Objective Conditons
Women's Suffrage in Canada was never recognized as a real issue to the Canadian government until 1878, when Dr. Emily Howard Stowe began a campaign in Ontario fighting for women's voting rights in parliament. She started the Women's Suffrage Association in 1883, which in 1889 was re-named the Dominion Women's Enfranchisement Association (DWEA). Valuable support came in the 90's when the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), whose leaders thought that the women's vote was an important step towards prohibition.Dr. Emily Stowe passed away in 1903 but her daughter, Augusta, continued in the political trenches fighting for change. In 1910, the widely-known and respected National Council of Women spoke out on behalf of both associations for suffrage.
At Confederation, all the original colonies had statutory provisions excluding women from voting, and these were entrenched in section 41 of the British North America Act: "Until the Parliament of Canada otherwise provides, all laws in force in the several Provinces of the Union ... shall ... apply to elections of Members to serve in the House of Commons ... [and] every male British Subject, aged Twenty-one Years or upwards, being a householder, shall have a vote." This rule hadn't been changed by the parliament, as men were often perceived as the citizens with the most authority in all aspects.
At Confederation, all the original colonies had statutory provisions excluding women from voting, and these were entrenched in section 41 of the British North America Act: "Until the Parliament of Canada otherwise provides, all laws in force in the several Provinces of the Union ... shall ... apply to elections of Members to serve in the House of Commons ... [and] every male British Subject, aged Twenty-one Years or upwards, being a householder, shall have a vote." This rule hadn't been changed by the parliament, as men were often perceived as the citizens with the most authority in all aspects.
Figure 2: Sisters in the Struggle Figure 3: Bluebirds at the Ballot Box
As seen in the photo to the left, British suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst, who was between the ages of 57 and 58, was photographed in 1916 at the Edmonton home of Nellie McClung, a Canadian feminist, socialist, and activist. Mrs. McClung, who is at this time between the ages of 42-43 is in the centre, wearing a striped dress; Mrs. Pankhurst is to her left. Also in the group was Emily Murphy, (author, suffragist and later a judge), aged 47 or 48, one of the five complainants in the 1929 "Persons Case," in which the British Privy Council determined once and for all that Canadian women were indeed "persons" and therefore eligible for appointment to the Senate.
The people seen posing in the picture all seem to be matured adults, except for one young boy, you may be one one Nellie McClung's youngest son, Mark, who would have been 4 or 5 at this time. The photo seems to have been taken by a professional photographer to commemorate the gathering. I would think this photo was personal, and not published after being taken.
In the picture to the right, titled "Bluebirds at the Ballot box, we see these Canadian military nurses, photographed at a polling station set up at a Canadian field hospital in France in December 1917. They probably voted before women in Canada. If so, they were among the first Canadian women to vote in a dominion election.
The Military Voters Act, intended to enfranchise soldiers under the age of 21, inadvertently benefited women as well, so that the Bluebirds – military nurses serving in the war effort – became the first Canadian women to exercise the right to vote in a federal election. The second law, the War-time Elections Act, gave the vote to close female relatives of people serving in the armed forces (swelling the electoral lists by some 500,000 names), but it also effectively withdrew the vote from women who would otherwise have had it by virtue of their provincial law but did not have a relative in the armed forces. I feel that it is fair to say that the women's suffrage had many more exceptions and exclusions then men's suffrage.
The photo captures the nurses casting their ballots and interacting with each other and with soldiers was most likely published soon after the photographer took it, and appears to be taken for commercial purposes.
As seen in the photo to the left, British suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst, who was between the ages of 57 and 58, was photographed in 1916 at the Edmonton home of Nellie McClung, a Canadian feminist, socialist, and activist. Mrs. McClung, who is at this time between the ages of 42-43 is in the centre, wearing a striped dress; Mrs. Pankhurst is to her left. Also in the group was Emily Murphy, (author, suffragist and later a judge), aged 47 or 48, one of the five complainants in the 1929 "Persons Case," in which the British Privy Council determined once and for all that Canadian women were indeed "persons" and therefore eligible for appointment to the Senate.
The people seen posing in the picture all seem to be matured adults, except for one young boy, you may be one one Nellie McClung's youngest son, Mark, who would have been 4 or 5 at this time. The photo seems to have been taken by a professional photographer to commemorate the gathering. I would think this photo was personal, and not published after being taken.
In the picture to the right, titled "Bluebirds at the Ballot box, we see these Canadian military nurses, photographed at a polling station set up at a Canadian field hospital in France in December 1917. They probably voted before women in Canada. If so, they were among the first Canadian women to vote in a dominion election.
The Military Voters Act, intended to enfranchise soldiers under the age of 21, inadvertently benefited women as well, so that the Bluebirds – military nurses serving in the war effort – became the first Canadian women to exercise the right to vote in a federal election. The second law, the War-time Elections Act, gave the vote to close female relatives of people serving in the armed forces (swelling the electoral lists by some 500,000 names), but it also effectively withdrew the vote from women who would otherwise have had it by virtue of their provincial law but did not have a relative in the armed forces. I feel that it is fair to say that the women's suffrage had many more exceptions and exclusions then men's suffrage.
The photo captures the nurses casting their ballots and interacting with each other and with soldiers was most likely published soon after the photographer took it, and appears to be taken for commercial purposes.