CANADIAN SUFFRAGETTES

I think my first awareness of women  lobbying for the vote came from  reading Anne of Green Gables. I am grateful to them for the freedom I had in choosing my career. I remember hearing an excerpt of an embarrassed Princess Theresa talking about her earning a biology degree from the University of Munch. I am so grateful that today I am proud to earn a degree, and that shame is hardly imaginable for me or my daughter. My favourite suffragette is Emily Stowe, Canada's first physician. She created a literary circle for women in Toronto in 1867 that not only read books, but became the first Canadian group of suffragettes. This is not to take away, however, from the incredible admiration I have for the Famous Five. Although central Canada likes to believe they invented our history, these five women were from out West. These five women were integral in bringing electoral equality to our country. Notably, Manitoba was first in implimentation, followed that same year by Saskatchewan, then Alberta, all in 1916. It took Newfoundland until 1925, which you would think would be the outlier. Alas, Quebec took until 1940, and incredibly NW territories took to 1961. Nunavut, being created in 1999, started with the law in place.

Map of when women got the vote. Notice Quebec is the last place, in 1940. The reasons for the delay are still felt today!