Dallas Walker Smythe (1907-1992) was an economist and civil servant for the United States government, and a university professor in the field of communications in the United States and Canada.

He was born in Regina, Saskatchewan in 1907 and moved to California with his family in 1918. Smythe attended the University of California, Berkeley, where he received an A.B. (Economics) in 1928 and a Ph.D. (Economics) in 1937. His career as an economist began in 1934, when, at the College of Agriculture at the University of California, Berkeley, he worked as an Extension Specialist in Agriculture preparing studies of economic outlooks for various California farm products.

He left Berkeley in 1937 for Washington, D.C. to become a civil servant with the federal government. He worked as an economist with the Central Statistical Board, specializing in the coordination and review of agricultural information from various government agencies. In 1938, he joined the Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor as their senior economist. While at this Division, Smythe was responsible for preparing and presenting interpretive studies on the applicability of the Fair Labor Standards Act to a variety of industries, including textile mills, newspapers, railways, and lumber companies. Smythe left the Division in 1942 to become the principal economist, Division of Statistical Standards, Bureau of the Budget. He left that position in 1943 to join the Federal Communications Commission. As their chief economist, Smythe testified at FCC hearings and produced a number of statistical studies and reports on subjects such as radio frequency allocation and the public responsibilities of broadcasters. Throughout his career as a civil servant, Smythe belonged to pacifist or left-wing organizations, which later led to accusations of subversive conduct and disloyalty to the American government.

Smythe left the civil service in 1948 to join the faculty of the newly-formed Institute of Communications Research at the University of Illinois. In addition to lecturing on general economics, he taught the first course in the United States on the political economy of communications. The primary focus of his research was television, including its content, effects on family life, and portrayal of reality. He also studied the mass media and its influence on public opinion. With the development of satellite communication, he studied the effects of this new technology on international communications.

Partly because of his pacifist political beliefs, Smythe left the United States in 1963 to become the first Chairman of the Social Sciences Division at the Regina Campus of the University of Saskatchewan. When he reached the mandatory retirement age in 1973, he left Regina to serve as visiting professor of communications at the University of California, San Diego. He joined the faculty of Simon Fraser University in 1974, serving as the first chairman of the Department of Communications Studies. While Smythe continued to write on mass media, regulating the radio spectrum, and communications theory, he also produced Dependency Road: Communications, Capitalism, Consciousness and Canada, his study of the domination of Canadian communications by American influences and its effects on consciousness.

Smythe became professor emeritus at Simon Fraser University in 1980. Following a brief period at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he returned to teach at SFU until 1986. He accepted short-term appointments at Ohio State University and the University of Hawaii before retiring in 1988. He was working on his autobiography and a book about the theory of communications when he died in 1992.

Smythe married twice and had five children. He and his first wife Beatrice had three children: Sandra (born 1937), Susan (born 1938), and Roger (born 1943). Smythe later married Jennie Newsome Pitts, and the couple had two children: Patrick (born 1954), and Carol (born 1961).

The Society of Canadian Women in Science and Technology (SCWIST) was founded in Vancouver BC in 1981 by six women: Mary Vickers, Hilda Ching, Abby Schwarz, Mary Jo Duncan, Diana Herbst, and Maggie Benston. SCWIST is a volunteer non-profit organization incorporated under the BC Societies Act; in 1984 it was registered as a charity under the federal Income Tax Act. It continues as an active organization.

SCWIST's mandate is to promote, support and empower women in the fields of science and technology. To this end, the Society works (i) to promote equal opportunities for women in scientific, technological and engineering careers; (ii) to improve social attitudes on the stereotyping of careers in science and educate the public about careers in science and technology; and (iii) to assist educators by providing current information on careers and career training, science and scientific policies. It realizes these goals through the organization of conferences and networking events, delivery of public educational outreach programs, production of resource material (videos, publications and handbooks), liaison with other organizations, and participation in granting, advocacy and advisory bodies.

