BC FORUM News

Alice West, Past President BC FORUM,
honoured with Rosemary Brown Award for Women

Vancouver, June, 2013 – Alice West is the recipient of the 2013 Rosemary Brown award for Women. Ms. West was recognized for her extraordinary contributions in the area of Women in the Labour Movement.

Alice West began her labour activism in 1942 at age 16, when she took a job paying 37.5 cents an hour at a plywood plant. Later she dedicated her time to help to organize workers at the plant.

In the 1960’s, then working for the Federal Government, Alice was elected shop steward and Local President and Treasurer of the BC Yukon region of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) as a National Director of PSAC. She was the key organizer of the Union’s first ever National Women’s Conference. For decades she fought for pay equity for women internationally and here in Canada.

As a member of the Law Reform Commission of Canada, an independent body that recommended reform to federal laws, she contributed specially on equality issues within the federal public service. After retirement, She played a key role in the creation of Women Elders in Action (“WE*ACT”) at the 411 Dunsmuir Senior’s Centre. As its chair, in 2007 Alice appeared before the Parliament’s Standing Committee on Status of Women to call attention to poverty among elder women. This was the third time she made such a contribution.

Alice was a fearless pioneer for the rights for women in the work place at a time when women were not regarded as equals in the workplace. She fought for gender-based pay equity, and continues to fight for retirement security for elder women. For these accomplishments, Ms. West was recognized with the 2013 Rosemary Brown Award for Women..

The award is a memorial to the life and work of the late Hon. Rosemary Brown, a champion for equality rights of women everywhere. Each year the Award is presented to a woman or a women’s group who has made an outstanding contribution to one of the seven theme areas championed by Rosemary Brown. This year’s theme focuses on Women in the Labour Movement.

Ms. Cleta Brown, daughter of Rosemary Brown presented the Award to Ms. West on June 2, 2013 at an event that took place at Hycroft House in Vancouver.