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Organizations
Here are some of the many
organizations in which Sylvia was actively involved:
Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Ottawa
(Sylvia and Roy became founding members when it was launched in 1996.)
Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade (COAT)
(Sylvia was a driving force in COAT since its
formation by her son Richard in 1988. She attended all the meetings, and played
a key behind-the-scenes role in its campaigns until her stroke in 2002.)
Alliance for Nonviolent Action
(Between 1984 and 1989, she was arrested at three
antiwar sit ins
to oppose: (a) low level test flights over Nitassinan, (b) Canada's role in Star Wars,
and (c) the massive
ARMX
arms bazaar.
Peace Resource Centre
(now the Peace & Environment
Resource Centre)
(Sylvia was very actively involved between 1984 and 1986, when she was on the
PRC
Board.)
Operation Dismantle
(She was active in the late 1970s-early 1980s and helped create the
Gloucester Peace Group.)
Ottawa Committee for Peace & Liberation
(In 1970, Sylvia and Roy
helped bring pediatrician and peace activist
Dr. Spock
to Ottawa for a
speaking event.
They were responsible for
driving him around
the city during his visit.)
The
Waffle (Movement for an
Independent Socialist Canada)
(Sylvia was a "Waffle delegate" to the NDP convention in Winnipeg in
1969. She remained active in the Waffle until it was forced out of the NDP.)
Ottawa
Committee for Medical Aid for Vietnam Citizens
(In 1967 and 1968, she was
at the very centre of this
controversial effort which raised awareness and money
to aid civilian victims of war in both North and South Vietnam.)
Ottawa Committee for Human Rights
(She was active in this U.S. civil rights solidarity group between 1964
and 1966. She helped to bring the SNCC
Freedom Singers to Ottawa
twice and transported them to radio interviews.)
Voice of Women
(Sylvia joined in about 1963, when she sent her son
Richard's baby teeth to be tested for Strontium-90, a radioactive element in
fallout from 100s of atomic test explosions in the USA.)
New Democratic Party
(She was involved in the NDP since its creation in 1961. Sylvia was the
1971 campaign manager for Jean Usher -- who later became
Jean Friesen, the
Deputy Premier of Manitoba.)
Canadian
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
(She was actively involved in the Ottawa chapter of
this group during the early 1960s.)
First Unitarian
Congregation of Ottawa
(Sylvia and Roy started attending in 1953 when the
church was located downtown at the corner of Elgin and Lewis Streets. Sylvia was
on the Board in 1967, when the church moved to its current location in Ottawa's
west end.)
Unitarian Service
Committee (USC)
(Inspired by the work of Lotta Hitchmanova, Sylvia started volunteering
for the USC in 1953. She knitted clothing and helped package bales
of material that was shipped to European refugees displaced by WWII.)
Sorry!
Your application to the
"National Organization of Aging,
Dried-Out, Humourless,
Painfully Boring Women"
has once again been turned down.
(Happy 80th Birthday card, from Sylvia's daughter Wendy Pyper and family.)
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