Women | The Canadian Encyclopedia

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Displaying 16-30 of 143 results
  • Article

    Canadian Federation of University Women

    The Canadian Federation of University Women was founded in 1919 as a Canadian counterpart to the International Federation of University Women, whose purpose was to emphasize women's role in social reconstruction and the prevention of war.

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    https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/images/tce_placeholder.jpg?v=e9dca980c9bdb3aa11e832e7ea94f5d9 Canadian Federation of University Women
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    Canadian Women in the Cold War Navy

    Women served in the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) throughout the Cold War. Known for much of this period as “Wrens,” they played an important role in RCN missions and operations, including antisubmarine warfare. In 1951, the Canadian Naval Reserve began recruiting women into the service. Women could join the regular navy beginning in 1955; the RCN was the first Commonwealth navy to integrate women into the permanent force. For many years, Wrens served in shore-based branches and trades, including stores, communications, intelligence, submarine detection and in the medical services. By the end of the Cold War, all naval trades and occupations, except submarine service, were open to women. (See also Canada and the Cold War; Women in the Military.)

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/ColdWarWrens/WRCNS rad plot.jpg Canadian Women in the Cold War Navy
  • Article

    Cecelia Jane Reynolds

    Cecelia Jane Reynolds, freedom seeker (born c. May 1831 in Virginia; died 4 June 1909 in Louisville, Kentucky). In May 1846, Cecelia fled her Kentucky enslavers by way of Niagara Falls and the Underground Railroad. Letters between Cecelia and Fanny Thruston, the Louisville belle to whom she had been a personal servant, have become unique primary sources for historians studying enslavement and relations between the formerly enslaved and American slaveholders.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/TCE_placeholder.png Cecelia Jane Reynolds
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    Chrystia Freeland

    Christina Alexandra “Chrystia” Freeland, politician, journalist, editor and writer, Deputy Prime Minister of Canada, 2019–present (born 2 August 1968 in Peace River, Alberta). Chrystia Freeland is the Liberal member of Parliament (MP) for University-Rosedale. She currently serves as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance. She is the first woman in Canada to hold the latter role. She has also served as Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of International Trade. Notably, she handled the negotiation of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA), as well as difficult diplomatic situations with Ukraine, Russia, Saudi Arabia and China. Freeland is also an award-winning journalist, editor and author of such books as Plutocrats: The Rise of the New Global Super Rich and the Fall of Everyone Else (2012).

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/new_article_images/ChrystiaFreeland/360px-Chrystia_Freeland_MSC_2018_(cropped).jpg Chrystia Freeland
  • Article

    Cindy Blackstock

    Cindy Blackstock, OC, social worker, author, professor, advocate (born 1964 in Burns Lake, BC). Blackstock is a nationally and internationally respected advocate for the rights of Indigenous children. She co-founded the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society in 1998. Later, Blackstock led the organization’s case against the federal government from 2007–16. The Caring Society argued child welfare services provided to First Nations children and families on-reserve were discriminatory and flawed. Blackstock and the Caring Society continue to work toward improving child and family services for Indigenous children across Canada.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/CindyBlackstock/cindyblackstock1.jpg Cindy Blackstock
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    Claire Bonenfant

    ​Claire Bonenfant, CQ, bookseller, film director, feminist (born 27 June 1925 in Saint-Jean, Île d’Orléans, QC; died 29 September 1996).

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    https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/images/tce_placeholder.jpg?v=e9dca980c9bdb3aa11e832e7ea94f5d9 Claire Bonenfant
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    Claire Kirkland-Casgrain

    Marie-Claire Kirkland-Casgrain, CM, CQ, first female member of Québec’s National Assembly (born 8 September 1924 in Palmer, Massachusetts; died 24 March 2016). A lawyer by training, Kirkland-Casgrain became the first female member of the National Assembly of Québec on 14 December 1961. She left her mark on Québec’s political history in 1964 by spearheading the passage of Bill 16, which improved the legal status of married women (see Women’s Movement). For more than 12 years, she was the only woman to sit as a member of the National Assembly among some 100 male colleagues. Throughout her career, she dedicated herself to improving the political, economic and social status of women in Québec.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/26cf09fc-e503-45c3-ae5a-f30684869e3c.jpg Claire Kirkland-Casgrain
  • Article

