Teamsters Celebrate International Women’s Day in Quebec

Le Caucus Condition Féminine Teamsters Québec Célèbre la Journée Internationale de la Femme

Teamsters in Canada recently commemorated International Women’s Day in a special way. More than 200 Teamster women attended a dinner and conference held by the Teamsters Quebec Women’s Committee. It was an opportunity for the members to network and learn more about the Teamsters and their role in the union.

“I asked the women to make a personal contract with themselves for what will work for them this year, to think about what they want to achieve and what we want to achieve as a group of women,” said Brigitte Sotille, the Education Director for Teamsters Canada and President of the Teamsters Quebec Women’s Committee. “We want to be more vocal, visible, to come together and build more solidarity within our union.”

The event included exhibition booths with information on issues important to women, such as, breast cancer, preparing for retirement, self esteem and women’s rights in Quebec, among other topics.

“We had a guest speaker talk about self esteem since it’s a stressful environment right now because of the economy. As employers lower costs, it’s usually on the backs of the workers,” Sotille said. “For women, it’s a lot of pressure because we haven’t been working as long and often don’t have the seniority, so we are the first to be pressured by management and the first out.”

At the event, the women’s committee discussed future fundraisers and events for 2010. In 2009, the women’s committee took part in numerous volunteer activities and fundraisers that helped communities at home - and around the world. 

Teamsters Canada and the Teamsters Quebec Women’s Committee recently raised money for victims of the earthquake in Haiti, donating $65,000 to the Red Cross. Teamster local unions helped raise the money through the membership.

“We will be raising money for breast cancer again this year. We raised $9,000 in one month last year, so we are starting early this year to raise even more,” Sotille said.

In honor of International Women’s Day, the women’s committee took part in a fun trivia activity (answers are located at the bottom of this page):

• In what year did women get the right to vote in Canada (federally)? In Quebec?

The winner of the trivia contest won a CD by Lhasa de Sela, a popular French-language singer who died in January at age 37 of breast cancer.

The gathering in honor of International Women’s Day was made possible by Teamsters Canada and the Teamsters Quebec Women’s Committee, as well as the Canadian Joint Councils and local unions that also sponsored this event.

•     •     •     •     •

Answer: Women obtained a limited right to vote in Canada in 1917; the vote was extended to all women in 1919, federally. Quebec was the last Canadian province to give women the right to vote, in 1940.