By Emily Fobert
At the age of 83, Alma Norman appears to conform to the typical preconceptions of a ‘granny.’ She is kind and caring and always has a tea kettle boiling and a pot of homemade soup on the stove when a guest is expected. Her petite stature, dark grey hair, and glasses complete the sweet and gentle granny image. But don’t be fooled, beneath her sugar-coated shell, Norman is a Raging Granny.
She is not the only granny of this character. In Ottawa alone there are at least 14 other elderly women who dress in floral print skirts, shawls, and tacky gardening hats to conceal their true nature. These grannies know what they want and they are not afraid of causing some trouble to get it.
“Oh, we don’t mind causing trouble,” says Norman. “We just don’t cause violence.”
The Raging Grannies is a peace activist group for women over 50. The group started in 1986 in Victoria, B.C., when a number of elderly women paddled out into the Georgia Strait in rubber dinghies to protest against nuclear submarines, says the Ottawa grannies’ oldest and longest member, 90-year-old Virginia Cameron. It didn’t take long for Raging Grannies groups to spread across Canada, reaching the East Coast, before heading south into the United States.
The Grannies started out as a peace group, but as it expanded, they lent their voices to an increasingly broader range of issues, such as the environment, homelessness, racism, and health care, to name a few.
One concern that receives much of the Grannies’ attention today is Canada’s military presence in Afghanistan. Their interests include issues such as the question of security certificates, Islamophobia, attacks on civil liberties and the sale of children’s war toys, which they protest every Christmas.
“We think it’s a mistake for us to be there because it’s an aggressive war,” says Norman. “The Americans started it and we think we’re following the Americans’ aggressive approach rather than focusing on building. We’re aggravating anger against Canadians.”
The Grannies are known for their non-violent protesting through song and theatre, edgy satirical lyrics, and amusing costumes, in particular their outrageous hats.
The idea behind the conspicuous granny apparel was to “dress the way people think grannies dress,” says Norman, to better play the role of the sweet little old lady.
The hats are their trademark. Norman has three different hats that she can choose from depending on the occasion. The first is a red and white striped dunce cap that she prefers if the Grannies are protesting anything related to the United States trying to control Canada. The others are a yellow gardening hat and a floppy blue sunhat, both covered in buttons, that she chooses between depending on her mood. After all, she says, dressing up is part of the fun.
Norman is essentially the leader of the Ottawa division of the Raging Grannies. “We don’t have official offices, but Alma [Norman] has really taken the lead of the Grannies,” says Cameron.
Norman joined the Ottawa Grannies in the late 1980s when she heard about the group through a friend, but it soon fizzled out. In the early 90s, she decided to restart the Grannies, and nearly 20 years later, the group is still very active.
“I’ve always been involved. I’ve always been concerned with what was right. I don’t remember a time when I wasn’t interested in these sort of things,” says Norman.
At the age of 15, Norman was attending high school in the United States, where the big event of the school year was a field trip to Washington, D.C.
“The coloured girls weren’t allowed to go, and so I said well then I won’t go,” says Norman. “No one could understand why I did that. They said it wouldn’t make a difference whether I went or not, they still weren’t going to let them go.”
But ever since she was a young girl, Norman says she knew right from wrong. Her mother was not politically active, but she had a strong sense of decency, which Norman says she picked up on.
Throughout her lifetime, she has helped establish many groups and organizations, adding strength to her push for social justice. These include activist theatre groups and Ottawa’s first women’s shelter, but Norman always makes time for the Grannies.
“She’s a dynamic outgoing individual, with a great sense of justice and fairness, and she’s passionate about her beliefs,” says Wylie Norman, her husband of 57 years. “I think it’s wonderful what she does.”
In a meeting room at the Church of St. John the Evangelist, at the corner of Elgin and Somerset Streets, seven of the Ottawa Grannies gather. They chit-chat about their families and upcoming travel plans as they work to set up a table and chairs for their meeting.
A discussion breaks out about the seating plan around the table – apparently those with hearing aids can maximize their hearing by sitting at a corner. “But a table only has four corners,” laughs Norman. “What do we do?”
Just then, Ria Heynen shouts, “I can’t find my hearing aid!”
“Oh I remembered mine today, you can sit beside me and she’ll shout in my good ear, and I’ll transmit it to you,” Norman jokes.
The room fills with the sounds of giggling grannies.
The Grannies meet every other Friday in the church to discuss their upcoming agendas and practice their new songs. Although they may be losing their hearing, these women have not lost their knack for getting their voices heard.
“Our singing is not exactly operatic quality,” laughs Norman, “but the words really do have impact…it’s the satire that gives the punch.”
Norman says she believes the Grannies’ songs are a more effective protesting tool than traditional methods.
“Just straight forward insults or rudeness will make people angry or defensive, but satire is like a pin prick…what can you do if it’s based on truth?”
Although the Grannies don’t want to be seen as an entertainment group, they have certainly developed a fan base. Norman remembers several instances when security guards were sent to quiet the Grannies, and after doing so, complimented them on their efforts.
“I remember one time talking to a policeman and I said, ‘You know, you should ask your mom to join us’ and he said he probably would,” says Norman.
Not all protests end in as friendly a manner, however, and Norman says each granny has to decide for herself how far she is willing to go for the cause.
She says the Grannies have been in protests where a few have climbed over a police barrier and were arrested. Generally the Grannies manage to avoid any serious repercussions by being “always sweet and sometimes stupid,” says Norman.
In December, while the Grannies were singing satirical Christmas carols to protest the sale of war toys at the St. Laurent Shopping Centre, security guards came rushing out shouting, “Who’s in charge here?”
The Grannies blamed their faulty hearing and responded, “We don’t charge, we do this for free.”
Norman will continue to perform for free – as long as she has a voice, she will continue to fight to make it heard.
“It’s the little victories, you know, it’s a little step forward here and a little victory there, and a little success somewhere else, we don’t have huge victories,” she says, but it’s been enough to keep her and the Grannies going all these years.