Person An individual. Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Bendall, Alex Location The location of the interview Boston, Massachusetts, United States (via Teams) Transcription Any written text transcribed from a sound 0:0:0.0 --> 0:0:0.880 Alex Bendall All right, sounds good. 0:0:1.90 --> 0:0:5.930 Puffer, Sheila Mm hmm. And if you have 3 themes it would be good if you could tell me what the three themes are as an overview. 0:0:6.840 --> 0:0:22.680 Alex Bendall Absolutely. So there's like I have about a few sentences to start each one. The first one is impact of culture. The second one is the feminist experience. And the third one is. 0:0:23.960 --> 0:0:25.800 Alex Bendall Ideology and generational differences. 0:0:30.990 --> 0:0:33.510 Puffer, Sheila So the first one is the influence of pop culture. 0:0:34.740 --> 0:0:35.60 Alex Bendall Yeah. 0:0:35.610 --> 0:0:36.450 Puffer, Sheila On what? 0:0:38.40 --> 0:0:40.960 Alex Bendall Just popular culture of the 1970s in general. 0:0:41.630 --> 0:0:44.990 Puffer, Sheila Oh, the influence of it, or just my experience with it. 0:0:48.610 --> 0:0:57.890 Alex Bendall I guess your experience, I think that, yeah, this whole interview, it's about like your experience from University of Ottawa in the 1970s, so. 0:0:59.290 --> 0:1:0.810 Alex Bendall My first question is. 0:1:1.180 --> 0:1:6.540 Puffer, Sheila Wait, I'd. I'm so that is the first theme. The second one was feminist. 0:1:7.830 --> 0:1:10.270 Alex Bendall Yeah. The second one is the feminist experience. 0:1:11.930 --> 0:1:29.530 Alex Bendall So, like cultural historians have written a lot about what they call the 2nd wave of feminism. That is part of the counterculture movement and with women during their early 1970s sought to break gender barriers. Does this argument resonate with your experience on the University of Ottawa campus during the early 1970s? 0:1:30.590 --> 0:1:33.190 Puffer, Sheila OK. So we're just talking about the early 1970s. 0:1:33.990 --> 0:1:34.270 Alex Bendall Yeah. 0:1:35.260 --> 0:1:37.700 Puffer, Sheila What time span do you want? 0:1:39.510 --> 0:1:42.30 Alex Bendall Uh, whenever you were attending UOttawa. 0:1:42.430 --> 0:1:43.670 Puffer, Sheila I was there for a long time. 0:1:44.560 --> 0:1:45.640 Alex Bendall How long were you there for? 0:1:46.110 --> 0:1:46.710 Puffer, Sheila Eight years. 0:1:47.460 --> 0:1:48.140 Alex Bendall Eight years. 0:1:48.420 --> 0:1:49.100 Puffer, Sheila I think so. 0:1:50.800 --> 0:1:51.440 Puffer, Sheila Let me see. 0:1:57.660 --> 0:1:59.700 Puffer, Sheila 71 to 79. 0:2:0.830 --> 0:2:1.350 Alex Bendall Perfect. 0:2:0.860 --> 0:2:3.580 Puffer, Sheila That's eight years. 0:2:4.680 --> 0:2:4.880 Alex Bendall Yeah. 0:2:5.620 --> 0:2:6.660 Puffer, Sheila Yeah, I think I got my. 0:2:8.300 --> 0:2:10.500 Puffer, Sheila Yes, I got my MBA in 1979. 0:2:11.920 --> 0:2:11.960 Puffer, Sheila OK. 0:2:13.580 --> 0:2:16.100 Puffer, Sheila All right. Yeah, it's a long time ago, Alex. 0:2:19.260 --> 0:2:19.580 Puffer, Sheila Alright. 0:2:19.410 --> 0:2:19.930 Alex Bendall I'll just. 0:2:21.110 --> 0:2:21.350 Puffer, Sheila Yeah. 0:2:21.810 --> 0:2:23.970 Alex Bendall Just tell me whatever you can, but whatever you remember. 0:2:24.130 --> 0:2:25.690 Puffer, Sheila Yep. And then the third thing is. 0:2:27.280 --> 0:2:28.400 Alex Bendall The third thing. 0:2:29.920 --> 0:2:33.680 Alex Bendall Is also part of what they call a counterculture revolution. 0:2:35.400 --> 0:2:44.600 Alex Bendall Meaning your generation tend, like, rebelled against the values of your parents' generation. So what would be your experience with that topic? 0:2:45.980 --> 0:2:46.700 Puffer, Sheila I see. 0:2:49.420 --> 0:2:50.380 Puffer, Sheila Same. OK. 0:2:51.820 --> 0:2:52.500 Puffer, Sheila OK. 0:2:54.500 --> 0:3:1.540 Puffer, Sheila Hmm. Alright, yeah. It's a little different from what I was expecting, but that's quite alright. So please go ahead. 0:3:1.230 --> 0:3:2.750 Alex Bendall Yep, alright. 0:3:5.390 --> 0:3:8.430 Alex Bendall So for the first question about popular culture. 0:3:10.170 --> 0:3:21.250 Alex Bendall There were obviously less electronics in Canadian society during the 1970s. How was your leisure time structured or what did you Ottawa students do for fun in the 1970s? 0:3:27.690 --> 0:3:28.930 Puffer, Sheila Went skating on the canal. 0:3:30.310 --> 0:3:30.510 Alex Bendall Yeah. 0:3:32.350 --> 0:3:33.230 Puffer, Sheila Too bad you couldn't do it. 0:3:32.820 --> 0:3:37.60 Alex Bendall I tried to do that. Yeah, exactly. I tried to do that last year. It didn't didn't work out. 0:3:37.740 --> 0:3:38.340 Puffer, Sheila Yeah, mm hmm. 0:3:40.700 --> 0:3:41.100 Puffer, Sheila And. 0:3:43.170 --> 0:3:46.770 Puffer, Sheila Having a small group of friends over. 0:3:48.480 --> 0:3:48.800 Alex Bendall Nice. 0:3:49.90 --> 0:3:51.10 Puffer, Sheila Socializing with small groups of friends. 0:3:54.720 --> 0:3:57.840 Alex Bendall Whereabouts on campus? Did you live? 0:4:0.430 --> 0:4:2.510 Puffer, Sheila First year I lived in a brand new building. 0:4:4.630 --> 0:4:4.750 Alex Bendall Oh. 0:4:5.80 --> 0:4:6.400 Puffer, Sheila It was a high rise. 0:4:7.480 --> 0:4:9.280 Puffer, Sheila It was across from Le Blanc Hall. 0:4:13.90 --> 0:4:16.90 Puffer, Sheila And it was Coed. The different floors were Coed. 0:4:18.180 --> 0:4:18.300 Puffer, Sheila Hmm. 0:4:21.240 --> 0:4:22.600 Puffer, Sheila Can't remember the name of it now. 0:4:24.200 --> 0:4:24.600 Alex Bendall That's fine. 0:4:23.900 --> 0:4:26.580 Puffer, Sheila Was brand new that year in 1971. 0:4:28.600 --> 0:4:28.800 Alex Bendall Nice. 0:4:28.160 --> 0:4:28.880 Puffer, Sheila Think it came in. 0:4:30.440 --> 0:4:31.720 Puffer, Sheila Yes, I came in 71. 0:4:35.460 --> 0:4:35.500 Alex Bendall N. 0:4:38.150 --> 0:4:42.230 Alex Bendall What were the most popular hangout spots on and off campus? 0:4:44.280 --> 0:4:45.800 Puffer, Sheila Oh, father and son. 0:4:48.280 --> 0:4:50.0 Alex Bendall Is that-... what was that? 0:4:50.370 --> 0:4:51.130 Puffer, Sheila It's a restaurant. 0:4:51.780 --> 0:4:52.780 Alex Bendall Restaurant. Yeah. OK. 0:4:53.440 --> 0:4:57.160 Puffer, Sheila It's still there or it was there the last time I was there, like a couple of years ago. 0:4:58.220 --> 0:4:59.620 Alex Bendall I don't think I've seen that yet. 0:5:4.220 --> 0:5:4.460 Alex Bendall Yeah. 0:4:59.720 --> 0:5:5.800 Puffer, Sheila Well, obviously it's a classic. It's been around for over 50 years. It was old by then when I was there. 0:5:7.280 --> 0:5:12.520 Puffer, Sheila Another one was there was a marvelous lunch place inside a church on Laurier. 0:5:14.280 --> 0:5:14.480 Alex Bendall OK. 0:5:14.960 --> 0:5:18.280 Puffer, Sheila Was really, really good food. Yeah, we used to go there for a lot. 0:5:19.440 --> 0:5:19.920 Alex Bendall Nice. 0:5:27.360 --> 0:5:37.680 Alex Bendall Did you attend any live music events during university years or what were the most popular musicians or artists at that time? Are your favorites maybe. 