Nellie McClung

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Nellie McClung from The National Archives of Canada

Nellie McClung, born Nellie Letitia Mooney (October 20, 1873 - September 1, 1951) was a Canadian feminist, politician, and social activist. She was a part of the social and moral reform movements prevalent in Western Canada in the early 1900s. She was also the grandmother of outspoken Alberta judge John McClung.

Contents

[edit] Biography

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Born in Chatsworth, Ontario in 1873, and later moved with her family to a homestead in the Souris Valley of Manitoba.[1] Between 1904 and 1911, Nellie McClung, and her husband Wesley; who was a druggist and their family of five children [2] resided in Manitou, Manitoba. The women’s rights movement in Winnipeg embraced her. An effective speaker with a sense of humour, she played a leading role in the successful Liberal campaign in 1914.[1]. She lived in the West for the rest of her life in Manitou, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Calgary and Victoria. The Manitou house in which McClung and her family lived in has been re-located to the Archibald Historical Museum in La Riviere, Manitoba where it has been restored, the house is open to the public.

McClung once said "Why are pencils equipped with erasers if not to correct mistakes?", this quote argued for the support of equitable divorce laws, in which Nellie was a long time supporter.[3]

Her great causes were women's suffrage and temperance. She understood that the first World War was important in broadening the appeal of woman suffrage because the man power shortages highlighted the extent of female employment, making the image of the sheltered female more obviously inapplicable to Canadian circumstances.[4] It was largely through her efforts that in 1916 Manitoba became the first province to give women the right to vote and to run for public office.[5] The Government of Canada followed suit that same year. After moving to Edmonton, Alberta, she continued the campaign for suffrage. She championed dental and medical care for school children, married women’s property rights, mothers' allowances, factory safety legislation and many other reforms. McClung was a supporter of the then popular social philosophy of eugenics and campaigned for the sterilization of those considered "simple-minded." Her promotion of the benefits of sterilization contributed to the passage of eugenics legislation in Alberta.[6]

She published her first novel Sowing Seeds in Danny in 1908. A national best seller, it was followed by short stories and articles in several Canadian and American magazines. She served as a Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1921 to 1926. As an opposition member, her opportunity to press for women's rights was limited, because women were not taken seriously [7] She was one of The Famous Five (also called The Valiant Five), with Irene Parlby, Henrietta Muir Edwards, Emily Murphy and Louise McKinney. The five put forward a petition, in 1927, to clarify the term "Persons in Section 24 of the British North America Act 1867. This section had served to exclude women from political office. The petition was successful, clearing the way for women to enter politics in Canada.[5].

Among other honours, in October 2009, the Senate voted to name McClung and the rest of the Five Canada's first "honorary senators."[8]

[edit] Literature

Historical plaque honouring McClung, located just south of Chatsworth, ON

[edit] Fiction

  • Sowing Seeds in Danny (1908)
  • The Second Chance (1910)
  • The Black Creek Stopping House and Other Stories (1912)
  • Purple Springs (1921)
  • When Christmas Crossed 'The Peace' (1923)
  • Painted Fires (1925)
  • All We Like Sheep (1976)
  • Be Good to Yourself (1980)
  • Flowers for the Living (1991)

[edit] Non-Fiction

  • In Times Like These (1915)
  • The Next of Kin (1917)
  • Three Times and Out (1918)
  • Clearing in the West (1935)
  • Leaves from Lantern Lane (1936)
  • More Leaves from Lantern Lane (1937)
  • The Stream Runs Fast (1945)
  • The Morning After Dawn (1950)

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b Hallett, M. McClung, Nellie Letitia. The Canadian Encyclopedia.
  2. ^ Conrad, Margaret and Alvin Finkel.History of the Canadian Peoples: 1867 to the present. Volume 2. Fifth Edition. Toronto: Pearson, Longman, 2006. p. 134
  3. ^ Strong-Boag,Veronica. Ever a crusader: Nellie McClung, First Wave Feminist. (Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1997),279
  4. ^ Strong-Boag, Veronica . Ever a crusader: Nellie McClung, First Wave Feminist. (Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1997),278
  5. ^ a b Library and Archives Canada. Nellie Letitia (Mooney) McClung. Celebrating Women's Achievements.
  6. ^ Marsh, James. Eugenics: Keeping Canada Sane. The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved on: April 25, 2008.
  7. ^ Veronica Strong-Boag. Ever a crusader: Nellie McClung, First Wave Feminist. (Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1997),279
  8. ^ "Alberta's Famous Five named honorary senators." The Globe and Mail, October 11, 2009.

[edit] External links

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Legislative Assembly of Alberta
Preceded by
Charles Wilson Cross
Albert Ewing		 MLA Edmonton
1921 - 1926		 Succeeded by
John Lymburn
Charles Weaver
Charles Gibbs
Walter Prevey
David Milwyn Duggan
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