs of society like food, clothing, housing,
and health were met through the efforts of its affiliated organizations. Over the years, the
National Council lobbied municipal, provincial and federal governments to take more
responsibility for the provision of community services. Although it is difficult to measure
its impact, improvements in areas that specifically concerned the Councils like improved

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mother’s allowance, care of infants, the elderly and infirm, education, health, culture, and
recreation, confirmed their success. In this process, constant lobbying moved the care of
the community from individual and volunteer initiatives to government funded social
services.371
Throughout World War II, the National Council directed its work to the war
effort and the home front. Social welfare and cultural development still remained
a priority but support for the armed services became an obvious necessity. While the
National Council became involved at the federal government’s request in a campaign
to recruit more women in the armed forces, and married women for part-time work in
the service industries, the locals were heavily involved in providing supplies for soldiers
abroad and improving the social welfare of their communities.372 During the war the
Provincial Council suspended some of its work to develop a low income scheme, health
insurance, and Old Age Pension expansion and their work shifted to raising money for
War Savings Certificates, promoting the immigration of British children, the protection
of women workers, and provincial nutrition.373 Protecting women’s working conditions
and improving their wages became of greater importance as more married women joined
the workforce in the twenties and thirties in order to meet family needs and to fulfill
their own aspirations. From 1929-1939 the number of married workers increased from
nineteen to twenty-two percent but it was the war that created the largest jump with
thirty-seven percent being married in 1943. Although many left the labour force after
the war, they began to make their way back and by 1951 married women accounted for
thirty-nine percent of workers.374
The Kamloops Council also worked for the War effort and at the same time
continued its campaign to improve the social welfare of the community. By lobbying City
Council it obtained the purification treatment of the water supply and improvements to
a number of properties. It also claimed responsibility for an increase in good movies
for children, a better high school library and the reduction of objectionable magazines
at newspaper stands. In 1941, the housing and planning committee under Mrs.
Edith Fitzwater, who was also elected president in that year, still expressed small town
conservative views on the need for extra policing, more stop signs, and the enforcement
of the liquor act with regard to Indians. A more progressive plan to establish a park in the

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east end was also put forward. She concluded that the Council could “be of use to the
community only if you take a keen interest in the needs of the city.” “The Council should
be what its title implies – a clearing house for the ideas and ideals of the women of the
city.”375 Fitzwater concluded that women were taking their places beside the men in the
services and at the home front. She also stressed the need for Canadians to be healthy so
that they could do their jobs effectively and not waste time due to illness.
The demands of the war effort led to a loss of momentum for certain cultural
activities promoted by the KCW. The arts and letters committee noted that the Junior
Symphony Orchestra ceased to exist and regarded this as a major loss. Nevertheless, a core
group of activities like the choral societies at various churches, St. Ann’s and the public
schools, the Outdoor club, Shakespeare Club, Public Library, Little Theatre Association
and the Harmony club were able to survive. Several Kamloops artists were still able to
show their paintings at the B.C. artists’ exhibition. These cultural activities continued in
1943 with special mention being given to Mrs. G.R. Williams, Mrs. Candido and J.D.
Gregson who exhibited their art at the Vancouver Art Gallery. The Council also had a
Recreational War Services Committee that organized frequent dances, whist drives, bingo
games, movies, concerts, and parties on special holidays like Christmas and Halloween.376
To recover societal losses caused by the war and ensure the creation of a better
society, the National Council developed a progressive Post-War planning program
in 1943 that the locals adopted. The main features of this endeavour included
International Collaboration, National Unity, Social and Economic planning, National
Health and Nutrition, Education, Social Insurance, Housing, Immigration, and Fitness
and Health. The final point was specifically directed to the improvement of women’s
status. Furthermore, they requested more involvement in government at all levels and
representation on administration boards and bodies dealing with peace terms and
reconstruction. To protect improvements in women’s employment, they criticized the
replacement of women workers by returning soldiers and discrimination against women
workers and especially married women. Other major goals set by the NCW were to
achieve equal pay for equal work and that citizenship should not be tied to marital status.
Whereas the majority of the program paralleled the Liberal government’s reconstruction
plans, this final section provided a feminist perspective that went beyond government

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proposals. It demonstrated the Council’s determination to take an independent and
positive position about women’s place in public life. Although these plans were beyond the
capability of each local to implement, the Vancouver Council of Women which included
ninety-nine women’s organizations and 35,000 members in 1954 became heavily involved
in improving health, housing, recreation, economic issues, and international affairs.377
In Kamloops the Council was already preparing for the post-war period by
establishing a Rehabilitation committee. It set to work by appointing a veteran’s welfare
officer and setting up a central co-ordinating committee for post-war issues. It provided
assistance to thirty-one local and eight district discharged service men and support for the
Tranquille visiting committee where sixty-nine discharged service men were being treated
in 1945.378 During the war, housing problems became more evident because building
construction had been cut back. This created concern over health and housing issues as
overcrowding became more evident as the population increased. A survey conducted by
the Council in 1945 revealed a shortage of 300 houses. Schools were also overcrowded and
this increased the dangers from T.B., diphtheria and other diseases. Its recommendations
for a program of x-rays, immunization and pasteurization of milk were soon put into
practice. The Council was also instrumental in organizing a Parent-Teacher Association
and promoting recreation by supporting the Little Theatre Association, library, museum
and helping to raise $175,000 for a Memorial ice rink centre.379
The progressive plans and the original NCW’s objectives were, however, being
undermined by 1943 with the transformation of the liberal/individualist state to a
welfare state. Historians like N. Griffiths observed that “Since the Council itself was the
product of women’s volunteer work in associations largely dedicated to social service, the
arrival of a state-organized system of social welfare was bound to change the aims and
methods of many Council members.”380 Increasingly, traditional concerns like maternal
and child welfare were taken over by the medical profession and State agencies. Doctors
might accept the assistance provided by women’s organizations but were opposed to
their sponsorship of midwifery, maternity benefits, and health insurance. Women’s
organizations still fought to retain the importance of the maternalist family that gave
women the responsibility for children and emphasized that the 1944 Family Allowance
Act should give payments to mothers not fathers. In reality, the Act supported the male

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breadwinner concept and family responsibility was transferred from being maternal to
male centered.381 The institutionalization of health and welfare at the State level therefore
had positive and negative impacts.
The Kamloops Council’s Rehabilitation committee became redundant as the
government took over this role and also appointed a Veteran’s Welfare Officer. While
women were pushed out of certain social services, Vera Kelsey in her travels around
B.C. in the 1950s observed that women in Kamloops remained devoted to community
work and provided the example of one woman who had just completed a project to raise
$110,000 for a seniors’ housing project and another woman who donated the land for
the library-museum building. “Women.” she noted, “are as active as men in initiating and
supporting all manner of social welfare.”382 The Kamloops Council remained focused on
practical work for the “public good” from a community and national perspective. The
old objectives of child welfare, health, women’s work and rights, education, recreation

Kamloops in the 1950s. Victoria Street looking East from First Street, Bank of B. C., 1952.
Image 5636 courtesy of Kamloops Museum and Archives

and culture remained constant. The standing committees included arts and crafts, cinema
and printed matter, housing and town planning, national resources and industry, public
health, radio, national recreation, and moral standards.383
Other major changes in the post-war era affected the Council and introduced
new issues and concerns. Increased immigration and the rise in population altered the

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ethnicity and balance in towns and cities and gradually the domination of British cultural
values gave way to a more multi-cultural society. White-native relations were another
concern that led the Provincial Council to launch a campaign to inform the public
about native history and contemporary culture in order to remove the apathetic and
patronizing views held in the 1950s. The period also witnessed more women involved in
the workforce and new feminist demands challenged societal values and, sometimes, the
principles of some volunteer organizations.384
In the fifties and sixties the awakening of women’s political needs led to progress
within the public sphere. While the NCW continued its service to the community,
the fifties witnessed an increased interest in political issues and women’s entry onto the
political stage at the national, provincial and local levels. The process of change was
still very slow. The Second World War brought women into greater political action and
the 1941 provincial election witnessed the election of five women, (three Co-operative
Commonwealth, one Liberal and one Conservative). When the CCF lost ground in the
1945 election the three women MLAs lost their seats. Post-war emphasis on women’s
place in the home worked against women’s political involvement and from 1945 to 1969
women accounted for only five percent of MLAs. Generally, it was difficult for women
to get nominated to run for office and the Council of Women has been criticized for its
failure to support candidates because of its policy of non-partisanship.385
Contemporary feminists encouraged women to take action and to break the
bonds of apathy. Some positive achievements occurred in 1955 with the appointment
of Florence Elsie Inman, who had been an advocate of women’s right to vote in the 1917
campaign, as the sixth woman senator and the placement of Cairine Wilson, the first
senator in 1930, as the speaker in the Upper Chamber. At the municipal level women
also made great strides after Gladys Porter of Kentville, Nova Scotia, was first elected
mayor in 1946 and by 1955 there were twelve women mayors across the country. The
largest number were from Ontario and were perhaps following the lead of Charlotte
Whitton, the first elected mayor of a major city, Ottawa in 1951. Known for her
witticism, Charlotte admonished a board meeting by stating, “Speak up gentlemen,
I am not opposed to male participation in government.”386 These political gains were
recognized by a contemporary Canadian Press staff writer but he also acknowledged that

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Kamloops Council of Women in the Kamloops Diamond Jubilee parade, 1953.
Image 3157 courtesy of Kamloops Museum and Archives

women’s “behind-the-scenes activities played no small part in social betterment, the arts
and cultural development generally.”387 More women became mayors in the sixties and
the national total rose to seventeen by 1965 with five being from the B.C. communities
of Fort St. James, Ladysmith, Lake Cowichan, Mission City, and North Vancouver.388
Kamloops had to wait until 1990 to get Kenna Cartwright as its first female mayor.
Few women, however, used their local positions to move into provincial or federal
politics. Social pressure and the separate spheres ideology still held that women did not
belong in politics and the mass media continued to view those who became involved in the
words of Agnes Macphail, speaking decades earlier, as “freaks.” Another block noted by
the Royal Commission on the Status of Women was that the major political parties kept
women’s auxiliaries on the sidelines. The Liberal and Conservative women’s auxiliaries
perpetuated gender divisions and left women to do the menial tasks rather than promote
them as candidates for office. Despite the Commission’s recommendation that they be
incorporated into the main parties, they were merely reformatted rather than abolished.
Why women accepted this secondary role has been explained by either the hindrance

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created by family responsibilities or by an indoctrinated acceptance of gendered divisions
of labour. To correct this situation, the second wave feminists in the sixties and seventies
placed women’s political participation as one of their goals but it did not begin to have
an impact until the 1980s and even then it was mainly confined to the New Democratic
Party. In the 1986 election thirty percent of the nominees in the NDP were women
and in the 1991 election sixteen NDP women were elected. The Social Credit party,
however, was much slower to change. Described by Jean Barman as a “male government,”
the number of female candidacies decreased during the sixties and it did not support
women’s entry into politics until Rita Johnson became party leader and ironically the first
woman premier in Canada.389
At a provincial level, the Council demonstrated its growth in lobbying skills by
gaining more members on government boards and here they made an impact on different
boards such as B.C. Labour Relations Board and Provincial Curriculum Advisory
committee. A major concern in 1952 was the government’s move to relax liquor control
laws and the effect this might have “on the health, efficiency, economy and welfare” of
the province. Petitioning the B.C. Liquor Commission the Provincial Council made its
views clear on the need to curtail consumption rather than allow for more access and
emphasized that it had the widespread support of a variety of interests through “welfare,
health, educational, political and church groups.” Specifically, it stated “we do not believe
in neighbourhood taverns in residential areas.”390 The Provincial Council also lobbied
the Cabinet in 1954 for further assistance with its campaign for Housing Projects for
Old People, more residences at U.B.C. for women, a woman probation officer at Oakalla,
increased allowances for Old Age Pensioners, establishing a government program to save
historical sites and other issues. It achieved success on the appointment of a woman
probation officer and the increase for pensioners. To its credit, it sponsored eleven laws
for the benefit of women and children that were now in the statute books as a consequence
of its efforts. Among the more notable were the Mothers’ Pension Act, Women and Girls
Protection Act, Minimum Wage for Women, Employment of Children Act and the
Married Women’s Property Act. The Provincial Council also lobbied the government on
a wide range of social, legal, health and welfare issues. With support from local service
clubs and federal, provincial and local grants sixty community health centers were built

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in the 1950s that gave public health nurses proper facilities to assist communities.391
While the Provincial Council was making progress and demonstrating more
effective lobbying, the KCW found its efforts blocked or delayed. Municipal concerns
about rising costs and City Council’s fear of becoming unpopular due to a need to increase
taxation frustrated many organizations. Attempts to improve recreation facilities, for
example, took years to accomplish. Joyce Sowerby who became president in 1953 led
the campaign for improved recreation. As a young woman, the former Eleanor Peden
from Victoria had won many swimming awards and currently was on the Red Cross
Water Safety committee and president of the Kamloops Aquatic Club.392 Independent
recreation clubs were providing services for their members but the KCW felt that a city
based Recreation Commission was necessary for the benefit of the entire community.
The KCW asked city hall to call a public meeting and Sowerby attempted to persuade the
council by noting that there were already 125 recreation commissions in the province.
After reviewing the request, City Council stated that it was in “no way obligated to set
up a commission here,” and expressed concerns about costs.393 It remained neutral and
left the calling of a public meeting to the KCW. They had more success in establishing a
park for the east end of the city but it required years of work to achieve its goal. It started
petitioning city hall to demolish the dilapidated army barracks on that site in 1941 and
the project finally was completed as Prince Charles Park in 1956.394
These struggles with city hall may have led the KCW to change its organizational
structure and might also explain why they began to seek candidates to run in civic
elections. The Sentinel remarked that the Council “aroused interest in the civic elections
by trying to find a candidate for civic office.”395 Griffiths attributes the Councils with
serving “as an educational training ground for women in many, if not most, aspects of
community politics,” and that appears to be the case for Kamloops.396 Within the Council
structure women gained confidence and experience in how government worked and,
most importantly, involvement in public life. Joyce Sowerby, president of the Kamloops
Red Cross, past president of the Kamloops Aquatic Club and president of the KCW
made her first bid for office in 1956 when three aldermanic offices became vacant. Her
other community work included executive work for Senior Citizen’s Housing and vicepresident of the Citizenship Council. She entered the political field because of her “keen

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interest in the community” and felt that there was “a definite place for women in office.”397
Sowerby ran an effective campaign and drew 815 votes but was unsuccessful. In the next
official civic election in 1957, Helen Millward, the first woman on City Council who
had already completed two successful terms was once again elected but Sowerby failed
to gain a seat. Millward’s son Peter who had been inspired by his mother’s term in office
had already been elected to Council in 1956 and now they set a precedent for Kamloops
and perhaps the province by being the first mother and son on City Council. One of the
reasons that she was pleased to be elected was that “the housewives of this city need a
woman on council” and she was sorry that Joyce Sowerby was not joining her.398
The twenty-fifth anniversary in 1958 provided the KCW with the opportunity
to reflect on its own history, success and to more clearly define its objectives. By writing
a short account of its activities, it helped members to realize the importance of their
endeavours. It still retained its original structure as a federation of organizations with
the usual dozen affiliates sending four delegates each to meetings. In this manner, a cross
section of women’s opinions from “all political parties, all nationalities, all religions,
and mixed groups,” could be heard. Its aim was to create a united effort in the fields of
“1. projects for the good of the community, 2. legislation for the good of women and
children, 3. the distribution of information for the good of all.”399 To make the KCW
more efficient and to incorporate modern trends it condensed its numerous committees
under three main groups. A radio committee covered the cultural aspects of films, printed
matter, education, arts and letters, the Health and Welfare committee focused on public
health, mental and moral health, recreation, housing and social welfare, and the Current
Events committee concentrated on citizenship, migration, United Nations, international
affairs, laws and economics.400
Although the membership was diverse, it for the most part represented white
middle class women. Of the founding members like the KWCTU, Business and
Professional Women’s Club, and Women’s Association of the United Church who
were still active only the Grand International Auxiliary to Brotherhood of Locomotive
Engineers had obvious working class roots. Other affiliates who sent delegates to meetings
included the Red Cross, Girl Guide Association, Woman’s Association of Kamloops,
Social Credit League, Order of the Royal Purple, Senior Citizens’ Association, Women’s

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Association to Calvary Temple, and Ladies’ Auxiliary to Royal Inland Hospital. Some
of the accomplishments not already mentioned included purchasing instruments for
the Junior Symphony Orchestra, persuading the city to establish a health unit, creating
a Citizenship Council to assist new immigrants to fit into the community, providing a
weekly radio show on important local social and cultural items, successfully promoting
low rental housing for seniors at Glenfair in 1955, co-operating with Provincial and City
Health departments to provide Home Help and Welfare Services when people were faced
with emergencies, and setting up a Used Clothing Depot for needy persons.401 Through
its committees that included so many diverse groups it had achieved much more than
could be accomplished by a single association.
The expansion of State services, however, was rapidly overtaking the purpose
behind the Councils. Two of the indicators of the quality of life set by the National,
Provincial, and local Councils of Women had always been social welfare and cultural
development. Ironically, success in gaining legislation such as mothers’ allowance,
Medicare, unemployment insurance and old age pension undermined the need for the
dedicated volunteer.402 This process that began in the 1940s witnessed government
bureaucracies taking over the functions of volunteer organizations. Government offices
and employees now replaced the volunteer. Now instead of lobbying government officials,
the Councils had to work with the civil service. In the sixties William Dixon, head of
the School of Social Work at U.B.C. observed that volunteer organizations should work
closer with local governments and described this as a “new kind of pioneering.”403 The
transition, however, proved to be difficult for volunteer groups. Similarly, the support for
cultural activities previously came from volunteer organizations and frequently the KCW
provided the leadership for cultural life by its support of artists, music, drama, sports and
recreation. Here again, national development like the founding of the Canada Council
in 1957 began to decrease the community’s dependency on volunteer organizations.
Government agencies began to fund and direct venues like concert halls and theatres.
There was, however, still room for local councils and the sixties proved to be a very active
era of support for artists, drama festivals, exhibitions, and concerts. Cultural activities
were an area, Naomi Griffiths observed, “where activity at the local council level was
traditional, effective and essential for the quality of life in many communities.”404 They

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still remained important in advising municipalities and obtaining government and other
funding.
The shift in the women’s movement symbolized by the establishment of the
National Action Committee, NAC, further decreased the NCW’s membership and
influence as the voice for women. From the government’s perspective the NCW was too
broad as it now faced pressure from more specialized pressure groups. Simultaneously,
councils continued to lose members and found it difficult to attract younger women to its
organization. It did not attract three important groups: college women, the disadvantaged,
and the activist professionals who found women’s liberation more appealing. The National
Council and most of the locals retained their traditional concerns and generally refrained
from becoming involved in the more assertive feminism of the seventies. When the NCW
did support a motion to decriminalize abortion, it lost the support of the Salvation Army
and the WCTU.405 Some historians like Griffiths felt that the portrayals by the media
of feminists as being opposed to marriage, family, and homemakers, deepened the split
between traditionalists and the new feminists. On the other hand, Judith Fingard in
her study of women’s organizations did not find any evidence of tension between the
traditional and the new women’s movement. The NCW’s history as an association
composed of diverse affiliates who worked together ensured that they were willing to
adapt to new ideas and methods. Nonetheless, local councils were not attracting the
younger generation to their movement and many were not making the effort to overcome
this problem.406 As the government took over its activities and as the older generation of
middle class volunteers became more estranged from modern ideologies, local councils
began to collapse in the sixties and Kelowna, Mission, and Kamloops suffered this fate.407
Conclusion
The Kamloops Council of Women continued to meet until 1967. At that point, the
executive felt that insufficient interest had been shown by its affiliates and to continue
was too much work for a small core group. In 1933 the KCW stepped into a forty year
struggle to improve women’s social position and community standards. Immediately,
the affiliates saw the potential that amalgamation of existing women’s organizations
had for bringing social and cultural change to the city. The successes of the KCW were

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numerous but its most important achievement was that it provided women entry into
public life. With governments at all levels controlled by men the Councils provided
parallel channels of influence and a training ground for entry to political activity. By
1938 the KCW was advocating women’s entry into civic office on City Council, school,
hospital and park boards. The experience provided by membership on the executive
gave women like Joyce Sowerby the confidence to run for a position on City Council in
order to overcome resistance to change. Throughout the thirty-four years of its existence,
it rejected the socially constructed role for women and acted as their voice on local,
provincial and international concerns. Its early concerns with Kamloops women’s work,
public health, housing, and recreation were important to civic progress. State organized
welfare and cultural initiatives gradually decreased the community’s dependency on
volunteer organizations but on a local level their assistance was required to fill in many
gaps. Through its initiatives groups like the Yale-Cariboo Musical Festival Association,
the Parent-Teacher Associations, the Senior Citizen’s Housing Society, Mental Health
Association and the Boarding Home for Senior Citizens were organized. Later in the
sixties it expanded its activities to include international concerns and promoted legislation
to control nuclear testing. After its closure, women continued their involvement within
their independent associations and in 1977 they decided to resurrect the Kamloops
Council of Women to deal with numerous women’s issues and legislative measures. It
incorporated a wide cross section of women’s groups and was committed to improving
day care facilities, education, women’s wages, and human rights for women. One initiative
was to sponsor an all day Workshop on Alternate Work for Women in October 1977.
Although it would be overtaken by the new feminism and the growth of the welfare state
the KCW provided the networking necessary to achieve improvements in Kamloops’
quality of life and gave women a greater sense of community leadership.408

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Chapter Six
Kamloops Young Women’s Christian Association: Volunteerism
and Social Action
Mary Hedley helped organize the Kamloops YWCA, “To give back what the Y had
given me.”
Mary Hedley.

“The Y was an important contributor to the development of women’s issues in the
community. It provided women with opportunities to develop their individuality,
make choices, express their initiatives, and creativity.”
Lois Hollstedt.