From the six founders in 1981, membership in SCWIST grew rapidly to approximately 160 by 1984; subsequently, membership increased more slowly, reaching approximately 200 by 1993. The Annual General Meeting – held each spring and open to all members of the Society – votes on major decisions and elects the Executive Board of Directors. The Board is headed by the Society's president and meets regularly in Vancouver, while much of the on-going work of SCWIST is carried out by a number of standing and ad hoc committees appointed by the Board. Since 1992 SCWIST has maintained a permanent Resource Centre in Vancouver.

Major milestones in SCWIST history include the production of the Registry of Skilled Women, BC and Yukon (1983); the organization of the first National Conference on Women in Science and Technology (1983); the development of the following educational programs: Girls in Science (1984), Ms. Infinity (1990), and Project Tomorrow (1993); the establishment of the SCWIST scholarship (1986)--renamed the Maggie Benston Scholarship in 1991; the opening of a Resource Centre (1992); and the launching of the SCWIST web site (1997).

Gillian Stainsby received her Master's Degree at SFU for her thesis, "It's the Smell of Money": Women Shoreworkers of British Columbia. For further biographical information, see Appendix A3, "Acknowledgements," photocopied from Stainsby's thesis (available in hard-copy finding aid only).

The Teaching Support Staff Union is the representative bargaining agent for Teaching Assistants, Tutor Markers, Language Instructors and Sessional Instructors at Simon Fraser University. The union negotiates terms and conditions of work, rates of pay, benefits and grievance procedures in a Collective Agreement with the University.

In 1971 graduate students organized the Graduate Student Union, an association that worked to improve teaching and research conditions. The GSU was inactive after 1974 but the discussion it had initiated regarding unionization continued until 1976 when twelve graduate students held a union organizational meeting in September of that year. They proposed affiliation with the Association of University and College Employees (AUCE) rather than the Canadian Union of Public Employees or the University of Toronto based Graduate Assistants' Association. The Teaching Support Staff Union, as it would be named, favored AUCE because of its relative smallness, democratic structure, local autonomy, strong representation of women's employment rights, and the established presence at SFU, since 1974, of AUCE Local 2 for office, clerical and technical staff. Accordingly, the TSSU received its charter as AUCE Local 6 on September 10, 1976.

The TSSU took additional steps to establish themselves as a legal entity under the British Columbia Labour Code. By April 1978 the TSSU had signed over 50% of the bargaining unit into the union. It then applied to the Labour Relations Board for a certification vote to make the TSSU the representative body for the bargaining unit. Before the vote could be held, however, the LRB conducted a hearing to define the membership of the bargaining unit, which had been disputed by the University. Following an LRB ruling in TSSU's favor, the certification vote was finally held in November 1978. The vote was positive despite an effort by some Language Assistants to have the LRB exclude them from the bargaining unit and the vote. The LRB certified the union on December 13, 1978.

In January 1979 the union began bargaining with the University for a first collective agreement. The TSSU and the University administration negotiated each article individually and resolved impasses through mediation. During negotiations, the TSSU successfully complained to the LRB that the University had violated Section 51 of the Labour Code by withholding an annual pay increase. The first Collective Agreement was signed by both sides on July 1, 1980, and has been renegotiated from time to time.

TSSU supported its sister local, AUCE 2, during the latter's strike in 1979. In 1983 and 1984, TSSU joined other campus unions in Operation Solidarity, a province-wide organization opposed to Premier Bennett's Social Credit restraint legislation.

TSSU remained as the last independent local of AUCE until the latter's dissolution in the early 1990s. Still functioning as an independent union, TSSU operates under a constitution and bylaws as a membership-driven organization. Union policy, bargaining positions, and the election of union officers and salaried officers are decided by the membership through meetings, mail-in ballots, and referenda. Departmental stewards serve as immediate contacts for TSSU members. In addition, a number of standing committees conduct on-going business and help direct the executive and general membership. Ad hoc committees have functioned from time to time.

