Irene Harris
Irene learned about Rotary on the Glenwood Cemetery Board where many are Rotarians. Irene retired in 2009. Two things she’s doing now are very interesting to her. She is a public member on the Ontario College of Trades. This is a way to professionalize the trades and give them the same status as other professions in Ontario. She’s now on the Executive Committee and the Governance/Nominations Committee. There’s much controversy with this College. She says it has added transparency and the trades now regulate themselves. She was also appointed to the Pay Equity Tribunal which adjudicates complaints.
Irene’s career included being with the Ontario Federation of labour. She has a feminist union background. She was with CUPE doing provincial work as well.
She’s from a large family. Her father built a house in Westin in 1951 and her 93 year old mother still lives there. The house was surrounded by farms as she grew up with 6 siblings. Those farms are now long gone. She’s married for 29 years to a “very supportive and wonderful man” who was an ironworker and then on the Labour Relations Board.
Irene and her husband moved to the County in 1986, tore down a cottage on their property and built a house. She is glad to call the County “home”. Irene looks forward to working through Rotary.
