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Canadian Women's History
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Stories from Canadian Women's History
1715 The Story of Thanandelthur
In the early 1700s, the Chipewyan people who lived further north along the Churchill River found themselves under attack by Cree war parties with European weapons. Thanadelthur was one of three Chipewyan woman who were captured by the Cree in a raid in 1713. She escaped, and nearly starved to death, but she found a hunting party from the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) who took her to York Fort on November 24, 1714.
Thanadelthur told the governor, James Knight, that the unarmed Chipewyan people could not come to Hudson's Bay to trade because the Cree, who had guns, were waging war against them. Knight was impressed by her intelligence, and employed her as a translator. She told him many stories about her people, their fur and told Knight of a mine of yellow metal [copper] in the northwest, beyond the Churchill River. Knight soon organized an expedition and assigned clerk William Stuart to lead it beyond Cree territory, guided by Thanadelthur.
On June 30, 1715, Thanadelthur left with expedition leader William Stuart, an HBC employee, and a group of Cree anxious to establish peace with their Chipewyan neighbours. However, the expedition was plagued with sickness and hunger. Many Cree returned to their homelands, those that remained were forced to separate to survive.
On June 27, 1715, Stuart, Thanadelthur and 150 Cree left Fort York. The expedition was plagued with sickness and hunger. Most of the Cree returned to their homelands, but the rest of the party continued across the tundra at the edge of the Boreal forest. They reached the vicinity of Great Slave Lake, and found five Chipewyans, killed by Cree. Thanadelthur persuaded them to wait ten days while she, alone, went to get the rest of the Chipewyan. She came back at the last minute with more than 100 Chipewyan willing to secure peace with the Cree and trade with the English. She managed to bring peace between the sides by a long and hard negotiation.
Thanadelthur and Stuart returned to York Fort with 10 Cree and 10 Chipewyan on May 7, 1716, after nearly 11 months. Stuart told Knight that Thanadelthur had been instrumental in their success. She remained at York Factory as a mediator, and helped Knight plan future expeditions, but she fell ill and died on February 7, 1717. As Knight said of her: "She was one of a very high Spirit and of the Firmest Resolution that every I see in any Body in my Days and of great Courage."
However, once the Chipewyan had European weapons they attacked the Cree and began to expand their own trading connections as far west as the Mackenzie River where the Dene Nation lived.
1914 The Winnipeg Mock Parliament
On January 28, 1914, Nellie McClung and her Political Equality League staged a mock Parliament in the Walker Theatre in Winnipeg, debating whether to give men the vote. Some of the actors argued that while men put forward a "splendid appearance, man is made for something higher and better than voting." They also presented petitions to govern men's clothing and to introduce labour-saving devices for men's work. McClung herself played the role of Premier of Manitoba.
"Judging from the aggregation of femininity at the Walker Theatre last night, Winnipeg homes must have been masculine manned for once in their existence during the evening. The big theatre was packed to the roof with all ages and types of "the female of the species," undoubtedly as a demonstration of sympathy with the women who sought in vain the other day for the extension of the franchise to women in Manitoba.
"From the standpoint of an entertainment, it was excellent and few burlesques or light comedy productions have ever met with a heartier response than last night's burlesque on the system of government as it exists today. The performers may have been amateurs, but they were only amateur in name. As a matter of fact they were the real thing so far as woman suffrage is concerned so they were naturally quite at home in their roles, even if they were a wee bit nervous at first. But the spirit of the thing seemed to catch them all and consequently the performance was an entire success, from both the point of view of artists and the audience. The women who portrayed the characters of politicians both in and out of office appeared to take quite naturally to their parts; in fact, it might be said that they actually revelled in the pretence of holding office and that secret ambition they all shared is undoubtedly accountable for the great success of the entire program."
Two years later, on January 28, 1916, Manitoba became the first province in Canada to allow women the right to vote and to hold provincial office.
See also: *CBC Archives
1927 The Famous Five and the Persons Case
The Famous Five or The Valiant Five were five Canadian women who, in 1927 asked the Supreme Court of Canada to answer the question, "Are women persons?" The case came to be known as the Persons Case. The Famous Five were:
- Emily Murphy (the British Empire's first woman judge);
- Irene Marryat Parlby (farm women's leader, activist and first woman Cabinet minister in Alberta);
- Nellie Mooney McClung (a famous suffragist and member of the Alberta legislature);
- Louise Crummy McKinney (one of the first women elected to the House of Commons of Canada, and
- Henrietta Muir Edwards (an advocate for working women and founder of the Victorian Order of Nurses).
