"HOW ALBERTA CHANGED CANADA ... FOREVER"
Alberta women
were the first women in Canada to:
(click on each one to find out who they are)
were the first women in Canada to:
(click on each one to find out who they are)
1908
(as stated at the Alberta Archives exhibit)
1916
ALSO READ our blog post:
First Female Judge
At least 10 times, in Canada's history, Alberta women have been the first women in Canada (if not the entire British Commonwealth) to achieve what they achieved right here in Alberta.
Know it....
Albertans have been at the forefront of women's rights in Canada.
And these days the Canadian Senate - which Alberta women had a hand in changing back in 1929 - is more relevant today than it ever has been. Just think of the current Bill 69 (relating to natural resource development in Canada) that it is mulling over. To think that less than 90 years ago, women did not even have a right to be appointed to the Canadian Senate because the Federal Government still did not recognize women as persons under the law.
Many
of us might recognize the names: Emily Murphy,
Nellie McClung and Louise McKinney, Irene Parlby and Henrietta Edwards. These Famous Five achieved the final
British Privy Council appeal decision (in England because that was where the ultimate power was in 1929) that would leave absolutely no doubt that women are indeed people too and that
they should have the same right as men to be appointed to the Canadian Senate (the Upper House of the Canadian Parliament). The interesting thing is that these 5 women were Albertans (born elsewhere mind you, but still Albertans).
Before the words the "Famous Five" were uttered, these awesome Alberta women and others achieved Canada and Commonwealth firsts.
A
little over 101 years ago, Albertans elected their first two women to the
Legislative Assembly of Alberta.
Albertans were the first Canadians and first British Subjects to do such
a thing – actually elect women to a provincial legislature before the federal government even believed them to be people.
If you missed the significance, let's be blunt, shall we. Enough redneck Alberta men and women voted for not just one woman (Louise McKinney and Roberta MacAdams), but two, to win seats in the 1917 Alberta Election. We barely and I mean barely, missed being
first to afford women the vote in Canada.
Manitoba and Saskatchewan beat us by a matter of weeks in 1916.
And just to compare, the first woman elected to the Quebec National Assembly was in 1961 (over four decades later) and there are some other smaller Canadian provinces who were even later to elect women.
You get the picture.
Albertans (women) are Awesome.
Thanks for reading.
You get the picture.
Albertans (women) are Awesome.
Thanks for reading.