0:5:38.340 --> 0:5:47.180 Puffer, Sheila Hmm, I used to go to the National Arts Centre regularly. I had subscriptions to my husband, my husband and I had subscriptions to both the French and the English theater. 0:5:48.600 --> 0:5:49.120 Alex Bendall Nice. 0:5:52.80 --> 0:6:2.640 Puffer, Sheila And we went to just about everybody who came through. So we saw people who are long dead now. We saw in terms of music, we saw Buddy Rich, the drummer. 0:6:4.650 --> 0:6:5.330 Puffer, Sheila We saw. 0:6:12.210 --> 0:6:14.770 Puffer, Sheila With oh, Oh my gosh, we saw. 0:6:17.180 --> 0:6:18.500 Puffer, Sheila Not sure how they found you. 0:6:21.780 --> 0:6:23.780 Puffer, Sheila His name was Julbert Vecco. 0:6:25.340 --> 0:6:51.580 Puffer, Sheila And my husband and I used to laugh because we were laughing through the performance because he was a heavy smoker. He was a singer. Fabulous, like Tom Jones or something like that. He was really charismatic. And in between songs, he would go off stage and you could see the cigarette smoke. But billowing out from behind that curtain. And then he'd come out and he'd sing another song. 0:6:52.900 --> 0:6:55.180 Puffer, Sheila He didn't last long, but he was really good. 0:6:59.490 --> 0:7:0.90 Alex Bendall That's great. 0:7:1.0 --> 0:7:5.840 Puffer, Sheila So we used to go to pretty much everybody who came to the National Arts Centre. 0:7:7.200 --> 0:7:13.0 Puffer, Sheila And we occasionally went to that fair, the exhibition where the animals were. 0:7:15.360 --> 0:7:21.0 Puffer, Sheila It was called the ax, something like that, I forget what it's called. Some sort of agricultural fair down by Lansdown. 0:7:22.160 --> 0:7:27.160 Alex Bendall Oh yeah, yeah, like the big barn they have there beside Lansdowne Park. Yeah, OK, I know. 0:7:26.380 --> 0:7:29.500 Puffer, Sheila Yeah. So the animal competitions and. 0:7:30.410 --> 0:7:31.170 Alex Bendall Oh yeah. OK. 0:7:31.430 --> 0:7:34.670 Puffer, Sheila Yeah. So it was pretty simple stuff. 0:7:37.540 --> 0:7:38.740 Puffer, Sheila But in terms of? 0:7:40.420 --> 0:7:40.980 Puffer, Sheila Let me see. 0:7:42.440 --> 0:7:48.200 Puffer, Sheila OK, so anyway, go ahead. What else have you got to ask me? Those are a few little nuggets. 0:7:49.380 --> 0:7:53.940 Alex Bendall That's great. Like who? Who's your favorite musician of that time, do you think? 0:7:54.640 --> 0:7:55.480 Puffer, Sheila Gordon Lightfoot. 0:7:56.540 --> 0:7:57.740 Alex Bendall Gordon Lightfoot? Yeah. 0:8:2.130 --> 0:8:2.330 Puffer, Sheila Yeah. 0:7:58.980 --> 0:8:3.500 Alex Bendall Didn't he pass away? Like pretty recently? I feel like I heard that recently. Yeah. 0:8:4.30 --> 0:8:10.750 Puffer, Sheila And I heard him in Boston, where I live about 10 years ago, and his voice was just shot. 0:8:11.900 --> 0:8:12.460 Alex Bendall That's too bad. 0:8:12.520 --> 0:8:15.320 Puffer, Sheila But he was still performing because he loved to perform. Yeah. 0:8:15.390 --> 0:8:15.630 Alex Bendall Yeah. 0:8:18.130 --> 0:8:22.970 Puffer, Sheila Yeah, he didn't have much lung capacity at the time. But anyway, yeah, Gordon Lightfoot. 0:8:25.430 --> 0:8:25.630 Alex Bendall In. 0:8:27.560 --> 0:8:29.840 Alex Bendall OK. My next question is. 0:8:31.50 --> 0:8:48.10 Alex Bendall Since Ottawa was you, Ottawa was a bilingual institution. How linguistically integrated was it during the 1970s, like did francophones and anglophones enroll in the same courses and participate in the same clubs and all hang out together? Or is it really kind of separated a bit? 0:8:53.500 --> 0:8:53.700 Alex Bendall Yeah. 0:8:51.430 --> 0:8:55.550 Puffer, Sheila I'm angry. Fun. I grew up in the east in. 0:8:55.590 --> 0:8:57.990 Puffer, Sheila Numerous cities across Canada that are English speaking cities. 0:8:59.550 --> 0:8:59.870 Puffer, Sheila And. 0:9:1.470 --> 0:9:6.790 Puffer, Sheila I started learning French in under Bay Ontario when I was 12. 0:9:8.550 --> 0:9:9.150 Puffer, Sheila And that was. 0:9:10.870 --> 0:9:17.910 Puffer, Sheila And so I had basic French and I wanted to be a translator and interpreter for the UN from. 0:9:19.600 --> 0:9:32.640 Puffer, Sheila French to English, since English is my mother tongue. So I enrolled in why I came to the University of Ottawa was to study in the School of Translators and interpreters. 0:9:34.160 --> 0:9:48.320 Puffer, Sheila I was one of two English speaking native English speaking people in that programme programme was designed for French speakers to translate to, do translation and interpretation into English. 0:9:49.190 --> 0:9:52.110 Puffer, Sheila So essentially I did the programme backwards. 0:9:53.310 --> 0:9:53.510 Puffer, Sheila Right. 0:9:53.850 --> 0:9:54.10 Alex Bendall Yeah. 0:9:54.950 --> 0:10:1.590 Puffer, Sheila Yeah. And I I, uh, tried to, uh, engage in virtually as many things. 0:10:2.150 --> 0:10:5.790 Puffer, Sheila Oh Hun, in French as I could. 0:10:5.830 --> 0:10:6.190 Puffer, Sheila Including. 0:10:7.260 --> 0:10:11.140 Puffer, Sheila In my MBA, but I was there as an undergraduate in that translators and interpreters programme. 0:10:12.540 --> 0:10:12.780 Puffer, Sheila And. 0:10:14.900 --> 0:10:19.140 Puffer, Sheila So I was learning French all the time there and. 0:10:20.780 --> 0:10:37.260 Puffer, Sheila I would go to French speaking events, but I would say overall the English speaking students kept themselves and the French speaking students wanted to keep to themselves. But I was in an exceptional programme there where I was the outlier, one of two outliers, right? 0:10:38.780 --> 0:10:40.340 Puffer, Sheila And it turned out. 0:10:41.940 --> 0:10:42.180 Puffer, Sheila That. 0:10:43.240 --> 0:10:44.880 Puffer, Sheila Oh, and I would insist. 0:10:46.290 --> 0:10:46.810 Puffer, Sheila When? 0:10:48.810 --> 0:11:10.530 Puffer, Sheila Umm, on campus and everywhere around Ottawa, I would insist on having people speak to me in French and as soon as they as I open my mouth they even though I spoke French, you know reasonably well they could tell that I was an Anglophone and they would kind of politely or automatically switch into English and I would have to say no, no, no. 0:11:12.350 --> 0:11:12.510 Alex Bendall Yeah. 0:11:11.130 --> 0:11:17.770 Puffer, Sheila You focus your papers, OK? What's your name of Francis? So that was, that was my thing. 0:11:19.370 --> 0:11:19.610 Puffer, Sheila And. 0:11:20.600 --> 0:11:48.680 Puffer, Sheila I had a stenographer's book. You don't know what that is, but it's a line book and it has. OK, so it has its coil and it has lines, vertical lines, excuse me, horizontal lines and then a vertical line down the middle. And I filled up several of those books where I learned a French word. And then I found the English translation. So I definitely came out of the University of Ottawa, bilingual. 