Background of the "Persons" Case, 1927-1929
The British North America Act of 1867, that created the Dominion of Canada, used the word "persons" to refer to more than one person, and "he" to refer to one person.
A ruling in British common law in 1876 said that "Women are persons in matters of pains and penalties, but are not persons in matters of rights and privileges."
In 1916, Alberta social activist Emily Murphy was appointed as the first woman police magistrate in Alberta. Her appointment was challenged on the grounds that women were not "persons under the BNA Act."
In 1917, the Alberta Supreme Court ruled that women were indeed "persons". That ruling only applied within the province of Alberta.
Judge Murphy then allowed her name to be put forward as a candidate for the Senate, but PM Robert Borden turned her down because she was not considered a "person" under the BNA Act.
In 1927, Judge Murphy started an initiative to open the Senate to women. She and the four other women she chose for the campaign - Henrietta Muir Edwards, Louise McKinney, Irene Parlby and Nellie McClung - were skilled social reform militants. They felt that Senate membership for women was important, because, until the 1970s, it approved divorces, and women in the Senate would help it make more equitable decisions on family matters. Now known as the Famous Five, the group signed a petition to the Senate, asking "Does the word "persons" in Section 24, of The British North America Act, 1867, include female persons?" The Senate declined to consider the matter.
In 1927, Emily Murphy decided to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada for clarification. On August 27, 1927, the Famous Five asked the Supreme Court of Canada to examine the meaning of the word "persons" in Section 24 of the British North America Act to determine whether it included female persons. The Court took the question under consideration on March 14, 1928.
On April 24, 1928, the Supreme Court of Canada answered "no." The decision was that when the BNA Act was written in 1867, women did not vote, run for office, nor serve as elected officials; only male nouns and pronouns were used in the BNA Act; and since the British House of Lords did not have a woman member, Canada should not change the tradition for its Senate. One of the Supreme Court's arguments held that the Act should be interpreted in light of the times in which it was written. Since women were not politically active in 1867, they could not be elected.
The Famous Five appealed the Supreme Court of Canada decision to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in England, at the time the highest court of appeal for Canada, with the help of new Canadian Prime Minister Mackenzie King. The women went to London, England, to appeal to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, which was effectively Canada's highest court at that time.
On October 18, 1929, the five Lords of the Judicial Committee came to the unanimous conclusion that "the word ‘persons' in Section 24 included both the male and female sex." Lord Sankey, Lord Chancellor of the Privy Council, wrote that "yes, women are persons ... and eligible to be summoned and may become Members of the Senate of Canada." The Privy Council also said "that the exclusion of women from all public offices is a relic of days more barbarous than ours. And to those who would ask why the word "persons" should include females, the obvious answer is, why should it not?"
Four months later, in 1930, Mackenzie King appointed Cairine Wilson to the Canadian Senate. Many expected he would chose Emily Murphy, because of her leadership role in the Persons Case, but Murphy was a Conservative, and Cairine Wilson had worked as a Liberal party organizer.
Along with Thérèse Casgrain, the Famous Five have been commemorated on Canada's newest fifty-dollar bill.
The Famous Five have also been commemorated with a statue on Canada's Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Canada and at the Olympic Plaza in Calgary, located in the women's home province of Alberta. The City of Edmonton has named five parks in its River Valley Parks System in honour of each of the "Famous Five".
External links
- " Famous Five site, with archival correspondence on the Persons case.
- " The Famous Five Foundation "educates and inspires Canadians by celebrating the value of women's leadership and achievements. The foundation builds leadership capacity in our community, commemorating the F5's conviction, courage and tenacity."
- Canadian Human Rights Commission
1946 - Viola Desmond Takes on Nova Scotia's Black Segregation Laws
When she sat in the lower "Whites Only" house seats, the manager ordered her to sit in the balcony which was designated for Black patrons. When she refused, he called the police and she was arrested, dragged bodily from the theatre and thrown in jail overnight for 12 hours. Bruised and angry, she sat bolt upright all night on the hard jail bench, wearing her white gloves. In the morning she was charged with "attempting to defraud the Federal Government" based on her refusal to pay the one cent amusement tax difference between the 3 cents charged to those sitting in the balcony and the 2 cents charged to those sitting downstairs. Even though she had offered to pay the difference in ticket price, she was convicted of failing to pay the tax on the downstairs ticket. After a short trial Viola was sentenced to a fine of $20 plus court costs and 30 days in prison.
