Join us for Canada History Week by discovering the stories of Canadian women’s rights defenders!

From July 2-7, explore the stories of six inspirational women who have changed the course of women’s rights in Canada. The following stories and portraits, also shown in the Bonnie & John Buhler Hall, are taken from the exhibit Let Them Howl: 100 Years in the Women’s Rights Struggle, which was a collaboration between the Canadian Museum for Human Rights and Library and Archives Canada.

 

Nellie McClung

In 1914, Nellie McClung and the women of Manitoba’s Political Equality League staged a satirical play called Women’s Parliament, in which men were denied the vote. Thanks to the continued advocacy of McClung and others, less than two years later, Manitoba became the first province to expand the franchise to women.

 

Rosemary Brown 

Rosemary Brown entered the political arena as an advocate for members of visible minorities and for women’s rights. In 1972, Brown became the first Black woman elected to a Canadian legislature. Three years later she became the first Black woman to seek the leadership of a federal political party.

 

Agnes Macphail 

In 1921, Agnes Macphail became the first woman elected to the House of Commons, in the first federal election in which women had the vote. Despite opposition and ridicule, Macphail was an outspoken advocate of labour and women’s rights. She founded the Elizabeth Fry Society in 1939 to help women prisoners.

 

Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin 

Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin’s judicial career began with an appointment to the Vancouver County Court in 1981. Overcoming institutional barriers in a male-dominated profession, she became Chief Justice of Canada in 2000, the first woman to occupy the position in a Commonwealth nation’s Supreme Court.

 

Bertha Clark Jones 

Bertha Clark Jones was a powerful Métis activist in the Aboriginal women’s movement. In the late 1960s, she co-founded the Voice of Alberta Native Women’s Society and later became first president of the Native Women’s Association of Canada. Throughout her life, she promoted and defended Indigenous ancestral laws, spiritual beliefs, language and traditions.

 

Françoise David 

In 1995, Françoise David, then president of the Fédération des femmes du Québec, helped organize the first Bread and Roses March against poverty, re-engaging the women’s movement. More than 800 women marched for 10 days to the city of Québec. That event inspired a global grassroots movement among women’s organizations.

Before you leave Buhler Hall at the Museum, take a photo of yourself in front of the portrait of the woman you find the most inspirational! Add in the hashtags #HistoryWeek2016 (#SemaineHistoire2016) and #AtCMHR (#AuMCDP) to join in a national conversation on women’s rights. 

Why not continue the discussion online? You can take a quiz to find out which Canadian women’s rights leader you are! If you feel like testing your knowledge of Canadian women’s rights leaders from coast to coast, play our Geo-Connection game!