Although a Kamloops branch of the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) was
not formed until the 1960s, it rapidly became an important provider of recreational and
social services for women and children. While the post-World War II period reinstated
the domestic and separate spheres ideologies’ expectations that married women stay
at home to raise their children, women were breaking free of these restraints. A pent
up local demand for social activities and need to feel that they were contributing to
the community, created the initial impulse by young married women with children to
develop the Kamloops YWCA. The new Association often gained advice and followed
the policies of the provincial and national associations, but its key initiatives were created
by local social pressures and problems. While still considered a small community, a rapid
growth in population in the sixties created new challenges for recreational activities,
youth programming and family services. Government agencies were finding solutions to
some of the basic social problems but others remained unresolved and required attention.
As a new organization without any history the Kamloops YWCA entered into this
environment and took every opportunity to fill the gaps and improve the community.
Starting from a focus on providing individual improvement for women, it moved to social
activism in the areas of recreation, education, youth and abused women. In its programs
it collaboratively worked with governments at all levels but retained its independence and
emphasized the importance of volunteerism. Whenever possible it took advantage of the

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small town connections that could be made with influential women and developed close
relations with government agencies to guarantee the success of its programs. While still
retaining its volunteer and independent status, its adaptation to modernity, the expansion
of State intervention in society and to new feminist and cultural concerns ensured its
success.
A brief sketch of the national organization’s early history is necessary to
understand its historical roots, objectives and the gradual secularization of the association.
This background enables a better examination of the major changes experienced by the
organization as it moved from a maternal and evangelical ideology to a more feminist
and secular approach. Concerns over moral issues gave way to the provision of social
services. The YWCA was first established in St. John, New Brunswick in 1870 and
became a national body in 1895. By 1930, the YWCA built thirty-nine branches across
Canada. They were generally located in larger cities where young single women sought
employment and education. These larger branches provided what was to become one
of the main features of the YWCA: permanent accommodation for young women in
the form of boarding houses and temporary quarters for women travellers. Perhaps the
most important function that the YWCAs offered was a public place for women and
new opportunities to advance themselves. They quickly established the YWCA as the
principal women’s centre in numerous communities and provided a range of services that
focused on female leisure and cultural development. These included libraries or reading
rooms, classrooms for evening courses in bookkeeping and sewing, gymnasiums for
fitness, team sports, and swimming lessons. It also provided cafeterias, information and
employment bureaus and was generally the meeting place for women’s clubs.409
The small population base of Kamloops in the first half of the twentieth century
determined that it had few jobs to attract single young women. Those who were here such
as teachers, nurses, clerical workers, shop assistants, and domestic servants found their
accommodation by other methods. A nurses’ home established in 1912 and a larger one
built in1927 provided for this segment of young women.410 Many single English women
sponsored by immigration groups passed through Kamloops but moved on to Vancouver
where the Colonial Intelligence for Educated Women society provided accommodation
at the Queen Mary’s Coronation Hostel between 1912 and the 1930s or went to the

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British Women’s Emigration Association’s Kelowna Joyce Hostel set up in 1913.411 This
might explain why the YWCA did not see it as necessary to establish an association in
Kamloops until the 1960s.
Historically, the YWCAs fit into the first major category of Christian women’s
organizations whose moral concerns led them to care for the community. Generally,
older middle-class women from prominent families who had connections with various
Protestant congregations established them. Often, they were seeking opportunities to
become active outside the home and involved in the community. In a similar manner
to women in the WCTU, they often had an evangelical desire to provide social services,
particularly for women. They believed that Christians who achieved salvation by
accepting Jesus had the duty to save others. Many of these women were conservative by
nature and found the YWCA a good outlet for involvement without having to commit
to more controversial issues like suffrage.412
In the early twentieth century, the YWCA was part of the larger movement to
reform the city and solve all its social problems. Its attention, however, focused on young
women. This need became apparent because many of the other reform groups like the
WCTU were so concerned with the problems created by men, they ignored women. From
the YWCA’s point of view, the “girl problem” was an equally important and a growing
issue as more young women left the protection of the family to seek employment and
education. Urban centers were experiencing an influx of young women from rural areas,
and other countries, especially Britain. YWCA leaders decided that they must protect
the vulnerable young rural women and other newcomers from the evils of prostitution,
drink and crime. Although they supported women’s employment and education, they at
the same time feared that it might cause young women to lose their traditional role within
the family and home. The solution according to the YWCA was for it to act as a parental
substitute and provide religious guidance to young women so that they could avoid the
dangers presented by the city. In her research on the YWCA, Diana Pedersen found
that one leader saw this as a way of “keeping our good girls good.”413 As evangelicals,
they believed that individual conversion would create a Christian nation and eliminate
the social problems of poverty, prostitution, intemperance, and class conflict. In this
process, young women were important players as they would determine the moral and

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religious standards of future generations.414 Like the WCTU, the YWCA’s evangelical
women concerned themselves with improving conditions for children as they saw them as
potential saviours of the future cities. This led them into working class districts to set up
day nurseries and kitchen garden classes and in this process they stepped into public areas
that had previously not been a part of respectable women’s lives. Their activity gained
them a new autonomy and a public presence.415

Kamloops YWCA Mission Statetment, 1965.
Image YWCA 02 courtesy of YM/YWCA

YWCA leaders held that within cities the masculine culture of drinking and sex
endangered young women’s physical and moral lives. To protect them and preserve their
purity and respectability they had to offer a public space free from immoral activities.
Night classes, gymnasiums, swimming pools, and reading rooms provided sound
alternatives to dance halls and movies. Boarding houses for working women were also
necessary to provide safe environments away from slum housing.416 These services also
offered opportunities for the YWCA women to apply their maternal and evangelical
principles in an attempt to forge a Christian Kingdom. While some young women
rejected the YWCA because of this moral tone, others were very grateful for its services.

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The Travellers’ Aid program that helped find accommodation and work was especially
welcomed by new arrivals to the city while their boarding houses and respectable
recreation facilities were popular as they provided a safe place for women to gather.
On the negative side, the YWCA policies and programs were too controlling over
the young women’s lives and failed to include them in the decision making and problem
solving. Instead they were treated as “the problem.” Furthermore, by focusing on young
women’s role as future mothers the YWCA reinforced the concept that women workers
were merely temporary and thereby justified the payment of lower wages. Another
criticism that has been levied against its policies was that their plan to protect women
from men’s sexuality in the end led to tighter control over women. By trying to keep
young women respectable, the early YWCA perpetuated many stereotypes that actually
worked against women’s independence and freedom. As the twentieth century evolved,
the YWCA proved to be more adaptable and adopted a more secularized and modernist
tone while at the same time it continued to be a primary provider of services for numerous
communities. In 1954, for example, it joined with other influential women’s groups, the
NCW, the National Federation of Business and Professional Women, and the Federation
of University Women and successfully lobbied for a Women’s Bureau in the federal
Department of Labour.417
By 1960, the YWCA had ninety years of organizational experience and had
proven itself invaluable in larger cities like Vancouver and Victoria. It was the positive
experiences gained by two women in Vancouver who now lived in Kamloops that led to
the formation of a local branch. Mary Hedley originally grew up in Kamloops and moved
to Vancouver in the fifties as a young married woman with a six year old child and sought
out the YWCA to provide her with an outlet separate from the home. “To give back what
the Y had given me,” she began volunteering and then served on the Board until her move
back to Kamloops.418 Lois Hollstedt worked on the association’s staff for five years before
moving to Kamloops. For Lois, the Vancouver YWCA provided incredible role models
and the acquisition of strong values based on YWCA principles. Mary Hedley had
moved back to Kamloops six months prior to Lois Hollstedt and was already discussing
with other women the possibility of developing services and programs to meet the new
social needs of teens and adult women. She met Catherine McArthur, a school teacher

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who had started Y-Teen Groups at Kamloops Senior High School.419 Discussions of the
possibility of forming a YWCA took place in 1962. While women like Mary and Lois
could join other women’s groups like the Kinettes, an auxiliary of the Kinsmen to which
their husband’s belonged,
they found it too much
a social club based on
couples and the family. It
didn’t provide activities
for women on their own.
Many women’s clubs
were auxiliaries to men’s
groups while others like
church groups or charities
generally focused on
helping others but what
was needed was an
association where women
could be independent
and do something for
themselves.
This need for
programs for women,
particularly those with
young children who were
tied to the home during
Lois Hollsteadt and Mary Hedley, YWCA, co-founders.
the day became the spark
Image YWCA 03 courtesy of YM/YWCA
for starting the YWCA.
Women needed the opportunity to talk to other women and to become involved in
social, educational, recreational and cultural activities. For Mary and Lois it became
“quickly evident that we could build something that would be good for ourselves.”420
Two years later at a meeting in March 1964, chaired by Mary Hedley the plans were

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WOMEN CARING FOR KAMLOOPS: 1890-1975

set for the new association. Other local women who attended and joined Hedley, the
president, on the executive were Lois Hollstedt, secretary, Elizabeth Bogel, treasurer,
Sheila McCannel, director, Helen Collins, director, Irene. Mulford, program chairman,
and Marg Dommett, Mrs. D. Skinner, and Mrs. J. Mullen, program committee. This
group of women was “smart, young and energetic.” Mary Hedley noted that the quest
to establish a YWCA “encouraged women to feel free to speak out.”421 With Mary’s and
Lois’ leadership and knowledge of what the YWCA had done elsewhere they recognized
the need and opportunity to establish a YWCA.
At this point, certain basic questions were put forward as to whether Kamloops
needed a YWCA, or whether it should be a YMCA/YWCA. The need for a building
and the type of services to be provided was also considered. Bette Zdan from the National
YWCA headquarters who became the local association’s mentor outlined the various
types of Ys and noted that they were not just for business girls but also benefited mothers
by providing them with a break from regular home routine. She noted that before a
YWCA could be started a survey by the National association had to be conducted to find
out whether residents supported it and what services they wanted. Financial support
generally came from the community and in many small cities they were supported by
United Appeals. She also made it clear that “The purpose of the organization is to
build a fellowship of women and girls devoted to the task of realizing in our common
life those ideals of personal and social living to which we are committed by our faith as
Christians.”422 The YWCA still retained its Christian evangelical spirit but it had taken
on a modern tone. It now emphasized a concern for social issues and that it was non
discriminatory and open to all women and girls.
The first steps towards establishing a Kamloops YWCA were set in motion.
The meeting concluded with a committee of women and men being struck to develop
a survey. A group of volunteers decided that the best way to deal with this was by
forming a Y-Neighbours group. This group originally thought that they could open a
YMCA/YWCA but the response from the men in the community did not materialize.
As a consequence, the women pressed on and contacted the British Columbia YWCA
organizational secretary to get further information on how to proceed.423 After surveys to
establish the community needs and interest, it was decided to start a Y- Neighbours project

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in November 1964. Designed for young married women with children, it met weekly on
Tuesday mornings and within YWCA circles was known as the Housewive’s Holiday. It
provided women with the opportunity to escape from their homes, meet other women
and talk about their issues. Using the Boy’s Club as their base, they established fitness
and interest group programs such as flower arranging, investment counselling, travel,
home decorating and added personal grooming, films on interior decorating, swimming
lessons at a local Slumber Lodge motel and discussion groups. The original fifteen women
soon expanded to forty members and a move to the IOOF hall enabled them to launch
more programs on Thursdays. An essential key to the success of these programs was the
provision of day care for the women with young children who participated. Its rapid
growth was a symptom of pent up local demand.424
The group was not just a source for personal satisfaction and already it was
putting forward plans on how the community could be improved. The Y-Neighbours
attempted to become involved in the Centennial project but realized that big cost items
like an indoor swimming pool, parks, or a Senior Citizens Boarding Home did not have
public support. The public did, however, express some interest in a recreational facility.
Another envisioned project was the establishment of a woman’s hostel similar to the
recently opened Christian Men’s Hostel. At the next meeting in March, they planned to
discuss setting up a local Y association. The time had come to form a local association and
a survey of Kamloops conducted by the National Association confirmed that the city was
ready.425
A major step toward starting a local association came with the appointment of a
Board of Directors composed of Joyce Simpson, president, Mary Hedley, Lois Hollstedt,
and approximately 22 other women.426 Two Kamloops delegates then went to the 1965
National YWCA Convention where they requested and received provisional association
status. After the first year, Joyce Simpson reported that “we are now a part of the history of
our community. That just as our forefathers pioneered this country – we, of the first Board
of Directors pioneered an idea.”427 The YWCA had grown rapidly and she acknowledged
that it was due to the volunteers’ hard work. Recognizing the stress connected to starting
a new association, she noted that they should not “be overburdened to the point where
the enthusiasm of a great idea dies.”428 To relieve these heavy workloads, the appointment

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of an Executive Director appeared necessary and they expected the national association
would come to their assistance. Other major recommendations included building an
indoor swimming pool, and the development of a Recreation Commission for Kamloops
comparable to the successful one in North Kamloops.429
In order to establish a YWCA, the Board now had to find sufficient financial
resources. YWCAs were locally organized and financed associations and most programs
had to be self sustaining while costs for staff and operating expenses were also locally
raised. The National Association assisted local groups by providing training grants,
seminars, program ideas and materials. The first step, Hedley noted, was to seek adequate
financial support from the community and soon after it applied to the 1965 Thompson
Valley United Appeal for assistance.430
With these major steps in place, the Board applied for and received official
recognition at the National convention in June 1965. They achieved this in record time.
The Kamloops Sentinel reported that “It is the first time in the history of the Canadian
YWCA that a local group had received recognition in such short time. The local Y was
chartered in less than 18 months, when most groups have taken five years or more.”431
Much of the credit for the fast pace of the development was the energy, enthusiasm, and
determination of the volunteers. Spearheaded by Mary Hedley, Lois Hollstedt, and Joyce
Simpson, these women used their connections to the National and Provincial YWCA,
the United Appeal and other influential women in the community to achieve their
goals. Strategic connections according to Hedley and Hollstedt were the key at all levels.
Having grown up in Kamloops, Hedley had a number of friends who were young, married
and had children and were equally eager to become active. Most of the women on the
Board had strategic positions within the community and made connections with other
women who could present the YWCA’s position before City Councils and government
agencies. Kamloops was a small community and the Y women knew which influential
women could assist them. Their will, motivation, and drive made the YWCA possible
and their strategic influence made it happen. Lois Hollstedt, for example worked for
the United Appeal and knew the process as well as had the connections to obtain the
all important grant that enabled them to establish it. In July, they received a Thompson
Valley United Way Award and Mrs. E. Davie Fulton, chairman of the United Appeal

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Society, welcomed the “YWCA into our family of United Appeal agencies and know
that the services they will offer will be a great asset to our community and particularly
to our teenage population.”432 While waiting to receive the United Appeal funds, the
association asked both the North Kamloops and Kamloops City Councils for $1500
each in financial assistance. Mayor Cyril Day of Kamloops agreed with Joyce Simpson’s
presentation that there was little support for girls whereas boys were being well looked
after. She compared the $3,000 funding for 325 boys the city granted to the Boy’s Club
and its tax and rent free space provided by the city to the request from the YWCA that
asked for $1,500 to provide programs for 500 girls and women. Council turned over
the request to the finance department but no money was provided.433 The YWCA had
to wait for a United Appeal grant that gave them a budget to hire a part-time secretary
and when business girls and teens asked for an evening program they hired a night steno.
Otherwise everything was done by volunteers and supported by donations. Like other
YWCAs, it ran a room registry service for young women since 1966.
After months of work writing up a constitution the YWCA of Greater Kamloops
came under the B.C. Societies Act in 1966 with 240 members. The Constitution outlined
its seven objectives. It was “to provide opportunities that will assist each individual to
reach her full stature as an adult’” and to “take part in the life of the Association and the
Community.” The Association was to “work for social justice and to co-operate with
other groups toward this end.” It was “to work as a part of the Christian Community
for the extension of the Kingdom of God.” To carry out this work it recognized itself as
part of the YWCA of Canada and the world YWCA. The sixth objective was “To carry
on a general recreational and educational program for people in the Kamloops, British
Columbia area, and without limiting the generality of the foregoing to carry on physical
fitness classes, social activities, of a recreational and cultural nature, sports activities and
Christian devotional fellowship activities amongst its members.” The final objective
was to ensure that the membership be open to “all girls and women of any race, creed or
nationality.”434 The new YWCA achieved its organizational success by its connections to
the national and provincial associations but it remained a unique body. Its future path,
whether it was in recreation, youth or women’s hostel programs was determined by local
conditions and issues.

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From the beginning, its growth and achievements excelled and it proceeded
down an exceptional path of development. Soon after its formation, it became apparent
that further growth required a full time professional staff member and a grant request was
submitted to the National YWCA. Although it usually expected the local community
to give this support, it provided a grant for a director and in October Doris Pals was
hired. In its Annual report the National YWCA explained its reasons for providing the
exceptional grant. It noted how the Kamloops YWCA had “made tremendous progress,
growing in the past year from two Y-Neighbour groups to an Association with a fastgrowing and very active membership and a wide variety of programs. They were given
approximately six weeks of Extension staff assistance at a very strategic point in their
development and they really capitalized on it.”435 The group quickly developed their
Board and committees and functioned effectively. They obtained the necessary financial
support from the Kamloops United Appeal in 1966, their municipalities, service clubs
and private sources. The volunteers and part-time staff developed such an active program
that a full-time qualified Executive Director was now required and justified. As a
consequence, the National Board agreed to give the necessary financial assistance for this
fall term and to find a Director. After a few years of relying totally on volunteers, Mary
Hedley, the president, remarked that this addition lifted their spirits and the Board was
pleased to have the Association under the control of a capable administrator.436 In her first
year as Executive Director, Doris Pals was impressed by the extent of the existing services
already established by volunteers and its wide coverage with members from Kamloops,
Westsyde, Brocklehurst, Valleyview, Dallas, Savona, Heffley Creek, Chase, Barnhartvale,
and Magna Bay. She stated that her role was to be “Helper, Clarifier, Mediator and
Mobilizer.”437
In 1966 the YWCA took one of its first steps in expanding its service to the
community by changing its focus on women to providing for all members of the family.
The programs committee under the leadership of Lois Hollstedt, initiated three sessions
that constituted 32 weeks of programs for 648 members that were led by volunteer
instructors. The physical education program proved to be very popular with 670 people
attending while the interest groups like ceramics, painting, charm, and hand-craft
experienced growth. This attempt to spread out its services was generally successful

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but initially it did not attract teenagers or men. The original Y-Neighbour groups that
offered Flower Arranging, Investment Counselling, Travel, Home Decorating, etc.
remained popular. Swimming lessons continued to be held at the Centennial Pool and
at the Slumberlodge Motel. To augment the day programs, a babysitting service was
necessary but it had to subsidize half its cost. Membership continued to increase to 691
and required a move to a larger facility at the Masonic Hall on St. Paul St. where 20
fitness, swim, and interest programs were offered to women and children. Outside their
own programs, YW members assisted the Kin Showcase, the United Appeal Campaign
and the Social Planning Committee in developing a list of available recreation facilities
in order to create a Directory of Community Services.438 To meet the need for further
expansion it appealed to both the Kamloops City Council and North Kamloops Council
for $1500 each. Their own ways and means committee had raised $1000 in 1966 but the
need for more space for the winter program in 1967 left them short. Alderman Ralph
Shaw praised the Y for what it already accomplished and referred the request to the
finance committee.439 Despite the need for funding, the YWCA was at a stable stage in
its development. Changes in the executive occurred in 1967 when Mary Hedley resigned
as president due to ill health but Catherine McArthur stepped into the position until
Lorraine Seibel was elected. Enrollments for the fall term were very good with 351 in
classes and 73 in baby sitting service.440 Fitness, interest groups, day camp, family life
courses and workshops remained its main work.
While the Board of Directors followed the YWCA’s century old basic principles
of concern for the individual, they were fully aware that their programs had to fulfill the
needs of women and girls in a modern society. Lois Hollstedt observed that the “whole
evolution of the Y in Kamloops was very interesting in its timing from that perspective
because that was just in advance of the women’s movement” and “there was becoming
more dialogue about it.” From the Y’s perspective, there was an opportunity to tap into
that need to talk. She also felt that it brought women together in new situations that
were outside the Churches that had been the traditional place to gather. The YWCA
“in a very unstructured way gave women some new options and new choices.”441 The
YWCA still retained its evangelical stance by maintaining a Christian Emphasis
Committee that collected devotional material to be used by members and participated in

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the National Association’s World Week of Prayer by supplying booklets such as “Blessed
are the Peacemakers” to radio stations and newspapers.442 In this environment, the Board
and staff members attended a variety of courses and workshops on Physical Education,
Family life education, and personnel relations to keep up to date. The steps toward a more
modern approach had the support of experienced National staff members who visited and
provided advice on various programs. To further ensure that this relatively new association
was on the right track, the executive began an evaluation process in 1967 and found that
participants felt a sense of fellowship which was regarded as a true ‘Y’ tradition.443 The
future of the Association also required consideration and, following the National Board’s
mandate, Doris Pals, the executive director reiterated the National’s requirements for
the next decade. “If the YWCA did not exist, what kind of organization would need
to be created to do what needs to be done in the Seventies? A community, a body of
individuals, organized into a unit, is needed that is equipped to help the whole woman
– infant, teenager, young married or older woman – to achieve total fitness. The equal
sides of the YWCA triangle represent physical, mental and spiritual well-being, with no
side more important than the others. Remove any side and the triangle collapses.”444 The
Kamloops YWCA, she concluded, had gone far to establish the elements of the triangle.
Although the YWCA was successful in its own programs, the president Lorraine
Seibel felt it was necessary to push the association in new directions and emphasized the
need to work more closely with other agencies in the community. Recent concerns over
the increasing use of drugs by young people provided the incentive for a new outreach
program and brought the YWCA into the wider community. The National YWCA was
already involved in attempting to counter this trend and purchased a film on LSD that
it rented out to locals to provide information to educators, public health, welfare, and
youth workers.445 The local YWCA took this opportunity to become further involved
in the community by showing the LSD film at the Y, the Indian Residential School, the
Ridgecrest Baptist Church and the First Baptist Church and it was viewed by 330 people.
The new outreach program was well received but fitness, interest groups, day camps family
life courses and workshops remained its main work.446 Its accomplishments to date were
impressive and recognized by Laura Van Every, Director of Personnel for the YWCA of
Canada who praised the volunteers and what had been done by such a young Y.447