The new Nova Scotia Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NSAACP), founded in 1945 by William Oliver and Pearleen Oliver, raised the money to pay her fine and fight her conviction. Her lawyer took the case to the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia, but her appeal lost on a technicality. Viola Desmond's action took place almost ten years before Rosa Parks boarded a bus for home in Montgomery, Alabama and remained seated after being ordered to give up her seat to a white passenger, in an action that was a key part of the U.S. civil rights movement. The Nova Scotia government finally repealed the laws allowing segregation in 1954.
1981 Ad Hoc Women and the Constitution Conference
Women's groups wanted a stronger equality rights clause and a specific guarantee of equal rights between men and women. To this end the Canadian Advisory Council on the Status of Women (CACSW) organized a National Conference on Women and the Constitution. But government interference helped cancel it. The council's president, Doris Anderson (left), resigned in protest, and the women went ahead with intense lobbying and their own ad hoc conference on Parliament Hill.
In April 1981, Article 28, which stated that "Not withstanding anything in this Charter, the rights and freedoms referred to in it are guaranteed equally to male and female persons", was added to the Charter.
2000 Famous Five Monument Unveiled on Parliament Hill
This bronze sculpture was first installed in Olympic Plaza in Calgary on Persons' Day, October 18, 1999. It depicts Nellie McClung, Irene Parlby, Emily Murphy, Louise McKinney and Henrietta Muir Edwards celebrating their important legal victory in the "Persons" Case, a 1929 court ruling which legally declared women as persons under the British North America Act and made them eligible for appointment to the Canadian Senate.
A copy was donated to the Government of Canada by the Famous 5 Foundation, and inaugurated on Persons' Day, October 18, 2000, on Parliament Hill.
The Famous five are, left to right:- Nellie L. McClung (1847-1951), holding a newspaper with the headline "Women are Persons". McClung was a novelist and journalist, active in the votes for women and temperance campaigns, and a Liberal Party activist. She became an Alberta MLA, was the only woman on the Dominion War Council, and the first woman on the CBC Board of Governors.
<li>Irene Parlby (1878-1965), was elected president of the women's branch of the United Farmers of Alberta in 1916, an Alberta MLA in 1921, and at the time of the Persons case was a Member of Parliament.
<li>Emily G. Murphy (1868-1933), judge, journalist, and first woman magistrate in the British Empire. She was National President of the Canadian Women's Press Club 1913-1920, vice-president of the National Council of Women and first president of the Federated Women's Institutes of Canada.
<li>Henrietta Muir Edwards, (1849-1933), journalist, leader in the fght for votes for women, equal rights for wives, mothers' allowances and women's rights. In 1875, she started the Working Girls' Association, a forerunner of the YWCA, in Montreal.
<li>Louise McKinney (1868-1931), politician, temperance campaigner, president of the Dominion Women's Christian Union; Alberta MLA in 1917 as representative of the non-partisan league.</ol>
An illustration of the Famous Five sculpture also appears on Canada's new $50 banknote. It was engraved by Jorge Peral, Art Director, Canadian Bank Note Company. In the bottom left corner of the back of the $50 note is a depiction of a newspaper headline that reads: "Women are Persons, Les femmes sont des personnes."
This journal tablet represents the newspaper headlines as they appeared on 18 October 1929, and is an enlargement of the newspaper held by Nellie McClung in the statue.
[edit]External Links
2006 Cindy Klassen Canada's Most Decorated Olympian
Klassen also won gold in the 1500-metres on Feb. 23, beating German rival and defending champion Anni Friesinger in the next to last pairing, pulling ahead with 400 metres left and crossing the finish line in one minute, 55.27 seconds.
Klassen won a bronze medal in the 3,000 at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics. At Turin, she won a record five medals – gold in the 1,500, silvers in the 1,000 and team pursuit, and bronze in the 3,000 and 5,000.
Klassen is now Canada's most-decorated Olympian with six career medals. Short-track speed skater Marc Gagnon, long track skater Clara Hughes and runner Philip Edwards come second with five career Olympic medals each.
