On August 27, 1927, five valiant Canadian women petitioned the Canadian Supreme Court for an answer to a seemingly simple question.
“Does the word ‘persons’ in section 24 of the British North America Act of 1867 include female persons?”
Emily Murphy, Irene Marryat Parlby, Nellie Mooney McClung, Louise Crummy McKinney, and Henrietta Muri Edwards were the five brave women who presented the question to the Canadian Supremes.
The Supremes’ reply came back rapidly.
The simple answer to the simple question was, “No.”
The last line of the judgement read: “Understood to mean ‘Are women eligible for appointment to the Senate of Canada.’ the question is answered in the negative.”
Two years later, the judgement was overturned by the British Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. The case would become known as the “Persons Case.”
Canadian women – British/Canadian citizens – already had the right to vote in some provinces and in federal elections by 1929, they just couldn’t be senators.
The case was part of a continent-wide push for political equality.
Some seven years prior, the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution was passed. Its prohibiting sex-based discrimination in voting rights in the United States, emboldened the Canadian women in their fight.
The Privy Council’s reversal ushered in an era of change to Canadian judicial approach to their constitution; it would become known as the living tree doctrine and provided that the constitution is organic and must be read in a broad and progressive manner which would allow it to adapt to changing times.
That philosophy continues with our Northern neighbors today.
As it often goes with trailblazers and activists, none of the five women became senators.
Cairine Reay Wilson of Quebec (does everyone in Canada have three names?) captured the gold ring of becoming the first female to land a seat in the Senate when she was appointed to her seat four months after the ruling.
In 2009, some 80 years after the ruling, the Canadian Senate passed a resolution making the five women who engaged the battle ‘honorary senators.’
One half of the population moved from being mere women to persons in 1929 due to the efforts of the Valiant Five as they came to be known. The women continued efforts to improve women’s rights.
They fought for other causes as well and were not without controversy.
Although they were trailblazers, they were women of their times with opinions ingrained in the continental make UP for centuries.
A few opposed non-white immigration and supported eugenics legislation resulting in the sterilization of many deemed mentally deficient
Murphy, the most outspoken, was not shy with her opinions, often turning people away.
McClung was the most palatable and therefore the most popular. Her causes include the right to vote, prohibition, women in the church.
All were rabid prohibitionists.
You know, “Lips that touch wine, will never touch mine,” stuff like that.
Emily Murphy became the British Empire’s first female judge. Irene Parlby was the first female Cabinet member in Alberta, Nellie McClung was an author and member of the Alberta legislature, Louise McKinney was the first woman elected to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, and Henrietta Edwards, an advocate for working women and author was a founding member of the Victorian order of nurses.
Win or lose, right or wrong, their achievements are substantial, and they were women of influence.
She’s not Canadian, but, hey, it works…