McVicar, Ivy (1907-)

Ivy McVicar (née Bassett) has worked to better the community and the lives of rural women, locally, nationally, and internationally. Born in Brighton, England on March 6, 1907, she came to Canada that year with her parents. In 1920 they moved to Prairie River with the Soldier Settlers. After attending Normal School in Saskatoon, she taught near Prairie River. She married Archie McVicar on June 30, 1935; they had three daughters. Returning to teaching after her children were in school, she retired in 1970. Active in the Saskatchewan Homemakers Club and its successor, Saskatchewan Women’s Institutes, McVicar became a Life Member. She served on the Federated Women’s Institutes’ board from 1977 to 1983, and was a voting delegate at several international conferences. She is also a Life Member of the Associated Country Women of the World.

As a director of the Saskatchewan Action Committee for the Status of Women, McVicar in 1975 sent a resolution (adopted 1979–80) urging the federal government to continue the spouse’s allowance after the husband’s death. Appointed to the Advisory Council to the Status of Women in 1983, she conducted a project in northeastern Saskatchewan (funded by the Secretary of State) that dealt with issues such as wife battering and child abuse, day care, equal pay, minimum wage, pension plans for housewives, and matrimonial property rights. Involved among others in the Red Cross, Canadian Girls in Training, and seniors’ organizations, McVicar has also written stories and a play.

Lorraine Waskowic