0:11:50.200 --> 0:11:50.680 Puffer, Sheila And when I. 0:11:52.130 --> 0:11:56.650 Puffer, Sheila But I did switch my major from the school of translators and interpreters. 0:12:2.340 --> 0:12:2.860 Alex Bendall Interesting. 0:11:58.50 --> 0:12:8.130 Puffer, Sheila To Slavic studies, my undergraduate degree is in Slavic studies because, yeah, you had to take another language when you were in the school of translators and interpreters. 0:12:9.660 --> 0:12:10.20 Puffer, Sheila And. 0:12:13.210 --> 0:12:17.970 Puffer, Sheila Umm I was advised by a professor not at Ottawa. 0:12:19.410 --> 0:12:19.890 Puffer, Sheila All the French. 0:12:21.380 --> 0:12:27.620 Puffer, Sheila Speaking students in another translator school at Laurentian University, where I started out. 0:12:35.570 --> 0:12:35.890 Alex Bendall Yeah. 0:12:28.940 --> 0:12:51.900 Puffer, Sheila They were all going to take Spanish as their third language and I thought, well, I'll do that too. But the director of that translation and interpretation programme took me aside and said, you know, you can take Spanish anytime. I suggest a more challenging language for you. Oh, really? I suggest Russian. I said OK. 0:12:52.340 --> 0:12:56.660 Puffer, Sheila So I just felt I not only fell in love with Russian. 0:12:57.700 --> 0:13:1.180 Puffer, Sheila And all things Slavic. When I met my husband. 0:13:3.100 --> 0:13:11.100 Puffer, Sheila Thanks to the University of Ottawa and I was 18 years old, and if you're gonna ask me, are you gonna ask me about clubs? 0:13:13.200 --> 0:13:15.80 Puffer, Sheila OK. Well then I'll save it for clubs. 0:13:17.300 --> 0:13:23.180 Alex Bendall No, it's OK. You can tell me how I'm kind of like already in the club section. You can keep going. 0:13:22.350 --> 0:13:25.230 Puffer, Sheila Alright, thank you. OK, so. 0:13:27.320 --> 0:13:31.240 Puffer, Sheila January 5th, 1970 two 6:00 PM. 0:13:33.630 --> 0:13:41.390 Puffer, Sheila I showed up in Professor Douglas Clayton's office. 0:13:42.830 --> 0:13:44.590 Puffer, Sheila Second course in second year, Russian with him. 0:13:46.350 --> 0:14:0.910 Puffer, Sheila And he said come to my office at that time. If you're interested in starting up a Russian social club, Slavic social club called Slavyansky Bazar. That's what he was calling it. Slavic bazaar. And guess who showed up. 0:14:2.40 --> 0:14:12.80 Puffer, Sheila Maybe forced to for three or four other students, including my future husband, who was a graduate student. He was doing his master's in Russian literature. 0:14:13.580 --> 0:14:17.780 Puffer, Sheila Well, right then and there in that professor's office. 0:14:20.450 --> 0:14:26.690 Puffer, Sheila That graduate student and myself just thought it was the coup de foudre. Do you know about coup de foudre? 0:14:28.940 --> 0:14:29.500 Puffer, Sheila Oh, OK. 0:14:31.220 --> 0:14:32.300 Puffer, Sheila I guess love at first sight. 0:14:33.250 --> 0:14:33.770 Alex Bendall Oh, OK, yeah. 0:14:33.980 --> 0:14:37.460 Puffer, Sheila But I love the expression coup de foudre because it means lightning struck. 0:14:39.730 --> 0:14:40.10 Alex Bendall Yeah. 0:14:40.400 --> 0:14:42.40 Puffer, Sheila OK so. 0:14:43.300 --> 0:14:43.580 Puffer, Sheila We just. 0:14:46.830 --> 0:14:47.750 Puffer, Sheila We got married. 0:14:49.840 --> 0:14:51.0 Puffer, Sheila Very soon after that. 0:14:52.220 --> 0:14:55.180 Puffer, Sheila And we were married for. 0:14:56.740 --> 0:14:57.820 Puffer, Sheila Almost 30 years. 0:14:59.300 --> 0:15:0.780 Puffer, Sheila And he passed away from cancer. 0:15:2.220 --> 0:15:10.300 Puffer, Sheila 20 years ago and we had two kids and we had a great life and I'm ever grateful to. 0:15:12.340 --> 0:15:14.620 Puffer, Sheila Doctor Douglas Clayton for. 0:15:15.940 --> 0:15:26.420 Puffer, Sheila Inviting students to create the Slavianski Bazaar Club and we did and we had a really good time at that club. We had dances and we had parties and the professors came. 0:15:27.380 --> 0:15:34.260 Puffer, Sheila So very special. I had to get that in there somewhere that my life is completely. 0:15:38.710 --> 0:15:39.590 Puffer, Sheila Fulfilled. 0:15:41.480 --> 0:15:44.160 Puffer, Sheila Having had a, you know, a family life like that. 0:15:45.140 --> 0:15:46.820 Puffer, Sheila Having met my husband there. 0:15:49.30 --> 0:15:51.470 Alex Bendall I'm sorry to hear about him. That's a great story. 0:16:0.150 --> 0:16:0.550 Alex Bendall All right. 0:16:0.720 --> 0:16:4.200 Puffer, Sheila By the way, Alex, in case you didn't guess, that was my favorite club. 0:16:8.320 --> 0:16:10.720 Alex Bendall Good. Have you ever been to Russia? 0:16:11.470 --> 0:16:12.390 Puffer, Sheila Many times. 0:16:12.760 --> 0:16:13.760 Alex Bendall Many times, yes. 0:16:13.740 --> 0:16:15.340 Puffer, Sheila I'm alright. 0:16:16.470 --> 0:16:23.30 Puffer, Sheila So this is-... we can put this in the feminism feminist experience category, OK? 0:16:24.290 --> 0:16:27.170 Puffer, Sheila OK. So just to continue on. 0:16:30.970 --> 0:16:31.730 Puffer, Sheila And I've had. 0:16:33.240 --> 0:16:34.640 Puffer, Sheila I've had. 0:16:36.0 --> 0:16:44.200 Puffer, Sheila Men have really helped me out tremendously throughout my life. My husband was my biggest supporter and. 0:16:45.480 --> 0:16:49.760 Puffer, Sheila And that professor who encouraged me to take a hard language that was great too. 0:16:51.620 --> 0:16:52.340 Puffer, Sheila Additionally. 0:16:54.280 --> 0:17:6.560 Puffer, Sheila After I graduated, I started my MBA part time. I was working full time for the National Capital Commission and I'd take my MBA classes and at the same time I was a research assistant to two professors. 0:17:9.840 --> 0:17:10.40 Puffer, Sheila And. 0:17:10.80 --> 0:17:17.600 Puffer, Sheila I'll give you their names. One. They're both in the Business School and they both retired. Jacques, Jabez. 0:17:19.220 --> 0:17:38.300 Puffer, Sheila I I think you spell it JAK and JABES is his last name and the other professor was Michelle Nadzella. Michelle French spelling and then nedsella NEDZELA. So they were friends and they were young professors. 0:17:39.780 --> 0:17:43.140 Puffer, Sheila I worked for them as they were. 0:17:43.180 --> 0:17:49.940 Puffer, Sheila Their research assistant one Saturday morning, they had me come to the university. They sat me down and they said. 0:17:52.770 --> 0:18:10.810 Puffer, Sheila Umm oh and the reason I'll back up a little bit. Professor jabbas. When I was no more than 22 years old, he called me to come to his office. I had. I was his research assistant at that time and I was working full time. 0:18:12.370 --> 0:18:20.130 Puffer, Sheila And I guess I was just finishing my undergrad. No, no, I just. I had just. I had been taking my MBA courses. 