Before Persons Day

Morning Albertan, Oct. 15, 1912, p. 9

Today is Persons Day, the anniversary of the 1929 decision by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) that women are persons qualified to sit in the Senate of Canada. The decision resulted from a 1927 petition by five Alberta women—Henrietta Muir Edwards, Nellie McClung, Louise McKinney, Emily Murphy, and Irene Parlby—asking the federal government to refer the question to the Supreme Court of Canada. Persons Day marks the date when the JCPC reversed the Supreme Court's negative decision in 1928.

This afternoon, the Alberta Champions Society unveiled a plaque honouring Nellie McClung (as well as others recognizing Mary Cross Dover, Robert Chambers Edwards, Father Albert Lacombe, Ernest Manning, and Fred C. Mannix) in the lobby of the Hyatt Regency Hotel. And this evening, the Calgary Stampede honoured each member of the "Famous Five" (along with 95 other deserving Albertans of the past century) with its Western Legacy Award.

However, October 18 had already become a notable date in Calgary women's history before 1929. On October 18, 1912—a century ago—a group of women met at the Young Women's Christian Association (now the Old Y Centre at 223 - 12 Avenue SW) to form a Women's Business Club. Their immediate concerns were insufficient lavatory facilities for the city's estimated 8,000-10,000 wage-earning women and the absence of smoke-free cafeterias or restaurants.

 

Calgary Daily Herald, Oct. 21, 1912 p. 12