The TeleLearning Network of Centres of Excellence (TL-NCE) was established in 1995 when the federal government's Networks of Centres of Excellence (NCE) program awarded a grant to create a network of researchers from Canadian universities, focusing on the development and application of networked technologies in education and training. TeleLearning established a management office to administer its affairs, and on April 7 1997 the office incorporated under the Corporations Act as TeleLearning Network Inc. (TN Inc.), a not-for-profit corporation. Ostensibly two separate bodies, each with its own Board of Directors, in practice TL-NCE and TN Inc. were not distinct: Board members were identical for both and the same Board session dealt with the affairs of both. TL-NCE was the "research face" and TN Inc. the "legal-administrative face" of the same organization. TeleLearning's renewal application in 2001 for a second round of NCE funding was unsuccessful. The decision was made to close out the Network, and on September 30, 2002 the corporation was officially dissolved.

TeleLearning's mandate was to research, develop and demonstrate effective knowledge-building pedagogies, implemented through telelearning; to support the development of a knowledge economy and learning society in Canada; and to transfer the resulting knowledge into Canadian organizations, institutions of learning and Canadian companies for worldwide exploitation. Its main functions were to organize further research and distribute funding to individual projects through seven distinct research themes; publicize research results through publications, reports, and conferences; promote cooperation among private, public and university sectors; and encourage the development of commercial applications and technologies through the formation of spin-off companies.

TeleLearning was primarily funded by the federal government through the NCE programs of the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), and Industry Canada. Additional funding was obtained through TeleLearning membership fees from participating public and private-sector organizations, including international affiliates. The chief officers of the Network were the Network Leader, Network Co-Leader, and the Executive Director. The Board of Directors was responsible for the overall management and direction of the Network, with certain powers delegated to an appointed Executive Committee. Other committees advised the Board, including the Program Committee and the Knowledge and Technology Transfer Committee. Relations between the Network and member organizations was regulated by the Network Internal Agreement.

TeleLearning's management office operated out of Simon Fraser University, which served as the Network's host institution. The main functions of the management office were disbursement of funds, NCE reporting, communications, member liaison, assistance with funding proposals, and conference organization. As host institution, SFU provided TeleLearning with office space, facilities, and some administrative services (e.g. payroll and finances).

The TeleLearning Network was originally built around four "beacon technologies": Collaboration Architecture and Design Resources for Telelearning (CadreTel), Computer Supported Intentional Learning Environment (CSILE), Teleform, and Virtual-University (Virtual-U). Over 240 public- and private-sector organizations participated in its projects, including over 130 faculty from 30 Canadian universities. The Network supported the growth of the online learning industry with the development of more than 45 software prototypes. Its spin-off companies included TELEStraining Inc., ClearMed Medical Knowledge Inc., Math Resources Inc., Nomino Inc., InVentures Incubator Inc., Cogigraph, the Portal for Online Objects in Learning (POOL), and TeleLearning Solutions Inc.

The Vancouver Women in Trades Association (VWITA) was formed in 1979 and incorporated under the British Columbia Societies Act in 1983. It became inactive in 1987. The organization functioned as an advocacy and support group for women working in, or seeking to work in trades and technology. It sought to facilitate contact among tradeswomen, improve their working conditions, promote greater representation of women in skilled, blue-collar occupations, and further women's access to trades education and training. In pursuing these goals, the Association frequently acted in liaison with other groups, government agencies, unions, businesses and educational institutions. The group also maintained links with other Women in Trades Associations across Canada, including the Women in Trades Kootenay Council. Membership in VWITA generally ranged between forty and fifty women. Annual general meetings and regular monthly meetings were forums for collective decision making, while a number of elected standing committees and coordinators initially carried out on-going business. In 1983 one paid staff position was created (Office Administrator) and in 1985 staff was expanded to three (Office Coordinator, Research Coordinator and Liaison Coordinator). These positions were primarily funded through government grants. Prior to the Association's incorporation in 1983, it was also known as the B.C. Women in Trades and the Women in Trades Association of B.C. Officers of the organizations included Joan Blair, Judy Doll, Alison Stewart, Carolyn Sawyer, Kate Braid, Suzanne Gerard, and Lynn Ryan.