0:18:21.850 --> 0:18:21.970 Puffer, Sheila And. 0:18:22.290 --> 0:18:24.450 Puffer, Sheila So I came over and saw him and he said, you know. 0:18:26.250 --> 0:18:31.10 Puffer, Sheila We would like you to teach a course in organizational psychology to the undergraduates. 0:18:32.460 --> 0:18:34.380 Puffer, Sheila Really, I've never taught before. 0:18:35.820 --> 0:18:37.540 Puffer, Sheila Oh, we know you can do it. 0:18:38.100 --> 0:18:39.660 Puffer, Sheila And by the way, it's in French. 0:18:41.560 --> 0:18:41.920 Puffer, Sheila What? 0:18:44.80 --> 0:18:45.560 Puffer, Sheila And it starts next week. 0:18:47.870 --> 0:18:48.950 Puffer, Sheila I just fell on the floor. 0:18:51.550 --> 0:18:54.550 Puffer, Sheila Oh my God. So anyway, I did it. 0:18:55.990 --> 0:19:1.870 Puffer, Sheila I managed to do it and the students were wonderful. I was, you know, a couple years older than the students. 0:19:3.350 --> 0:19:19.350 Puffer, Sheila And we made it through. All right. So after all of that, as I say, I was in the MBA programme part time and then that that Saturday morning, Professor Jabbas and and Professor Professor Nizelovic called me in. They said, you know, we've been thinking. 0:19:21.290 --> 0:19:22.290 Puffer, Sheila You have. 0:19:24.130 --> 0:19:26.90 Puffer, Sheila We think you should get a PhD in business. 0:19:27.960 --> 0:19:46.560 Puffer, Sheila I said, what's that? I've never heard that before. I was the first person in my family to go to university. My parents grew up on farms and my dad didn't even finish high school. So what? Anyway, I ended up going to the top. 0:19:50.630 --> 0:19:52.150 Puffer, Sheila University for my programme. 0:19:53.550 --> 0:19:58.670 Puffer, Sheila Which was the University of California, Berkeley, and it was all because of those two men. 0:20:0.310 --> 0:20:2.750 Puffer, Sheila Said that, that would be perfect for me to do. 0:20:4.420 --> 0:20:6.180 Puffer, Sheila So when you talk about feminism. 0:20:7.830 --> 0:20:14.590 Puffer, Sheila Somehow these various men along the way at the University of Ottawa, including my husband and those professors. 0:20:16.110 --> 0:20:17.550 Puffer, Sheila Saw my. 0:20:20.460 --> 0:20:23.740 Puffer, Sheila So my potential, they saw my talent, they saw my. 0:20:26.790 --> 0:20:27.230 Puffer, Sheila My. 0:20:30.770 --> 0:20:31.930 Puffer, Sheila Goal orientation. 0:20:33.390 --> 0:20:33.590 Alex Bendall Yeah. 0:20:33.820 --> 0:20:38.20 Puffer, Sheila And they just did. They facilitated my. 0:20:47.920 --> 0:20:48.40 Alex Bendall Wow. 0:20:39.600 --> 0:20:51.480 Puffer, Sheila My education and my career path and you know what I do today? I'm a professor of international business and sustainability at Northeastern University in Boston, and it's all thanks to them. 0:20:54.190 --> 0:20:59.950 Puffer, Sheila So that's one aspect of feminism. I was a great beneficiary of that era. 0:21:2.290 --> 0:21:13.970 Puffer, Sheila And secondly, I remember it was 1972, I believe that was designated as the year of the Woman. 0:21:15.690 --> 0:21:19.10 Puffer, Sheila In Canada, or maybe the United Nations, something. 0:21:20.690 --> 0:21:25.10 Puffer, Sheila So we had somebody you don't you've never heard of. Whose name is Betty Pruden? 0:21:27.880 --> 0:21:33.920 Puffer, Sheila And she had written a book called The Feminine Mystique. She was an American from New York, I believe. 0:21:36.450 --> 0:21:47.90 Puffer, Sheila There were many activities through that year of the woman at the university. One of those, one of the most prominent ones, was when Betty Friedan came to campus. 0:21:48.450 --> 0:21:49.570 Puffer, Sheila And it was a sensation. 0:21:51.10 --> 0:22:1.570 Puffer, Sheila She was so famous with that book and my mom had read that book when it first came out in the 1960s, quite a lot before that. 0:22:3.90 --> 0:22:7.370 Puffer, Sheila So guess what? I invited my mom to come. 0:22:8.670 --> 0:22:18.750 Puffer, Sheila And so she took the bus from Montreal, where my family was living, and she stayed with me. And we went to Betty Friedan together. 0:22:20.690 --> 0:22:21.170 Alex Bendall Nice. 0:22:20.600 --> 0:22:23.80 Puffer, Sheila Anna, that means so much to me, yeah. 0:22:24.980 --> 0:22:25.180 Alex Bendall Yeah. 0:22:24.630 --> 0:22:28.710 Puffer, Sheila The fact that I remember seeing that book on my mom's night table. 0:22:31.290 --> 0:22:31.450 Alex Bendall Yeah. 0:22:30.540 --> 0:22:36.100 Puffer, Sheila And she read that when it came up, yeah. OK. So I think we've covered feminism. 0:22:37.940 --> 0:22:39.820 Puffer, Sheila OK, what else have you got for me? 0:22:39.710 --> 0:22:40.70 Alex Bendall Alright. 0:22:44.300 --> 0:22:44.340 Alex Bendall N. 0:22:50.660 --> 0:22:51.260 Alex Bendall So. 0:22:52.820 --> 0:23:1.940 Alex Bendall This is more of a bigger deal in the United States, but the Vietnam War was going on then. What did the student body in Ottawa think about that? 0:23:8.990 --> 0:23:13.30 Alex Bendall What was the general perception from Canadian students of the Vietnam War? 0:23:18.420 --> 0:23:28.820 Puffer, Sheila You know, I actually went to two universities before I went to the University of Ottawa. I started out at Saint Mary's University in Halifax in 1969. 0:23:30.240 --> 0:23:38.440 Puffer, Sheila And it was a male university with only 2000 students. It was the first year that they accepted women, and there were 200 women. 0:23:40.280 --> 0:23:40.400 Alex Bendall All. 0:23:40.160 --> 0:23:41.480 Puffer, Sheila Among those men. 0:23:43.270 --> 0:23:46.990 Puffer, Sheila Were draft dodgers from the USA, I remember them? 0:23:48.420 --> 0:23:48.500 Alex Bendall Oh. 0:23:49.390 --> 0:23:49.590 Puffer, Sheila Yeah. 0:23:51.610 --> 0:23:53.370 Puffer, Sheila And so that was my introduction to. 0:23:54.690 --> 0:24:2.10 Puffer, Sheila That was that I was face to face with the Vietnam War there in 1969. Seventy in Halifax, right. 0:24:3.520 --> 0:24:7.800 Puffer, Sheila No draft dodgers came to Laurentian University in Sudbury that hadn't been discovered. 0:24:9.240 --> 0:24:12.760 Puffer, Sheila And I don't recall meeting any at the University of Ottawa either. 0:24:14.940 --> 0:24:25.620 Puffer, Sheila And you know, I wasn't particularly political. I was way into it. I was so deeply into international things, languages and different cultures. 0:24:26.400 --> 0:24:26.640 Alex Bendall Yeah. 0:24:26.940 --> 0:24:28.20 Puffer, Sheila I just remember. 0:24:29.740 --> 0:24:44.300 Puffer, Sheila Every week in Time magazine there were just horrendous photos of the Vietnam War. It seemed every week it was a horrible thing. But no, that not I wasn't out protesting. I wasn't. 0:24:45.890 --> 0:24:53.50 Puffer, Sheila Part of any groups involved in that, and I have no recollection of that at University of Ottawa. 0:24:58.250 --> 0:24:58.650 Puffer, Sheila No, I don't. 0:24:54.210 --> 0:25:0.10 Alex Bendall Like no recollection of any protests at all at EU at UOttawa. Oh OK, interesting. 