The theme of the 2019 National Annual General Meeting in Winnipeg, was 100 Years of CFUW—The Power of Women Working Together. Many Ottawa members participated to celebrate our 100th anniversary. The Fort Garry Hotel, where the conference was held, was the very location at which representatives of the University Women’s Clubs of Canada had met to launch the CFUW in 1919. The speakers included Elizabeth May, leader of the Green Party. Other engaging speakers celebrated our work in advocacy and our history. We discussed building for the future as well. CFUW-Ottawa was honoured with an award for recruiting new members and received the International Relations Award for our April 2019 seminar, Empowerment Through Education: A Global Agenda for Women and Girls.
During the business session, important votes were taken. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the CFUW and GWI (see earlier News and Announcements item) was ratified by a large majority. 60% of votes cast were in favour of the “Winnipeg Motion” (which gave individuals a choice as to whether or not to pay fees for membership in GWI) and 40% voted against. Since this required a two-thirds majority, it was defeated. A vote to increase the dues for the CFUW by $6 per member was passed with a large majority. Notwithstanding the MoU, a vote to increase dues paid to GWI by $10 was defeated, with 160 voting for it and 169 against. This vote also required a two-thirds majority. The full report of the CFUW AGM is available in the member-only area of this website.
The highlight of the AGM was the Friday night gala banquet at which “One Hundred CFUW Notable Women” from across the country were honoured; 68 of these were present in person. We were so proud to have many of our CFUW-Ottawa members honoured: Alice Bolt, Ann Denis, Margaret Haines, Fran Manning, Dorothy Phillips, Hally Siddons and Lizz Wilfert. Susan Russell from CFUW-Nepean and Marianne Wilkinson from CFUW-Kanata were also among the Notable Women. Alice Bolt also won one of the antique IFUW pins in the raffle. This was a good evening for us!
