p



 
 § 
     
§

§ 
‡ 11. There shall be a Council to aid and advise in the
Government of Canada, to be styled the Queen's Privy
Council for Canada; and the 
 who are to be Members
of that Council shall be from time to time chosen and
summoned by the Governor General and sworn in as Privy
Councillors, and Members thereof may be from time to time
removed by the Governor General.
‡ 24. The Governor General shall from time to time, in the
Queen's Name, by instrument under the Great Seal of Canada,
summon qualified 
 to the Senate; and, subject to the
Provisions of this Act, every 
so summoned shall
become and be a Member of the Senate and a Senator.
‡ 29. A Senator shall, subject to the Provisions of this Act, hold
 Place in the Senate for Life.
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§  
‡ An eligible voter was a male voter
‡ It stated that ´no woman, idiot, lunatic or
criminal shall vote.µ
  

‡ Nellie McClung was a novelist,
reformer, journalist, and suffragist
who led the fight to enfranchise
North American women beginning
with western Canadian women in
the early 1910s.
‡ She became a Liberal MLA for
Edmonton (1921-
(1921-1926), was the
first female Director of the Board
of the Governors of CBC, and was
a delegate to the League of
Nations in Geneva in 1938.
‡ She ran a mock parliament in
1914, demonstrating why it was
ridiculous to not allow women to
http://www.histori.ca/minutes vote.
/minute.do?id=10643
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§ 
‡ A revision states that women can vote in federal
elections
‡ But«not all women
‡ First Nations women and men could not vote,
nor could Japanese or Chinese men (unless the
Japanese men had served in WWI)
‡ It also allowed women to run for Parliament
 §



‡ She is the first Canadian
woman to run in a Federal
election
‡ She was elected as a
Progressive in the election
of 1921.
‡ She was re-
re-elected until
1940
‡ It is interesting to note that
while her face does not
appear on any Canadian
money, hockey, polar bears,
the maple leaf and many
male politicians do« http://www.histori.ca/minutes/minu
te.do?id=10212
 
  

‡ From 1916-
1916-1927 there are many examples of women
challenging the law because of the interpretation of the
word ´Personsµ in the BNA
‡ The Supreme Court says«
´The act should be interpreted in
light of the times in which it was
written. Since women were not
politically active in 1867, they
could not be elected.µ
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 á 

 !
‡ Emily Murphy was a woman from Alberta who
wanted to be appointed to the Senate
‡ Under the present terms of the BNA, she could
not serve on the Senate since she was not a
´personµ
‡ A group of five women (the Famous Five);
Emily Murphy, Henrietta Muir, Nellie McClung,
Louise McKinney and Irene Parlby; challenge
the Supreme Court·s ruling
 á  

 

‡ These women bring their case before the British

Privy Council in London.
‡ This is the highest court, at the time, for Canada
‡ The Privy overturns the Supreme Court·s ruling
declaring :
 ýyes, women are 
 ... and eligible to
be summoned and may become Members
of the Senate of Canada«the exclusion of
women from all public offices is a relic of
days more barbarous than ours. And to
those who would ask why the word

ýý should include females, the
ý

obvious answer is, why should it not?ý
- Lord Chancellor John Stankey, October 18, 1929.
 
" "
‡ She ends up being
declared a ´Personµ but
does not end up
serving on the Senate
‡ The first woman
appointed to the Senate
is Cairine Wilson under
the Liberal government
of Mackenzie King in
1930
http://www.histori.ca/minutes/minute.
do?id=10205
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