Interview with Diana Seckla by Diana Dolishny

Diana Seckla grew up in Birch Island, Vancouver, Canada. She was born in Alberta on her parents’ ranch, but moved with her siblings to Vancouver to live with her aunts. Seckla’s mother, Elizabeth McFadden was born into a rich family and lived a life of luxury. She married a Scotsman who had come to Canada to look for work. Because of her rural upbringing, McFadden had a very traditional set of values and a closed view of the world. Though she was rich, McFadden had no desire to visit the cities and learn more about the world she lived in. She chose to stay on the family ranch. McFadden had beliefs quite similar to those of Mrs. Marie Haggarty’s aunts. She believed that a woman was lucky to be able to read and write and anything beyond that was more a hindrance to a woman than a help.

If McFadden had moved to the city, even for just a small amount of time, she would no doubt have seen the value of a woman with an education. While she might not have sought a better education for herself, she might have become a stronger woman, strength being a trait she could have greatly used when her husband left her for the war. However, instead of displaying strength as many other women of her time did, McFadden went slowly insane. She alienated her children by sending them to her sisters to take care of and was eventually admitted to an asylum because she became too much for her husband to handle when he returned from the war. So though McFadden may or may not have benefitted from an education to the point where she would be strong enough to overcome her mental struggles, an education would have benefitted her in some way.