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Despite its success, the YWCA like all volunteer organizations had to adjust to
modernity and the new role of the government as the primary social service provider.
In the sixties and seventies both the federal and provincial governments brought in
major reforms in health, social housing, and higher education but there was still room
for volunteer associations to expand their services to meet new social needs. As this
transformation took place the National YWCA took the lead and realized that a major
change in the Board’s objectives was necessary. At the annual meeting of the National
YWCA, in October 1968, the president, Mrs. P.J. Chadsey outlined the structure of the
old style Y board, revealed its weakness and the need to change. Principally, the old board
was “a policymaking group of socially minded volunteer citizens drawn from the educated,
professional and management levels of society and a paid staff of agents to carry out their
will.”448 This old type of board, she stated, was unsuitable for a new modern society. The
traditional programs no longer worked and the YWCA had to go beyond just thinking
in terms of residences, clubs, crafts, the pool, and gym. The problem with the old style of
board was that they “are not too aware of changes in the community and are reluctant
to try new experimental activities for fear of disturbing the status quo.”449 It often acted
independently and failed to relate to other organizations in the community. While this
type of board was adequate a few years ago, now universal education had made people
more willing to question old practices and authorities and to search for new alternatives.
The modernization in systems, techniques, and communications required new people to
organize and apply them to a new society.
Furthermore, with the government accepting increased responsibility for social
welfare including “housing, food, clothing, education, recreation, medical care, care and
protection of children, the aged and the physically and mentally handicapped,” it had to
be asked, “Where does a voluntary organization fit? What used to be done by voluntary
organizations was “now done by governments and on a scale no voluntary organization
could afford.”450 Both the National and local YWCAs had to ask questions about their
future role. “What should the Y offer now? What people should it serve? What should
its relationship be to the community? Where among the sky-rocketing costs does the
money come from?” Within the answers to these questions, she held, the Y would find
its new role. A part of its new role was to integrate with other groups rather than remain

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independent. Chadsey called for the YWCA “to move beyond the traditional services
and provide for the new needs of the community that are not covered by government or
other agencies.”451 Its membership had to break from its middle-class roots and attract
people from all classes so that it could be more representative of the community. It was
necessary to become more socially active and develop a “clear progressive organization
policy” and have good relations with the community.452
In December 1968, Lorraine Seibel, the president of the Kamloops YWCA used
Chadsey’s address to outline a new direction for the local association. She felt that the
Board was changing and this had been brought about by the new emphasis on youth.
Again she reiterated the theme of “adapting our traditional heritage to meet these needs.”
At the annual meeting, the Board’s discussion groups called for the YWCA to “do
something” about social issues and “to get involved with other agencies engaged in the
eradication of social and economic injustices.”453
The attempt to move in a new social direction came at a difficult time. The
Executive Director, Doris Pal, just resigned for health reasons and the YWCA like
many volunteer organizations was exhausting its resources. It relied on a few dedicated
members to run its programs. The new Executive Director, Helen Burkholder who
evaluated the Y, found that the Board was working too hard and that it had to get more
people involved to share the workload. She also felt that the Day Care service provided
by the Y had over-extended itself and required a new look at this program as it was not
meeting the standards set by them. At the same time, she noted that cautious growth had
to be accompanied by new ideas. Buckholder felt that “If the ‘Y’ is to meet the needs
of the total woman, we need to lift our sights and deepen our insights as we plan for the
winter term.”454
The Kamloops YWCA took its first major social action in 1965 by initiating
a study on the need for Day Care facilities. Here, local needs were the direct reason
for presenting this brief on the need for more daycares. The expansion of the YWCA’s
programs required more staff for looking after children and more women in the
community wanted to go back to work but were held back by the lack of daycare
facilities. At the national level, the Status of Women Commission found that 2,296,000
women were working in 1967. One in four was married with children under sixteen.

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It expected this number to increase and therefore urged the establishment of day care
centres. Canada, it reported, lagged behind. Throughout the fifties and sixties municipal,
provincial and federal governments were unwilling to provide daycares and general public
opinion still felt that married women with young children should be at home. Women
were forced to send children to unsupervised day care or child minding services where
there were no controls and at times abuse occurred. In Kamloops, meetings with Welfare,
Public Health, and Canada Manpower confirmed the need for additional services. It
found that 1,250 married women were working outside the home and approximately 900
had pre-school children. At this time there was only one licensed Day Care, the Peter
Rabbit Daycare Centre on Tranquille Road and the YWCA Group Day Care Centre
for forty-eight children between three and six. Lois Hollstedt, the chair of the Day Care
Committee reported that there was a definite need to expand these services, especially for
children after school and under three years of age.455
Over the next few years, the YWCA continued to expand its community service
and deepen its ties to all sections of the local population. It reached out to other women’s
groups and offered to speak at their meetings to provide information on its programs.456
Greater co-operation with the First Nations population, expansion of the room registry,
development of a women’s hostel, a youth program, and more counselling service were at
the forefront of its activities. Discrimination and segregation of native people remained
prevalent. Paul Tennant, a well known political scientist who grew up in Kamloops and
later studied native-white politics remarked that in the fifties and sixties “the Whites lived
on the one side of the river and the Indians on the other. The Indian reserve was the
centrepiece of the local landscape, and the red-brick Indian residential school was for
years the most prominent building in the valley. Yet, from the perspective I acquired, the
Indians could have been on another planet.”457 To overcome this separation the YWCA
joined forces with the women on the Paul Creek reserve and offered a number of classes
and a drop in center for rural women at the Reserve Hall. In most cases, they were
approached by local agencies like the welfare department, mental health, Indian affairs,
and probation office to assist them in their work. These were vital connections that gave
the YWCA a strong presence in the community. Helen Burkholder observed that the
new tactics were working: “There was growth in activities; new faces appeared among us,

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and a deepening of understanding between the “Y” and the community.”458
A survey conducted in 1969 also revealed its growing popularity and many
respondents found the Y essential for the community. Previously some people had the
wrong impression that the Y was for a select group or for the upper income bracket and
the survey undermined this notion by demonstrating that those surveyed found it a very
friendly association. This according to Helen Burkholder was the Y’s intention and it
worked hard to create an atmosphere where everyone relaxed and could be themselves.
She stated that “The heart of the Y program is individual growth and development.”459 At
present, it was widening the age range and broadening the programs to include musical
comedy, dancing and career planning for young women. Membership figures for 1970
confirmed its success. There were 812 members and approximately 1,300 women and
girls participated. Fifty-four women were on its board and committees and ninety-five
women and girls were instructors, leaders of groups, baby-sitters, and other volunteers.
This growth in membership once again forced the Y to move from the Masonic Hall to
the United Church in order to gain more space and enable it to add more programs.460
Two major social concerns of the seventies were the women’s hostel and youth
programs. The need for a women’s hostel for working girls and women and wayward girls
was increasingly becoming a concern. Catherine McArthur, chair of the YWCA room
registry, described it as “a desperate need.” The Y maintained a list of apartments and
rooms that it inspected but it was not able to meet the demand. McArthur held “The only
way further accommodation can be brought about is through community support.”461 A
step forward was made in 1970 when it hired a full time program worker for the first time
and opened a hostel for transient girls between July 15 and August 31. It also decided to
give priority to youth needs.462
The Y expanded youth programs in 1970 by establishing hostels for young
travelers and appointed Geraldine Dennis as the program worker. In the same year,
Joan Boon replaced Helen Burkholder as the executive director and brought her
previous experience as a social case worker for the Calgary Family Service Bureau, Yukon
Children’s Aid Society, and Kamloops Tranquille School of Social Service Department
into play. As a member of the Canadian Association of Social Workers and treasurer of
the B.C. Association of Social Workers, Kamloops and District Branch, she provided the

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valuable linkage between government agencies and the YWCA.463 In order to draw in
the community the YWCA held a press conference to outline its concern for travelling
youth. It suggested that there existed three types of transient youths – those travelling
around Canada during the summer in search of work, runaway youths from bad home
situations who were dealt with by social agencies, and High School or university students
travelling to see Canada or find work. The local Y felt it could assist the last group. The
Canada Welfare Council recommended the establishment of a network of hostels for
travelling youth and thought a national organization like the Y could do the job. The
Y agreed but it needed money and asked for local donations to pay for a house mother
to supervise the hostel. In that year it managed to establish a Summer Hostel for six
weeks that provided accommodation for sixty-one girls from other countries and other
provinces.464 As funding was always difficult to obtain locally, it applied for and received a
$9000 Federal Government Hostel Program grant for the first time in 1971. This enabled
YWCA to run three hostels for transient youths that were well used with 4000 bed nights
being recorded.465
The new mandate for social action reinforced the YWCA’s philosophy of caring
and engendered a feminist spirit by “getting women involved in solving some of the issues”
that affected them. This approach was clearly stated at the 1971 annual meeting when the
executive outlined its new position.
“We believe women need to have their own structures in society to voice
their concern about abortion or our status as individuals in a world run
by men. We believe women need the opportunity to learn how to plan,
execute and administer large programs and budgets. We believe women
need to be concerned and consulted about racism and hunger, all of the
problems of the world and develop confidence in their own abilities to
cope with these problems, and we wholeheartedly agree with the 450
delegates to World Council Meeting in Ghana that “we are convinced
the YWCA has a special task as a women’s movement to enable women
to fulfill their potentiality as persons.”466

Feminist concerns came to the forefront in the seventies and they received full
support from Lois Hollstedt, the past President who was now the Executive Director.

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The second wave of feminism with its agenda of employment equity, women’s control of
their bodies, and access to power effected her personally, the YWCA as an institution,
and Kamloops society. In an interview with Meryl Matthews she stated that “The whole
fabric of the city has changed in the past ten years,” and she was “hopeful that the YW is
managing to keep up with the pattern changes.”467 In these years, her views were becoming
more open and public as she increasingly questioned the socially constructed roles
enforced on women. Taking a pro-active position, the YWCA invited Jackie Ainsworth,
an organizer with the Working Women’s Association, to speak on the need for a working
women’s union. The Association promoted ‘equal pay for equal work, subsidized or on
the job day care, job security, maternity leave without penalty, dental, medical and pension
plan benefits, and absolution of discrimination in hiring for jobs.”468 Only twenty percent
of working women were unionized; the rest faced inequalities, unfair employment
practices, low wages, and discrimination. To the general question: “Why are working
women the objects of the grand “put down”?” Lois Hollstedt replied, “It’s our own fault
when we allow ourselves to be brain-washed into it.” “We are conditioned to be narrow
and it’s difficult for any woman to get out of the conditioning niche she’s in, change needs
a lot of emotion and energy stimuli.” “Look at the small group of working women here
today (15) and relate that to the hundreds of working women in this city.”469 Later in
an interview she stated that the Y was an important contributor to the development of
women’s issues in the community. It provided women with opportunities to develop
their individuality, make choices, express their initiatives, and creativity.470
Her personal experience provides a classic example of women’s agency and
capability to prove that they were not just victims. Born in Winnipeg in 1938, she came
from a troubled family with a father who often became violent due to drunkenness and
a mother who used alcohol as a crutch to survive poverty and the difficulties of raising
children. Her mother’s survival skills and the stability provided by her grandmother and
aunt coupled with a move to Vancouver when she was thirteen gave her the opportunity
to obtain a solid education and a strong personality. Women role models in her family,
especially her aunt, taught her to be independent. She recalled that “they all talked to me
about what women could do beyond the narrow role of wife, mother, family caregiver, the
broader role and I always had that sense in myself that there were lots of possibilities for

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me.”471 Although she would have preferred an academic education, finances limited her
to commercial training that would provide her with office employment after graduation.
Generally, she found work in a male dominated office disagreeable because the women
were treated merely as part of the equipment. They had to accept male authority. After
three years in this oppressive situation she joined the YWCA staff in Vancouver and
found a totally different environment where everyone from the executive director to the
janitor was asked for their input. Working in this collaborative situation that emphasized
inclusion and recognition, she realized that it was this input that made for a successful
operation. On the Y staff in Vancouver, she added numerous skills beyond her typing
like budget control, personnel management and operation control and by 1964 she was a
branch assistant in Vancouver.
Separate spheres concepts and the domestic ideology were still alive in the sixties.
These social ideals, however, did not fit the reality faced by many women who needed the
income. Public attitudes toward married women working changed slowly in the sixties
to an acceptance of childless married women being employed but resistance to married
women with children working continued. After Hollstedt’s move to Kamloops with her
husband and two year old son in May 1964, her daughter was born in August. Being
a young family they required two incomes and Lois obtained a position as secretarymanager of the United Appeal in November and worked for it during the next three years.
When she joined the Kinette club, there was some criticism of her working while raising
her children. Some women questioned “how she could possibly be a good mother if she
is working?”472 Her fourteen years experience with the Vancouver YWCA gave her the
will, independence, and motivation to work despite the criticism. The need to meet like
minded women led her to get in touch with Mary Hedley to set up the Y in Kamloops.
Lois quickly related to the feminist movement because it “gave me authenticity for myself ”
and confidence to talk to other women. Through the Y she met other working women
and gained a feeling of connectedness. She noted “the Y gave us all a vehicle to talk about
women’s issues.” Here they had an independent and stronger voice than in the auxiliaries of
men’s social groups. Hedley also felt that it was a time when women were “coming of age”
and were much more active. At the same time the YWCA was a safe traditional Christian
place where women would not be labeled as being “women libbers.” The YWCA “made it

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easier for many women, I think, to take on the feminist cloak that was safer.”473 Belonging
to an association empowered women and gave them greater independence. It provided a
female space and opportunities to learn skills through fund-raising, leadership of groups,
planning, and policy making.474 After being on the Board of Directors and president, she
took on the position of Executive Director. It was supposed to be a three-quarter time
job but she worked much longer hours. “My responsibility,” she stated, “is administration
of the organization, and for carrying out policy as laid out by the board of directors,
discussing programs, seminars, and new services which the YW can offer the community,
and any planning.”475 It became her intention to obtain government funding and to work
with social service agencies to achieve the Y’s objectives.
In this position, she became a strong advocate for women’s hostels and received
the strong backing of the Board. Mary Hedley, noted that it was the “dreadful abuse”
of women in the city that made hostels “such a necessary thing.”476 Hollstedt criticized
societal attitudes that placed women in an awkward position by generally viewing them as
protected and always looked after. This she said was not true anymore. Increased family
violence within Kamloops led many women to seek assistance at the YWCA because
nationally it was generally known as a provider of residences for women. The local YWCA,
however, only had a room registry that assisted young women find accommodation.
Most women who needed help had children and this made a hostel even more urgent.
Furthermore, it was not just a lodging concern; women needed counselling.477 In another
article in the paper, Lois Hollstedt emphasized the need for counselling to deal with
alcohol, drugs, and abusive husbands: “There is a hostel for men but the community fails
to realize that women have the same problems as men, sometimes many more problems.’’
“I really don’t see why the community can’t see the need and recognize it for what it really
is a complete and utter neglect of another human being.”478
The Y’s attempt to establish a women’s hostel proved to be a frustrating experience
when its Local Initiatives Project proposal became caught up in the bureaucracy between
provincial and city governments. The latter while supportive could not make any move
until money was on hand. The present system of looking after women was unfair and costly.
Whereas men who required overnight accommodation could go to Human Resources
and receive money, women had to go to the RCMP for a voucher for lodging and food.

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Often, they had to be put up in hotels because there was no cheaper place. Finally, a Local
Initiative Program grant for $13,800 enabled the Y to set up an emergency housing unit
for women and a second unit for single parent group living in January 1974. This was
regarded as a major “step forward in the Y history of room provision for women.”479 The
Y Women’s Hostel opened at 43 West Seymour and could accommodate fourteen guests,
a cook and three and a half staff.
The Hostel experience provided a primary example of the need to work with
government agencies in order to accomplish significant goals and how local initiatives
were important. Whereas some women’s organizations like the Council of Women that
focused on assisting women and children could not adapt to the government takeover of
social services and began to decline, the Kamloops YWCA did not have a history and this
made it more adaptable. The city administered welfare services until April 1973 when
the provincial government took control but the transition was smoothly phased in by
retaining the majority of the employees. This ensured that the staff who had knowledge
of local welfare issues was there to co-ordinate services. As the change occurred the
YWCA worked out new relations with the government departments and their agents
like Manpower, Welfare, Indian Affairs, and Mental Health. Some linkages were created
because there were women in social service departments who saw the YWCA as an
opportunity for providing services from a local perspective that might work better than
the provincial schemes. Government agencies were also so overloaded they were pleased
to have a respectable organization take on this problem. Another advantage was that
some YWCA members like Joan Boon who acted as the executive director for awhile and
Helen Corness who was the project director for the Women’s Hostel and whose salary
was provincially funded, were both from a social worker background. Besides the Local
Initiative Program grant, the YWCA had to give consideration to future funding to give
it permanency.
Lois Hollstedt observed that the Y had to learn how the government worked, how
to acquire funding but not be totally dependent because “then our voice would be gone.”480
The Hostel therefore remained financially sound by relying on a mixture of government
funding, money from its program fees, and volunteers to support the infrastructure. For
both the YWCA and the government it was a learning experience as the government was

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not used to dealing with volunteer agencies. The Kamloops YWCA was unique in its day
to day relations with the government. While it followed the National association in its
policy issues and what was needed to be done, the National was not good at ways of finding
ways to pay for projects. Here the local Y had to look to the government and determine
what the Y could accomplish. It had to develop the right balance of opportunity, find
resources and apply it to a project. It was a collaborative effort with the government
requiring the volunteers’ assistance and the Association requiring funding. Through
negotiations and sound business practice on both sides projects like the Women’s Hostel
were a success.481
The Hostel provided a service for the following categories of women and children;
long term referrals (e.g. hospitalized psychiatric patients), persons in genuine crisis, (e.g.
marital, housing), persons seeking to relocate (e.g. employment or residence), persons
of no fixed address (e.g. travellers, run aways)482 After a temporary move to 213 Battle
St., it established itself at 222 McIntosh and purchased the building in 1977. It held ten
Hostel beds and five longer term Community Care beds.483 In order to work closer with
families the hostel expanded its services in 1977. The T.V. program “Intimate Strangers”
on battered wives emphasized the need for half-way houses for wives and children and
brought the Hostel a great deal of local publicity. A sense of permanency was added
when the Community Y Women’s Hostel obtained a license under the Community Care
Facilities Act. The hostel served a diverse set of women, fifty percent between eighteen
and twenty-five, the rest an even spread between thirteen to eighteen and twenty-five to
eighty. It provided accommodation for women who had no funds, the disabled, sick, and
mothers with children who had no place to stay. Often, women and families who were
subjected to wife beating and child abuse did not realize that they could escape these
circumstances. To overcome this they were given free counselling in adjusting to “personal
crisis, family and social relationships, money management and other problems.”484 At the
hostel, they could stay three months or longer if necessary. No blame was attached. Their
problems could be short or long term, but if they stayed longer, they along with their
husbands were encouraged to take counselling. The hostel also assisted former women
prison inmates who were on work release. Besides Helen Corness there were five full
staff and three part-time who did shifts. Someone was always there to help as many as

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seventeen residents. There were only a few house rules and it generally ran on mutual
support.485
Challenges, change, and crises were central to the YWCA’s organizational history
and even after eight years of operation in Kamloops, it still faced financial difficulties.
Being sponsored by grants from the United Appeal Campaign created a crisis in 1971
when the appeal did not generate the usual donations and the Y’s budget was cut by
$7,000. To overcome the shortfall, it organized a Walk-A-Thon, reduced staff, cancelled
some programs, and closed the building for two months. In conjunction with the WalkA-Thon on May 29 it also organized a bike rally over a thirty-five to forty mile route. The
two events raised over $5,000 in pledges and the Y asked the city for a $2,500 grant.486
In the same year it had to re-establish the programs in September, hire a new Executive
Director and elect a new President. Despite the heavy workload, the executive found
time to apply for a Local Initiatives Program grant offered by the Federal government to
provide opportunities to develop new programs. The next year, the YWCA again faced
a budget cut of $6,417 due to a United Appeal shortfall and had to lay off staff including
the Executive Director for three months and the staff for a month.487
Despite the financial setbacks, the YWCA continued to move forward in its social
activism. Lois Hollstedt recalled that the Y’s social agenda was going in a “more holistic
way.” It was trying to bring people what they needed and facilitate the best possible life by
providing a support system to allow them to achieve these goals.488 Two Local Initiatives
Grants in 1971 and 1972 enabled it to go in a new direction that brought them into the
“total community.” The President’s report noted that “With the concept of providing
worthwhile employment for people and identifying and dealing with specific human
needs, we became committed to a strong role of social action in Kamloops.”489 The project
provided a Volunteer & Information Bureau and a Community Workshop that would
provide a staff person to train leadership development to program volunteers. It also gave
it the opportunity to take on the role of assisting numerous areas of the community to
grow by using the Ys staff, knowledge and facility as a Community resource. In this way
the Y was not only providing programs but helping groups to help themselves.490
Continuing its second major focus of assisting youth led the YWCA to expand
the variety of its programs: “The whole concept of youth programming grew out of that

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sort of need to look at the whole family, the whole person, life stages. The community had
been talking about community based solutions and it just became a natural extension of
our socially conscious work.”491 The Y looked for gaps as it did not want to duplicate what
other people were doing. By obtaining a $7,200 grant from the Vancouver Foundation it
hired a youth worker “on the street” to reach youths who were alienated from society. In
this way, it expected youths could create something to help themselves. The Y staff would
“help provide recreation and begin to deal with the social issues facing youth, such as drug
and alcohol abuse, and their self images in a changing world.”492
At times, these concerns for youth problems were met by negative responses.
When the Y applied for and received a federal grant of $9,575 to open two youth
hostels for transient youth during the summer of 1972, it met resistance from some City
Councillors. A resolution placed before Council urged the federal government not
to sponsor youth transients and instead reallocate the funds to senior citizens. These
reactionary attitudes against transient youths were due to misunderstandings of why
students traveled and a failure to realize the value of youth hostels for youths traveling
in search of jobs, foreign students visiting the country or Canadian youths traveling to
learn about their country. Fortunately, the Canadian Council on Social Development on
Transient Youth services examined these issues and suggested that these negative images
could be dispelled by working together.493 With funding in place a transient Youth hostel
was again set up and hired seven local young people with the intention that they run the
Hostel program the next year.
By 1973, the YWCA was nine years old and had grown from fifteen women and
one program per week to 735 women and men and 310 girls and boys. Over 1,500 women
and men and 1,400 girls and boys participated in approximately two hundred programs.
The main thrust of the YWCA was to provide social services to the community. Seven
different services were offered. To ensure proper instruction for its programs it provided
personal development and leadership training for more than 450 volunteers. They in
turn offered recreation programs for approximately 2,500 people each year. Recreational
programs included pre-school social and development, after school and Saturday morning
groups for girls and boys between the age of six and twelve, early evening co-ed groups
for tennis between thirteen and eighteen, women’s daytime and evening gym, yoga and

