Year: 2010
Location: Calgary
Profile: Frank Reaume joined Friends of Medicare (FOM) in Edmonton in 1979, the year it formed. After moving to Calgary and becoming a caretaker for the Calgary Board of Education, he continued his healthcare activism and had been on the Calgary FOM executive for 20 years when ALHI interviewed him. During that time the Calgary FOM had fought Ralph Klein’s plans to blow up the Calgary General Hospital and supported the laundry workers’ strike in 1995.
Reaume was born in Windsor where his father worked at Ford Motors. After high school, Reaume joined the Canadian Armed Forces for 20 years as a cook and then did two tours in the Middle East for the United Nations. In 2010, he had been caretaking at Glenbrook Elementary School for 25 years. He was recording secretary for CUPE Local 40. Reaume’s interest in medicare had been piqued by hearing Tommy Douglas’s speeches in its favour. His own and family members’ suffering from Type 2 diabetes contributed to his commitment to equal availability of medical care for everyone. He regarded mushrooming private clinics in Calgary as a self-gift of “people who have all kinds of money and don’t know what to to do with it.”
Keywords: Calgary Board of Education; Canadian Armed Forces; CUPE Local 40; Friends of the Calgary General Hospital; Private health clinics; School caretaker; Tommy Douglas; Type 2 diabetes; United Nations.
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See also: Calgary Laundry Workers Strike; Canadian Union of Public Employees; Friends of Medicare