Stories

Facing boredom, depression, and loneliness, 1960s stay-at-home mother Harma Smit decided to get a job. In 1967, when Harma found a job at Edmonton’s Woodward’s department store, it was just becoming more common for married women to seek work outside the home. In this addition to ECAMP’s labour series, Harma-Mae Smit recounts her grandmother’s experience in the retail workforce. Relying on family reflections, Smit discusses community reactions to her grandmother’s decision to work, her positive experience as an employee at Woodward’s for nearly two decades, and the material and mental benefits that the added income had for her grandmother and the rest of the family.

Unfortunately World War II was not the last war, nor even the last war in Europe or globally. Immigrants and refugees continue to leave war-torn countries to build a new life in Canada, bringing their traditions with them. Those who have gone before illustrate the sweat and sacrifice involved in rebuilding, but also the hope that rebuilding lives in a new country is possible.

"The neighbourhood of Parkallen was still somewhat new in the 1960s, having been established in the 1950s, and it was an experimental concept for Edmonton. Instead of being laid out on a grid, it was designed in a series of curving streets centred around a park and a commercial strip. Both the park and the stores were meant to be a hub for the community, and for a time all a person really needed was within walking distance in the neighbourhood."