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McClung's Mock Parliament
It was a Canadian contribution to suffrage drama and suffrage campaigns. Art productions were written to raise money and generate sympathy for women’s suffrage.
Important people involved: Arminda Myrtal Blakely, A.J. McClung, Dr. Amelia Yeomans -
Emily Murphy First Magistrate
In March of 1916, members of the Edmonton Local Council of Women tried to attend the trial of several women who had been arrested as prostitutes. The women were ejected from the court "not fitting for mixed company." Murphy was outraged asking the government for a special court presided over by women. The Minister agreed, and offered Murphy the post of presiding over such a court. Murphy accepted the offer was appointed police magistrate for Edmonton and then the first woman magistrate. -
Women Get Right to vote
Women were serving in the war, taking over from the men in factories and offices and holding families together while the men were overseas. They couldn't be kept out of political life anymore.
Women got the federal vote in three stages: the Military Voters Act of 1917 allowed women in the armed services to vote; the Wartime Election Act extended the vote to women who had relatives serving overseas; and all women over 21 were allowed to vote as of January 1, 1919.
Important people: Emily Stowe -
First Woman MP
Agnes Campbell Macphail , a Canadian politician, who once was elected to the Canadian House of Commons from 1921 to 1940, was thought as the first woman to be elected to parliament. -
Persons Case-Canada's ruling
While women were granted the right to vote in most Canadian provinces, women were not legally recognized as "persons." It was the "Famous 5" (Emily Murphy was the leader) who contested the legal interpretation of the word "person" in April,1927. The Supreme Court of Canada decided that women were not "persons" under the Constitution.
Important people involved: Emily Murphy, Mackenzie King -
Women Legally Persons
In 1928, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that women were not “persons” However, Emily Murphy and 4 other women appealed to the Privy Council of England, which in 1929 reversed the Court’s decision. The legal recognition of women as “persons” meant that women could no longer be denied rights based on a narrow interpretation of the law.
Important people involved: Emily Murphy, Mackenzie King -
Women Get Right to be Elected in the House of commons
Women in Canada gain the right to hold a seat in the House of Commons after the Persons’ Case finds that women are persons under the Canadian Constitution.
Important people involved: Emily Murphy, Irene Parlby, Nellie McClung, Henrietta Muir Edwards and Louise Crummy McKinney -
Equal Pay for Women
The federal government passed the Female Employees Equal Pay Act. It guaranteed equal pay for women doing "identical or substantially identical" work as men. But it didn't work well immediately.
Important People involved: Louis St. Laurent -
First Woman Cabinet Minister
Ellen Louks Fairclough was the first woman ever to serve in the Canadian Cabinet appointed in 1957. -
First Woman Lieutenant-Governor
Mrs. McGibbon was installed as the first female Lieutenant Governor of Ontario on January 17, 1974, and thus became the first female Governor in Canada. She held the Office until 1980.
Important people involved: Mrs. McGibbon -
First woman Governor-General
Trudeau recommended that she appointed Sauvé as her representative. Jeanne Sauvé was approved on January 28th 1984 and then became the first woman to serve as Canada's governor general.
Important people involved: Jeanne Sauvé Trudeau -
First female Prime Minister
Avril Kim Campbell was the first female prime minister in Canadian history, taking officially on June 25, 1993. after the retirement of the former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney.
Important people involved :Brian Mulroney, Kim Campbell