Women | The Canadian Encyclopedia

Browse "Women"

Displaying 16-30 of 71 results
  • Interview

    In Conversation with Marcia McClung

    Special projects editor Eli Yarhi interviews Marcia McClung, granddaughter of suffragist, reformer, legislator and author Nellie McClung, for The Canadian Encyclopedia.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/6aa02b16-992b-4a58-a982-82de598aa6ce.mp3 In Conversation with Marcia McClung
  • Article

    Françoise David

    Françoise David, CQ, community organizer, politician and feminist activist (born 13 January 1948 in Montreal, QC). Chair of the Fédération des femmes du Québec from 1994 to 2001, David was elected member of the National Assembly of Quebecin 2012 and was co-spokesperson for Québec solidaire from 2006 to 2017.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/c647b1ce-e0f7-4756-af2b-9729339c538c.jpg Françoise David
  • Article

    Ellen Fairclough

    Ellen Louks Fairclough, politician (born on 28 January 1905 in Hamilton, Ontario; died 13 November 2004 in Hamilton). A chartered accountant by profession, she became secretary of state and Canada's first woman federal cabinet minister in John Diefenbaker’s 1957 Conservative government. She was instrumental as head of the Department of Citizenship and Immigration in pushing for less racist immigration policies. She also pushed for granting Status Indians the right to vote (see Indigenous Suffrage.)

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/a047218-v8.jpg Ellen Fairclough
  • Article

    Elsie Gibbons

    Elsie May Gibbons (née Thacker), first woman elected as mayor of a municipality in Québec (born 23 May 1903 in Ottawa, Ontario; died 28 January 2003 in Shawville, Québec). In 2015 the pioneering role of Gibbons in municipal politics was recognized by the Québec government, and in 2017 the Elsie-Gibbons award was created by the Fédération Québécoise des Municipalités.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/81d4820a-348d-4c50-ac01-d7436b673960.jpg Elsie Gibbons
  • Article

    Elsie Knott

    Elsie Marie Knott (née Taylor), Ojibwe chief, community leader, entrepreneur (born 20 September 1922 on Mud Lake Reserve [now Curve Lake First Nation], ON; died there on 3 December 1995). Knott was the first elected female First Nations chief in Canada, after a 1951 amendment to the Indian Act permitted Indigenous women to vote and participate in band governments. She was also chief of her First Nation for 14 years, from 1954 to 1962 and from 1970 to 1976. Knott was dedicated to preserving the Ojibwe language and was known for her community activism and support of education.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/new_article_images/curvelake/curve lake.JPG Elsie Knott
  • Article

    Emily Murphy

    Emily Murphy (née Ferguson, pen name Janey Canuck), writer, journalist, magistrate, political and legal reformer (born 14 March 1868 in Cookstown, ON; died 27 October 1933 in Edmonton, AB). Emily Murphy was the first woman magistrate in the British Empire. She was also one of the Famous Five behind the Persons Case, the successful campaign to have women declared persons in the eyes of British law. A self-described rebel, she was an outspoken feminist and suffragist and a controversial figure. Her views on immigration and eugenics have been criticized as racist and elitist. She was named a Person of National Historic Significance in 1958 and an honorary senator in 2009.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/Twitter_Cards/Murphy.jpg Emily Murphy
  • Article

    Emily Murphy (Plain-Language Summary)

    Emily Murphy (née Ferguson), pen name Janey Canuck, writer, journalist, magistrate, political and legal reformer (born 14 March 1868 in Cookstown, ON; died 27 October 1933 in Edmonton, AB). Emily Murphy was the first woman magistrate (justice of the peace) in the British Empire. She was also one of the Famous Five behind the Persons Case. It ruled that women were persons in the eyes of the law. Murphy was an outspoken feminist and suffragist. She is also controversial. Her views on immigration and eugenics have been seen as racist and elitist. She was named a Person of National Historic Significance in 1958. She was made an honorary senator in 2009. This article is a plain-language summary of Emily Murphy. If you are interested in reading about this topic in more depth, please see our full-length entry: Emily Murphy.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/f2df0151-1333-440b-ae34-65430693183c.jpg Emily Murphy (Plain-Language Summary)
  • Article