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interest groups, swim programs for both sexes and all ages, evening mixed adult interest
groups such as bridge, hobbies, noon hour men’s fitness and assorted interest groups.
Although the government had increasingly taken over the provision of social
services, the YWCA continued adjunct assistance with its emergency counselling and
referral services. During this period it was working closely with government organizations
like Family Life, social welfare, legal aid and others. It offered accommodation, referral
services, a women’s shelter, special needs service for handicapped children such as
swimming lessons, single parent assistance, summer hostel programs, and social education
groups on women’s changing role in society, and consumer education.494 Despite its
extensive coverage, the Y was still initiating new programs to meet community needs
in 1974. Among these was an orientation for non-English speaking immigrants to the
Canadian way of life and assistance in learning English, a post-natal course, downhill and
cross-country skiing, snow shoeing, skating and swimming for the mentally handicapped,
golf and crochet lessons. Along with a community committee, it also helped establish a
forty bed Summer hostel and by using a provincial grant, Innovations ’74, the Y hired
three people to set up a series of weekly day camps at local and provincial parks.495
While the President, Jean Hardy, became concerned by a growing trend to question
volunteerism due to the need for women to work during a recession in the economy, the
Y still had many hard working volunteers. Their general motive was that they recognized
“the economic and personal value of volunteer impact into the community.”496 In 1975
the Kamloops YWCA presented its first life membership to Catherine McArthur for her
valuable contributions to its development. She was a charter member of the Soroptimist
Club since 1946, a home economics teacher from1946 until 1965 when she retired, led
the Y - Teen group at Kamloops Senior Secondary School and was a charter member
in 1965. Since then she worked on committees for day camp programs, single parent
family groups, and others. She was president, volunteer instructor and advisor. Involved
in all aspects of its work, she was an inspiration for others and in 1976, 624 volunteers
continued to keep the Y going.497
In the seventies, the YWCA continued to recognize the transition to the modern
Social Service State by working closely with government agencies to modify and expand its
youth programs. Assistance and funding came from the Department of Special Services

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to Children and the Department of Human Resources. The program’s objective was to
provide meaningful life style models and alternatives to juveniles who were experiencing
behaviour and emotional problems. By providing leisure activities with its informal
counselling and referral services, the program attracted a small number of youths.
The program became more group oriented when an increase in staff allowed
more organizing and supervising activities. The Y also felt that by offering more activity
alternatives, it increased the opportunities for life style changes. “We have attempted
to involve the individual teen by developing an atmosphere in which programming is
informal, the tolerance level is high and a wide range of activities is offered. It is felt that
it is better to develop and reinforce positive behavior than to punish bad behavior.”498
The program had more flexible boundaries than most other youth groups and for this
reason it attracted alienated teens. The committee also worked closely with groups such
as Probation, Special Services, Schools and the Department of Human Resources to assist
them. Part of this activity included working with the families of participants and acting
as a “middle ground” in order to encourage inner-family communications.499 The youth
program in 1975 included a six night drop-in center, youth street workers, recreation
program for six to thirteen year olds, and a coffee house featuring local blues and folk
musicians.500
Another major focus for the YWCA was to establish a permanent facility to serve
the community. Since its origins, temporary buildings served their purpose but as early
as 1968 it envisioned a new civic centre that included a swimming pool, gymnasium, club
and craft rooms, kitchen, outdoor sports, and parking.501 In the community, there was
interest in the concept but a lack of funding always blocked any progress. The YWCA,
however, remained determined to move forward and a building committee was formed in
June 1972 and suggested the facility contain an 80 – 100 bed co-ed residence to provide
low cost housing, a 25 metre indoor pool, saunas and full gymnasium and four courts for
handball, and squash.502 From its initial conception to its actual construction, the YWCA
developed a five year planning process that eventually led to a new facility. Aware that it
could not raise enough money by itself for a $1 million facility the Y asked eight other
groups to get involved. It felt that it made more sense for the city to build a community
centre to be shared by other agencies rather than to build an independent YWCA.503

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While a number of service agencies expressed an interest, none made a commitment until
the next year.
In 1973, Jean Hardy, President of the YWCA estimated that the proposed
community centre would cost $1.5 million. If the total funding was not available, the Y
decided to create a priority list that could postpone certain things. First on its priority
list was a residence on a co-ed basis, next was the swimming pool.504 To fund a new
building the Y started a Capital Fund Campaign that involved 400 volunteers and raised
$358,000, at that point the largest amount ever raised by a campaign in Kamloops. The
goal of $500,000 appeared to be possible. Staff at the Royal Inland Hospital organized
a Walk - A - Thon to Paul Lake. The Hospital Board also put aside five acres of hospital
holding lands to the Y and the Provincial government was looking into this allocation.
The only drawback was the lack of road access. In 1975 the building campaign now had
$372,979 but it still had not acquired land.505 In the first few months of 1977, the final
plans for the Y Fitness Centre were completed and negotiations with the City and School
Board for a one third interest in the pool took place. Construction started in early June
and was designed to be completed in stages. The new facility opened in 1978 and work
then began on the upstairs rooms with a completion date of 1979.506
In order to expand its community connections, the Kamloops YW began to
consider the possible benefits of melding with the YMCA. Hollstedt noted that in most
communities independent YW and YM existed before a YM/YWCA established itself, “this would be the first time a YM could develop as a result of a YW.”507 Already, Victoria
and Prince George, had melded and Kamloops planned to study their constitutions to
evaluate its viability. In the discussions that followed the benefits and drawbacks were
thoroughly examined. Nationally, the YM/YWCA was becoming the model for small
communities as it allowed for growth and was more economically sound because of
its recreational and family oriented programs. The YWCAs, on the other hand, had a
social service model and were being put out of business in small towns by government
agencies.508 The National organization discussed this issue but remained opposed to it.
Yvonne Cocke, president of the New Westminster YM/YWCA who addressed the 1975
annual meeting, also warned that in many melded groups the board representation was
50-50 but the decision making was not split evenly and usually dominated by men. She

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felt that Kamloops was in a better position because the women had so much experience
on their own.509
In Kamloops, the all-women’s Board expressed conflicting views that led to
divisions, frustrations, and anger. Many members like Mary Hedley wanted to retain
their independence and follow the lead set by the National association. Others, however,
noted that at a time when they were building a new Y that was family centered, the
Association should reflect on whom they were serving - women, men and children. One
of the founding members, Lois Hollstedt, felt that for the sake of equity and progress
in a changing community, melding into a YM/YWCA appeared the rational choice.
When taken to a vote of the Board and then the membership, it passed both times.510
The advantages outweighed fears of being submerged by men and on June 9, 1975 the
Association voted to affiliate with the National Council of YMCAs but it still retained its
membership in the YWCA of Canada. In January it changed its name to the Kamloops
Community YMCA-YWCA. It became a full member in September and it expected
to expand services to the community. From this point, the Board of Directors began
to include men but a year later the Board of Directors remained predominately women
except for the addition of three men. The only new program added was the summer
program consisting of opening the Y one day a week during July and August. The usual
programs like Yoga, swim, fitness, pre-school, immigration, and general interest remained
the mainstay of activities. With the melding over a year in the past, the annual report
observed that “men are finally making themselves visible within our walls.”511 Men’s
activities such as weight-lifting, fitness and volleyball were added and becoming more
popular.
A part of the melding with the YMCA included a gender shift when George
Alliston, who had twenty years experience with the YMCA in various cities and was the
program manager for the Victoria YM/YWCA for six years, replaced Lois Hollstedt who
resigned as Executive Director when being elected to civic office and her opening of a
small business consumed her time.512 As a tribute to Lois Hollstedt’s thirteen years of
service to the Association, members representing the Y, United Way, affiliated agencies,
City Council, and the City Department of Parks and Recreation attended a Testimonial
Dinner and Dance in her honour.513

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Hollstedt’s years of YWCA experience dealing with planning, press, politicians,
government agencies and public speaking gave her the confidence to run for public
office. She challenged the old stereotypes of domesticity and separate spheres. Her entry
into civic politics derived from her view that she had to influence City Council’s and
the administration’s plans to move toward developing recreation programs. To her it
appeared the city was taking over the programs the YWCA had been developing for
years and hiring volunteers that the YWCA had trained to run them. Her first campaign
in 1974 was hindered by the existing electoral system that placed her in competition
against a popular incumbent Meryl Matthews. She ran again in 1976 and successfully
gained a seat on council for the next four years. Much of her focus on Council was to
develop volunteer work in recreational and cultural affairs. Support for the theatre, art
gallery, and providing the infrastructure for parks were some of her keen concerns during
this period. She was a strong believer that the city should facilitate volunteerism, not
shut it down.514 Hollstedt returned to Vancouver and became executive director of the
YWCA for fifteen years and then chair of Community Living, B.C. In recognition of her
dedication to volunteerism and community work she received Spirit of Vancouver and
Order of Canada awards. Mary Hedley continues to reside in Kamloops and received a
YWCA Life membership tribute in 1975. She summarized her work with the following
statement, “to be a part of something that’s good for Kamloops – it’s been a blast.”515
Conclusion
The YM/YWCA continues to provide Kamloops with valuable recreational and social
services that are well recognized by the community but its roots within the YWCA need
to be acknowledged. Despite all the positive contributions of women’s organizations, the
socio-cultural environment of the sixties still left women in a void. Many women felt that
there was no association that adequately expressed their needs or provided opportunities
for their desire to contribute to the community. The history of the YWCA demonstrates
women’s agency, initiative, energy and determination to do something for themselves and
the community and their ability to rebuke the social conventions of the domestic and
separate spheres ideology. From its origins the Kamloops YWCA not only concerned
itself with women’s issues but also the wider interests of the public from infants to senior

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citizens. The founders pioneered an idea that made them part of Kamloops history. The Y
was fortunate in its volunteer membership whose enthusiasm, will and hard work spurred
it on to success and made a “showcase” of how to create an effective organization. In the
YWCA, women found their public voice and strategically used all resources available to
achieve positive solutions for community problems.
Although closely connected and assisted by the national and provincial
associations, the Kamloops YWCA was driven by local issues and created independent
responses. Daycare, youth programs, and women’s hostels were pressing issues in the
rapidly growing population of Kamloops. While government agencies provided social
services they were incapable of covering many issues. Here the YWCA stepped in to fill
the gap. As a new organization it had a willingness to experiment and co-operate with
government agencies in order to reach out and assist all sectors of Kamloops society. The
new feminist milieu also ensured that the YWCA set its goals on solving problems that
affected women in employment, health, child care and abuse. It worked with government
agencies by offering its volunteer services, providing counselling, and covering areas of
social welfare not dealt with by the government. It stepped into this role without losing
its independence and became even more committed to social action and assisting the
total community. The melding of the YWCA with the YMCA in 1975 was yet another
step in this desire to serve the entire community. Women’s participation and their social
concerns and needs still remained at the center of its philosophy and action.

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Chapter Seven
Conclusion

Women’s organizations were the planners, organizers and activists that accomplished the
necessary tasks of improving the quality of life by caring for human health and the social
and cultural needs of Kamloops. Their contributions have remained invisible for too
long and they need to be recognized for their social contributions. This study has only
provided an outline of a few of the organizations and deals with only a small number of
the thousands of women who contributed to Kamloops’ progress. Although the majority
of the women involved were middle class and fit into the standard characterization of
clubwomen, exceptions like the Red Cross Guild did occur among the associations
investigated. Other organizations like the Women’s Institutes, Salvation Army, Ladies’
Auxiliary to the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, fraternal and church groups were
more grassroots and working class in origin. They are also deserving of future study and
credit for their accomplishments. Kamloops’ small town environment also contributed
to a social fluidity that brought a wide spectrum of people together for fund-raising
events like music hall and theatre performances, balls, teas, and charity auctions. Small
communities had to rely on their own resources to overcome existing problems and this
brought people together from all walks of life.
The Ladies’ Auxiliary to the Royal Inland Hospital was a typical elite middle
class group but the members motives were diverse and ranged from social obligation,
maintenance of status, personal satisfaction and a genuine recognition of the importance
of developing a hospital capable of meeting the town’s and region’s health requirements.
These women broke free of the domestic ideology, challenged their critics and in the end
gained the enormous respect of health professionals and the community. It assisted the
hospital when government funding was seriously inadequate and during an era when
the general populace could not afford to pay for hospitalization. Over the years they
demonstrated their determination and adaptability in developing new fund-raising

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WOMEN CARING FOR KAMLOOPS: 1890-1975

strategies and incorporating a broader membership in order to assist the hospital with
its ever increasing expenses. Changing with each new decade the LARIH passed by its
centenary in 1999 and still remains one of Kamloops’ major volunteer associations.
The Woman’s Christian Temperance Union was less adaptable and found it
increasingly difficult to deal with governments that were more tolerant of alcohol and the
public’s more liberal social values. At its prime in the late nineteenth and early twentieth
century it faced the problems created by Kamloops’ boom town conditions, a homosocial
culture, and a heavy drinking single male population but often gained the support of City
Council, the public and provincial government in its temperance campaigns. Equally
important it provided a venue for women to talk to women and to acquire the new ideas
of maternal feminism and to move into the public sphere not only to lobby for temperance
but for improvements in women’s and children’s welfare.
The Red Cross with its local, provincial, national, and international connections
has been a constant provider of volunteer services. Since its foundation in 1914, first
by single women and then by mostly married middle class women, the Kamloops Red
Cross counted on and succeeded because of widespread support from of all classes in
society. Its focus on community health such as the Well Baby Clinic, the provision of
a public health nurse, health education and relief for the poor made it an essential local
service particularly before the establishment of government welfare provisions. While it
obtained its policies from the national and provincial branches, local problems created a
local response.
Women’s abilities in co-ordinating their volunteer services are best represented
by the Kamloops Council of Women. Nationally and provincially it was also the
most political and this drew the KCW into numerous lobbying campaigns to improve
conditions in health, education, housing, senior’s assistance and culture. Most women
who entered into civic office received inspiration from the Council or were active members.
By the fifties and sixties Kamloops women had sufficient experience and confidence from
volunteerism to enter public office and often received high praise for their civic work.
The transition to modernity becomes even more evident in the history of the Young
Women’s Christian Association. Women demonstrated their desire for independence, for
expressing their self will, their creativity - their agency - in building an organization for

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themselves. Unwilling to be auxiliaries to men’s groups or consigned to being homemakers,
the Y women created numerous programs to help themselves. But their main objective
became community service as they turned to social action in establishing programs for
youth groups and abused women. It achieved its goals by obtaining government funding
and working closely with government agencies while still retaining its independence. In
this manner the Y demonstrated the importance of volunteerism in an increasingly social
service environment.
All the organizations investigated were connected to national and provincial
organizations and while they often identified with common philosophies and policies,
local issues stimulated their activities. Most of the women involved did not openly
express maternal feminist concepts but were still a part of a social movement that sought
change. They joined in the numerous campaigns to improve the conditions of women,
children and the community. Some women’s motives stemmed from religious and moral
convictions while others acted out of necessity or female consciousness to improve the
community. In an era of government neglect and individualist values, local problems
and issues became their source of agency. Gradually the State expanded into the realm
of social service but women’s associations still remained important providers of care.
In the interwar period they co-operated with the fledging social service workers to
assist them in providing the core requirements for the community. The Red Cross, for
example, worked with the poor to insure that they received relief payments and the other
necessities for survival. During World War II the KCW continued the interaction with
civic and provincial agencies to achieve better health care, working conditions and urban
planning. The real test for the survival of these associations came in the fifties and sixties
when they not only faced being outpaced by government agencies, changed social values
and Second Wave feminism that proved to be more attractive to the younger generation
and in the case of the National Action Committee to be more effective in lobbying for its
objectives.
Some historians like Jill Vickers maintain that women’s organizations gave
women a greater voice than their involvement in politics. She concluded that “the realm
of women’s associations and institutions, community services and movements has its
own norms and values, which reflect woman-centred experiences.” She described this

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woman-dominated sphere as “the politics of getting things done.”516 While the majority
of women preferred this type of activism over holding public office, the associations were
at the same time the training ground for women’s political engagement. Most women
who entered into political life remained at the civic level and generally found themselves
relegated to auxiliaries when they became involved with the major provincial parties.517
Women’s reluctance to get involved in politics may be partially attributed to frustration
caused by exclusion and conversely to the satisfaction they gained from working through
women’s organizations.
The long history of the LARIH, KWCTU, Red Cross, and KCW as well as
shorter but dynamic growth of the YWCA gave Kamloops’ women opportunities to
become involved in public affairs and bring about major changes. In this manner, these
organizations were not only important to the community but to the women themselves.
Within these groups women gained numerous skills as office holders, fund-raisers, policy
makers, bookkeepers, and administrators. They stepped out of their designated domestic
roles out of necessity and a number of them became well known figures in the community
in their own right rather than because they were the wives of prominent men. Fulton,
Fitzwater, McCurrach, Johnstone, Millward, Matthews, Hollstedt, Hedley and others
received major tributes like Life memberships, public acclaim in the press, and keys to the
City. The problems they faced were for the most part local issues and their solutions were
more immediate and visible. In a number of cases, it was the resistance of male politicians
to the objectives of women’s associations that led them into the political arena as either
lobbyists or politicians. Here their membership experience gave them the administrative,
campaigning and political skills to run for civic office.
In their efforts to improve the community, women’s associations recognized the
need to go beyond caring just for the white Anglo population and served all disadvantaged
people. Paradoxically, they had their faults and often reflected the contemporary social
and racial bias of the societal period that surrounded them. The LARIH’s colonial
origins explains its early acceptance of racial splits and segregation of white and native
patients during the influenza epidemic but at the same time it crossed class barriers by
trying to provide good health care for everyone in the community. The WCTU often
supported the popular eugenics theories on racial degeneration and the need to purify

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the race while at the same time defending the need for reforms to protect women and
children. The Red Cross can also be seen to join in the discrimination against natives
in the 1930s but it was also the major relief agent during the Great Depression and later
tried to stop discrimination against the Japanese during World War II and in the post-war
period attempted to develop a closer liaison with the native communities in the region.
The KCW continued to maintain its non-discriminatory and non-denominational
membership to advocate improvements for all women but its non-partisan political
position can be viewed as holding back women’s entry into politics. YWCA’s were also
criticized for their early focus on morality and concern for a narrow sector of society
but once they became socially committed the YWCA became involved in defending
First Nations rights, women from all walks of life who required housing, shelter and
counselling, youth and various ethnic groups.
The associations that survived until the sixties did so by adapting to modern
trends and at times accommodating new feminist concerns. The old ideas had to adjust
to modernity and to a great extent they were so gradual that it did not offer any great
challenge or create divisions. Some traditional organizations like the LARIH, Red Cross,
and YWCA survived and thereby demonstrated that they were still important community
assets, others like the KWCTU and KCW did not make the adjustments necessary to
continue and ceased their activities. They would be replaced by new feminist groups that
took their lead from the National Action Committee and who were much more willing to
be openly political and use government funding like the federal Local Initiatives Project
grants to achieve their objectives. At present, women volunteers continue to provide
essential services for the community and the diversity of their activities continues to
expand. As in the past, their objectives are not to replace government social and cultural
services but to promote further change to overcome inequities and ensure the inclusion
of all individuals in the community’s life.

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ANDREW YARMIE

[197]

ENDNOTES

1

Kamloops News, May 4, 1977, section 3, 13.

2
Gerald Friesen, “The Evolving Meanings of Region in Canada,” Canadian Historical
Review, 82:3 (September 2001): 530.
3
See Kamloops Sentinel, Feb. 7, 1949, 7, (Hereafter KS) The 1941 census places Kamloops
at 5,955 while the 1951 recorded 8,099. Census Statistics for Kamloops, 1941, 1951. See also
Maribeth Plommer, “Sources for Women’s History in Kamloops,” Unpublished research sourcebook,
1985, Mary Balf Archives, Kamloops. (Hereafter MBA). The division into two major groups is
outlined in Wendy Mitchinson, “Early Organizations and Social Reform: Prelude to the Welfare
State,” in Allan Moscovitch, and Jim Albert, eds., The “Benevolent” State: the growth of the welfare
state in Canada. Toronto: Garamond Press, 1987, 77-89. The estimate for women’s participation
is from Jim Lotz, “The Beginning of Community Development in English Speaking Canada,” in
Brian Wharf, and Michael Clague, eds., Community Organizing: Canadian Experiences. Toronto:
Oxford University Press, 1997, 15. For their importance, see Naomi Griffiths, The Splendid Vision:
a centennial history of the National Council of Women of Canada: 1893-1993. Ottawa: Carlton
University Press, 1993, 5. Alison Prentice, Paula Bourne, Gail Cuthbert Brandt, Beth Light, Wendy
Mitchinson, Naomi Black, et. al., Canadian Women; A History. Toronto: Harcourt Brace, 1998, ch.
8.
4
Carol Baines, Patricia Evans, and Sheila Neysmith, eds., Women’s Caring: Feminist
Perspectives on Social Welfare. Don Mills, Ontario: Oxford University Press, 1998, 9. Louise
Toupin, “Social and Community Indicators for Evaluating Women’s work in Communities.” Status
of Women Canada Policy Research Fund, Feb. 2001, 19, cites Ginette Boyer and Lucie Belanger’s
research that argues that women’s work for the community is treated as “extended mothering” and
therefore it becomes invisible. See also Judith Fingard and Janet Guildford and the contributors
to a study of Halifax who feel that this is a significant gap in Canadian historiography, not only in
terms of social welfare but women’s activism. They also argue that more community case studies
rather than national studies are necessary. Judith Fingard and Janet Guildford, eds., Mothers of the
Municipality: women, work, and social policy in post-1945 Halifax. Toronto: University of Toronto
Press, 2005, 13.
5
Michael Prince, “At the Edge of Canada’s Welfare State: Social Policy-Making in British
Columbia.” in Kenneth R. Carty, Politics, Policy, and Government in British Columbia. Vancouver:
UBC Press, 1996, 248-52. Megan J. Davies, “Welfare Amazons or Handmaidens of the State?
Welfare Field workers in Rural British Columbia, 1935-42.” in Diane Purvey and Christopher
Walmsey, eds., Child and Family Welfare in British Columbia: A History. Calgary: Detselig
Enterprises, 2005, 197.
6
Agnes Meinhard and Mary Foster, “Differences in the Response of Women’s Voluntary
Organizations to Shifts in Canadian Policy.” Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, (2003), 32,
no.3, 366-7, cited in Debra Andrews, “In the Company of Women: the Work We Do,” Proceedings
of the 4th Annual Thompson Rivers University Undergraduate Conference, Kamloops, Thompson
Rivers University, 2009, 31-32, Judith Fingard, “Women’s Organizations: The Heart and Soul

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WOMEN CARING FOR KAMLOOPS: 1890-1975

of Women’s Activism,” in Fingard and Guildford, Mothers, 26-27. In their studies of Halifax, the
editors, Judith Fingard and Janet Guildford and the other contributors found some of the same themes
such as women’s activism, state expansion into social service and secularization of associations that
were common to this study of Kamloops. Fingard and Guildford, Mothers, 9-11.
7
Paul Voisey, Vulcan: The Making of a Prairie Community. Toronto: University of Toronto
Press, 1988, 212.
8

Griffiths, Splendid Vision, 1. For the American situation, see Firor Scott, Natural Allies, 2.

