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Delegotes to the Annual ConVenticn of Indian Homemakers' Clubs for Southern Ontario held on Christian Island Reserve In Georgian Bay, take time from meetings to relax, compare notes and enioy the out-of-doors. Indian Homemakers9 Clubs From the Canadian Department of Citizenship and Immigration NE blustery but sunny day six years ago. Mrs. Jane Mason said goodbye to her family, bundled herself into a seaplane I took off from remote Cross Lake in Man- i ‘na. She was to represent the women of her : lian REServe at the annual Prairie Home- l kers’ Convention at Duck Lake Reserve in .katchewan. "n-lrs. Mason travelled by air, by rail, by car i by boat. l'he journey took seven days. in a way, Mrs. Mason is a symbol of the t 'snging position of women in Indian society. able to vote until nine years ago, often living ’ the Past in a state of servility as the work- ! use of the family, the Indian woman is slowly L lerging from her shell and taking her rightful ll 03 in society. There are now eight elected Wmen chiefs and sixty-three women councillors. i"!t the nation-wide organization through which with of this new activity is channelled is the 1‘ lian Homemakers' movement. There are over Ml clubs in Canada. They are very similar to Women‘s Institutes. t‘wnecially, in their projects, to those in rural was. In fact some Homemakers’ Clubs, like the ilLllVC Sarcee group outside Calgary, sometimes “a”! 11D with local Women‘s Institutes on com- munity projects. Thcy were founded in 1937 in Saskatchewan EL"d in fact got the name “Homemakers” from FALL 1960 non-Indian groups of the same name then estabâ€" lished in the wheat province. Their trims are broad: to help the aged and less forlunutc. to discover and train lenders. . to sponsor Lll'll] assist all worthwhile projects to improve community living. 4. to help raise the status of women. Their projects are as varied us those of any club in Canada. Homemakers of the Mistuwusis Club in Sasâ€" katchewan. for example, list four recent projects: a Christmas party for the young and old; proviâ€" sion of ten yards of flannelcttc for all indigent new mothers: provision of bedding. linen and dishes for any family whose home has been struck by fire: gifts of $5 to bereaved families to- wards flowers or telephone calls. Women of the Canoe Luke Club in the same province. holding tcn meetings during the first three months they were formed, got Off to a full head of steam by asking a doctor to give them a talk on hygiene, cleaning the graveyard and fixing the fences. supplying sports equipment to children, giving $26 to hospital and sanitarium patients. dressing an orphan child. and gtvmg flowers to the church. The Sarcee Club offered their services to the band council as caretakers of the community hall. The women are paid for their scrubbing and shing. With the money earned they have set Emil-PH poli 19