Susan Walsh received a Master's degree from SFU in 1984 for her thesis entitled "Equality, Emancipation and a More Just World: Leading Women in the British Columbia Cooperative Commonwealth Federation." In the abstract to her thesis, Walsh writes, "In the wake of suffrage victories, many early twentieth century Canadian women worked hard to make that equality meaningful and to extend it to all areas of women's lives. For those who predicted great changes, however, too few took their hard-earned rights further than the polling station. Most expressed their concerns and goals within the more familiar world of women's organizations. Helena Gutteridge, Laura Jamieson, Dorothy Steeves and Grace MacInnis were among the notable exceptions. While maintaining important ties with women's groups, they sought and won public office, pioneering important paths for generations of Canadian women to follow. These political trail blazers stand out for another important reason. They chose to establish their careers and test their political rights in a socialist party -- the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation -- pledged to sexual emancipation and equal opportunities for women. They were, in short, dual rebels -- as feminists and socialists -- in a sex and class-ordered world."

Frances Wasserlein is a feminist, historian and social activist. Her research and social activism has focused on issues surrounding women's liberation. She completed a Master of Arts degree in history at Simon Fraser University in 1990. Her thesis, "An Arrow Aimed at the Heart": the Vancouver Women's Caucus and the Abortion Campaign, 1969-1971, investigated the history of the Vancouver Women's Caucus (VWC) and their organizing work for the Abortion Caravan from Vancouver to Ottawa in 1970.

Wasserlein was raised in Vancouver. She graduated from the University Program at Little Flower Academy in 1964. Wasserlein acknowledges becoming a feminist in 1976. At the time she was working as a secretary at the University of British Columbia (UBC). Her involvement with the union, and a summer job working at Vancouver Rape Relief contributed to an interest in social justice and social change. In April 1977 she left her job at UBC and began full time undergraduate studies at that university. She completed a BA (honors) in history in 1980.

During the summer of 1979 Wasserlein worked as a researcher for the Women's Office at UBC on a project related to the early contributions of women to the establishment of UBC and the role women played in student activism at the university. In 1979 and 1980 she worked with a small group of women to begin Battered Women's Support Services, providing self-help groups for women who were seeking an end to the violence that had driven them and their children from their homes.

After receiving her BA from UBC, Wasserlein worked for the YMCA as a co-manager of Munro House for eighteen months. Following that, she worked as a researcher and writer with the Women's Research Centre, working on studies related to the institutionalization of women's services. She supplemented her income by doing bookkeeping for various arts and non-profit organizations. Wasserlein worked on founding Women Against Violence Against Women (WAVAW) in 1982. She was also involved in the work of Women Against the Budget in 1983, a political group opposed to the legislation tabled by the Social Credit government following their victory in the 1983 provincial election.

Her interest in the source of conflict between and among individual women activists, and between and among women's organizations, motivated her to seek out the source of these conflicts by examining the history of women's movements in Canada. In 1982, she applied for a Canada Council grant for a women's history project she wished to undertake. The grant application was turned down. In 1985 she enrolled in a Master of Arts degree program in history at Simon Fraser University. After completing her MA, Wasserlein taught women's studies at Langara College in Vancouver, BC until 1997. She has also worked as a sessional instructor at SFU. As of 2002, she was employed as the executive producer of the Vancouver Folk Music Festival.

West Coast Review was a magazine of the arts published by the West Coast Review Society with the support of SFU. Established in 1966 by Fred Candelaria, a professor of English, the magazine published music, drama, fiction, poetry, photography, drawings and etchings as well as articles as reviews. The magazine had a policy of promoting new Canadian talent. In addition to financial assistance from the University, the journal received funding at various times from private and governmental agencies, the Simon Fraser Student Society, advertising, and subscriptions.