9
Nancy Christie, Engendering the State: Family, Work, and Welfare in Canada. Toronto:
University of Toronto Press, 2000, 18.
10
Baines, Caring, 25-26. Ramsay Cook, The Regenerators Social Criticism in Late
Victorian English Canada. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1985, 4-6, 33-4. Linda Kealey,
ed., A Not Unreasonable Claim: Women and Reform in Canada, 1880s - 1920s. Toronto: Women’s
Educational Press, 1979, 2-6. The Reverend Benjamin Fish Austin held that “if society is ever to
become thoroughly permeated with the Christian doctrine and spirit, if the world is ever to become
regenerated, it must be by the agency of Christian women.” Quoted in Cook, Regenerators, 70.
11
Lynne Marks, “Exploring Regional Diversity in Patterns of Religious Participation,
Canada in 1901,” Historical Methods, 33, 4, (Fall 2000), 247-52. Recent research has observed
the continuance of this anomaly in the post World War II era, see Tina Block, “Everyday Infidels; A
Social History of Secularism in the Postwar Pacific Northwest.” Ph.D. thesis, University of Victoria,
2006.
12
Mariana Valverde, The Age of Light, Soap, and Water: Moral Reform in English Canada,
1885-1925. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2008, 17, 18.
13
Baines, Caring, 26. On social gospel and agency see Baines, Caring, 26. For the important
role of women in the Protestant church, see also Christie, Engendering, 18.
14
Anthony Giddens, Modernity and Self Identity. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1991,
213, M. Emirbayer and A. Miche, ‘What is Agency?’ American Journal of Sociology. 103: 4 (1998):
962. See also Derek Layder, Understanding Social Theory. London: Sage Publishing, 1994, 21014.
15
Similar findings were evident in Fingard and Guildford, Mothers, 9-11 and in Maggie
Andrews, Acceptable Face of Feminism; The Women’s Institute as a Social Movement. London:
Lawrence and Wishart, 1997, 12-13.
16
For MacGill and Gutteridge, see Jean Barman, The West Beyond the West: The History of
British Columbia. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1991, 217-18.
17
Similar findings are found in Fingard, “Women’s Organizations,” 26-7. Tina Block’s
review of this introduction pointed out the need to give politics a broader definition in order to
incorporate women’s history. Rusty Bitterman makes this point in his study, see Rusty Bitterman,
“Women and the Escheat Movement, The Politics of Everyday Life on Prince Edward Island,” in

ANDREW YARMIE

[199]

Janet Guildford and Suzanne Morton, eds. Separate Spheres: Women’s Worlds in the 19th-Century
Maritimes. Fredericton: Acadiensis Press, 1994, 24-7, 38. See also Kathleen McCarthy, “Parallel
Power Structures: Women and the Voluntary Sphere,” in Kathleen D. McCarthy, ed., Lady Bountiful
Revisited: Women Philanthropy, and Power. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1990, 11.
18
Quoted in Tina Block, “Religion, Irreligion, and the Difference Place Makes: The Case
of the Postwar Pacific Northwest,” Histoire sociale/Social History, 43:85 (2010):12. For theories
on the social construction of place, see John Agnew and Jonathan Smith, eds., American Space/
American Place: Geographies of the Contemporary United States. New York: Routledge, 2002 and
Elizabeth Furniss, The Burden of History: Colonialism and the Frontier Myth in a Rural Canadian
City. Vancouver: UBC Press, 1999.
19
Katherine Morrissey Mental Territories; Mapping the Inland Empire. Ithaca: Cornell
University Press, 1996, 8, Patricia Nelson Limerick, “Region and Reason,” in Ayers, E.L., Nelson
Limerick, P, Nissenbaum, S and Onuf, P.S. All Over the Map: Rethinking American Regions.
Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 1996, 96.
20
These themes are examined in Mary Balf, Kamloops, A History of the District Up to 1914.
Kamloops: Kamloops Museum, 1969, chapter 2, 4, 6, Ruth Balf, Kamloops; 1914-1945. Kamloops:
Kamloops Museum, 1967, chapter 4, 15, Ken Favrholdt, Kamloops; meeting of the waters. Canada:
Windsor Publications, 1989, chapter 4, 5, MBA, Newspaper article, N675, Elisabeth Duckworth,
Kamloops, Land of Promise, MBA, Newspaper article, N766, Susan Cross, Kamloops in 1904,
Wayne Norton, “When Travellers Come to Town,” in Wayne Norton and Wilf Schmidt, eds.,
Kamloops: On Hundred Years of Community; 1893-1993. Merritt, B.C.: Sonotek Publishing, 1992,
chapter 2, Margaret Ormsby, British Columbia: a History. Vancouver: Macmillan, 1958, 305, 359.
For recent research, see Rachel Nash, “Change and Resistance: Kamloops’ Civic Symbols and
Identity in the 1990s,” and David MacLennan, Donald Lawrence, Will Garrett-Petts and Bonnie
Yourk, “Vernacular Landscapes: Sense of Self and Place in the Small City,” in Will Garrett-Petts,
ed., The Small Cities Book; On the Cultural Future of Small Cities. Vancouver: New Star Books,
2005.
21

Quoted in Barman, West Beyond the West, 56.

22
Quoted in Wayne Norton, Kamloops History: Fictions, Facts and Fragments. Vancouver:
Plateau Press, 2007, 6.
23

Meryl Matthews Interview, Interviewer, Maribeth Plommer, July, 1985.

24

Prentice, Canadian Women, 170.

25
The term feminism did not win acceptance among the majority of Canadian women during
the late nineteenth century and instead they preferred to identify themselves as the “woman’s
movement.” For a general overview, see Prentice, Canadian Women, ch.7, Marilyn Callahan,
“Feminist Community Organizing in Canada: Postcards from the Edge.” in Brian Warf and Michael
Clague, eds., Community Organizing: Canadian Experiences. Toronto: Oxford University Press,
1997, 190-1.
26
Fingard and Guildford, Mothers, 8. They point out the criticisms expressed in M. Little,
‘No Car, No Radio, Liquor Permit’: The Moral Regulations of Single Mothers in Ontario, 19201997. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1998 and Mariana Valverde, The Age of Light, Soap, and
Water: Moral Reform in English Canada, 1885-1925. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1991.
27

Davies, “Welfare Amazons.”197, 215, Adele Perry, On the Edge of Empire: Gender, Race,

[200]

WOMEN CARING FOR KAMLOOPS: 1890-1975

and the Making of British Columbia, 1849-1871. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2001 19.
As Adele Perry argued in the colonial project or settlement of the province, “white women were
expected to serve as symbols of imperialism and racial separation.” Perry, Edge of Empire, 174.
Fingard and Guilford also point out that we need “to acknowledge that women’s experience as
based on race, class, age, sexual identity, and ability.” Fingard and Guildford, Mothers. 13. See
also Valverde, “Mother of the Race.” 3-21 for first wave feminism and ethnocentrism and racism,
particularly the WCTU. See Guildford and Morton, Separate Spheres. 12. Similar prejudiced
attitudes can be found in American volunteer associations. See Anne Firor Scott, “Women’s
Voluntary Associations: From Charity to Reform,” in Kathleen D. McCarthy, ed., Lady Bountiful
Revisited: Women Philanthropy, and Power. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1990, 48.
28

Andrews, Acceptable, 5.

29

Andrews, Acceptable, 8.

30
Baines, Women’s Caring. 30. See also Andrews, Acceptable, 5. Fingard and Guilford,
Mothers, 1-20, Callahan, “Feminist.” 190-2.
31
Andrews, Acceptable. 8-12, Baines, Women’s Caring. 24. See the introduction in Janet
Guildford and Suzanne Morton, eds., Separate Spheres: Women’s Worlds in the 19th-Century
Maritimes. Fredericton: Acadiensis Press, 1994, 17-20.
32

KS, Feb. 6, 1946, 14.

33
See Plommer, “Sources,” Although not a complete listing of organizations, Plommer
identified the existence of the following types of Kamloops women’s organizations that existed
between 1891 and 1960; 13 auxiliaries, 4 charitable, 10 church societies, 10 fraternal, 2 service
clubs, 2 sororities, and 6 miscellaneous women’s groups. For example, 21 women’s organizations
attended the meeting to form the Local Council of women in 1933. KS. Dec. 1, 1933, 1. See also
Meryl Matthew’s report, KS. Feb. 7, 1949, 7.
34

Meryl Matthews Interview.

35

KS, Jan. 31, 1939, 1.

36
Andrews, Acceptable, 8-13, Griffiths, Splendid Vision. 1-3, Baines, Caring. 27-30. For
elite groups, see Diana Kendall, The Power of Good Deeds: Privileged Women and the Social
Reproduction of the Upper Class. Lanham: Roman & Littlefield, 2002. 26-34. Kendall applies
Pierre Bourdieu’s concepts of social and cultural capital to explain women’s interest and capabilities
within organizations. See also Anne Firor Scott, Natural Allies: Women’s Associations in American
History. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1991, 24.
37
Gillian Weiss, “The Brightest Women of Our Land: Vancouver Clubwomen 1910-1928.” in
B.K. Latham and R.J. Pazdro. eds., Not Just Pin Money. Victoria: Camosun College, 1984, 200.
38

Weiss, “The Brightest,” 202-07.

39
For the most recent history of the Women’s Institute, see British Columbia Women’s
Institute, 100 Years of B.C. Women’s Institutes, 1909-2009. Kamloops: British Columbia Women’s
Institute, 2008. Information on working class women’s associations can be found in newspaper
articles produced by archivists at the MBA. Johnstone is quoted in KS, Jan. 24, 1939, 5.
40
Baines, Caring, 27. Wendy Mitchinson, “The WCTU: ‘For God, Home and Native Land’:
A Study in Nineteenth-Century Feminism.” in L. Kealey, ed., A Not Unreasonable Claim: Women
and Reform in Canada, 1880 – 1920s. Toronto: Women’s Press, 1979, 152, 164-5.

ANDREW YARMIE

[201]

41
Kealey, A Not Unreasonable Claim, 6-8, Prentice, Canadian Women, 169-88. Mariana
Valverde, “‘When the Mother of the Race is Free’ Race, Reproduction, and Sexuality in First-Wave
Feminism,” in Franca Iacovetta and Mariana Valverde, Gender Conflicts: New Essays in Women’s
History. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1992, 3. A survey of the literature relating to first
wave feminism and its racist attitude can be found in Nancy Forestell, “Mrs. Canada Goes Global:
Canadian First Wave Feminism Revisited,” Atlantis, 29,no.3 (2005), 7-18. Forestell also places it
into the context of literature on colonialism, internationalism, and transnationalism.
42
Adele Perry, “Interlocutting Empire: Colonial womanhood, settler identity, and Frances
Herring,” in Phillip A. Buckner, ed., Rediscovering the British World. Calgary: University of
Calgary Press, 2005, 173. See also Perry, Edge of Empire, 16-19. The fears of church groups
were confirmed by the 1901 census which revealed that there were ten times as many irreligious
people in B.C. than other provinces. See Marks, “Exploring Regional Diversity,” 248-50. For the
emigration of British women, see Joan Weir, Catalysts and Watchdogs: B.C.’s Men of God, 18361871. Victoria: Sono Nis press, 1995, ch. 5, and Andrew Yarmie, “I Had Always Wanted to Farm:
The Quest for Independence by British Female Emigrants at the Princess Patricia Ranch, Vernon,
British Columbia, 1912-1920,” British Journal of Canadian Studies, 16, number 1 (2003): 103-5.
43
Ken Mather, Buckaroos and Mud Pups. Surrey: British Columbia, Heritage House, 2006,
66. Two examples are Johnny Wilson and Joseph Richter. Harry Marriott, Cariboo Cowboy. Sidney:
British Columbia, Gray’s Publishing, 1966, 59, For fur traders see Balf, Kamloops, A History of the
District Up to 1914, 10, 13.
44

Perry, Empire. 16-17. Mather, Buckaroos and Mud Pups, 67-8.

45
MBA, newspaper article, N10, M. Balf, “The Railway comes to Town.” 1881 Census,
Table 2, Population Statistics for District 189 Yale, Subdistricts B Lytton, Cache Creek and C, 1891
Census, Table 3 Population Statistics of Yale District 5, Subdistrict K Kamloops.
46
1891 Census, Table 3 Population Statistics of Yale District 5, Subdistrict K Kamloops, 1901
Census, Table 5, Population Statistics of District Yale & Cariboo, Subdistrict K Yale, North, 1911
Census, Table 6, Population Statistics for Kamloops C and Kamloops Subdistricts, 1921 Census,
Table 7, 1921 Census Statistics for Kamloops and Kamloops C Subdistricts. See also Ross Nelson,
Department of Geography, Thompson Rivers University, Web-based publication, Bulletin No 2,
2005, Kamloops in 1901, Census of Canada. Perry, Empire. 16-17, John Belshaw, Becoming British
Columbia; A Population History. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2009, 91. The choices available are stated
in Belshaw’s use of Kathryn Bridge, By Snowshoe, Buckboard and Steamer: Women of the Frontier.
Victoria: Sono Nis Press, 1998, 16. For the rough male culture, see Perry, “Interlocutting,” 169-71.
47
Barman, West Beyond, 130-31,140. Cole Harris, The Resettlement of British Columbia:
Essays on Colonialism and Geographical Change. Vancouver: University of British Columbia
Press, 1997, 263-64, Joan Weir, Walhachin: Catastrophe or Camelot? Surrey: Hancock House
Publishers Ltd., 1984, 7, 31, ch. 3, ch.5.
48
Harris, Resettlement, 225. For a thorough discussion of the frontier myth, see Elizabeth
Furniss, The Burden of History, 17-20. Joanne Drake, “Women’s Work in the Thompson/Nicola
Region: A Study of Women’s Work to 1945,” Unpublished Research Project, Cariboo College,
1977, 17-18.
49
Ken Favrholdt, “Domesticating the Drybelt: Agricultural Settlement in the Hills around
Kamloops, 1860-1960,” in Ruth Sandwell, ed., Beyond the City Limits: Rural History in British
Columbia. Vancouver: UBC Press, 1998, 110-11. For Haughton’s quote, see Heritage Committee,

[202]

WOMEN CARING FOR KAMLOOPS: 1890-1975

Rose Hill Farmers Institute, “Bunch Grass to Barbed Wire: ...just a little south of Kamloops.”
Kamloops Heritage Committee, Rose Hill Farmers Institute, 115. See also Mather, Buckaroos, 64,
Harris, Resettlement, 227. Rusty Bitterman also found that separate spheres concepts did not apply
in the frontier conditions of rural Prince Edward Island. Women contributed to hard labour and even
resorted to violence to defend their property. See Bitterman, “Escheat,” 27-33.
50

Davies. “Welfare Amazons,” 197, Baines, Caring, 34-5.

51
Quoted in Toupin, Social and Community Indicators, 15. Davies, “Welfare Amazons,”
203-08. Davies applies this theme to social workers whereas this study extends it to volunteers
within women’s organizations.
52

Barman, West Beyond, 202-12.

53
KS, Jan. 15, 1918, 1. For her first election to office see Kamloops Standard Sentinel, Jan.
16, 1914, 1. (Hereafter KSS) Her obituary is in KS, Nov. 14, 1945,
54

Barman, West Beyond, 218-19.

55

Barman, West Beyond, 202-03.

56

Kealey, Not Unreasonable, 9-13, Prentice, Canadian Women, 179-82.

57

Christie, Engendering, 28-30.

58
Davies, “Welfare Amazons,” 195-7, 215. Social workers continued to work with
government agents, the police and public health nurses until the post-World War II era. Davies,
“Welfare Amazons,” 208-10, KS, Jan. 25, 1932, 2.
59

Prentice, Canadian Women, 295-312.

60
The critics were quoted in Prentice, Canadian Women, 331. For general background
material see Prentice, Canadian Women, 332-37.
61
Prentice, Canadian Women, 343-52, Jill Vickers, Pauline Rankin, and Christine Appelle,
Politics As if Women Mattered: A Political Analysis of the National Action Committee on the Status
of Women. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1993, 18, 25, 28-9, 37-8.
62
Debra Brown, The Challenge of Caring; A History of Women and Health Care in British
Columbia. British Columbia: Ministry of Health and Ministry Responsible for Seniors Women’s
Health Bureau, 2000, 72. Prentice, Canadian Women, 356.
63
Lynn Thomson, September, 2010. The above information provided by Lynn Thomson. See
also Cariboo College News Release, March 1981, Thompson Rivers University Archives.
64
Quoted in Agnes Meinhard and Mary Foster, “Differences in the Response of Women’s
Voluntary Organizations to Shifts in Canadian Policy.” Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly,
(2003), 32, no.3, 371.
65

Inland Sentinel, Aug. 28, 1884, 7. (Hereafter IS)

66
Balf, Kamloops; A History of the District up to 1914, 60, 62-63. MBA, vertical file, One
Hundred years of Care, 2, MBA, Newspaper articles, N 319, John Stewart “Royal Inland Hospital,”
part 1, 1-2. Barman, Sojourning Sisters, 75-6. After her move to Victoria Annie moved into the
public sphere particularly after her husband died. She joined numerous women’s organizations
like the WCTU, Local Council of Women, IODE, Women’s Canadian Club, Women’s Institute
and became provincial director of the Homes Branch of the Soldiers’ Settlement Board. Barman,
Sojourning Sisters, 215-18. For the Beattie sisters, see MBA, Newspaper articles, N 331, John

ANDREW YARMIE

[203]

Stewart, “The Beattie Sisters, A Family of Teachers.”
67
MBA, Ladies’ Auxiliary to Royal Inland Hospital, (Hereafter LARIH), 77.55.1 “Over 60
Years of Progress.”
68
IS, March 5, 1897, 1, March 12, 1897, 4. It attributed the deficit to the high salary of the
medical officer.
69

Kendall, Power of Good Deeds, 2-3.

70

IS, Feb. 18, 1893, 2. See also Balf, Kamloops. A History of the District up to 1914, 62.

71
Margaret Andrews, “Medical Attendance in Vancouver, 1886-1920,” BC Studies, no. 40,
(Winter, 1978-79): 46.
72

IS Feb 25, 1893, 4.

73
IS, Oct 12, 1894; IS, Oct 18, 1895. MBA, D. Gibson, “100 Years of History!” Inside
Inland: The Royal Inland Hospital Newsletter, 1996,1, 4; MBA, Newspaper articles, N 319, John
Stewart, “Royal Inland Hospital” part 1, 3. Andrews, “Medical Attendance,” 49-51.
74

MBA, LARIH, Minutes, Nov. 15, 1899.

75

MBA, LARIH, 77.55.1, “Over 60 Years of Progress.”

76

MBA., LARIH, Minutes, Jan. 23, 1900 or IS, Jan. 26, 1900, 4.

77

IS, Feb. 27, 1900, 4.

78

IS, Feb. 27, 1900, 4.

79
Balf, Kamloops, A History of the District Up to 1914, 114,120. For black face costumes
at masquerade dances, see Balf, Kamloops; 1914-1945, 11 and for black face musical bands, see
MBA, Photographs, #914, 1897, Queen Victoria Jublilee, #6962, Darktown Minstrels, 1914. For
Peter Wing, see Favrholdt, Kamloops, 67.
80

IS, 9, 1900, 4. For other fund-raising events, see IS, Nov. 5, 1901, 4, Oct. 23, 1903, 1.

81

IS, Jan. 3, 1902, 4, Oct. 21, 1902, 4.

82

IS, Oct. 23, 1903, 1.

83
Melrose Scott, Seventy Years, 1904-1974, A History of the School of Nursing at Royal
Inland Hospital. n.d., ch. 1. For other impressions of Kamloops in the early twentieth century, see
Norton, Kamloops History, 1-6.
84
1911 Census, Table 6, Population Statistics for Kamloops C and Kamloops Subdistricts.
MBA, LARIH, 77.55.1, “Over 60 Years of Progress,” 2. “One Hundred Years of History, 1. MBA,
Newspaper article, N 319, John Stewart, “Royal Inland Hospital”, part 2, 1. Comparatively, the
work of Kamloops’ women’s associations had many parallels to the Women’s Auxiliary to the
Vancouver General Hospital that began in 1902. The first hospital in Vancouver started as a nine
bed tent hospital to serve C.P.R. workers and the City did not take it over until after the great fire
of 1886. Peter Walton, ed., The VGH Story, A History of Vancouver General Hospital, A Century of
Caring. Vancouver: no Publisher, 1988, chapter 1, n.p.
85

IS, March 15, 1913, 3.

86

IS, March 15,1913, 3

87

IS, Feb. 3, 1914, 1. See also Balf, Kamloops; 1914-1945, 67. Later J.T. Robinson became

[204]

WOMEN CARING FOR KAMLOOPS: 1890-1975

the President of the Hospital Board and worked tirelessly for the hospital. When he died the Auxiliary
praised him and remarked that he was “always ready to assist and second our every endeavor.” IS,
Feb. 7, 1924, 3.
88

KSS, Jan. 29, 1918, 6, Feb. 8, 1918, 8.

