Face-Off Doris Anderson at the Canadian Advisory Council on the Status of Women PENNEY KOME Plusieurs groupes de femmes furent Then there was the nature of the twice in my role as Woman’s Place sceptiques en 1979 quand les Libéraux Advisory Council itself. Although columnist for Homemaker’s maga- ont nommé Doris Anderson au poste the Council had published some zine—a position with a generous de présidente du CCCCF mais elle a useful research papers—which Op- expense account completely out of prouvé qu’elle pouvait offrir plus que position MPs had used to some ad- proportion with the actual column personne. Doris avait une image men- vantage during Question Period— fees. I used to pop up to Ottawa tale de ce que devrait être le Conseil, the CASCW had a reputation for practically once a month to keep up elle a voulu arrêter les nominations co-opting all who entered there. with national news. partisanes pour y installer des cher- Only very dedicated feminists My recollection is that Doris was cheures dynamiques et intrépides. dared apply for staff jobs at the fairly circumspect in her phrasing Pendant son mandat, le CCCCF s’est Council. Within the civil service, it when she first started at the Coun- objecté à la formulation de la Charte was widely regarded as a career dead- cil. Only in another interview, much canadienne des droits et libertés qui end. Transferring out was difficult, later, did she say openly, “The Liber- allait être incorporée dans la Constitu- because few departments wanted to als saw me as a well-known woman tion canadienne. Cet article rapporte hire avowed feminists (that is, trou- and as a nice comfortable friend. I en détails la façon dont Doris a dirigé ble-makers). Yet the Council seemed knew I would be more activist than et motivé le mouvement qui a secoué et to eat up those same dedicated and they would like and that they’d poussé le Canada à adopter une procé- talented women; they disappeared never re-appoint me. But I really dure plus sévère et plus étendue en vue without a trace. did think I could make the Council de garantir les droits à l’égalité des per- Doris was already in her late 50s work in three years and then leave sonnes des deux sexes dans la section 15 when she took the job. While not quietly.” (amendée au début de la procédure) quite a Senate appointment, to Doris had a mental image of what ainsi que dans la section 28. many observers the CASCW presi- the Council could be. She wanted dency looked like an undemand- to clear out the dead wood and pa- Many women’s groups responded ing sinecure where she could spend tronage appointments, and install with some skepticism in 1979 when a few years before retiring with a bold, dynamic researchers. Her ar- the Liberal government announced healthy pension. rival as president was complicated it would appoint Doris Anderson as I interviewed Doris shortly af- by a number of factors, including President of the Canadian Advisory ter she started at the Council, and the CASCW’s move from cramped Council on the Status of Women discovered she had quite a differ- quarters in the aptly-named Hope (CASCW). While a few women al- ent view. She saw the Council as a Building, to the top floor of the Es- lowed grudgingly that, “at least she dysfunctional organization, and she planade building on Sparks Street. knows something about women’s intended to clean it up. She was glad Files, equipment, reference ma- issues,” the overall sense was that to see a familiar Toronto face, and terials—things were in boxes for she was given a patronage appoint- very kindly invited me to a spaghetti months. ment because she had run (unsuc- dinner at her townhouse, with her When they finally settled in, the cessfully) as a Liberal candidate in son Mitchell (then in high school). CASCW and its sister agency, the an important 1978 by-election. I’d lunched with Doris once or Office of the Co-ordinator on the VOLUME 26, NUMBER 2 61 Status of Women (now Status of that he’d been given the Status of McLeod to include Peggy Mason Women Canada), thrived in of- Women portfolio as penance for an- as staff legal counsel. Mason under- fices so spacious that the Status of nouncing his leadership intentions lined what the constitutional experts Women Canada (SWC) Co-ordina- too quickly when it seemed that had said: the Charter used the same tor, Maureen O’Neill, could afford Pierre Trudeau might step down. wording as the 1960 Bill of Rights, to set aside an office overlooking Axworthy let it be known that he which had never been interpreted to Parliament for the Minister’s use, had requested the position. advance women’s equality. in case the Minister ever decided to However, Axworthy didn’t get So Doris wrote a