0:24:59.790 --> 0:25:1.270 Puffer, Sheila They were but. 0:25:2.430 --> 0:25:4.310 Puffer, Sheila They were not part of my. 0:25:6.30 --> 0:25:9.590 Puffer, Sheila Memory bank. Yeah, 'cause. I didn't participate. Oh, yeah. 0:25:10.930 --> 0:25:11.450 Alex Bendall All right. 0:25:18.670 --> 0:25:18.830 Alex Bendall Yeah. 0:25:21.50 --> 0:25:21.810 Alex Bendall OK so. 0:25:24.800 --> 0:25:32.280 Alex Bendall My next question is that some youth culture voice from the 1970s promoted taking recreational drugs. 0:25:33.600 --> 0:25:39.360 Alex Bendall Again, you don't have to answer any question if you don't want to, but to what extent? Recreational drugs available on campus during the 1970s? 0:25:40.850 --> 0:25:42.210 Puffer, Sheila Oh, I have no idea. 0:25:42.910 --> 0:25:43.430 Alex Bendall You know I do. 0:25:45.270 --> 0:25:45.950 Alex Bendall All right. 0:25:44.490 --> 0:25:46.290 Puffer, Sheila Wasn't into it, no. 0:25:47.480 --> 0:25:49.160 Alex Bendall All right, moving on. 0:25:48.270 --> 0:25:51.190 Puffer, Sheila I wouldn't know. I wouldn't. I didn't know any students. 0:25:58.340 --> 0:25:58.780 Alex Bendall OK. 0:26:1.80 --> 0:26:1.400 Alex Bendall Yeah. 0:25:52.900 --> 0:26:2.580 Puffer, Sheila Who took drugs or smoked weed or anything? I barely knew. It smelled like, you know, marijuana. No. 0:26:4.690 --> 0:26:6.570 Puffer, Sheila I was having way too much fun without that. 0:26:9.450 --> 0:26:9.610 Puffer, Sheila Yeah. 0:26:10.690 --> 0:26:11.50 Alex Bendall All right. 0:26:16.100 --> 0:26:18.980 Alex Bendall I still have a few more, like feminism questions. 0:26:25.330 --> 0:26:25.610 Alex Bendall Yeah. 0:26:21.270 --> 0:26:26.390 Puffer, Sheila Do you ask these of oh, you only have if you're only interviewing me. But men would be asked these questions too. 0:26:27.570 --> 0:26:27.890 Puffer, Sheila Right. 0:26:29.700 --> 0:26:31.900 Puffer, Sheila I wish my husband was to ask. 0:26:28.250 --> 0:26:36.490 Alex Bendall Yeah. Yeah, they would, yeah, they would. It's like a preset set of questions for everybody in my class. Yeah. All right. 0:26:38.270 --> 0:26:56.190 Alex Bendall So in your own words, I mean, you already kind of gave me your view on how feminism helped you. But like what in more broader terms, the like feminism overall in Canada, in your own words, how, like, what did it signify in Canada in the early 1970s? 0:26:58.520 --> 0:27:4.200 Puffer, Sheila Well, I was working and going to the university at the same time and. 0:27:6.0 --> 0:27:6.320 Puffer, Sheila There was. 0:27:8.610 --> 0:27:18.290 Puffer, Sheila Federal government report, and it was called the and it was the Commission on the status of the woman, something like that or on the status of women. 0:27:20.100 --> 0:27:21.940 Puffer, Sheila And so I was aware of that. 0:27:23.270 --> 0:27:23.950 Puffer, Sheila And. 0:27:28.600 --> 0:27:34.240 Puffer, Sheila It was a good thing because I thought it was a good thing because it was addressing issues. 0:27:36.0 --> 0:27:45.80 Puffer, Sheila That, that, that government Commission report, was it addressing issues about the role of women in society and how they? 0:27:47.400 --> 0:27:57.720 Puffer, Sheila How inequalities in the workforce and access to education and childcare and so on could be addressed. 0:28:0.830 --> 0:28:0.990 Alex Bendall Yeah. 0:28:4.560 --> 0:28:10.240 Puffer, Sheila I read the report, I don't think very many people knew many students did, but I did. 0:28:12.270 --> 0:28:16.990 Puffer, Sheila Then you know. I mean, look at where I've ended up in life, you know, I mean, I'm an academic. 0:28:17.920 --> 0:28:18.160 Alex Bendall Yeah. 0:28:18.540 --> 0:28:21.60 Puffer, Sheila I I read stuff I read, you know, boring stuff. 0:28:25.100 --> 0:28:25.420 Alex Bendall OK. 0:28:28.770 --> 0:28:33.810 Alex Bendall So, since gender distinctions were more pronounced in the 1970s than today. 0:28:36.230 --> 0:28:43.270 Alex Bendall Did being a woman result in different treatment and expectations in classrooms or social events compared to male students? 0:28:47.690 --> 0:28:47.770 Puffer, Sheila Up. 0:28:59.470 --> 0:29:13.310 Puffer, Sheila Where I worked in the federal government, there was a lot of sexism and there was, you know, exploitation of women. I have a cute story, though, just in that we had an absolutely fantastic professor of Russian. 0:29:14.710 --> 0:29:15.70 Puffer, Sheila And. 0:29:17.150 --> 0:29:29.270 Puffer, Sheila He said to me one time he would just, you know, the custom in Russia, Ukraine, European countries in general is to call people by their last name. 0:29:30.460 --> 0:29:33.980 Puffer, Sheila So one night in Russian class. 0:29:35.560 --> 0:29:40.960 Puffer, Sheila Then he didn't hear me put the feminine ending on a verb. 0:29:51.890 --> 0:29:52.50 Alex Bendall Yeah. 0:29:43.790 --> 0:29:56.750 Puffer, Sheila He's. And so I had. I had, but I guess I had sent it said it just kind of so he didn't hear it. It was not loud enough. And so he just said to me skirt puffer skirt. 0:30:6.140 --> 0:30:6.420 Alex Bendall Yeah. 0:30:1.710 --> 0:30:8.670 Puffer, Sheila He wanted me to put that feminine ending because I was speaking and so I needed to add a feminine ending to the verb. 0:30:9.850 --> 0:30:12.370 Puffer, Sheila It was the cutest thing. We all laughed. 0:30:22.720 --> 0:30:23.40 Alex Bendall Yeah. 0:30:16.0 --> 0:30:31.400 Puffer, Sheila Oh, I, you know, I don't go looking for discrimination. I don't. I just. I just carry on and do what I want to try to accomplish what I want to accomplish. And as you can see. 0:30:33.570 --> 0:30:37.170 Puffer, Sheila For some, I think it's just my own demeanor. 0:30:39.300 --> 0:30:50.740 Puffer, Sheila People, men was mostly men. There were actually in my MBA class graduate classes. Sometimes I was the only woman in the class and I was the only. 0:30:51.990 --> 0:30:53.870 Puffer, Sheila English speaking person in the class. 0:30:55.510 --> 0:30:59.430 Puffer, Sheila Because I that you could take your courses in English or French. 0:31:15.910 --> 0:31:16.70 Alex Bendall Sure. 0:31:1.190 --> 0:31:24.350 Puffer, Sheila Most of them. And so I challenged myself to take them in French and said, why are these really nice young French male students and the professor? And they said, well, why are you, why don't you just take the English section? I said because I'm gonna learn French and I want to learn the terminology in French and I want the challenge of that so people could recognise that I was. I was a little different. 0:31:25.580 --> 0:31:25.820 Alex Bendall Yeah. 0:31:30.910 --> 0:31:32.350 Puffer, Sheila Whereas in the workplace. 0:31:33.670 --> 0:31:37.30 Puffer, Sheila In the early 70s, I worked for the Director of personnel. 0:31:39.30 --> 0:31:40.70 Puffer, Sheila I won't say where. 