    Emily Murphy's Famous Triumph

    The following article is an editorial written by The Canadian Encyclopedia staff. Editorials are not usually updated. “I feel equal,” wrote Emily Murphy in 1927, “to high and splendid braveries.” By that point in her life, the 59-year-old native of Cookstown, Ontario, had earned the right to big ambitions: her achievements included turns as a successful writer (under the name “Janey Canuck”), social activist, self-taught legal expert and, as of 1916, the first woman magistrate in the British Empire. She was also a wife and mother.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/f2df0151-1333-440b-ae34-65430693183c.jpg Emily Murphy's Famous Triumph
  • Article

    Ethel Blondin-Andrew

    Ethel Blondin-Andrew, OC, public servant, politician (born 25 March 1951 at Fort Norman [Tulita], NT). She was the first Indigenous woman elected to Parliament when she won the Western Arctic seat for the Liberals in the federal election of 1988. During her parliamentary career, from 1988 to 2006, Blondin-Andrew worked to protect Indigenous languages, cultures and peoples. She was appointed an Officer to the Order of Canada in 2022.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/Ethel_Blondin_Andrew.jpg Ethel Blondin-Andrew
  • Article

    Evelyn Cavendish Duchess of Devonshire

    Evelyn Emily Mary Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, vice-regal consort of Canada (1916–21) and Mistress of the Robes to Queen Mary (1910–16 and 1921–53) (born 27 August 1870 in Wiltshire, United Kingdom; died 2 April 1960 in London, United Kingdom).

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/Duchess_of_Devonshire.jpg Evelyn Cavendish Duchess of Devonshire
  • Macleans

    Fall From Grace

    Inside the high-flying life of Sen. Pamela Wallin—and how it all came crashing down in a frenzy of backstabbing and bitterness. In Maclean’s second major profile of a senator caught in scandal, Anne Kingston reports.This article was originally published in Maclean's Magazine on September 23, 2013

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    https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/images/tce_placeholder.jpg?v=e9dca980c9bdb3aa11e832e7ea94f5d9 Fall From Grace
  • Article

    Famous Five

    Alberta’s “Famous Five” were petitioners in the groundbreaking Persons Case. The case was brought before the Supreme Court of Canada in 1927. It was decided in 1929 by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, Canada’s highest appeals court at the time. The group was led by judge Emily Murphy. It also included  Henrietta Edwards, Nellie McClung, Louise McKinney and Irene Parlby. Together, the five women had many years of active work in various campaigns for women’s rights dating back to the 1880s and 1890s. They enjoyed a national — and in the case of McClung, an international — reputation among reformers.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/65699b89-06c0-4518-aa06-4eea43f2ec74.jpg Famous Five
  • Article

    Famous Five (Plain-Language Summary)

    The “Famous Five” were the women behind the Persons Case. It was a constitutional ruling. It established the right of women to serve in the Senate. It ruled in 1929 that women were persons in the eyes of the law. The case was started by the Famous Five. They were a group of women activists. They were led by justice Emily Murphy. The other women were Henrietta Muir Edwards, Nellie McClung, Louise McKinney and Irene Parlby. The five had been working for women’s rights since the 1880s and 1890s. This article is a plain-language summary of the Famous Five. If you are interested in reading about this topic in more depth, please see our full-length entry: Famous Five.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/65699b89-06c0-4518-aa06-4eea43f2ec74.jpg Famous Five (Plain-Language Summary)
  • Article

    Flora Isabel MacDonald

    Flora Isabel MacDonald, politician (born 3 June 1926 in North Sydney, NS; died 26 July 2015 in Ottawa, ON). Between 1956 and 1965 she worked at the Progressive CONSERVATIVE PARTY headquarters, where she was executive secretary for 5 years. She was then national secretary of the PC Assn 1966-69 while working at Queen's U.

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    https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/images/tce_placeholder.jpg?v=e9dca980c9bdb3aa11e832e7ea94f5d9 Flora Isabel MacDonald
  • Article

    Florence Bird

    Florence Bayard Bird (née Rhein, pseudonym Anne Francis), CC, senator, journalist, broadcaster and author (born 15 January 1908 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; died 18 July 1998 in Ottawa, Ontario). Chair of the Royal Commission on the Status of Women in Canada from 1967 to 1970, Florence Bird made her name as a broadcast journalist for CBC/Radio-Canada, reporting news and producing documentaries on women’s working conditions and on conditions for women in Canada’s prisons.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/8031c664-1aa6-4efc-a97d-d81b9847f2ca.jpg Florence Bird