letter to the visit. along with Doris. Trouble started Prime Minister, with a copy to Ax- Doris Anderson’s office overlooked between them even before they had worthy, detailing the CASCW’s ob- the Four Seasons Hotel. She joked to work together. Soon after Doris jections to the proposed wording of Women looked forward to conveying their alarm to Axworthy, the Minister responsible, who was scheduled to be the after-dinner speaker. Rather than listening to them, however, Axworthy asked them to make a “leap of faith” and trust that the government knew what was best for them. that she could see who was having took over the CASCW , she decided the Charter. She followed up with a lunch with whom. to lighten the payroll by getting rid press conference later that day. Ac- Since Doris’s appointment was an- of a non-productive member in the cording to reports, when the Prime nounced only two days before Pierre Winnipeg office, who even Win- Minister asked Axworthy about Do- Trudeau went to the Governor-Gen- nipeg Vice-President Win Gardner ris’s letter, he said he hadn’t read it. eral and precipitated the 1979 elec- agreed was redundant. To Doris’s At that point, Trudeau “tore a strip tion, it was seen in some quarters as surprise, Axworthy phoned her and off him” before the entire Cabinet. electioneering. However, the Liberals demanded that she reinstate his loyal The CASCW also blanketed the lost that election, and Doris proved campaign worker. At that point, he country with a flyer, inviting wom- to be more than anyone had bar- was just a Winnipeg backbencher. en to mail in an attached coupon gained for. With the Conservatives Doris refused. demanding a change in the word- in power, she persuaded David Mac- When Axworthy retained his seat ing of Charter equality guarantees. Donald, the Minister responsible for in the next election, the Prime Mi- And it organized a Women’s Con- the Status of Women, to double the nister appointed him Minister of stitutional Conference, planned Council’s budget (to $1.4 million) Employment and Immigration— for the first weekend in September and increase the SWC budget too. and the Minister responsible for the 1980. By the end of August, how- When the Liberals regained po- Status of Women, which made him ever, the conference was postponed wer in 1980, the Council was a Doris’s boss. indefinitely, due (Doris said) to an busy little shop, briskly turning out Their next clash came in the impending translators’ strike over important reports (such as Linda fall of 1980, after Justice Minister maternity leave and other issues. McLeod’s groundbreaking report on Jean Chrétien introduced the gov- In 1980, the Canadian femi- violence against women) that were ernment’s proposed constitutional nist movement enjoyed a level of bestsellers in government book- package, which included the new funding and organization hardly stores and sometimes led to awk- Charter of Rights. Axworthy had as- imaginable in 2007. In addition to ward questions in the House. David sured the Prime Minister and Cabi- longstanding organizations like the MacDonald had sometimes used his net that women’s groups would sup- National Council of Women and the office space in theSWC office. Lloyd port an entrenched Charter—even Federation of Business and Profes- Axworthy, his Liberal successor, was though he hadn’t consulted them. sional Women, most provinces had rather more distant. But Doris saw serious problems both a provincial Status of Women Lloyd Axworthy looked so prom- with the Charter. Since early sum- Council and also a volunteer Status ising at first. A Westerner, of whom mer, the Advisory Council had had of Women Committee. There were some of his local women’s groups experts researching the Charter’s government-funded women’s cen- gave good report, he seemed pro- implications for women. In August, tres and women’s publications, as gressive on issues like mandatory af- she expanded the in-house research well as shelters for women fleeing firmative action. Cynics whispered team of Julyan Reid and Linda abuse. And there was a vigorous and 62 CANADIAN WOMAN STUDIES/LES CAHIERS DE LA FEMME “Lunches with Leaders.” Doris Anderson is the third woman on the right. vocal National Action Committee dent Louise Harel, led the audience About a month later, Liberal Sen- on the Status of Women (NAC), a through a review of the proposed ator Harry Hays galvanized women coalition of women’s groups from constitutional document. By the end across Canada with a careless com- across Canada that actively orga- of the day-long seminar, the group ment picked up by television camer- nized, strategized, and lobbied the concluded that the proposed word- as and replayed over and over again.