Year: 2014
Location: Calgary
Profile: Born and raised in Winnipeg, Lesley Baker moved to Calgary for work and eventually enrolled in a program that trained her in recreation therapy at Mount Royal College. Her passion from then on was to work with the elderly, a passion that would cause her to embrace activity in the trade union movement as she fought for more resources for her patients. When the Klein cuts occurred in the 1990s, Baker was employed in the geriatric reactivation unit at the Calgary General Hospital. The government’s decision to blow up that hospital forced her to seek similar work at the Foothills Hospital. Professionals there were not unionized and Baker encouraged her fellow professionals to join HSAA. She then supported efforts to bring HSAA into the House of Labour so that they could have more impact on social issues. Baker was on the HSSA Board for 9 years and from 2007 to 2010, she served as a labour strategist with the United Way. At the time of the interview, Lesley Baker chaired the Political Action Committee of HSAA.
Keywords: Calgary General Hospital; Elderly care; Fanning Centre; House of Labour; Peter Lougheed Centre; Political Action Committee; Recreational therapist; United Way.
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See also: HSAA; Women and Work in Alberta