Accession 2000-50 - Helen (Nell) Arzab, Regina Group for a non-nuclear society material

Helen (Nell) Arzab was born in Melville, Saskatchewan in 1955, she was a student at the University of Regina from 1973 to 1980 studying art and political science. Arzab was a founding member of the Regina Group for a Non-Nuclear Society in the early 1980's, and along with other Regina citizens, was concerned with the on-going nuclear arms race and the complicity of Saskatchewan’s uranium mining industry in supplying high grade uranium for nuclear warheads.

This public awareness group arranged marches and demonstrations, and leaflet campaigns. On the steps of the Saskatchewan Legislative building a staged public performance skit was held to help get their message out and to further protest uranium dust being transported on Saskatchewan highways, a sign was placed near the north end of Albert Street declaring the city of Regina a Nuclear Free Zone.

In 1997, Nell took part in the first international labour studies debate, held online through Solinet, a computer conferencing system designed for trade unions. She has co-taught courses at the University of Regina and was an online copy editor for an American labour e-zine called Disgruntled; later the e-zine evolved into a book (by Daniel Levine). For five years Nell was an online arts columnist for a women’s creative arts journal called Moondance.

Today Nell is a Special-Education Educational Assistant in the Regina Public School system and an encaustic artist who paints abstract organic designs with hot wax. She remains politically active making the world a better place by recycling and gardening, choosing public transportation over owning a car and has planted hundreds of trees.