By Insiya Rasiwala

Feisty and fiery are words used often to describe Betty Krawzyck, the Vancouver-based, eighty year-old grandma whose environmental activism has helped garner attention towards the dangers facing BC’s forests and natural places.

At the launch of her newest book, “Open Living Confidential: From Inside the Joint” on Wednesday May 21st, at Spartacus Books, she also seemed reflective and serene, that fiery nature just glinting below the surface. We asked her a few questions about prison life, writing and activism

Hi Betty. Thanks for taking the time to speak to the Vancouver Observer.

V.O. Tell us about this book and your hopes in writing it.

B.K. Well, I would like to bring in some perspectives about the history of the penal system in Canada and specifically BC, and note many of the recent changes in the penal system, especially due to the privatization that has been occurring in the BC prisons under the (Gordon) Campbell government.

I also try to illuminate the lives of women in jail. Most women are there because of conditions and abuse that we really cannot imagine – most of us that is. Poverty is the underlying condition that sends a woman into the penal system and of course, when one discusses poverty, one has to speak about the disproportionate number of First Nations women there are in prisons – on average at least 60% - and you have to discern why this occurs.

I studied various women philosophers and anthropologists while writing this book and my hope is that I have been able to draw from their perspectives and thoughts as well. People like Simone de Beauvoir and Evelyn Reid in particular helped me to understand the systemic oppression of women in our society and why it has occurred. Women used to be accorded such a high place in our ancient societies, now men hold most high ranking posts in our global economy, one of the major reasons why I believe our world is in such a mess.


V.O. So how many times have you been in and out of Jail?
B.K. Oh about eight times, from a few months in 1994 for the Claquoquot Sound protests to ten months recently for the blockades against the Eagle Ridge Bluffs. I count these as my “credits to the future” within the penal system in British Columbia”

Betty’s Jail Tour
1994 - Clayoquot Sound - 4.5 months
2000 - Elaho Valley - 8.5 months
2002 - BC Working Forests - 10 days
2004 - Upper Walbran - 9.5 months
2006 - Eagleridge Bluffs - 2 months
2007 - Eagleridge Bluffs - 10 months

V.O. What were some of the experiences that have touched you during your recent jail visit.

B.K. One woman I know from the prisons has a history of drug abuse and is in her 40s. Usually it is more difficult for older women to change. This woman has come out, cleaned up, devoted her time to improving herself and is now working at the university of BC doing research. The odds against her were so huge. She has really dedicated herself to changing her life. This is so inspiring to me.

At Alouette, there were some babies born to the prisoners, two babies in my unit and I got attached to one baby. We bonded. I was the only great grandmother in the prison.

V.O. What are prison conditions like? I know you have written about this in your blog entries etc. Can you touch upon it here.

B.K. The last prison I was in was Alouette, which is in the country, where you have fresh air and once in a while you see deer. However, it is not idyllic by any means. You can see the effects of the privatization throughout the prison system. With respect to the physical conditions, we had to double-bunk in most cells. There were very few single rooms. I eventually got a single room because of my age, but it took a few months. The food too, took a rapid nosedive since my last prison sojourn in Burnaby when the government still fed prisoners. Now, a private company feeds the prison and I suppose they have to make a profit.

Meals were tasteless, institutional. No fresh vegetables except during the summer, when the women in the prison grew them. Breakfast was white bread and half a bowl of corn flakes or oatmeal and we drank “juice cocktail” not juice. There was powdered milk, and four pieces of fruit rationed for the week.

Nobody can bring you anything, no food, nothing. You have to buy your toiletries from the prison canteen, where they cost more than the outside, which is ridiculous considering that most prisoners make between $2.50 – $ 4.50 a day for any work they do.

From a health and psychological standpoint, medical services in jail have also been privatized and there is not enough help or counselling services to assist the women’s complicated health and psychological problems such as addictions, low self-esteem issues etc. This lack of assistance is also evident upon getting out. There are not enough support services to help women who get out to get jobs and rehabilitate themselves in the outside world.


V.O. How has being in and out of jail impacted your work and activism?

B.K. It has expanded my activism and understanding and spurs me on in the work that I do. Being in and out jail has also given me a better connection to my work on a personal and political level.


V.O. How do you maintain your strength and presence. Do you have a spiritual practice? A daily exercise regimen?

B.K. My secret? I tap dance to music everyday. I also do some stretching exercises, bounce on a trampoline (great for my joints), lift weights and meditate every morning. I followed that routine in prison as well. I would rise early, sit cross-legged on my bunk and meditate, something my prison family got used to each day.

(Even so, Krawzyck developed high BP during her last stint in prison because of the diet.)

V.O. What sort of advice do you have for ordinary citizens and budding activists?

B.K. Everyone is going to have to become an activist. We are no longer divided. I believe that our Government, corporate and legal structures are leading us to the demise of our life support systems. If we want to see the human race survive and continue to grow and develop we are going to have to take a stand. I understand that not everyone can go and stand on a line and protest, but to create this social revolution that we so deeply need, we require both the activists and a support system for the activists.

V.O. What are your major platforms for the Vancouver mayoral race? (Krawzyck is running for the WORK LESS Party)
B.K. Well, the current Provincial government has the 3 Ps – public / private partnerships.

I have 4 Ps.

Public Health: all that entails including Public Housing.
Public Education: Quality and affordable education, including day care incorporated into the educational system
Public Water: Water is not just a necessity of Life it is also Public Energy – it belongs to us all.
Public Land: Recognition that this land of British Columbia belongs to the First Nations, to the public, to us all, does not belong to a few people.

I lived on the Downtown East Side about 6 years ago with my daughter, when she was doing a report on first nations women and their daughters being lured into the sex trade. Incidentally, I saw many of the same women in prison. I want to articulate that this problem is not of the DTES, but it is one of society as a whole, helped by our ability as a city to look the other way when the Campbell Government cut back on social support programmes, child support, abused women programmes and treatments.

V.O.. Last thoughts?
B.K. Within this book I call the Earth “GAIA.” GAIA represents the mother goddess – the feminine, earth consciousness that is in men and women alike. Women invoke it, but men tend to override it. However it is in us all.

Photo above of Betty Krawzyck by Daniel Gautreau