89
Recent research attributes the spread of the disease in the west to the movement of the
Siberian Expeditionary Force to Vancouver. See Esyllt Jones, Influenza 1918: Disease, Death, and
Struggle in Winnipeg. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2007, 5-6, 13. Eileen Pettigrew, The
Silent Enemy: Canada and the Deadly Flu of 1918. Saskatoon: Western Producer Prairie Books,
1983, 75. Margaret W. Andrews, “Epidemic and Public Health: Influenza in Vancouver, 19181919,” BC Studies, 34 (Summer, 1977): 27. KSS, Oct. 18, 1918, 1, Oct. 22, 1918, 1.
90

Andrews, “Epidemic,” 28-31.

91

KSS, Oct. 18, 1918, 1. For the medical report on 1917 see KSS, Jan.15, 1918, 1.

92

KSS, Dec. 10, 1918, 6.

93

KSS, Oct. 29, 1918, 4.

94

KSS, Nov. 8, 1918, 8.

95

KSS, Nov. 1, 1918, 1, Nov. 5, 1918, 1, Dec. 3, 1918, 1, Dec. 10, 1918, 1, Dec. 13, 1918, 1.

96
For the population see Census 1911, Table 6:
Population Statistics for
Kamloops c and Kamloops Subdistricts, 1911 and 1921 Census, Yale & Cariboo
District.
97
KSS, Oct. 22, 1918, 1, KSS, Nov. 12, 1918, 1, Nov. 22, 1918. For examples of the reporting
of deaths throughout November, see also Nov. 15, 1918, 8, Nov. 19, 1918, 8.
98
KSS, March 9, 1920, 1, KSS, Nov. 15, 1918, 1. For a record of the number of cases see KSS,
Dec. 13, 1918, 1, March 11, 1919, 1.
99
1.

KSS, March 14, 1919, 1. KSS, Feb. 13, 1920, 1, KSS, Feb. 17, 1920, 1, KSS, Feb. 27, 1920,

100

For comparative examples, see Jones, Influenza, 11, 81, 84-85, 86.

101

Jones, Influenza, 64, 65-6.

102

Jones, Influenza, 65-6, 70-5, 84-5,168-69.

103

KSS, Nov. 8, 1918, 2, Dec. 10, 1918, 6. KSS, Nov. 8, 1918, 1.

104
KSS, Dec. 10, 1918, 6. In Vancouver, the volunteer nurses received as little as thirty
minutes training before being sent into the wards. Andrews, “Epidemic,” 28.
105

KSS, Nov. 5, 1918, 1.

106

KSS, Nov. 15, 1918, Nov. 8, 1918, 1, 2, 8.

107
KSS, Nov. 29, 1918, 1. For Jones, see KSS, Nov. 15, 1918, 8, and W.T. Summers, see KSS,
Nov. 12, 1918, 1. Henry Pike, a fifty year war veteran who volunteered at the hospital also died from
the flu. KSS, Nov. 19, 1918, 8.
108
KSS, Nov. 22, 1918, 8. For the response to the teachers’ assistance, see Pettigrew, The
Silent Enemy, 95.
109

KSS, Dec. 10, 1918, 1, 10.

ANDREW YARMIE

[205]

110

KSS, Dec. 10, 1918, 6, March 11, 1919, 1.

111
KS, Feb. 7, 1928, 1. Mrs. Annie Wyllie received a Life-Membership honour for her years
of volunteer work in 1941. KS, March 20, 1941, 5.
112

KS, Feb. 5, 1929, 5.

113

KS, Feb. 9, 1934, 1.

114
For Vancouver’s use of the Community Chest concept see Vancouver City Archives,
Condensed History of the Women’s Auxiliary to the Vancouver General Hospital, Add. MSS 452,
961-E-4, file 1, Balf, Kamloops; 1914-1945, 69-70, KS, Feb. 3, 1932, 1.
115

KS, Feb. 3, 1943, 5.

116
1941 Census Division 6 Subdivision C Nicola, 1941. MBA, LARIH, “Over 60 Years
of Progress,” 2, KS, Feb. 3, 1943, MBA, Newspaper article, N 319, John Stewart, “Royal Inland
Hospital,” Part 3, 1.
117
For the controversy see MBA, 69.106, Royal Inland Hospital Auxiliary, North Kamloops
and District Hospital Association minutes, March 28, April 4,1945; KS, Feb. 11, 1948, 11.
118
MBA, Royal Inland Hospital Auxiliary, North Kamloops and District Hospital Association
minutes, June 12, 1946, For formation of the Association see minutes, Feb. 20, 1945, June 24, 1946.
119

KS, Feb. 11, 1948, 11.

120

KS, Feb. 11, 1948, 11.

121
KS, March 2, 1951, 5, KS, Feb. 1953, 4. Early mention of a community chest see KS,
Feb. 5, 5. Kamloops Daily Sentinel, (Hereafter KDS) Feb. 4, 1960, 3, MBA, LARIH, 77.55, l, N.
Dalgleish, “Seventy-five Years of Service.” MBA, Newspaper articles, N 319, John Stewart, “Royal
Inland Hospital,” part 3, 1-2.
122

MBA, 74.71.2, LARIH, Treasurer’s Records, LARIH.

123
For Vancouver, see Vancouver City Archives, Condensed History of the Women’s Auxiliary
to the Vancouver General Hospital, Add. MSS 452, 961-E-4, file 1. For Kamloops, see KDS, May
5, 1965, 5, KDS, Dec. 5, 1968, MBA, LARIH, 77.55. l, N. Dallies, “Seventy-five Years of Service,”
KDS, Dec. 4, 1974.
124

N. Dalgleish, “Seventy-five Years of Service,” Kamloops Standard, Feb. 5, 1915, 4.

125

KS, Feb. 5, 1929, 5.

126

KS, Feb. 7, 1930, 9.

127

KS, Feb. 7, 1939, 4.

128

KS, Feb., 1948, 11.

129

KS, Feb. 7, 1951, 5.

130
KS, Feb. 6, 1953, 4. For the quote, see KDS, April 7, 1965, and for membership, see KS,
Dec. 5, 1968, 19.
131
MBA, Dorothy Hungar, “A Brief Historical Sketch of the Kamloops Woman’s Christian
Temperance Union,” Kamloops, 1971.
132

Valverde, “Mother of the Race,” 4, Valverde, Age of Light, 58-61.

[206]

WOMEN CARING FOR KAMLOOPS: 1890-1975

133
University of British Columbia, Special Collections, Vancouver Council of Women,
(Hereafter UBC, SC) Box 2-2, Letter to H.J. K Labsik, Provincial Secretary, Vancouver Council of
Women, May 6, 1930.
134
Valverde, “Mother of the Race,” 17-20. Some leaders like Nelly McClung and Judge
Helen Gregory MacGill and Mrs. M.E. Smith, MLA supported sterilization. See Brown, Challenge,
38. Wendy Mitchinson, “The Woman’s Christian Temperance Union: A Study in Organization,”
International Journal of Women’s Studies, vol. 4, no. 2, (March/April 1981): 147, 149-50, Mitchinson,
“For God,”162.
135

Mitchinson, “For God,” 160, Mitchinson, “Study in Organization,” 147-148.

136

Mitchinson, “Study in Organization,” 146,144-147.

137
Mitchinson, “For God,” 155-62, Douglas Hamilton, Sobering Dilemma: A History of
Prohibition in British Columbia. Vancouver: Ronsdale Press, 2004, 75, Robert Campbell, Demon
Rum or Easy Money: Government Control of Liquor in British Columbia From Prohibition to
Privatization. Ottawa: Carlton University Press, 1991, 13.
138
Hamilton, Sobering, 70, Mitchinson, “Study in Organization,” 149-50. Mitchinson’s focus
was on Ontario and she found that towns with populations between 1000 but less than 5000 brought
in the most members.
139
John Belshaw, Becoming British Columbia; A Population History. Vancouver: U.B.C.
Press, 2009, 46, 99-92, Perry, “Interlocutting,” 169-71, Perry, Edge of Empire, 16-19.
140
Lynne Marks, ‘Leaving God Behind When They Crossed the Rocky Mountains’: Exploring
Unbelief in Turn-of-the-Century British Columbia, in Eric W. Sager and Peter Baskerville, eds.
Household Counts: Canadian Households and Families in 1901. Toronto: University of Toronto
Press, 2007, 372. See also Marks, “Exploring Regional Diversity,” 247-50.
141

Marks, Leaving God Behind, 385, 373-82.

142
For Brown, see Joan Weir, Catalysts and Watchdogs: B.C.’s Men of God, 1836-1871.
Victoria: Sono Nis Press, 1995, 53, A. J. Hiebert, Prohibition in British Columbia. MA, Simon
Fraser University, 1969, 12, Campbell, Demon Rum, 10, 16.
143

Hamilton, Sobering, 35, Heibert, Prohibition, 10.

144
Lynne Stonier-Newman, Policing a Pioneer Province: The B.C. Provincial Police 18581950. Madeira Park, B.C.: Harbour Publishing, 1991, 41; see also Hamilton, Sobering, 71.
145

Quoted in Stonier-Newman, Policing, 42.

146
Campbell, Demon Rum, 18. This was true of all communities on its route whether it was
in Saskatchewan, Alberta, or B.C. See Nancy M. Sheehan, “The WCTU on the Prairies, 1886-1930:
An Alberta-Saskatchewan Comparison,” Prairie Forum, 6, no.1 (Spring, 1981):17.
147

Quoted in Belshaw, Becoming British Columbia, 167.

148

IS, September 18, 1884, 3.

149

MBA, Newspaper article, N216, S. Cross, “Banning the Booze,” B15.

150
Ross Nelson, Department of Geography, Thompson Rivers University, Web-based
publication, Bulletin No 2, 2005, Kamloops in 1901, Census of Canada. IS, Jan. 18,190, 4, IS, Nov.
27, 1912, 1, 4.

ANDREW YARMIE

[207]

151
The story of the cowboys is mentioned in Peter Grauer, Interred With Their Bones; Bill
Miner in Canada, 1903-1907. Saskatoon: Houghton Boston, 2006, 133-4. For the brewery, see
IS, Sept. 12, 1897, MBA Newpaper article, N30, Leslie Mobbs, The Imperial Brewery and for the
attitude to the police see IS, June 2, 1899, 4.
152

Quoted in Cross, “Banning The Booze,” B15. See also MBA Newspaper article, N 216S.

153

Quoted in Cross, “Banning The Booze,” B15.

154
Mitchinson, “For God,” 164; See also S. A. Cook, “”Sowing the Seed for the Master.” The
Ontario WCTU and Evangelical Feminism, 1874-1930,” Journal of Canadian Studies, 30, no. 3
(Fall 1995): 179-80 and Campbell, Demon Rum, 17
155
Ross Nelson, Department of Geography, Thompson Rivers University, Web-based
publication, Bulletin No 2, 2005, Kamloops in 1901, Census of Canada. The census revealed
Methodists, 14.1%, Presbyterian, 23.9% and Baptist, 4.6%. Hungar, “Kamloops Woman’s Christian
Temperance Union,” 2, Norton, Kamloops History, 68.
156
IS, May 12 1911, 1, IS, Dec. 15, 1911, 1, IS, May 11, 1912, 4, IS, Dec. 15, 1911, 1. For
the class background of members, see MBA, Kamloops City Directory, 1914 and Canada Census,
Population Statistics for Kamloops c and Kamloops Subdistricts, 1911. The KWCTU executive
of 1923, 1939 and 1942 was cross-checked using the B.C. Directory and they had similar social
backgrounds.
157

Mitchinson, “For God,”167.

158

Cook, “Ontario WCTU,” 176-177.

159

Cook, “Ontario WCTU,”177,187, 189, 190.

160

Cook, “Ontario WCTU,” 180-183.

161

IS, May 11, 1912, 4. For the evangelical tone, see Mitchinson, “For God, 165.

162
Hungar, “Kamloops Woman’s Christian Temperance Union,” The minute books were used
by Hungar to write her brief history. She notes that the local branch was still meeting in 1971. The
minute books have not been located.
163

Sheehan, “WCTU on the Prairies,” 17.

164

Sheehan, “WCTU on the Prairies,” 21-26.

165
For comparisons, see Cook, “Ontario WCTU,” 185-187 and Sheehan, “WCTU on the
Prairie,” 24-26.
166

Hungar, “Kamloops Woman’s Christian Temperance Union,” 2.

167
Canada Census, 1911, Population Statistics for Kamloops c and Kamloops Subdistricts,
Kamloops Standard, Aug. 22, 1910, 1, IS, May 12, 1911,1
168

Quoted in Kamloops Standard from the Victoria Daily Colonist, Aug. 23 1910, 7.

169
Elisabeth Duckworth, ‘Temperance still a “women’s issue’ The Kamloops Daily News, Jan.
13, 1989, 4.
170

Campbell, Demon Rum, 17.

171

Quoted in Norton, Kamloops History, 5-6.

172

IS, Nov. 27, 1912, 8.

[208]

WOMEN CARING FOR KAMLOOPS: 1890-1975

173
L.Gough, As Wise as Serpents: Five women and an organization that changed British
Columbia, 1883-1934. Victoria: Sean Lake Publishing, 1988, 1, 6.
174
Gough, Serpents, 32 -56, 69, Chris Clarkson, Domestic Reforms, Political Visions and
Family Regulation in British Columbia, 1862-1940. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2007, 118.
175

Gough, Serpents, 69, Hamilton, Sobering, 76-79, Campbell, Demon Rum, 20.

176

Gough, Serpents, 81-102, 138-55, Campbell, Demon Rum, 20.

177
Mitchinson, “For God,” 162, Barman, West Beyond, 209-12, Hungar, “Kamloops Woman’s
Christian Temperance Union,” 2.
178

IS, Nov.27, 1912, 5.

179

KSS, September 15, 1916, 1.

180
Gough, Serpents, 157-160, Hamilton, Sobering, 83-86; Campbell, Demon Rum, 20, Robert
Campbell, Sit Down and Drink your Beer; Regulating Vancouver’s Beer Parlours, 1925-1954.
Toronto: University of Toronto Press 2001, 17.
181
52-53.

Hamilton, Sobering, 173-75; See also Campbell, Demon Rum, 25-26, Campbell, Sit Down,

182

Hamilton, Sobering, 177-188; Campbell, Demon Rum, 51-54; Campbell, Sit Down, 52-55.

183

Gough, Serpents, 163-204.

184
Quoted in M.J. Davies, “Services Rendered, Rearing Children for the State”: Mothers’
Pensions in British Columbia, 1919-1931,” in B.K. Latham and R. J. Pazdro, eds., Not Just Pin
Money. Victoria: Camosun College, 1984, 251.
185
Martin Robbin, The Rush for Spoils. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1972, Quoted in
Stonier-Newman, Policing, 137.
186
Stonier-Newman, Policing, 118, KS, Jan. 13, 1920, 1. See also Campbell, Demon Rum, 23,
Hamilton, Sobering, 129-133.
187

Hungar, “Kamloops Woman’s Christian Temperance Union,” 2.

188

KS, June 2, 1925, 1, 7.

189

Both quotes were reported in KS, June 2, 1925, 7, KS, June 2, 1925, 1.

190
KS, May 31, 1933, 1. The drink problem is noted in KS, July 5, 1933, 1. For continuance of
eugenics and the founding of the Eugenics Society of Canada in 1930, see Angus Mclaren, Our Own
Master Race: Eugenics in Canada, 1885-1945. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1990. ch. 5, 6.
The KWCTU remained an active member of the Council of Women until the Council disbanded in
1967, see Hungar, “Kamloops Woman’s Christian Temperance Union,” 2, KS, May 31, 1.
191

KS, May 12, 1939, 1.

192

Gough, Serpents, 217, 233, KS, May 21, 1942, 9.

193

Duckworth, ‘Temperance still a “women’s issue.’

194

Block, “Everyday Infidels,” 74, 90, 111, 181, 247-49.

195
UBC, SC, Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, Box 3, scrapbooks, Mrs. W.S. Watson to
Premier W.A.C. Bennett, Aug. 13, 1952

ANDREW YARMIE

[209]

196
5.

Campbell, Demon Rum, 82, 112-119, Campbell, Sit Down, 43, 113, KDS, April 10, 1965,

197

Quoted in Campbell, Demon Rum, 137.

198

Campbell, Demon Rum, 137.

199
Quoted in Campbell, Demon Rum, 155. For background issues, see Campbell, Demon
Rum, 150-56, 165.
200

Campbell, Demon Rum, 168-70, 179.

201
KDS, April 1, 1965, 4, KDS, April 10, 1965, 5, Hungar, “Kamloops Woman’s Christian
Temperance Union,”
202
J. Hutchinson, Champions of Charity: War and the Rise of the Red Cross. Oxford:
Westview Press, 1996, 2.
203
For an in depth review of the literature, see Sarah Glassford “Marching as to War.” The
Canadian Red Cross, 1885-1939,” Ph.D thesis, York University, 2007, 21-3. Sarah Glassford, “The
Greatest Mother in the World” Carework and the Discourse of Mothering in the Canadian Red
Cross Society during the First World War,” Journal of the Association for Research on Mothering,
10:1 (2008), 220-232.
204
N.O. Berry, War and the Red Cross: The Unspoken Mission. New York: St. Martin’s Press,
1997, 7-8, P.H. Gordon, Fifty Years in the Canadian Red Cross. Toronto: 1969, 11, 20. A good
account of the pre-World War I history is available in Glassford, “Marching as to War,” 34-75, 38182. For the Vancouver branch, see The Province, March 22, 1900, 3.
205
Quoted in Hutchinson, Champions, 265, 352. For conservative and gender based views see
Hutchinson, Champions, 203-4, 256, 352, Glassford, “Marching as to War,” 82-3.
206

Gordon, Canadian Red Cross, 79.

207

KS, Oct. 19, 1928, 1, MBA, Red Cross Minutes, 1937.

208

KS, Oct. 30, 1946, 7.

209

KS, Oct. 30, 1946, 7. See also KS, Oct. 30, 1946, 1, 17.

210

KS, Oct. 19, 1928, 1, KS, Feb.6, 1950, 1, KS, Jan.30, 1952, 1.

211
Robert Rutherdale, Hometown Horizons: Local Responses to Canada’s Great War.
Vancouver: UBC Press, 2004, 195, IS, Aug. 29, 1914, 6.
212

MBA, 65.11.2-4, Red Cross Guild minutes, Sept. 3, 1914.

213

KSS, June 25, 1918, 1.

214

KSS, June 25, 1918, 7.

215
KSS, June 25, 1918, 1, MBA, 65.11.2-4, Red Cross Guild minutes, Sept. 3, 1914, KS Oct.
30, 1946, 1, 1911 Census, Table 6, Population Statistics for Kamloops C and Kamloops Subdistricts,
Henderson’s Kamloops Directory, 1914, Jefferies Kamloops and District Directory, 1914-15,
Belshaw, Becoming, 92, 94. For the Soldiers’ Comfort Club see MBA, 0.3132.9, Soldiers’ Comfort
Club Minute Books, 1915-1919.
216
KS, Jan. 20, 1918, 6. See also KSS, June 25, 1918, 1, MBA, 65.11.2.-4, Red Cross Guild
minutes, Sept.14-Nov.16, 1914, KS, March 18, 1915, 4.

[210]

WOMEN CARING FOR KAMLOOPS: 1890-1975

217
KSS, June 25, 1918, 7, MBA, 65.11.2.-4, Red Cross Guild minutes, Dec. 1914, Jan. 4,
1915, Glassford, “Marching as to War,” 385-86
218
Sarah Glassford, ““The Greatest Mother in the World” Carework and the Discourse of
Mothering in the Canadian Red Cross Society during the First World War,” Journal of the Association
for Research on Mothering, 10, no.1, (2008): 220.
219
KSS, May 29, 1917, 3. For the work of the Club, see MBA, 0.3132.9, Soldiers’ Comfort
Club, Minute Book, May, 1915-Nov. 1915. Glassford comments on the skills required and how
knitting socks became a joke. Glassford, “Greatest Mother,” 164, 228.
220
Paul Ward, “Empire and the Everyday: Britishness and Imperialism in Women’s Lives
in the Great War,” in P. Buckner and R. Douglas Francis, eds., Rediscovering the British World.
Calgary: Calgary University Press, 2005, 269, 273-75, Glassford, “Greatest Mother,” 222-23,22627, Rutherdale, Hometown Horizons, 195, 197, Gwen Szychter, “The War Work of Women in Rural
British Columbia: 1914-1919,” B.C. Historical News, 27, no. 4 (Fall 1994): 8-9.
221
Quoted in Glassford, “Greatest Mother,” 227. For how the war politicized women, see
Glassford, Greatest Mother,”227 and Rutherdale, Hometown Horizons, 214.
222

KSS, June 25, 1918, 7.

223

KSS, June 25, 1918, 7. For public generosity, see KSS, June 25, 1918, 1-7.

224
Glassford, “Greatest Mother,”228. For the work of the local Auxiliary, see KSS, Oct. 21,
1919, 1, KSS, Feb. 18, 1919, 1, KSS, Dec 2, 1919, 1, KSS, Jan.2, 1920, 1.
225

Hutchinson, Champions, 279, Glassford, “Marching as to War,” 286, 292, 294, 301-06.

226

Glassford, “Marching as to War,” 332-35, 372, 390.

227
Quoted in Glassford, “Marching as to War,” 306. For the CRCS relations with the
government, see Glassford, “Marching as to War,” 309, 336-37.
228

KSS, Dec. 17, 1920, 1.

229
For Red Cross women and executive power, see Glassford, “Greatest Mother,” 226. For
mention of all Fulton’s volunteer work, see KS, July 4, 1961, 1.
230

KS, May 29, 1917, 3.

231

KS, Jan. 22, 1929, 1.

232
See Balf, Kamloops, 1914-1945, 37, 53, KS, Feb 6, 1950, 1, KS, Oct 19, 1928, 1, Balf,
Kamloops, 1914-1945, 13, 37-38, KS, Jan. 12, 1923, 1. The contributions of a wide cross-section of
society to the Red Cross were established during World War I. See Glassford, “The Greatest Mother
in the World,” 220.
233

MBA, 65.11.2.-4, Red Cross minutes, Dec. 14, 1920 and Nov. 14, 1921.

234

KSS, Jan. 12, 1923, 7.

235

KSS, Jan. 26, 1923, 4.

236

KSS, Feb. 3, 1922, 1. For classes, see KSS, Feb. 2, 1923, 8.

