Lynn Gidluck says she is happier than she has ever been working as the Director for the Saskatchewan office of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) and helping manage a successful Regina Public Relations firm – Benchmark Public Relations Inc., which she co-owns with her husband, Pat Rediger.

“My long-term objective has always been to do public policy research and to use this work to advocate for progressive social and economic change,” says Gidluck.   “My position with the Centre for Policy Alternatives allows me the unique opportunity to work with academics and community activists from across Western Canada who are doing research that explores societal problems and formulates innovative public policy alternatives.”

Gidluck says she is able to put her working knowledge of government and media relations to good use in this position.

“So much great research never reaches the right people,” says Gidluck. “My job with CCPA is to help publicize public policy research and to ensure that those in a position to make changes are aware of the issues and the alternatives.”

Gidluck says she is delighted to have the opportunity to be a Visiting Research Fellow with the Humanities Research Institute. She says this will allow her to network with the academic community at the U of R and grow the office of the CCPA. It will also allow her to complete two of her own research projects.

“My Fellowship with the HRI will facilitate research for a book that I am writing entitled: Remembering the Regina Manifesto: A Policy Document that Forever Changed the Face of Canada says Gidluck. “I was very pleased to have received a centennial grant from the province of Saskatchewan in 2005 which covers most of the costs associated with researching, writing and publishing this book.”

Gidluck is also a co-investigator with Dr. Sonya Corbin Dwyer for a one-year research project: ”Examining Issues of Race, Racism and Racial Identity in Families of Asian Children Adopted by White Parents”. This project received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.

Gidluck is a graduate in history and political science of the University of Regina who spent much of her working career in a variety of positions with the Government of Saskatchewan, including Media Relations advisor to Cabinet Ministers and senior government officials during the Romanow Administration; Chief of Staff to the Minister of Agriculture and Executive Director of Corporate Affairs for the Saskatchewan Gaming Corporation.

Lynn’s email address is ccpasask@sasktel.net

The Regina Manifesto

The Regina Manifesto was the program of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation that was adopted at the national convention of the CCF in Regina in 1933.

The Regina Manifesto remained the CCF’s official programme until 1956 when, in the face of the anti-communist hysteria of the Cold War, it was replaced by the more moderate Winnipeg Declaration.

The Regina Manifesto remains one of the most important documents produced in the province, perhaps the country, but little is known of the debate that surrounded its creation. The book Gidluck is writing will focus on the creation of the Regina Manifesto and profile the individuals that were instrumental in bringing it forward. It will discuss the arguments that were presented during the historic 1933 convention and the circumstances leading up to its acceptance.

The Regina Manifesto helped put Saskatchewan on the global map. Ridiculed by some and endorsed by others, it would eventually leave a huge footprint on Saskatchewan as it provided the guiding principles to the CCF government of Tommy Douglas.

The CCPA intends this book to be a non-partisan summary of one of the most important events in Saskatchewan history. Although there have been numerous academic books and journal articles written documenting the Great Depression and the creation of the CCF, there is no popular history that provides an in-depth portrayal of those fateful days on July 19-21, 1933 and the key players in this important political convention and the drafting of the manifesto.

Examining Issues of Race, Racism and Racial Identity in Families of Asian Children Adopted by White Parents

The purpose of the study is to explore issues of race, racism and racial identity in families of Asian Children adopted by White parents. Financial support for this study was provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

The potential participants for this study include White parents who are raising children adopted from East Asia (e.g., China, Korea), Southeast Asia (e.g., Vietnam, Thailand, Philippines) and South Asia (e.g., India and Pakistan). We have chosen White parents to reflect that “the majority of parents who adopt across racial lines are white” (Steinberg & Hall, 2000, p. 7) and Asian children because the majority of children adopted internationally in Canada are from Asia. In 2004 Canadians adopted 1,995 children from abroad. China was by far the number one choice of Canadian families with 1,001 Chinese children being adopted by Canadians that year.  An additional 258 children were adopted from other Asian countries such as South Korea, Thailand, Philippines, India, and Pakistan (Adoption Council of Canada, 2005).

This research program aims to understand the impact of transracial adoption on White parents and their Asian children. The specific impacts this study will explore are instances of racism and discrimination families experience, the parents’ awareness and conceptualization of race as a result of being created through transracial adoption, and the strategies the parents employ to combat racism and promote the healthy racial identity of their children.

We’re hoping these results will impact social policy, multicultural and race-relations programming, effective casework and clinical practice. The results have implications beyond families with children from China as they will be significant for other children adopted internationally, for children of minority groups in the foster care system, and for culturally diverse children adopted domestically. The results may also inform the practice of White teachers of minority students.

This project has received ethics approval at Sir Wilfred Grenfell College, Memorial University.