Year: 2008
Location: Lethbridge
Profile: Muriel Turner-Wilkinson grew up in Lethbridge, where her father served on the city coucil under the Civic Labour Organization banner. She remembers Election Day being more fun than Christmas. She shares memories of how impactful her father was as a councillor.
Turner-Wilkinson married young and spent 20 years as a stay-at-home mom for her 5 children. During that time she became active in the New Democratic Party (NDP) and over some years, she ran as a candidate in Crowfoot, High River, Egmont, and Fish Creek. Her eldest daughter ran federally in Calgary-South one election when Turner-Wilkinson was also a candidate. The two shared signs and ran both campaigns from Turner-Wilkinson’s house. She served on the executive of the NDP for several years, and also served three years on the federal council of the NDP. Once her children were all in school, she found work at the library in Lethbridge, where she became a CUPE member, and was elected to the negotiating committee. Turner-Wilkinson was injured in an accident at the library that left her unable to work. She describes having to advocate for herself for compensation from the Workers’ Compensation Board.
Keywords: Affordability; Civic Labour Organization, Lethbridge; Election campaigns; Lethbridge; Library work; New Democratic Party; Stay-at-home mom; Unpaid labour; Workers’ Compensation Board.
Transcript: Download PDF
See also: Canadian Union of Public Employees; Women and Work in Alberta