Dear PSAC Members of the Prairie Region,
This International Women’s Day, PSAC women from across the Prairies are gathered in Winnipeg for the 2025 PSAC Prairie Region Women’s Conference. This year’s conference theme: Caring for Change: Women Shaping the Future, highlights the role care plays in creating safe, thriving communities, and a brighter future for women.
A strong economy is deeply rooted in care. By investing and prioritizing care, we are prioritizing fair wages, safe workplaces, inclusive policies, and accessible universal public services. All of which can be a powerful force in dismantling the barriers women and other equity deserving groups face. Investing in care, such as affordable childcare, investing in long term care, and ensuring equitable access to health care all contribute to ensuring all women are supported, valued, and empowered.
We recognize that despite progress, women continue to face systemic barriers that limit our economic security, safety, and well-being. Women continue to face lagging pay equity, gender-based pricing, gaps in access to essential health care, and persistent violence against women, all of which demand urgent and concise action.
It is important to highlight women in rural and remote communities face even greater obstacles, particularly in terms of accessing care services. More specifically, they face long travel distances to secure services, there are provider shortages, a shortage of accessible child care and long term care spaces especially for individuals with disabilities and complex needs, and a severe lack of culturally appropriate care services, among others, all of which combine to put women and their family’s health and well-being at risk.
The work of achieving gender equity is not just about policy or legislative change, ‘Caring for Change’ means fostering environments where women, in all our diverse identities, are supported, respected, and empowered.
“Yes, bread we fight for–but we fight for Roses, too.”
In solidarity,
Sherry Hunt
Regional Women’s Committee Representative
Prairie Region Council, PSAC
Marianne Hladun
Regional Executive Vice-President – Prairies
Public Service Alliance of Canada