237

KSS, Dec. 15, 1922, 1.

238
KS, Jan. 16, 1925, 5, KS, Feb. 2, 1926, 1, 4. For low periods of attendance at the local and
national level, see KS, June 13 1922, 1, and Glassford, “Marching as to War,” 317.

ANDREW YARMIE

[211]

239

KS, Jan. 18, 1927, 1.

240
On membership, see KS, Jan. 27, 1931, 1, 7. For Junior Red Cross, see KS, Jan. 22, 1929,
3, KS, Jan. 28, 1930, 1, 5 and Glassford, “Marching as to War,” 340, 364-67.
241
C.R.Comacchio, Nations are Built of Babies: Saving Ontario’s mothers and children,
1900-1940. Montreal: McGill-Queens University Press, 1993, 16, 26-31, 54; Brown, Challenge,
36.
242
Balf, Kamloops, 1914-1945, 68. Garrood also made 163 follow up visits to homes and held
three pre-school diphtheria immunization clinics for 123 children. It had already been proven that
the immunization program in B.C. schools had decreased diphtheria from 815 cases in 1927 to 83 in
1932. (KS, Jan. 26, 1934, 3; MBA, 65.11.2.-4, Red Cross Guild minutes, Feb. 10, 1933.
243
For State action see, Commachio, Nations are Built of Babies, 61-62. A committee
consisting of Mrs. Winnifred Fulton, Mrs. Brown and Miss. Bannerman made the arrangements for
the clinic. KS, Jan.10, 1922, 5, KSS, Sept. 18, 1923, 1.
244

KSS, Feb. 2, 1923, 6, 8. For initial clinic, see KSS, May 26, 1922, 1.

245

KSS, May 22, 1923, 1; For enrollments, see KSS, Sept. 18, 1923, 1.

246

KSS, Jan. 31, 1924, 1, 12.

247
KSS, Feb. 7, 1924, 4. For the enquiry, see KSS, Feb. 7, 1924, 1, 8; MBA, 65.11.2.-4, Red
Cross minutes, Feb. 4, 1924.
248
MBA, 65.11.2.-4, Red Cross minutes, Mar. 21, 1924. For resignation, see KS, Jan.16, 1925,
5 and for Miss Campbell, see KS, Jan. 18, 1927, 6.
249

MBA, 65.11.2.-4, Red Cross minutes, Nov. 9, 1928.

250
40-1.

Baines, Women’s Caring, 50, Comacchio, Nations are Built for Babies, 5, Brown, Challenge,

251

Red Cross Min., Jan. 21/29, Comacchio, Nations are Built For Babies, ch. 7, footnote 34

252
KS Jan.25, 1932, 2. For the medical profession’s views see, Comacchio, Nations are Built
For Babies, 145.
253

Comacchio, Nations are Built For Babies, 150-53.

254

KS, Jan. 26, 1934, 3.

255

KS, Jan. 28, 1930, 5, KS, Jan. 26, 1934, 3. For prenatal classes, see KS, Jan. 26, 1929, 3.

256

KS, Jan. 29, 1935, 3.

257
KS, July 5, 1933, 3. For Vivian Dowding, see Mary F. Bishop, “The Early Birth Controllers
of B.C.,” Histoire Social/Social History XIV: 28 (Nov.1981): 77-80, and Mary F. Bishop, “Vivian
Dowding: Birth Control Activist 1892- ,” in Veronica Strong-Boag and Anita Clair Fellman,
Rethinking Canada; The Promise of Women’s History. Toronto: Cop Clark Pitman, 1986. MBA,
65.11.2.-4, Red Cross minutes, June 12, 1933.
258

MBA, 65.11.2.-4, Red Cross minutes, March 12, 22, 1937, April 9, 1937.

259
MBA, 65.11.2.-4, Red Cross minutes, Nov. 5, 1939 letter Olive M. Garrood to Mrs. J.W.
Hall, secretary.
260

MBA, 65.11.2.-4, Red Cross minutes, Nov. 16, 1939.

[212]

WOMEN CARING FOR KAMLOOPS: 1890-1975

261

KS, July 25, 1940, 11, Glassford, “Marching as to War,” 376.

262

KSS, June 23, 1922, 2, Glassford, “Marching as to War,” 345, 347.

263
Glassford, “Marching as to War,” 351, KS, Jan. 27, 1931, 7. For Red Cross involvement in
regions, see KS, Jan. 28, 1930, 5 KS, Jan. 27, 1931, 7.
264
KSS, Jan. 14, 1921, 1, KSS, Jan. 24, 1924, 1, Wayne Norton, A Whole Little City by itself;
Tranquille and Tuberculosis. Kamloops: Plateau Press, 1999, 105.
265

Quoted in Norton, Little City, 74.

266
To compare 1924 to 1934, see KS, Jan. 16, 1925, 5 and KSS, Jan. 26, 1934, 3. For 1940 see
KS, Jan. 30, 1941, 1, 12.
267
KS, Oct. 30, 1946, 7. For a general discussion of the CRCS in other locations, see Glassford,
“Marching as to War,” 329-30.
268
For conditions in the ‘drybelt’ areas, see Favrholdt, “Domesticating,” 115. MBA, 65.11.2.4, Red Cross minutes, June 13, Oct. 10, 1921, KSS, Jan. 10, 1922, 1, KSS June13, 1922, 1, KSS, Jan.
24, 1924, 1.
269

KS, Jan. 13, 1928, 7, KS, Jan., 28, 1930, 5.

270
KS, Jan. 27, 1931, 1, KS, Jan. 28, 1930, 5, KS, Nov 16, 1932, 1. For municipal and volunteer
relations, see Christie, Engendering, 218.
271

Balf, Kamloops, 1914-1945, 55-57.

272
Drake, “Women’s Work,” 47, E.W. Sager, “Women in the Industrial Labour Force:
Evidence for British Columbia, 1921-53,” BC Studies, no.149 (Spring 2006): 48, 61-2, Christie,
Engendering, 207, 247.
273
KS, Jan. 28, 1930, 1, 5, KS, Jan. 25, 1932, 1, 2, MBA, 65.11.2-4, Red Cross minutes, Sept.
11/31, KS, Aug. 29, 1933, 1. Susan Forseille, “Ties that Bind; Kamloops during the Depression
Years,” in Wayne Norton and Wilf Schmidt, eds., Reflections: Thompson Valley Histories.
Kamloops: Plateau Press, 1994, 114.
274

Sydney Hutcheson, Depression Stories. Vancouver: New Star Books, 1976, 59, 61.

275
MBA, 65.11.2-4, Red Cross minutes, Sept. 16, 1932, Nov. 10, 1932, KS, Oct. 14, 1932, 1,
Oct. 19, 1932, 1.
276

MBA, 65.11.2-4, Red Cross minutes, Nov. 19, 1932, Nov. 25, 1932.

277

Hutcheson, Depression, 59.

278

Hutcheson, Depression, 61-2, Forseille, “Ties that Bind,” 118.

279
2-3.

The controversy is discussed in Scott, Natural Allies, 4 and Kendall, Power of Good Deeds,

280

KS, Jan. 28, 1930, 1.

281

KS, Jan. 29, 1935, 3.

282

KS, Jan. 28, 1930, 5.

283
KS, March 27, 1934, 1. For outside tensions, see MBA, newspaper article, N 123, John
Stewart, “On to Ottawa Trek.”

ANDREW YARMIE

[213]

284

MBA, 65.11.2.-4, Red Cross minutes, Oct. 11, 1935.

285

KS, Jan. 28, 1930, 1.

286
For budget and membership, see KS, Jan. 27, 1931, 7. For children’s health and public
support, see KS, Jan. 26, 1934, 3.
287

KS, Jan. 26, 1934, 3.

288

KS, Jan. 24, 1939, 5.

289
For the first performance and descriptions of costumes and various acts, see KS, Nov. 9,
1933, 6, KS, Jan. 26, 1934, 3.
290

KS, Jan. 29, 1935, 3.

291

KS, Jan. 28, 1938, KS, Jan. 26, 1940, 6, Christie, Engendering, 220-21.

292

KS, Jan. 24, 1939, 5.

293
KS, Jan. 26, 1940, 6. In 1938 Elks continued to pay the bills for the distribution of milk and
contribute to Community Chest as did Tai Sang who gave it two tons of vegetables. In the same year
the local churches and the Red Cross organized a Chinese Relief fund for the millions of homeless,
sick and starving in China and were able to send $713.50 for the cause. KS, Jan. 24, 1939, 5.
294

KS, Jan. 28, 1943, 7.

295

Glassford, “Marching as to War,” 376-78.

296
MBA, 65.11.2-4, Red Cross minutes, Sept. 2/39, KS, Jan. 26, 1940, 6, KS, Nov. 5, 1942,1,
KS, Jan. 29,1943, 9, Meryl Matthews Interview.
297

KS, Sept. 19, 1939, 5, KS, Jan. 26, 1940, 6.

298

MBA, 65.11.2-4, Red Cross minutes, Feb. 9, 1940, Feb.11, 1944.

299

KS, Sept. 19, 1939, 5.

300

KS, Sept. 19, 1939, 5. For its origins, see KS, Jan. 24, 1939, 5.

301
KS, Jan. 26, 1940, 6, MBA, 65.11.2-4, Red Cross minutes, Oct. 1940, Nov. 1940, KS, Jan.
30, 1941, 13.
302

MBA, 65.11.2-4, Red Cross minutes, Jan. 24, 1941.

303

KS, Jan. 30, 1941, 1, 13, KS, Jan. 28, 1943, 7.

304
KS, Jan. 30, 1941, 13. Groups included Women’s Institutes, Imperial Order of Daughters of
the Empire, Catholic Women’s League, Canadian Legion, Rebekahs and numerous auxiliaries. KS,
Jan. 28, 1943, 7. See also MBA, 0.2870, Kamloops Civilian Auxiliary.
305

KS, March 20, 1941, 5, KS, Jan. 28, 1943, 2, KS, Jan. 28, 1943, 7. KS, July 7, 1943, 1.

306

KS, Jan. 31, 1945, 14.

307

KS, Feb. 6, 1946, 14.

308

For the new direction taken by the CRCS, see Glassford, “Marching as to War,” 393.

309

KS, Feb. 6, 1946, 14, Jan. 29, 1947, 19.

310
MBA, 65.11.2-4, Red Cross minutes, Nov. 9, 1945, KS, Jan. 21, 1948, 1, 16. For first Blood
Donor Clinic, see MBA, 65.11.2-4, Red Cross minutes, Oct. 30, 1946, Connie Vickers Interview,

[214]

WOMEN CARING FOR KAMLOOPS: 1890-1975

Interviewer, Surya Naidu, August 1990.
311

KS, Jan. 28, 1949, 14. For more information on the flood, see KS, Jan. 31, 1949, 5.

312

KS, Jan. 26, 1951, 5.

313

KS, Jan. 28, 1949, 14.

314

KS, Jan. 21, 1948, 1, 16, Jan. 28, 1949, 14.

315

KS, Jan. 30, 1952, 1, 3.

316

KS, Jan. 25, 1950, 7.

317
KS, Feb. 4, 1953, 4, KS, Feb. 1, 1956, 1. For other members receiving awards see KS, Jan.
24, 1955, 8.
318
The quotations and biography of Phyllis Marion Parkes is from Trish Archibald and
Julie Drolet, eds. Not Just A Tea Party: Celebrating Women’s Contributions to Community Life.
Kamloops: Kamloops Women’s Resource Group Society, 2009, 126-35.
319

KS, Feb. 4, 1953, 4, KS Jan. 24, 1955, 1, KDS, Jan. 13, 1959, 3.

320

KS, Jan. 28, 1938, 7.

321
MBA, 65.11.2-4, Red Cross minutes, Dec. 1933, Jan. 12, 1934. For minimum wage, see
MBA, 65.11.2-4, Red Cross minutes, Feb. 9, 1934.
322

MBA, 65.11.2-4, Red Cross minutes, Feb. 11, 1938.

323
For land settlement, see MBA, 65.11.2-4, Red Cross minutes, Feb. 11, 1944. For Old Age
Pension, see MBA, 65.11.2-4, Red Cross minutes, Nov. 8, 1946.
324
For a comparison to nurses see Kathryn McPherson, “‘The Case of the Kissing Nurse’:
Femininity, Sexuality, and Canadian Nursing, 1900-1970,” in Kathryn Mcpherson, Cecilia Morgan
and Nancy Forestell, eds., Gendered Pasts: Historical Essays in Feminity and Masculinity in
Canada. Don Mills, Ontario: Oxford University Press, 1999, 181.
325

Valverde, Age of Light, 62.

326

Griffiths, Splendid Vision, 7-12, Valverde, Age of Light, 62-3.

327

Quoted in Griffiths, Splendid Vision, 24.

328
Griffiths, Splendid Vision, 10-12, Mary P. Powell, “A Response to the Depression: The
Local Council of Women of Vancouver,” in Barbara Latham and Cathy Kess, eds., In Her Own
Right; Selected Essays on Women’s History in B.C. Victoria: Camosun College, 1980, 256. For
a critique of the NCW, see C.L. Bacchi, Liberation Deferred? The Ideas of the Women’s Suffrage
Movement in English Canada, 1883 – 1918. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1983, and for
revisionism, see B. Boutilier, “Nursing Nation Builders: The “Council Idea,” Western Women and
the Founding of the Victorian Order of Nurses for Canada, 1896 – 1900” in C. A. Cavanaugh and R.
R. Warne, eds., Telling Tales, Essays in Western Women’s History. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2000,
175-179, and Griffiths, Splendid Vision, 49-51. Boutilier in footnote 3 notes that Veronica StrongBoag has also altered her views on the NCW to give it more of a progressive tone, “Pulling in
Double Harness or Hauling a Double Load: Women, Work, and Feminism on the Canadian Prairie,”
Journal of Canadian Studies, 21, 3 (1986): 32-3.
329

Boutilier, “Nursing Nation,” 179.

ANDREW YARMIE

[215]

330
Jo Fraser Jones, ““A Hardier Stock of Womankind”: Alice Barrett Parke in British
Columbia,” in S. A. Cook, L.R. McLean and K. O’Rourke, eds., Framing our Past; Canadian
Women’s History in the Twentieth Century. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2001, 91.
M. Lang Hasting and L. Ellenwood, Blue Bows and the Golden Rule; Provincial Council of Women
of B.C. An Historical Account, Provincial Council of Women of B.C. Cloverdale: B.C., 1984, 11.
331
See Boutilier, “Nursing Nations,” 187-195. Vancouver City Archives, Add MSS 465 602E-1, file 1, Vancouver Council of Women, request for Home Nursing Service, UBC, SC, Box 4-7,
Vancouver Council of Women, Pageant of Fifty-Seven Years – Local Council of Women, Oct. 26,
1931, Griffiths, Splendid Vision, 207-08, Brown, Challenge, 14.
332
Quoted in Michael H. Cramer, “Public and Political: documents of the women’s suffrage
Campaign in British Columbia, 1871-1917: The View from Victoria,” in Gillian Creese and
Veronica Strong-Boag, eds., British Columbia Reconsidered: Essays on Women. Vancouver: Press
Gang Publishers, 1992, 59.
333
M.E. McCallum, “Keeping Women in their Place: The Minimum Wage in Canada, 191025,” Labour/Le Travail, 17 (Spring 1986), 33.
334

Christie, Engendering, 62, Cramer, “Public and Political,” 61.

335
Lang Hasting, Blue Bows, 20-30. Since 1908, the concept of forming a provincial
organization in order to promote the council and create a provincial legislature committee to lobby
for changes had been a discussion item at meetings.
336

Quoted in Lang Hasting, Blue Bows, 30.

337

Lang Hasting, Blue Bows, 18.

338

Lang Hasting, Blue Bows, 14-18.

339
Lynda Erickson, “Women and Political Representation in British Columbia,” in Kenneth
R. Carty, ed., Politics, Policy and Government in British Columbia. Vancouver: UBC Press, 1996,
107, Lang Hastings, Blue Bows, 31-2.
340
McCallum, “Keeping Women in their Place,” 39-41, V. Strong-Boag, “The Girl of the New
Day: Canadian Working Women in the 1920s,” Labour/Le Travailleur, 4, (1979), 159-61.
341

Quoted in Commachio, Nations are Built of Babies, 54.

342

Christie, Engendering the State, 113. For more background, see 94-113.

343
M. Hillyard Little, “Claiming a Unique Place: The Introduction of Mothers’ Pensions in
B.C.” BC Studies, nos. 105-106, (Spring/Summer): 1995, 84-7.
344

Hillyard Little, “Claiming a Unique Place,” 87-93, 97-100.

345
Christie, Engendering the State, 95, 115-16, 131-35, Comacchio, Nations are Built for
Babies, 66-7, 74, 86.
346
Griffiths, Splendid Vision, 184-188; UBC, SC, Vancouver Council of Women, Box 2-3,
Town Planning Report, Lang Hasting, Blue Bows, 34-42, Prentice, Canadian Women, 282, Erickson,
“Women and Political Representation,” 108.
347
Lang Hasting, Blue Bows, 48-49. For other local’s efforts, see Griffiths, Splendid Vision,
200-202.
348

KS, Dec. 1, 1933, 1.

[216]

WOMEN CARING FOR KAMLOOPS: 1890-1975

349
Quoted in KS, Dec 1, 1933, 1. See also MBA, 86.43, Charles and Bessie Miller, Resume
of History of Kamloops Council of Women 1933 to 1938.
350

Quoted in Lang Hastings, Blue Bows, 48.

351

KS, Dec. 1, 1933, 1.

352

KS Dec 1, 1933, 4.

353

KS, Jan. 16, 1934, 1.

354

KS, Dec. 14, 1934, section 3, 3.

355

Powell, “A Response to the Depression,” 158, Griffiths, Splendid Vision, 200.

356

KS, 16, 1934, 1, KS, Jan. 12, 1937, 1.

357

KS, Feb. 14, 1936, 5.

358

KS, Feb. 14, 1936, 5.

359

Griffiths, Splendid Vision, 285, 207.

360

KS, Jan.12, 1937, 1.

361

KS, Jan.31, 1939, 1.

362

Griffiths, Splendid Vision, 207.

363

Griffiths, Splendid Vision, 190.

364

KS, Jan. 31, 1939, 1.

365

Quoted in Lang Hasting, Blue Bows, 52.

366

Helen Millward Interview.

367
For Clements and Johnstone, see Balf, Kamloops, 1914-1945, 61, 35. For Millward, see
KS, Jan. 17, 1951, 5, KS, May 20, 1953, 1, 8, and Helen Millward Interview.
368

KS, Dec. 19, 1952, 1, KS, Jan. 18, 1952, 1.

369

KS, Jan. 17, 1951, 5, KS, Nov. 13, 1957, 1, KDS, Jan. 24, 1958, 3, Helen Millward Interview.

370

Meryl Matthews Interview.

371

Griffiths, Splendid Vision, 227, 202-06.

372

Griffiths, Splendid Vision, 228, Prentice, Canadian Women, 298.

373

Lang Hasting, Blue Bows, 54-7.

374

Sager, “Women in the Industrial Labour Force,” 59.

375

KS, Jan. 29, 1945, and KS Jan. 24, 1945, 6

376
These activities can be found in KS, Feb. 24, 1943, 1, 7, KS, Feb. 16, 1944, 8, KS, Jan. 24,
1945, 6.
377
For details of this program, see Griffiths, Splendid Vision, 229-34. For Vancouver, see
UBC, SC, Vancouver Council of Women, Box 3-12, Brief to Mr. Justice Clyne, Nov.1954, and Box
4-7, Pageant of Fifty-Seven Years – Local Council of Women, Oct. 26, 1951,
378
For the Rehabilitation committee, see KS, Feb. 24, 1943, 1, KS, Feb. 16, 1944, 8, KS, Jan.
24, 1954, 6. In 1944-45, local councils shared many concerns on low-rental housing, improved

ANDREW YARMIE

[217]

education, health, increased cancer research, juvenile delinquency Old Age pensions, immigration
problems, the native Indian population, and the need for more nurses. Lang Hardy, Blue Bows, 61.
379

KS, Jan. 24, 1945, 6, KS, Feb. 6, 1946, 11.

380
Griffiths, Splendid Vision, 244. For the institutionalization of maternal and child welfare at
a state level, see Comacchio, Nations are Built for Babies, 239-42. For the government take-over of
rehabilitation, see KS, Feb. 6, 1946, 11.
381

Christie, Engendering the State, 301-12.

382

V. Kelsey, British Columbia Rides a Star, New York, Harper Publishing, c. 1958, 195.

383

KS, Jan.17, 1951, 5.

384
Griffiths, Splendid Vision, 245-46, UBC, SC, Vancouver Council of Women, Box 4-12,
Provincial Council of Women of British Columbia, Brief, “How Can I Know My Indian Brother”
Oct. 31, 1950.
385
This was the case in Halifax, see Fingard and Guildford, Mothers, 19, Lynda Erickson,
Women and Political Representation in British Columbia,” in Kenneth R. Carty, ed., Politics, Policy
and Government in British Columbia. Vancouver: UBC Press, 1996, 108-12, Barman, West Beyond
West, 279.
386
Quoted in Penny Kome, Women of Influence: Canadian Women and Politics. Toronto:
Doubleday Canada Limited, 1985, 103.
387

Victoria Daily Colonist, Jan.1, 1955,18.

388

Victoria Daily Colonist, June 2, 1965, 18.

389
Kome, Women of Influence, 105, Erickson, Women and Political Representation in British
Columbia,” 108-12, Heather MacIvor, Women and Politics in Canada, Peterborough, Broadview
Press, 1996, 255-57, Sangster, Dreams of Equality, 103.
390
UBC, SC, Vancouver Council of Women, Box 3-12, Brief Presented by the Provincial
Council of Women to the B.C. Liquor Commission, Nov. 1952.
391
Griffiths, Splendid Vision, 247, 257; Lang Hasting, Blue Bows, 67; Brown, Debra, The
Challenge, 58. MBA, 86.83, Charles and Bessie Miller, What is a Local Council of Women?, Sept.
1958.
392

KS, Jan. 21, 1953, 4.

393

KS, March 16, 1956. The request was made earlier, see KS, March 6, 1956, 2.

394

KS, Jan. 17, 1957, 5, Nov. 21, 1958, 5.

