Reformers & Activists | The Canadian Encyclopedia

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  • Interview

    In Conversation with Marcia McClung

    Special projects editor Eli Yarhi interviews Marcia McClung, granddaughter of suffragist, reformer, legislator and author Nellie McClung, for The Canadian Encyclopedia.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/6aa02b16-992b-4a58-a982-82de598aa6ce.mp3 In Conversation with Marcia McClung
  • Article

    Daniel Paul

    Daniel Nicholas Paul, CM, ONS, Mi’kmaq elder, author, social justice advocate (born 5 December 1938 on Indian Brook Reserve, NS; died 27 June 2023 in Halifax, NS). Paul is the author of We Were Not the Savages, one of Canada’s first history books from an Indigenous perspective. He had long campaigned for the removal of Halifax’s statue to its controversial founder, Edward Cornwallis, until its removal by Halifax's city council in January 2018.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/bf0a6807-16e3-47de-973c-7e4d27b1da8a.jpg Daniel Paul
  • Article

    Françoise David

    Françoise David, CQ, community organizer, politician and feminist activist (born 13 January 1948 in Montreal, QC). Chair of the Fédération des femmes du Québec from 1994 to 2001, David was elected member of the National Assembly of Quebecin 2012 and was co-spokesperson for Québec solidaire from 2006 to 2017.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/c647b1ce-e0f7-4756-af2b-9729339c538c.jpg Françoise David
  • Macleans

    Dosanjh Elected BC Leader

    Ujjal Dosanjh is tired. Finding time to snatch a few hours of sleep has been difficult for British Columbia's new premier. Celebrity has struck the country's first Indo-Canadian provincial leader and everyone wants five minutes of his time. There has been a deluge of phone calls from Canadian and U.This article was originally published in Maclean's Magazine on March 6, 2000

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    https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/images/tce_placeholder.jpg?v=e9dca980c9bdb3aa11e832e7ea94f5d9 Dosanjh Elected BC Leader
  • Article

    Elizabeth May

    Elizabeth May, OC, politician, environmental activist, lawyer, author, leader of the Green Party of Canada 2006–19 (born 9 June 1954 in Hartford, Connecticut). May served as a policy advisor (1986–88) to the government of Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, and in 1989 became the founding executive director of the Sierra Club of Canada. In 2011, she became the first Green Party member elected to the House of Commons. May resigned as party leader in November 2019.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/new_article_images/Elizabeth May.jpg Elizabeth May
  • Article

    Ella Cora Hind

    Ella Cora Hind, journalist, agricultural authority, activist and suffragist (born 18 September 1861 in Toronto, ON; died 6 October 1942 in Winnipeg, MB). A pioneer throughout her life, Hind was an acclaimed grain expert, a champion of women’s rights and an advocate for the franchise.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/!feature-img-thumbnails/Ella-Cora-Hind-tweet.jpg Ella Cora Hind
  • Article

    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
  • Article

    Emily Murphy

    Emily Murphy (née Ferguson, pen name Janey Canuck), writer, journalist, magistrate, political and legal reformer (born 14 March 1868 in Cookstown, ON; died 27 October 1933 in Edmonton, AB). Emily Murphy was the first woman magistrate in the British Empire. She was also one of the Famous Five behind the Persons Case, the successful campaign to have women declared persons in the eyes of British law. A self-described rebel, she was an outspoken feminist and suffragist and a controversial figure. Her views on immigration and eugenics have been criticized as racist and elitist. She was named a Person of National Historic Significance in 1958 and an honorary senator in 2009.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/Twitter_Cards/Murphy.jpg Emily Murphy
  • Article

    Emily Murphy (Plain-Language Summary)

    Emily Murphy (née Ferguson), pen name Janey Canuck, writer, journalist, magistrate, political and legal reformer (born 14 March 1868 in Cookstown, ON; died 27 October 1933 in Edmonton, AB). Emily Murphy was the first woman magistrate (justice of the peace) in the British Empire. She was also one of the Famous Five behind the Persons Case. It ruled that women were persons in the eyes of the law. Murphy was an outspoken feminist and suffragist. She is also controversial. Her views on immigration and eugenics have been seen as racist and elitist. She was named a Person of National Historic Significance in 1958. She was made an honorary senator in 2009. This article is a plain-language summary of Emily Murphy. If you are interested in reading about this topic in more depth, please see our full-length entry: Emily Murphy.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/f2df0151-1333-440b-ae34-65430693183c.jpg Emily Murphy (Plain-Language Summary)
  • Article

    Emily Murphy's Famous Triumph

    The following article is an editorial written by The Canadian Encyclopedia staff. Editorials are not usually updated. “I feel equal,” wrote Emily Murphy in 1927, “to high and splendid braveries.” By that point in her life, the 59-year-old native of Cookstown, Ontario, had earned the right to big ambitions: her achievements included turns as a successful writer (under the name “Janey Canuck”), social activist, self-taught legal expert and, as of 1916, the first woman magistrate in the British Empire. She was also a wife and mother.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/f2df0151-1333-440b-ae34-65430693183c.jpg Emily Murphy's Famous Triumph
  • Article

    Famous Five

    Alberta’s “Famous Five” were petitioners in the groundbreaking Persons Case. The case was brought before the Supreme Court of Canada in 1927. It was decided in 1929 by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, Canada’s highest appeals court at the time. The group was led by judge Emily Murphy. It also included  Henrietta Edwards, Nellie McClung, Louise McKinney and Irene Parlby. Together, the five women had many years of active work in various campaigns for women’s rights dating back to the 1880s and 1890s. They enjoyed a national — and in the case of McClung, an international — reputation among reformers.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/65699b89-06c0-4518-aa06-4eea43f2ec74.jpg Famous Five
  • Article

    Famous Five (Plain-Language Summary)

    The “Famous Five” were the women behind the Persons Case. It was a constitutional ruling. It established the right of women to serve in the Senate. It ruled in 1929 that women were persons in the eyes of the law. The case was started by the Famous Five. They were a group of women activists. They were led by justice Emily Murphy. The other women were Henrietta Muir Edwards, Nellie McClung, Louise McKinney and Irene Parlby. The five had been working for women’s rights since the 1880s and 1890s. This article is a plain-language summary of the Famous Five. If you are interested in reading about this topic in more depth, please see our full-length entry: Famous Five.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/65699b89-06c0-4518-aa06-4eea43f2ec74.jpg Famous Five (Plain-Language Summary)
  • Article

    Frank Scott

    Scott returned to Canada in 1923, largely ignorant of his own country. Montréal seemed to him singularly ugly, bereft of the ancient beauty of Europe. Scott settled down to teach at Lower Canada College and to write poetry. In 1924 he enrolled in the McGill law faculty, where H.A.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/66f53b27-b71c-4cdc-b4b6-9c542975a2ba.jpg Frank Scott
  • Article

    Georges Erasmus

    Georges Henry Erasmus, OC, Indigenous leader, activist and spokesperson (born 8 August 1948 in Fort Rae, NT). Erasmus has been a leading advocate for the self-determination of Indigenous peoples in Canada. He has served as the head of several Indigenous public policy organizations, including the Dene Nation and the Assembly of First Nations. He also served as the co-chair for the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/df5afa10-787f-47b4-b776-2bac0e1cf404.jpg Georges Erasmus
  • Article

    Gerald Caplan

    Gerald Lewis Caplan, political administrator, historian (b at Toronto 1938).

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    https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/images/tce_placeholder.jpg?v=e9dca980c9bdb3aa11e832e7ea94f5d9 Gerald Caplan