Women of Note - Fall 2010

Each issue we honour some of the Manitoban women who are making a difference in our community and around the world. 

In July, several women were among the 12 people who received the province’s highest honour and were inducted into the Order of Manitoba:

• Norma Bailey, an award-winning pioneer in the province’s film industry

• Marjorie Blankstein, C.M., former president of the National Council of Jewish Women, fundraiser, activist and volunteer on both local and national levels

• Betty Hopkins, chair of Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund in Manitoba and a promoter of issues of social justice and equality

• Kathryn Knowles, founder and volunteer director of the Osu Children’s Library Fund, bringing books to and promoting literacy in Ghana, West Africa

• Carmel Olson, chief executive officer of the Brandon Regional Health Authority, who was central to the development of the authority’s Aboriginal Workforce Initiative and in supporting and developing health care in rural Manitoba

The Provincial Council of Women of Manitoba (PCWM) recently announced the honourees for its Celebrating Women Gala: Doreen Pattie (Girl Guides), Eleanor Gibson (Council of Women of Winnipeg), Valinda Morris (Immigrant Women’s Association of Manitoba), Irene McKenzie (United Church Women), Joan Butcher (Manitoba Association of Home Economists) and Arlene Draffin-Jones (PCWM board). The Manitoba Women’s Institute was named the federate honouree.

On November 6, 2010, several athletes who have been integral in shaping Manitoba’s sport community will be inducted into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame. Among the inductees are Jo-Ann Lindsay, an acclaimed golfer who competed as a member of the Canadian junior team and later won a Canadian senior women’s title in 1991, and Christine O’Connor, who was instrumental in getting the national women’s soccer program started in 1985 and was heavily involved with the 1999 Pan Am Games in Winnipeg.