The Year of the Group: History of LLL Canada
Fiona Audy
Sherwood Park Alberta Canada
From: LEAVEN, Vol. 40 No. 4, August-September 2004, pp. 82-83.
La Leche League beginnings in Canada have not been well documented.
We are fairly certain that LLL came to Canada in 1961 when a Group was
started in Jonquiere, Quebec. There may also have been a Group at about
that same time in Toronto.
The first Group that we can
positively date opened in January 1964, in Edmonton, Alberta. The Leader
of that Group, Lois McLatchie, had read about LLL in Reader’s Digest
and had received breastfeeding support from Mrs. Larouche, President
of the Quebec Branch, and Barbara Petre, also of Quebec. Lois described
her introduction to La Leche League and leadership in this way:
At the time I contacted Mrs.
Larouche and Mrs. Petre, I was attempting to nurse our fourth baby,
Betty. I nursed our previous babies with a great deal of difficulty
and little outside encouragement (my husband, however, was always supportive).
With the third baby I had somewhat more success in nursing than the
first two, but far from what I felt it should be. The information from
LLL and the support I received from Mrs. Larouche and Mrs. Petre made
all the difference in the world, making it possible to have an extended
and enjoyable nursing relationship with our fourth child.
In October 1963, Lois wrote
to La Leche League International applying for LLL leadership. We understand
she was already phoning encouragement to other nursing mothers. She
led her first meeting in late January 1964, after hearing from Edwina
Froehlich that Mary Jane Brizzolara (Director of New Groups) had approved
her application. Thirteen mothers attended her first meeting and paid
$2.00 per Series, $1.00 of which paid for a subscription to LLL News
(the bimonthly publication for mothers, which later became New Beginnings).
Lois retired from active leadership within a year due to poor health,
but continued phone helping and working with Leader Applicants for several
more years.
The Edmonton Group continued
until 1968 when Leader Pauline Leblanc moved across the country to New
Brunswick. Pauline started two more Groups as her family moved around
Canada, and she continues to be active as a Leader in Moncton, New Brunswick—an
impressive 40 years of supporting breastfeeding mothers! La Leche League
grew rapidly though the late 1960s, and a number of LLL Canada Groups
can trace their beginnings back to 1964 and 1965.
By 1970, LLL in Canada had its own "Coordinator," Margaret
Bennet-Alder, and a "New Group Chairperson (NGC)" (now known
as the Coordinator of Leader Accreditation) for the 20 Groups and 50
Leaders. Times had changed, as the newly appointed NGC, Anna McDade,
encouraged Leaders to tell Leader Applicants that, now that they did
not have to correspond with someone in the USA, applications should
only take from "one to four months." Canadian Leaders also
received their first copy of Canadian Communiqué, a single page
addition to Leaven. The first Canadian La Leche League Conference was
held in 1972 at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. By 1976, LLL
in Canada had grown to 140 Groups and 325 Leaders, and it became necessary
to divide into three administrative Areas, which included both the French
and English Groups in Canada. The Leaders were also gearing up for the
1977 Conference in Toronto, Ontario—the only LLLI Conference ever
to be held outside of the USA.
One of the Groups that opened
in 1976 was in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. Karen Pearce, who was its first
Leader (and is still a Leader with the Group), remembers its beginnings:
There was already a nursing
mothers group running with Sue Comstock, Blanche Cooper, and quite a
few other nursing mothers attending monthly. Someone whose husband was
in the military called a meeting at Shearwater Air Base and told us
all about La Leche League and how we really should start a Group. I
decided right then and there that I would become a Leader. I had already
been in contact with LLL and had some information. I remember calling
Pauline LeBlanc long distance and talking for about half an hour! Susan
Oke was part of that nursing mothers group. She and I were Applicants
together.
Karen got her Leader card
in January, and they held a planning meeting in March for an April meeting.
The first meeting was at
Susan’s house with 41 mothers and nine babies attending. The next
meeting, also at Susan’s, had 52 mothers and 20 babies, most of
them in car beds. Susan had her good china out on a lace tablecloth,
and I remember going past and just picking up the ends of the cloth
and putting them over the dishes on the table. I could just see little
fingers in the holes and pulling the good china onto the floor
Karen also remembers the
Group’s early publicity challenges: "I had taken a notice
to the newspaper and was sent to the women’s page editor. She looked
at the notice and said, ’Now dear, do you really think there’s
a need for this?’"
LLL in Canada continued to grow and, by 1978, had its own logo (the
former Lucy logo superimposed on a maple leaf) and supply depots for
Leaders to order both English and French LLL materials and supplies
without dealing with USA dollars or waiting for shipments from the USA.
The volunteer-run "Canadian Supply Depot" has evolved into
the current Canadian National Office with a salaried staff of six.
In 1985 La Leche League Canada
incorporated and elected its first Board of Directors (Pauline LeBlanc,
Saralaine Millet, Margaret Bennet-Alder, Joan Balinson, and Cindy Butler).
Also signing the incorporation papers were Jannie Van Noppen and Liz
Lemon, who ran the Canadian Supply Depot. In December 1987, La Leche
League Canada became an Affiliate of La Leche League International by
signing the Agreement of International Principles of Cooperation (AIPC).
This meant taking on responsibility for all LLL services and programs
in English in Canada. At the same time, the Canadian French-speaking
Groups became their own Affiliate, Ligue La Leche. The rapid growth
continued until the early 1990s, when there were nearly 300 Groups and
about 640 Leaders. Currently LLLC (English Canada) has 188 Groups, 466
Leaders, and six administrative Areas. The Leaders’ publication,
Canadian Collage, is usually about 20 to 30 pages.
With current breastfeeding
initiation rates for Canada at about 80 percent but with a continuing
rapid drop off in the early months, I think we can safely answer the
women’s page editor’s query about the need for breastfeeding
support with a resounding "Yes!"
Today’s mothers may
not see lace tablecloths and china tea cups when they attend a La Leche
League meeting, but they ask the same kind of questions—and Leaders
offer the same kind of information and support. As long as there are
mothers and babies, La Leche League will have a place in Canada.
Fiona Audy, a La Leche
Leader for 20 years, is currently the Administrator of the Leader Department
for La Leche League Canada (LLLC), Group Leader for LLLC-Sherwood Park,
Canada and LLLC-Edmonton (Canada) Braemar School (an LLL Group for teen
mothers). Fiona is married and the mother of two boys, ages 26 and 22,
and two girls, ages 18 and 15.
Page last edited Sun Oct 14 09:32:04 UTC 2007.