West Coast Review was initially published three times a year until 1969 when it became a quarterly journal. It periodically devoted special issues to a particular genre or theme such as West Coast Photographers.

In 1990, West Coast Review was succeeded by West Coast Line.

James W. Wilson was a Professor of Geography at SFU, who had served as the first executive director of the Lower Mainland Regional Planning Board and a relocation planner for the Columbia River Power Project in B.C.

Lolita Wilson came to Simon Fraser University in August 1965 as Dean of Women and Associate Professor of Psychology. She subsequently served in a number of positions at the University including Acting Registrar, Dean of Student Affairs, and Assistant to the Vice-President, Academic. She retired from SFU in 1978.

In 1972, there was increasing awareness within the Vancouver women's movement that a number of feminist periodicals and books published by small women's presses were unavailable in Vancouver. The Vancouver Women's Bookstore, which evolved from A Women's Place, opened on July 16, 1973 to address this need. The bookstore would make available women's movement literature such as underground papers, literary magazines, pamphlets, and books that portrayed women as intelligent, strong, equal, and creative human beings. The bookstore was also seen as important to help facilitate communication between Canadian women and the larger women's movement in North America, and between Vancouver women and women in outlying areas. In addition, the bookstore also functioned as a centre where women could meet to read, discuss issues, and plan rallies, marches and demonstrations.

The Vancouver Women's Bookstore Collective operated the store as a non-profit enterprise, with members of the collective staffing the bookstore as unpaid volunteers. Members of the collective also reviewed each title before it was made available to the public to ensure that it fit in with the goals of the women's movement and feminist ideology. Finances not channeled back to the store were used to support various women's movement ventures through donations. One method of support consisted of shipping books to women's groups outside Vancouver. In exchange for selling the books at meetings and conferences, the women's groups would retain a small commission to help fund their activities. Members of the Collective also accumulated material to document the 'herstory' of the women's movement in Vancouver, and North America.

On October 14, 1980, an arsonist's fire destroyed the Women's Bookstore that had been located at 804 Richards Street since it opened in 1973. The bookstore reopened at 322 West Hastings Street in January 1981. In 1983, the Women's Bookstore relocated again to 315 Cambie Street. Changes in the operating structure occurred in 1992, when the collective, non-profit organization shifted to a worker-owned cooperative. In June 1996, the Women's Bookstore closed its doors for the last time. Finding it harder to survive, the cooperative decided to shut the store while it could still meet its financial obligations. After suppliers were paid, stock was donated to the SFU Women's Centre, and the Gay and Lesbian Library. In addition, leftover funds (about $1,000) were donated to the Downtown Eastside Women's Centre.

Working Women Unite was formed to create links between working women and the women's movement. The group focused on issues of women and work, and sought to create a relationship with trade unions that would further the position of women in the work force. Specifically, Working Women Unite sought to encourage the formation of women's committees within local unions, discuss strategies on how to organize in a non-union job, articulate feminist demands for working women to take to their unions when negotiating new contracts, and to recognize the value of all women's work regardless of whether it was paid or unpaid. The group also held conferences, workshops, and seminars on issues such as unpaid work, immigrant female workers, women in unions, women working in the home, equal pay for equal work, and the effects of video display terminals in the workplace.

Working Women Unite emerged from the British Columbia Federation of Women (BCFW) during its convention in 1977. During this convention the lack of representation for working women within the BCFW was addressed by a group of women, primarily members of the Service, Office, and Retail Workers Union of Canada (SORWUC), who met and formulated resolutions that were passed at the convention. It was not until 1978 that the group gained momentum with a broader base of support. Women from unions such as the British Columbia Government Employees Union (BCGEU), Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW), Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU), SORWUC, Letter Carriers Union of Canada (LCUC), and Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), along with non-unionized women, and women in the home, became involved with the group. Structurally, Working Women Unite remained within the BCFW, a federation of women's groups in British Columbia working toward liberation of women through fundamental social change.