Background
Daughter of Catherine (née) Bowman and George Cheeseman, an immigrant from England who became a physician working for the Canadian Pacific Railway, Rosalie Alma Cheeseman was born in Calgary, Alberta in 1931.
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Rosalie Gower
Edit ProfileEducation
She completed a certificate in nursing, and then moved with her husband to San Francisco where he had found work.
Career
She was raise in Field, British Columbia. After travelling to various locations, they settled in Vernon, British Columbia. They had a son in 1958, a daughter in 1960, and two more sons in 1962 and 1965.
She kept her finances separate from his.
Gower obtained a seat on Vernon city council in 1972. At first, due to a fear of flying, she travelled around the country to hearings by train, but this allowed her the time to read the lengthy documents necessary for the decisions about such issues as granting broadcast licenses, cable television rights, and Canadian content regulations.
She was steadfast in her position that public interest ought to come before telecommunications industry profits. She became known for her effective advocacy for improved media portrayals of women.
Membership
She caught the attention of the local member of federal Parliament, who recommended her to the CRTC where she became first a part-time commissioner, and then, in 1980, a full-time commissioner based in Ottawa.
