Re: We don’t want a sink-or-swim society, Huntsville Forester letter to the editor, Sept. 29.

I greatly appreciated the comments made by Elisabeth McIver. As we face a difficult economy and a rapidly changing social fabric, I am very concerned that we persist in creating a culture of compassion in Canada.

I think it is significant that this particular election has been called during Canadian Women’s History Month, just days before the  anniversary of Oct. 18, when in 1929 Canadian women were legally declared “persons” after five feisty women from Alberta created legal history in women’s rights by contesting a ruling by judges of the Supreme Court of Canada which ruled that legal definitions of persons excluded females.

It is interesting that the famous five women who led the way were from Steven Harper’s province of Alberta and that the theme for the 2008 Women’s History Month set by Harper’s government is Women in the Lead. I encourage everyone to find out more about Canadian women’s history by going to the status of women page on the federal governement’s website. Also, on Oct. 4 we are having our very own celebration at the Algonquin Theatre sponsored by the Muskoka Women’s Advocacy Group. A one-woman theatrical presentation called In Our Right Minds speaks to many of the issues that continue to concern Canadian women, especially the need for more balance between right and left brain ways of making the decisions that affect us all.

Meg Jordan
Huntsville