395

KS, Jan. 17, 1957, 5, Nov. 21, 1958, 5.

396

Griffiths, Splendid Vision, 362.

397

KS, Nov. 28, 1956, 1.

398

KS, Dec.13, 1957, 1, Nov.13, 1957, 1.

399
MBA, 86.83, Charles and Bessie Miller, What is a Local Council of Women? Sept. 1958.
Writing a history of an organization empowers it. See Andrews, Acceptable, 41.
400
Griffiths, Splendid Vision, 362-63, MBA, 86.43, Charles and Bessie Miller, Annual Report,
Kamloops Council of Women, 1953.

[218]

WOMEN CARING FOR KAMLOOPS: 1890-1975

401
KS, Nov.18, 1958, 5, KS, Nov. 21, 1958, 5, MBA, 86.43, Charles and Bessie Miller,
Resume of History of Kamloops Council of Women, 1933 to 1958.
402

Griffiths, Splendid Vision, 328-29.

403
Lang Hasting, Blue Bows, 73, Jill Vickers, “Feminist Approaches to Women in Politics,”
in Kealey, Linda and Sangster, eds. Beyond the Vote: Canadian Women and Politics. Toronto:
University of Toronto Press, 1989, 21.
404

Griffiths, Splendid Vision, 285, 329.

405

Griffiths, Splendid Vision, 320-5, Fingard, “Women’s Organizations,” 36-7.

406

Fingard, “Women’s Organizations,” 36-7.

407

Griffiths, Splendid Vision, 299. All three collapsed in 1967.

408
KS, April 20, 1967, 5, KS, June 27, 1962, 7, MBA, 86.43, Resume of History of Kamloops
Council of Women, Charles and Bessie Miller, Griffiths, Splendid Vision, 404. For the reformation
of the Council and its work, see Kamloops News, May 4, 1977, section 2, 13 and October 28, 1977,
14.
409
Diana Pedersen, “Keeping our Good Girls Good:” The YWCA and the ‘Girl Problem,” 1870
-1930,” Canadian Woman Studies, 7, 4, (Winter 1986): 20-1. See also Diana Pedersen, “Providing
a Woman’s Conscience: The YWCA, Female Evangelicalism, and the Girl in the City, 1870-1930,”
in Alison Prentice, Paula Bourne, Gail Cuthbert Brandt, Beth Light, Wendy Mitchinson, Naomi
Black, eds., Canadian Women; A Reader. Toronto: Harcourt Brace, 1996, 195-7.
410

Scott, Natural Allies, ch. 2.

411
M. Barber, “The gentlewomen of Queen Mary’s Coronation Hostel,” in Barbara K. Latham
and Roberta J. Pazdro, eds., Not Just Pin Money. Victoria: Camosun College, 1984, 141-56. For the
history of the Joyce Hostel, see Imperial Colonist, Dec. 1913, Women’s Library, London, England.
412
Pedersen, “Keeping our Good Girls Good,” 20-21, Pedersen, “Providing a Woman’s
Conscience,” 195-97.
413

Quoted in Pedersen, “Keeping our Good Girls Good,” 21.

414

Pedersen, “Keeping our Good Girls Good,” 21-22.

415

Pedersen, “Providing a Woman’s Conscience,” 198-99.

416

Pedersen, “Keeping our Good Girls Good,” 22, Valdere, Age Of Light, 64.

417
Pedersen, “Keeping our Good Girls Good,” 23-24, Pedersen, “Providing a Woman’s
Conscience,” 204-05, Constance Backhouse and David H. Flaherty, eds., Challenging Times:
The Women’s Movement in Canada and the United States. Montreal & Queens: McGill-Queen’s
University Press, 1992, 53.
418

Mary Hedley interview, Interviewer, Andrew Yarmie, June 9, 2009.

419
Mary Hedley interview, Lois Hollstedt interview, Interviewer, Andrew Yarmie, Oct. 11,
2008. Catherine MacArthur was a charter member of the Kamloops YWCA and the first person to
receive a Life Membership for her extensive volunteer work. KDS, Feb.1, 1975.
420

Lois Hollstedt interview, Mary Hedley interview.

421

Mary Hedley interview, YWCA newspaper clippings, typed list of executive included with

ANDREW YARMIE

[219]

clippings on organizational meeting, Oct., 1964, Lois Hollstedt interview.
422

KDS, March 1964, 4.

423

KDS, March 1964, 4.

424
All primary evidence on the YWCA is located at the Kamloops Community YMCA-YWCA
Archives. Mary Hedley, “History of Kamloops Y.W.C.A.,” Kamloops Y-Neighbours Program
schedule, Lois Hollstedt interview, Mary Hedley interview.
425
L. Hollstedt to Mrs. Bette Zdan, March, 1965. They also printed a monthly “YWCA/
Neighbour News” to inform every one of their progress and programs.
426

KDS, April 1965.

427

YWCA Annual report, 1965.

428

YWCA Annual report, 1965.

429

YWCA Annual report, 1965.

430
1965.

Mary Hedley to the Board of Directors, Thompson Valley United Appeal Society, April 12,

431

KDS, July 31, 1965, 3.

432

KDS, July 31, 1965, 3, Lois Hollstedt interview, Mary Hedley interview.

433

KDS, Sept, 1965.

434

Constitution of the Young Women’s Christian Association of Greater Kamloops.

435

The Journal, YWCA of Canada, Annual Report, 1966, 13.

436

YWCA Annual Report, 1966.

437

YWCA Annual Report, 1966.

438
Mary Hedley, “History of Kamloops YWCA,” Kamloops Community YM-YWCA:
History of Development; Annual report, 1965, &1966, Box 1, YM-YWCA.
439

KDS, Jan.19, 1967, 3.

440
YWCA of Greater Kamloops, Board of Directors Minutes, Sept. 27, 1967. At this time, the
association was receiving $1000 from the United appeal and $300 from the city.
441

The above quotations are from Lois Hollstedt interview.

442

Mary Hedley, History of Kamloops YWCA.

443

YWCA Annual report, 1967.

444

Report of the Executive Director to the Board of Directors, June 26, 1968.

445

YWCA, President’s Report, Feb. 28, 1968.

446

Report of the Executive Director to the Board of Directors, June 26, 1968.

447

Report of the Executive Director to the Board of Directors, Feb. 21, 1968.

448
Address of Mrs. P. J. Chadsey to Annual Meeting. Federation of YWCAs, Oct. 19, 1968,
“The Changing Role of the Board and the Relationship of the Board to the Executive Director.” For
the expansion of government, see Prince, “Canada’s Welfare State,” 250-53.

[220]

WOMEN CARING FOR KAMLOOPS: 1890-1975

449

Chadsey, “Changing Role.”

450

Chadsey, “Changing Role.”

451

Chadsey, “Changing Role.”

452

Chadsey, “Changing Role.”

453

YWCA, President’s Report, Dec. 1968.

454
Executive Directors Report for the Month of Oct. - Nov. 1968; YWCA Annual Report,
1968, Day Care Committee, L. Hollstedt, chairwoman.
455
Lois Hollstedt interview, YWCA Annual report, 1968, Day Care Committee 1968. For
general attitudes, see Prentice, Canadian Women, 313.
456

YWCA minutes, April 24, 1968.

457
Paul Tennant, Aboriginal Peoples and Politics: The Indian Land Question in British
Columbia. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 1990, ix.
458

KDS, March 3, 1970, 5.

459

YWCA newspaper clipping file, KDS, July, 1969.

460

YWCA newspaper clipping file, KDS, July 4, 1970, KDS, Sept. 1970.

461

KDS, Aug. 13, 1969, 13.

462

YWCA Annual report, 1970.

463

KDS, July 4, 1970, 6A.

464

YWCA newspaper clipping file, KDS, July, 1970.

465

YWCA Annual Report, 1971.

466

YWCA Annual Report, 1971.

467

YWCA newspaper clipping file, KDS, Spring 1973.

468

YWCA newspaper clipping file, KDS, Oct., 1972.

469

YWCA newspaper clipping file KDS, Oct., 1972.

470

YWCA newspaper clipping file, KDS, Spring 1973.

471

Lois Hollstedt interview.

472

The above quotations are from Lois Hollstedt interview.

473
Lois Hollstedt interview, Mary Hedley interview. For general views to married women and
work, see Prentice, Canadian Women, 291.
474
Baines, Women’s Caring, 30. See also Andrews, Acceptable, 5, Fingard and Guildford,
Mothers, 1-20, Callahan, “Feminist,” 190-92.
475
1973.

YWCA newspaper clipping file, Meryl Matthews interview with Hollstedt, KS, Spring

476

Mary Hedley interview.

477

YWCA newspaper clipping file, KDS, Oct. 1973.

478

YWCA newspaper clipping file, KDS, Fall 1973. In 1971 a concerned group of people

ANDREW YARMIE

[221]

opened the Kamloops Christian Hostel for Women at Fifth and Battle that was managed by Captain
David Holmes of the Men’s hostel and run by Gladys and Peter Ulevog. Women were referred by the
Salvation Army, the RCMP, the John Howard Society, the YWCA, and Social Welfare department.
Previously girls needing a place for a few days had to stay in the Old Kamloops jail, and were
provided meals by the Salvation Army. The Christian Women’s Hostel only operated for a few
months and was closed in February. Kamloops Daily Advertiser, April 26, 1971.
479

YWCA Annual Report, 1974.

480
Lois Hollstedt interview, Mary Hedley interview. Fact Sheet, YWCA of Greater Kamloops,
Winter 1971, 2. For the government takeover of welfare services, see Kamloops News Advertiser,
April 2, 1973, 3.
481

Lois Hollstedt interview.

482

YWCA Annual Report, 1974.

483

YWCA Annual Report, 1975, 1977.

484
YWCA newspaper clipping file, KDS, May 30, 1977. Two staff members attended a
Conference in Vancouver put on by the Federation of Women regarding Transition Houses.” The
hostel director was Helen Corness. YWCA Annual Report, 1977.
485

KDS, March 25, 1978, 8.

486

YWCA newspaper clipping file, KDS, May 5, 1971.

487

YWCA Annual Report, 1971; YWCA Annual Report, 1972.

488

Lois Hollstedt interview.

489

YWCA Annual Report, 1972.

490

YWCA Annual Report, 1972.

491

Lois Hollstedt interview.

492

YWCA Annual Report, 1972.

493

YWCA newspaper clipping file, KDS, June 12, 1972.

494
1974.

For the above information, see YWCA of Greater Kamloops: Building Proposal Brief

495

YWCA Annual Report, 1974.

496

YWCA Annual Report, 1974.

497

YWCA Annual report 1976.

498
YWCA Annual Report, 1974. Despite a new widened scope and increased activity
hours from ten to twenty weekly groups, attendance remained the same at twenty to twenty-five
participants.
499
The committee also introduced a more structured reporting and documentation system to
assist future development. YWCA Annual Report, 1974.
500
YWCA Annual Report, 1975. In 1977, the YM/YWCA youth program was in full operation
with two youth workers, Monty Jones and Bob Davies organized a Sunday Coffeehouse with local
musicians playing their music at Riverside Park. Kamloops News, May 30, 1977, 16.

[222]

WOMEN CARING FOR KAMLOOPS: 1890-1975

501

YWCA Board meeting, March 27, 1968.

502

YWCA Annual Report, 1972.

503
KDS, Nov. 23, 1972, 11, Nov. 28, 4. The Mayor Gordon Nicola agreed that the concept
of a shared facility made sense. A further meeting was scheduled. YWCA newspaper clipping file,
KDS, Dec. 16, 1972.
504

KDS, Jan.18, 1973, 9.

505

YWCA Annual Report, 1974; Annual report 1975.

506

YWCA Annual reports, 1978, 1979.

507

YWCA newspaper clipping file, KDS, Spring 1973.

508

Lois Hollstedt interview.

509

Kamloops News, Feb. 26, 1975, 12.

510

Lois Hollstedt interview, Mary Hedley interview.

511

YWCA Annual report 1976.

512
YWCA newspaper clipping file, KDS, Summer, 1977. The title of the newspaper
announcement “The Community Y gets their Man,” reveals the continuance of sexism and male
preference into the seventies.
513

YWCA newspaper clipping file, KDS, June 1977.

514

Lois Hollstedt interview.

515

Mary Hedley interview.

516
Jill Vicars, Reinventing Political Science: A Feminist Approach. Halifax: Fernwood
Publishing, 1997, 59.
517

Similar finding were found for Halifax, see Fingard and Guildford, eds., Mothers

ANDREW YARMIE

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Index

Aberdeen, Lady Ishbel 137-9
agency 9, 14-16, 20, 22, 70, 179, 190, 193-194
Alcohol Research and Education Council 91-2
Anderson, Mrs. C. 145
Bannerman, Edith 59, 99, 101, 111
Benzie, Halla 65
Bethune, Mrs. R.A. 65
Boon, Joan 177, 182
British Columbia Temperance League 89, 91
Burkholder, Helen 175-7
Burris, Elizabeth 65, 124, 128
Burton, Jane Anne 59, 65, 103, 124
Butterfield, Mrs. R. 144
Campbell, Annie 90, 143
Campbell, Mrs. D. 68, 89
Canadian Red Cross Society 96-98, 102, 104-8,
112, 119, 123, 127, 129, 131
Great Depression and relief 121, 127
health services 19, 40, 106-8, 127
impact of World War I 98, 102, 104-5, 112
interwar years 106-9, 119, 127
National Peace Policy 107-8, 127
outpost nurses 119
Caregivers’ theme 7, 10, 15, 20, 25, 34, 42, 45,
57-8, 66-7, 98, 103, 105, 113, 116, 1745, 178, 192, 195
Clements, Margaret M. 147
Corey, Lena 13, 79-80
Corness, Helen 182-3
Dierks, Elizabeth 90
discrimination 26, 37, 99, 150, 179
discriminatory and racist behaviour 21, 25, 50,
55, 142, 176, 196
domestic ideology 12-14, 25, 30, 34, 39, 42-7,
57, 79, 94, 104-5, 134, 161, 180, 190,
192, 195
drinking 20, 25, 27, 39, 68, 72-8, 81, 83-4, 87-8,
91-3, 134, 164, 193
cowboys 68, 73, 77
Kamloops 20, 68, 73-4, 76-93
loggers 91

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WOMEN CARING FOR KAMLOOPS: 1890-1975

railway labourers 68, 73
secularism 91
working class men 68, 73, 81, 91
evangelical feminism 79, 80, 93
evangelicalism 13-14, 34, 68, 70-82, 90, 93-4,
162-4, 167, 172
Kamloops Woman’s Christian Temperance
Union 34, 68, 81-2, 94
YWCA 162-4, 167, 172
first wave feminism. See maternal feminism
Fitzwater, Edith 13, 16, 23, 99-100, 109,
117-8, 121, 123, 125, 133, 136, 144,
149-150
frontier culture 9, 12-13, 16, 23-31, 42, 45, 49,
58, 68, 72, 91
frontier town problems 9, 13, 25-32, 42, 43,
68, 72-8, 83-4
Fulton, Winnifred 13, 16, 23, 65, 103-4, 10911, 114, 116, 124, 144, 195
Furiak, Mrs. J. 144
Garrood, Olive M. 116-18
gender imbalance and social problems 14, 2531, 72, 83-4, 91
Gordon, Emma 47, 49
Great Depression 11, 39, 41, 43, 64, 67, 89, 94,
98, 100, 120-7, 135, 143, 145, 196
Kamloops hobo jungles 123
Hall, Janet 99, 100, 120, 124, 132, 133
Hardy, Jean 186, 188
Hedley, Mary 6, 16, 161, 165-9, 171-2, 180-1,
189-90, 195
Hollstedt, Lois 6, 16, 17, 161, 165-168, 169,
171, 172, 176, 178, 179, 181, 182, 184,
188, 189, 195
entry into civic politics 189
feminism 178-80, 191
homosocial culture 27-30, 39, 68, 72, 78, 83-4,
93, 193
Hospital Women’s Aid Society 10, 13, 46, 48
Independent Order of Good Templars 76,
78-9

influenza epidemic 39, 43, 53-60, 62, 107, 129,
141, 195
International Council of Women 136
interwar era 35, 36, 43, 61-2, 88, 100, 106, 10827, 140-7, 194
Johnstone, Adelaide 109, 111, 115, 147
Johnstone, Lilly 22, 96, 99, 124-7, 129, 131,
195
Kamloops Council of Women 8, 13, 20, 22-3,
32, 36, 37, 41, 89, 94, 99, 100, 105, 110,
129, 133-4, 136, 139, 143, 154, 158-60,
182, 193-6
cultural development 136, 146, 148, 150,
157-60
entry into public sphere 146-8, 156-7
impact of World War II 149-50
membership 144-5
objectives 157
post-World War II plans 150-3
welfare state 158, 160
Kamloops Little Theatre 10, 126, 150-1
Kamloops Red Cross Corps 128, 130, 148
Kamloops Red Cross Guild and Society 10, 19,
22, 24, 32, 35, 36, 37, 40, 48, 53, 58, 59,
96, 98, 99, 101, 102, 105, 114, 128, 129,
134, 156, 192, 193
birth control and Vivian Dowding 117-8
community support 102, 106, 120, 124-6,
128-9, 134-5
different stages 98
entry into public sphere 98, 105, 107, 109,
120, 135
gender balance 109
Great Depression and relief 41, 98, 120,
121, 127, 196
Guild membership 101
interwar years 106, 109, 127
motives 101, 104
origins 98, 101
Outpost hospital program 108, 119, 131,
132

public health and child welfare 109, 111,
113
real-life stories: Fitzwater, Edith, nee Bannerman, Edith Norveen 99-101
Red Cross Society membership 109-11
Self-Help workroom 126-7
Tranquille Sanatorium 106, 108, 112, 115,
119
Well Baby Clinic 32, 35, 100, 113-4, 117-8,
125, 135, 141, 193
Kamloops Woman’s Christian Temperance
Union 10-11, 13, 20, 22, 34, 68, 78, 81,
82-6, 88-90, 93-5, 143-4
entry into public sphere 34, 39-40, 70, 82,
94
evangelical culture 34, 79, 81, 82-3, 93
local issues 68, 78, 81, 82-5, 88
membership 79-80
political involvement 34, 86, 89, 91, 94
prohibition 78, 83, 85-6, 88, 91, 94
Kamloops YWCA 10, 13, 20, 41, 161, 164,
167, 171, 173, 175, 182-3, 186, 190-1,
193-4, 195
constitution 170, 188
day care facilities 168, 175-6, 191
entry into public sphere 20, 37, 41, 161,
166, 168, 172-3, 178
establishes a permanent facility 187
feminism 178
growing popularity 171-2, 177
interaction with government agencies 161,
174-6, 178-82, 190-1
melding with YMCA 188-9
membership 165-8
motives 161, 165, 168, 170, 172, 175, 17880, 185, 187
new social orientation 173-6
origins 165, 187, 190
rapid growth 161, 168
women’s hostel 170, 176, 177, 181-83, 191
youth programs 161, 170, 173, 176-8, 184-

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7, 191, 194, 196
Ladies’ Auxiliary to the Royal Inland Hospital
10, 13, 19, 22, 32, 39, 43-4, 48-53, 59,
62-7, 107, 133, 136, 192-3, 195-6
centenary 44, 193
entry into public sphere 43, 57-8
fund-raising tactics 49, 50, 60
influenza epidemic 53-60
membership 49, 65
motives 59, 66
origins 48
Ladies’ Benevolent Society 47, 48
Lee, Violet 13, 47, 48, 65, 96, 103, 109, 111-12
Macnab, Margaret 17, 117
marriage bar 45, 121
maternal feminism 9, 13-16, 20-4, 32-5, 39, 88,
105, 137-43, 162, 193-4
Matthews, Meryl 8, 10, 17, 20, 22, 41, 128,
148, 179, 190, 195
McArthur, Catherine 165, 172, 177, 186
McCurrach, Mrs. P.H. 23, 144, 146
Millward, Helen 16, 17, 41, 147, 157, 195, 217
Nash, Emily 46, 49
National Action Committee on the Status of
Women 37, 159
National Council of Women 15, 34, 36-7, 86,
97, 107, 126, 136-42, 145, 148, 150-1,
153, 159, 165
O’Neill, Mrs. T.J. 144
Pals, Doris 171, 173
Parkes, Phyllis Marion 133
patriarchal medical profession 116
place and local history 9, 17, 49, 54-6, 65, 68,
94, 101, 104-5, 123, 125, 143-4, 161-2,
173, 175, 177, 184-5, 190, 194
Pope, Mrs. A.E.F. 115
post-war era 12, 44, 63, 99, 152
prohibition 32-4, 69-74, 78-81, 85-95
Provincial Council of Women 69, 100, 139,
142-4, 146, 149, 153, 155-6
Royal Commission on the Status of Women 37,
154
Second Wave feminism 36, 37-8, 41, 155, 15960, 179-80, 194
secularism 15, 17, 80, 91
Seibel, Lorraine 172-3, 175
Separate spheres 14, 30-1, 40-2, 44-6, 57, 66,
71, 93, 138, 154, 161, 180, 190, 203
[234]

WOMEN CARING FOR KAMLOOPS: 1890-1975

Simpson, Joyce 168, 169, 170
Soldiers’ Comfort Club 90, 101, 103-6, 109-10
Sowerby, Joyce 16-17, 23, 41, 133, 156-7, 160
Spencer, Mary 13, 79
suffrage 15, 16, 20, 29, 32, 39, 69, 71, 80-1, 857, 89, 94, 105, 137-9, 163
Taylor, Jane 79
Thom, Christina 111-12, 114-15
Vancouver Council of Women 15, 33, 88, 134,
151
WCTU, National and Provincial 15, 22, 33,
34, 37, 39, 68-73, 79-82, 85-95, 105,
123, 137, 139, 140-2, 148, 159, 163-4,
195
welfare state 11, 35, 39, 41, 108, 127, 131, 151,
158, 160, 174, 182, 186, 194
Wells, Jessie 49
Whitmore, Maud 124
World War I 28, 33, 40, 53, 97-8, 101, 112
World War II 14, 16, 35, 44, 62, 90, 94, 99-100,
110, 127, 130, 133, 149, 194, 196
Wyllie, Annie 61, 65, 103, 144
Young Women’s Christian Association, National and Provincial 6, 20, 33, 37, 41,
137, 148, 161-5, 167-80, 188-90

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