0:31:42.710 --> 0:31:44.510 Puffer, Sheila And he introduced me. 0:31:46.350 --> 0:31:48.350 Puffer, Sheila I know this is hard for you to imagine but think of. 0:31:49.540 --> 0:32:0.900 Puffer, Sheila You know, be your age and not the age I am now. And it was at the age of very short skirts and you know, miniskirts and all that. 0:32:2.220 --> 0:32:13.140 Puffer, Sheila Which was kind of weird. Well, in a sense. Oh, and then it was the burning of the bras. I remember that too, was at that time I was there. Yeah. So a lot of bras. 0:32:15.180 --> 0:32:28.900 Puffer, Sheila Were eliminated. They were? Yeah. And, you know, there weren't any such things as sports bras, which, you know, are a lot more comfortable. So anyway, this boss, somebody came in new to the office, a visitor. 0:32:29.610 --> 0:32:31.330 Puffer, Sheila And my boss. 0:32:32.810 --> 0:32:35.610 Puffer, Sheila I was his assistant. I was not his secretary. I was. 0:32:37.250 --> 0:32:38.690 Puffer, Sheila An administrative level and. 0:32:40.430 --> 0:32:53.550 Puffer, Sheila You know that first rung in the hierarchy and he introduced me to another man there. And he said, oh, and this is Sheila blah blah, let's get my little title. Am I get my title? And then he said, oh, she's cute and clever too. 0:32:57.860 --> 0:33:18.140 Puffer, Sheila I went home. I was married. I I went home and I told my husband 'cause, I got married very young and I could you imagine this is what he said. And we laughed about that for years. And my husband would say to me just for fun sometimes, you know, like 40 years old, he's like, you know what? You're cute and clever too. 0:33:21.810 --> 0:33:22.450 Alex Bendall That's awesome. 0:33:26.690 --> 0:33:27.130 Alex Bendall Alright. 0:33:28.890 --> 0:33:35.330 Alex Bendall What kind of programmes or departments or clubs where women are less accepted? 0:33:36.670 --> 0:33:37.470 Alex Bendall From your experience. 0:33:38.290 --> 0:33:41.10 Puffer, Sheila I don't know. I don't really. I didn't really join any clubs. 0:33:41.910 --> 0:33:42.230 Alex Bendall Oh, OK. 0:33:42.600 --> 0:33:48.400 Puffer, Sheila I just ran them. You know, I ran the Slavianski Bazaar club with my husband. 0:33:49.960 --> 0:33:50.960 Puffer, Sheila And the professor. 0:33:54.40 --> 0:33:55.0 Puffer, Sheila That was pretty equal. 0:33:56.420 --> 0:34:1.420 Alex Bendall Did you get a lot of people in that club over the course of how long you? However long you ran it? 0:34:1.900 --> 0:34:3.420 Puffer, Sheila Yeah, we had it for a few years. 0:34:5.350 --> 0:34:6.390 Puffer, Sheila We had a couple dozen. 0:34:7.280 --> 0:34:27.520 Puffer, Sheila And again, you know, my husband was like me, only he had more. The advantage of being male. But he was so interested in different languages and cultures. That's obviously why we, you know, a big a big reason why we connect it anyway. 0:34:28.920 --> 0:34:30.320 Puffer, Sheila He and I. 0:34:31.240 --> 0:34:31.680 Puffer, Sheila Or the. 0:34:33.220 --> 0:34:36.180 Puffer, Sheila Well, let me see. I think there were two other. 0:34:38.90 --> 0:34:40.610 Puffer, Sheila Non Slavic people in the club. 0:34:41.650 --> 0:34:52.410 Puffer, Sheila And so the people who took Slavic studies courses who took Russian, these people had emigrated from the Czech Republic. They had because in 1960. 0:34:53.930 --> 0:35:6.10 Puffer, Sheila Nine, I think it was, there was the Velvet Revolution in the Czech Republic in what was it called then? Yeah. And. And so people emigrated. And then it wanted easy credit. 0:35:7.860 --> 0:35:11.500 Puffer, Sheila It's an easy course. We called it bird courses. I don't. What do you call them now? 0:35:13.370 --> 0:35:14.570 Alex Bendall Fluffy courses. 0:35:16.100 --> 0:35:16.260 Alex Bendall Yeah. 0:35:21.80 --> 0:35:21.480 Alex Bendall Yeah. 0:35:14.820 --> 0:35:21.500 Puffer, Sheila OK. And so they wanted those and they were forced to learn Russian growing up in, in, in the Czech Republic. 0:35:22.980 --> 0:35:23.620 Puffer, Sheila And so. 0:35:25.420 --> 0:35:51.540 Puffer, Sheila You know, they spoke. They didn't speak very good Russian 'cause they Czech and Russian or they have a lot in common, but they have a lot of place things where you can really mess up if you're just lazy and don't don't seriously speak the language. So the point was, oh, I don't know. I shouldn't say that I maybe they were about four or five English speaking people or a couple of French speaking people. 0:35:52.20 --> 0:36:8.180 Puffer, Sheila Remember them now denigrate Francois Nadeau? Yep. And that's right. And then we had Bernard Julian, who was from Britain and we had and then we had Rick, Rick Pinchuk and he was a Ukrainian refugee. 0:36:9.500 --> 0:36:12.580 Puffer, Sheila So again it was. 0:36:13.940 --> 0:36:20.580 Puffer, Sheila That club was mostly populated by non Canadians, non-native born Canadians. 0:36:21.270 --> 0:36:23.70 Puffer, Sheila And we like that my husband. 0:36:26.50 --> 0:36:26.210 Alex Bendall Yeah. 0:36:29.240 --> 0:36:36.520 Alex Bendall All right. So my next section is the section about generational differences and. 0:36:39.90 --> 0:36:47.210 Alex Bendall So to what extent did your generation believe that your parents notions like gender, family dating, et cetera were outdated? 0:37:3.970 --> 0:37:4.210 Alex Bendall Yeah. 0:37:1.0 --> 0:37:4.920 Puffer, Sheila That's the same values as our parents. And when it came to God. 0:37:7.500 --> 0:37:13.940 Alex Bendall Like you, you specifically or just. Did you feel like that was the case for your whole generation? 0:37:16.150 --> 0:37:23.270 Puffer, Sheila To what extent did we accept or challenge our parents? 0:37:24.690 --> 0:37:29.250 Puffer, Sheila Views on dating and gender gender differences like. 0:37:34.360 --> 0:37:36.560 Puffer, Sheila Hmm. Didn't know. Not nothing really. 0:37:37.880 --> 0:37:42.920 Puffer, Sheila And my husband and I had again sought out unusual people. 0:37:44.240 --> 0:37:47.400 Puffer, Sheila On the campus? Yeah, you're getting the idea. And so. 0:37:49.40 --> 0:37:50.80 Puffer, Sheila There, you know, we found. 0:37:52.100 --> 0:37:53.180 Puffer, Sheila My husband and I were so. 0:37:55.810 --> 0:37:57.530 Puffer, Sheila We were so happy together. 0:37:59.40 --> 0:38:3.360 Puffer, Sheila And we're so curious about people who are a little different. 0:38:4.790 --> 0:38:8.430 Puffer, Sheila That we became friends with single people. 0:38:9.710 --> 0:38:11.150 Puffer, Sheila And we would take them. 0:38:12.470 --> 0:38:28.990 Puffer, Sheila You know on drives and you know, we just hang out with us or whatever. And we had some male ones and we had some female ones. We had some couples. But you know, I know my, my husband said, you know, I think X is probably gay. 0:38:30.190 --> 0:38:35.550 Puffer, Sheila And you know, and this other one, you know, and why is likely? 