    Claire Morissette

    Claire Morissette, cycling advocate, environmentalist, feminist (born 6 April 1950 in Montreal, QC; died 20 July 2007 in Montreal). Morissette committed most of her life to promoting the use of bicycles as a primary means of transportation in the city of Montreal (see Bicycling). She was a long-time member of the Montreal-based cycling advocacy group Le Monde à bicyclette and a long-time collaborator with the city’s other principal cycling advocate, Robert “Bicycle Bob” Silverman. Morissette began her cycling advocacy in 1976 and continued contributing to the cause until she died from breast cancer at the age of 57. Thanks in part to Morissette’s tireless efforts, Montreal is recognized as one of the most bike-friendly cities in North America.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/bicyclebob/pisteclairemorissette.jpg Claire Morissette
  • Article

    Claudette Bradshaw

    Claudette Bradshaw, community activist, politician (born 8 April 1949 in Moncton, NB). Claudette Bradshaw’s early career was spent in nonprofit social work. She founded Moncton Headstart, an early family intervention centre, and advocated for at-risk youth. She was Member of Parliament for Moncton–Riverview–Dieppe from 1997 to 2006 and served in several ministerial roles in the Liberal governments of Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin, including Minister of Labour and Minister of State (Human Resources Development). Since then, she has become a major advocate for mental health, literacy and affordable housing.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/new_article_images/Claudette Bradshaw.jfif Claudette Bradshaw
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    Clémence DesRochers

    Clémence DesRochers, actress, humorist, singer and author (b at Sherbrooke, Qué 24 Nov 1934). Daughter of the poet Alfred DESROCHERS, she is the most famous female monologist of her generation in Québec.

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    https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/images/tce_placeholder.jpg?v=e9dca980c9bdb3aa11e832e7ea94f5d9 Clémence DesRochers
  • Article

    Clémence DesRochers

    Clémence DesRochers. Monologuist, comedian, singer-songwriter, actress, broadcaster, artist, b Sherbrooke, Que, 23 Nov 1933; honorary doctorate (Sherbrooke) 1994.

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    https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/images/tce_placeholder.jpg?v=e9dca980c9bdb3aa11e832e7ea94f5d9 Clémence DesRochers
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    Demasduit

    Demasduit (also known as Demasduwit, Shendoreth, Waunathoake, and Mary March), creator of a Beothuk dictionary (born 1796; died 8 January 1820 at Bay of Exploits, Newfoundland). Demasduit was a Beothuk woman taken captive by English fishers in 1819. She was subsequently sent to an Anglican missionary where she created a list of Beothuk vocabulary. After her death, her remains and those of her husband were taken to Scotland. After much lobbying, the remains were returned to Newfoundland in 2020. The Government of Canada has recognized Demasduit as a Person of National Historic Significance.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/d98583ec-b0c6-4d27-932f-af95a68bd8a3.jpg Demasduit
  • Article

    Dorothea Palmer

    Dorothea Ferguson (née Palmer), birth control advocate, social worker (born 1908 in England; died 5 November 1992 in Ottawa, ON). Dorothea Palmer was arrested in 1936 for advertising birth control to women in a working-class neighbourhood in Ottawa. She was cleared of charges after a lengthy trial proved her work had been for the public good. Her acquittal was a major victory for the birth control movement in Canada.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/DorotheaPalmer/Dorothea Palmer.JPG Dorothea Palmer
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    Dorothy Dworkin

    Dorothy Dworkin, née Goldstick, nurse, midwife, travel agent, publisher, fundraiser, hospital director (born 1890 in Windau, Russian Empire; died 22 July 1976 in Toronto, ON). Dorothy Dworkin was one of the founders of Toronto’s Mount Sinai Hospital during the early 1920s and promoted efforts to provide better health care to the city’s Jewish community. She was an active fundraiser for charitable and humanitarian causes and helped arrange the passage of many immigrants from Eastern Europe to Canada (see Immigration to Canada).

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/dorothydworkin/dworkinnursesuniform.jpg Dorothy Dworkin
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    Elsie Knott

    Elsie Marie Knott (née Taylor), Ojibwe chief, community leader, entrepreneur (born 20 September 1922 on Mud Lake Reserve [now Curve Lake First Nation], ON; died there on 3 December 1995). Knott was the first elected female First Nations chief in Canada, after a 1951 amendment to the Indian Act permitted Indigenous women to vote and participate in band governments. She was also chief of her First Nation for 14 years, from 1954 to 1962 and from 1970 to 1976. Knott was dedicated to preserving the Ojibwe language and was known for her community activism and support of education.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/new_article_images/curvelake/curve lake.JPG Elsie Knott