Dear Editor: { am writing in response to ‘Noe! Wright's comments in “Workfare 2025” and Victoria Hogan's s letter of June 25,1995. Our federal government is debating whether ques- tions on unpaid work should be included in the 1996 census.-The majority of work done in Canada is unpaid. -The unpaid workforce is part of all our lives, from the most mundane to the most heroic of instances including: foodbank volunteers: charity workers: the lady: that. . tukes an elderly. neighbor to’a doctor's appointment: your son's football coach, your daughter's Brownie leader. ; “Volunteers by the millions — an endless list of work ‘being done that goes unrecorded, unmeusured. There is no concrete statistical evidence of changing patterns, no , baseline to measure changes, no historical evidence, and ~ because no financial transactions occur, this wark is not included in the GNP or the GDP — the great indicators : : of Canadian well-being. » Every policy or practice we use to affect these eco- nomic indicators. could drastically affect our unpaid * workforce, but we'd never know it, at least not statisti-: “cally. Something secms to be deteriorating. Any work done that is unpaid is statistically inert, and classed as : “non. productive.” The list of time we all spend that is termed “non-pro- “ductive” is long and includes all housework; chiidcare done bya parent; all parent and teacher meetings; pub- lic meetings: political activism; and volunteer work including litter cleanups, stream enhancements, fund- - raising for schools and community clubs, etc. A single mom collecting social. assistance. using non-child- raising time to work at the foodbank’ or play cards with the elderly i ina senior’s complex is as statis- tically non-productive as a welfare recipient sitting ona park bench in a drug- or alcohol-induced haze. If the economists using these faulty statistics decide our social safety net is a costly debtto the GDP and sug- gest a policy that causes this mom to take a minimum wage job, which would boost the GDP. put her child in an over-crowded bul affordable dayeare even though subsidized by government, and discontinue her volun- leer activities, are we really all better off? As we are all waking up to the knowledge that the GDP and the GNP are nat appropriate tools for measur- ing our well-being. we would do well to demand that. our statisticians and government include unpaid w rork i in their calculations. Having read this you now Ww participated i in, ane of my. “non-productive” .moments.If you form an opinion for : or against and respond, you will have created your own moment. Uwelcome you, There is a “non-productive” lot of non-productive work to, be done. | Carol Wilkins North Yancouver chool eerie positive Dear Editor: ree ay “SI, 00, chose to place my children ina parent participation preschool | (PPP) —. but my experience of the © time ‘spent’ with ‘the organization . vastly differs from the one described ~ theny in’ acquiring the basic social skills they would need to succeed § in the “big school.” : ‘AS.a parent, the ‘chance to assist in the -classroom, ‘the : manddtory monthly parent. education, and the ‘ by Ms. Stephen in a recent letter to; “job” 1 was required to do to assist in » the News editor..." “My. decision: to enrol ; both my: children:in-a PPP, was as. much for what it didn’t offer them, as for the * nefits it offered the whole family. "My children were not pressured” Cr ‘perform beyond their toddler: capabilities, but were instead offered - a’ supportive, : creative environment ° ‘that’ stressed co- operation . swith their peers and adults, ; their: achievements the running ‘of the ‘school,’ gave. this “at home" “eventually “serve “as: the’ preschool * president, ‘and ‘later: volunteer, two _ years at the provincial board level. My. children saw parents “who were “interested vin their: daily “doings.”. and knew. thé: parents of the children they played’ with: after school.’ They saw their parents “wark together to “achieve common goals, opened their hearts to. the charitable, mother the confidence to. . causes the school embraced — but - aw these things | above all else. they: accomplished in an: atmosphere of love and laughter. 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