0:38:37.70 --> 0:38:38.110 Puffer, Sheila To be if you know. 0:38:39.950 --> 0:38:40.390 Puffer, Sheila Lesbian. 0:38:42.370 --> 0:38:48.170 Puffer, Sheila And but we never asked them and we never did. We just were friends with them. 0:38:49.930 --> 0:38:54.90 Puffer, Sheila But they didn't. They weren't people who had boyfriends, girlfriends or anything. 0:38:55.890 --> 0:38:59.610 Puffer, Sheila But we just found them really interesting and they became our friends. 0:39:0.360 --> 0:39:1.120 Alex Bendall Make sense? Yeah. 0:39:3.480 --> 0:39:6.200 Puffer, Sheila Yeah. Yeah, we didn't talk about that stuff. 0:39:9.30 --> 0:39:9.390 Alex Bendall OK. 0:39:12.480 --> 0:39:13.840 Alex Bendall As a follow up, did you feel? 0:39:15.490 --> 0:39:28.170 Alex Bendall That the political system in Canada was like democratic, fair enough, responsive to the citizens needs or to like your generation's needs, do you think? 0:39:29.680 --> 0:39:30.120 Alex Bendall Yeah. OK. 0:39:30.980 --> 0:39:32.420 Puffer, Sheila Very, very, very liberal. 0:39:45.250 --> 0:39:45.570 Alex Bendall Yeah. 0:39:33.840 --> 0:39:53.120 Puffer, Sheila Pierre Trudeau was Prime minister's he was the Prime Minister and he put in the whole bilingualism programme, he put he he was just. I thought it was exceptional. Yeah. And I thought he really transformed society. 0:39:54.170 --> 0:39:55.970 Alex Bendall Yes, definitely. 0:39:56.510 --> 0:40:3.510 Puffer, Sheila Not just bilingualism, but as I said, the Commission on the Status, oh, that's what it was called, the Commission on the status of women. 0:40:5.750 --> 0:40:8.350 Puffer, Sheila And help pull that out from 50 years ago. 0:40:10.200 --> 0:40:10.400 Alex Bendall Yeah. 0:40:15.365 --> 0:40:20.445 Puffer, Sheila I love living in Ottawa. I just loved it. It was bilingual. You had all these. 0:40:21.835 --> 0:40:39.835 Puffer, Sheila International restaurants, because diplomats were there from different parts of the world. So oh, my husband. And we go to African restaurants, we go to, you know, Greek restaurants. And when Greek food wasn't that widespread, you get the idea. It really was. It was a really wonderful place too. 0:40:41.635 --> 0:40:43.955 Puffer, Sheila To be interested in international things. 0:40:44.485 --> 0:41:0.845 Alex Bendall Yeah. I guess with you being so interested in other cultures from around the world, it makes sense that you would like Pierre Trudeau so much, him being such a big part in, like creating Canada into a multicultural society, right? 0:41:1.315 --> 0:41:1.755 Puffer, Sheila Yes. 0:41:2.365 --> 0:41:2.605 Alex Bendall Yeah. 0:41:3.295 --> 0:41:4.255 Puffer, Sheila And actually. 0:41:6.235 --> 0:41:8.75 Puffer, Sheila While I was going to the university. 0:41:9.895 --> 0:41:18.575 Puffer, Sheila One of the early jobs that I had after I was the administrative assistant to that Director of personnel, then I became a Bilingualism Officer. 0:41:21.155 --> 0:41:29.995 Puffer, Sheila At the National Capital Commission it was just awesome because I tested people for their level of bilingualism. I gave them oral and written tests. 0:41:31.445 --> 0:41:32.925 Puffer, Sheila And I have the cutest story. 0:41:34.485 --> 0:41:38.125 Puffer, Sheila Again, I know, I was 20 years old. What do you know when you're 20? 0:41:40.725 --> 0:41:45.205 Puffer, Sheila So I I went, I had this park. 0:41:46.675 --> 0:42:7.235 Puffer, Sheila You know the people who took care of the gate and there were a lot. They mowed the lawns and so on and so forth. But they needed to be bilingual when tourists would come by or, you know, visitors to the park would come by and they were all French speaking. And I was testing them in and they had very little education. 0:42:8.395 --> 0:42:15.595 Puffer, Sheila You know, they might have had a 6th or 8th grade education. They were the nicest people and they had worked there for years and years. 0:42:17.195 --> 0:42:28.315 Puffer, Sheila I tested so I had my tape recorder. Big big tape recorder like this and I thought that I tested them with and. These are men, you know, in their 50s. 0:42:29.715 --> 0:42:30.995 Puffer, Sheila And here I am, 20. 0:42:33.75 --> 0:42:41.555 Puffer, Sheila I start a, oh, a written test and one of the gentlemen as they all sit there and they go, oh whoa. Kind of dear in the headlights. 0:42:42.245 --> 0:42:52.525 Puffer, Sheila And then one gentleman, he, he. They're all wearing their park uniforms and everything. They're all very clean and well groomed and. 0:42:53.265 --> 0:42:57.265 Puffer, Sheila One man said, oh, excuse me one man wise. 0:43:0.235 --> 0:43:6.675 Puffer, Sheila And then I forgot my glasses. I'm sorry, miss. Can't take the written exam in English. 0:43:8.75 --> 0:43:13.755 Puffer, Sheila It was what he was referring to, and then another person said, Oh well, see, do you believe me? 0:43:16.385 --> 0:43:16.545 Alex Bendall OK. 0:43:16.875 --> 0:43:20.395 Puffer, Sheila And it took me a moment and realized, OK, we're not doing. 0:43:29.605 --> 0:43:29.925 Alex Bendall Yeah. 0:43:23.915 --> 0:43:31.275 Puffer, Sheila They didn't need to really write in English anyway. It was just communicating verbally with the park visitors. 0:43:32.195 --> 0:43:40.595 Puffer, Sheila So I mean, I had the most wonderful time with the bilingualism programme that Prime Minister Trudeau implemented. I met the most wonderful people. 0:43:42.45 --> 0:43:42.565 Alex Bendall Nice. 0:43:44.315 --> 0:43:45.595 Puffer, Sheila And I have great respect for them. 0:43:51.185 --> 0:43:53.505 Alex Bendall All right. Well, I have one final. 0:43:55.425 --> 0:44:13.905 Alex Bendall Section here before we end this interview, and so cultural historians have argued that the introduction of birth control, pill legalization of abortion and dissemination of the free ideology change, gender relations and dating practices in the early 1970s. Do you agree with this statement? 0:44:16.945 --> 0:44:19.945 Puffer, Sheila You broke up a little bit there, Alex. Please repeat the question. 0:44:21.735 --> 0:44:37.375 Alex Bendall Cultural historians have argued that the introduction of the birth control pill, the legalization of abortion and the dissemination of the free love ideology changed gender relations and dating practices in the early 1970s. 0:44:38.675 --> 0:44:44.675 Alex Bendall It's like, do you agree with that statement and what did the dating scene look like at UOttawa during the 1970s? 0:44:46.75 --> 0:44:47.835 Puffer, Sheila Yes, it changed dating practices. 0:44:49.215 --> 0:44:52.175 Puffer, Sheila I think women felt a lot, a lot more in control. 0:44:53.385 --> 0:44:53.705 Alex Bendall Yeah. 0:44:53.445 --> 0:44:56.885 Puffer, Sheila And there was more sexual freedom as a result of that. 0:44:58.615 --> 0:45:4.135 Puffer, Sheila And then I had another. Oh. And then, of course, I met my husband as soon as I came on campus. 0:45:6.175 --> 0:45:6.255 Puffer, Sheila Uh. 0:45:28.425 --> 0:45:28.665 Alex Bendall Yeah. 0:45:7.115 --> 0:45:34.75 Puffer, Sheila Within. Ah, well, I started in, you know, September and I met him on January 5th, 1974. So I only had one semester of just going on dates. Right. And then I met my husband and that was it. So yeah, I'm not a good representative of dating for, you know, for my four years of college. 0:45:35.435 --> 0:45:36.315 Puffer, Sheila Dating other people. 0:45:37.315 --> 0:45:38.235 Alex Bendall That makes sense, yeah. 0:45:41.595 --> 0:45:43.835 Alex Bendall All right, well. 0:45:43.875 --> 0:45:47.635 Alex Bendall That's really all I have for the questions that I have written down here. 0:45:48.975 --> 0:45:51.375 Alex Bendall Is there anything else you'd like to talk about or say? 0:45:51.625 --> 0:45:56.825 Puffer, Sheila Oh, that's so nice of you. No, but I'll just tell you one very, very nice thing. 0:45:58.305 --> 0:46:13.945 Puffer, Sheila Not as Nice as some of the other things I've told you, but I've lived in Boston here for a long time. I've lived in the United States since I got. Well, I came here for my PhD. Thanks to those two professors. All right, Jacques and Michel and my husband. 0:46:16.345 --> 0:46:21.865 Puffer, Sheila And so living in Boston, Gosh, I played in a rock band. 0:46:24.895 --> 0:46:25.455 Alex Bendall Really. 0:46:22.725 --> 0:46:27.685 Puffer, Sheila For fun for 20 years and yeah, just every Friday night we'd play. 0:46:35.935 --> 0:46:36.95 Alex Bendall OK. 0:46:29.485 --> 0:46:37.605 Puffer, Sheila And and you know, we had young kids, all of us. We were in her 40s when we started. So it's a long time ago, right and. 0:46:39.805 --> 0:46:53.645 Puffer, Sheila 40S and so anyway, one night there was a new man who was a neighbor of one of the drummer and his wife, who was a singer. So this man is he. 0:46:54.685 --> 0:46:57.925 Puffer, Sheila Kept showing up and he played a really nice bass guitar. 0:47:0.85 --> 0:47:24.485 Puffer, Sheila And then after a couple weeks, I I learned that he was from Ottawa. Oh, really? OK. Turns out he and his wife went to Ottawa U at exactly the same time as undergraduates as my husband and myself. But we were up on Laurie Ave in the art arts and Business School. 0:47:24.985 --> 0:47:36.145 Puffer, Sheila And they were in biology down the hill. We never met them while we were at Ottawa and then Fast forward 25 years or something. And we met them in Boston. They were playing in a rock band together. 0:47:38.485 --> 0:47:39.285 Alex Bendall That's crazy. 0:47:56.165 --> 0:47:56.285 Alex Bendall Hi. 0:47:41.835 --> 0:47:56.435 Puffer, Sheila And the rock band kind of dissolved during COVID. But we kept it together for 20 years, and I'm still friends with them. And they moved back to Ottawa about a number of years ago. So still friends. It's great. 0:47:57.415 --> 0:47:57.735 Puffer, Sheila Yeah. 0:47:57.745 --> 0:47:58.945 Alex Bendall What was your rock band called? 0:48:0.195 --> 0:48:1.315 Puffer, Sheila Off the record. 0:48:2.385 --> 0:48:3.185 Alex Bendall Off the record. 0:48:3.465 --> 0:48:12.225 Puffer, Sheila Yeah, we played all these rock, all these rock tunes which we knew as originals when we were growing up. 0:48:13.365 --> 0:48:14.445 Puffer, Sheila When we were teenagers, yeah. 0:48:15.305 --> 0:48:15.585 Alex Bendall Yeah. 0:48:15.985 --> 0:48:17.905 Puffer, Sheila Yeah, we opened Eagles and we played. 0:48:19.605 --> 0:48:23.805 Puffer, Sheila Oh, we, of course. The Eagles and Rolling Stones and yeah. 0:48:25.85 --> 0:48:28.245 Alex Bendall That's my favorite genre of music right there. That's what I listen to all the time. 0:48:28.845 --> 0:48:33.725 Puffer, Sheila Really. Oh yeah, we loved it, but we, you know, we were the screaming fans back in the day. 0:48:37.275 --> 0:48:42.915 Puffer, Sheila OK, really fun. I will. I would love to have the recording place. 0:48:43.885 --> 0:48:46.85 Alex Bendall Absolutely no problem. 0:48:45.175 --> 0:48:47.935 Puffer, Sheila OK so I am going to a comedy show now. 0:48:49.745 --> 0:48:50.625 Alex Bendall Which comedy show? 0:48:51.115 --> 0:49:5.995 Puffer, Sheila Well, it's an improv show, and I took an 8 week improv class this summer here in Boston. And so now I'm gonna go, which was a blast, really, really fun. So I'm gonna go and see the professionals do it. 0:49:7.65 --> 0:49:7.545 Alex Bendall Nice. 0:49:7.955 --> 0:49:8.115 Puffer, Sheila Yeah. 0:49:8.695 --> 0:49:9.455 Alex Bendall Well, have fun. 0:49:9.745 --> 0:49:16.625 Puffer, Sheila Thanks a lot. Alex, this is fun and yeah, I'll enjoy receiving the recording and the transcript and. 0:49:26.325 --> 0:49:26.765 Alex Bendall All right. 0:49:18.145 --> 0:49:34.385 Puffer, Sheila I will sign that form, but don't worry. It's perfectly fine. You can see I enjoyed myself and I had. I had really wonderful memories. Yeah. Oh, what I didn't tell you my husband's name, for heaven's sake. Because he graduated there. He got a master's in Slavic studies and a PhD in Slavic studies. 0:49:36.225 --> 0:49:40.545 Puffer, Sheila And his name is Hugh Fraser. Fraser. Hugh Hugh. 0:49:41.225 --> 0:49:42.785 Puffer, Sheila Fraser, Fr. A SE R. 0:49:43.985 --> 0:49:45.585 Alex Bendall Alright, thank you. 0:49:44.965 --> 0:49:52.365 Puffer, Sheila There you go. I needed to get that in there. 'cause. He's not around. To be interviewed for the 70s, but he was there, I can guarantee. 0:49:53.165 --> 0:49:53.565 Alex Bendall All right. 0:49:55.55 --> 0:49:57.55 Alex Bendall Well, thank you very much. You too. 0:49:54.695 --> 0:49:58.975 Puffer, Sheila Take care, al. Alright. Have fun. Right. Bye bye bye. 0:49:59.995 --> 0:50:0.235 Alex Bendall Aye. Birthplace Edmonton, Alberta, Canada Schools Attended St. Mary's University Laurentian University University of Ottawa University of California, Berkeley Plekhanov Institute of the National Economy Degree BA Professional degree PhD Career education Occupation University Distinguished Professor of International Business Biographical Text Administrator, Government of Canada Assistant Professor of Management, State University of New York at Buffalo University Distinguished Professor of International Business, Northeastern University Ethnicity chose not to respond Religious Culture Other Devotional Life practicing Gender Identity woman Sexual Orientation straight Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, https://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Puffer, Sheila Description An account of the resource Interview about the subject's time at the University of Ottawa in the 1970's. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2023-10-22 Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource oral history University of Ottawa, Campus Life, Canadian History, Feminism, 1970s, Pop Culture