The Famous Five (Canada)
The Famous Five or The Valiant Five were five Canadian women who, in 1927 asked the Supreme Court of Canada to answer the question, "Are women persons?" in the case Edwards v. Canada (Attorney General). Canada's Supreme Court essentially said in a unanimous decision - no they were not "qualified persons" - but this was overturned by the British Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. The case came to be known as the Persons Case.
The women, all of whom were from Alberta, were:
- Emily Murphy (the British Empire's first female judge);
- Irene Marryat Parlby (farm women's leader, activist and first female Cabinet minister in Alberta);
- Nellie Mooney McClung (a famous suffragist and member of the Alberta legislature);
- Louise Crummy McKinney (the first women elected to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, or any legislature in Canada or the British Empire) and
- Henrietta Muir Edwards (an advocate for working women and a founding member of the Victorian Order of Nurses).
Specifically the question was whether Section 24 of the British North America Act, 1867, included the possibility of women becoming senators: "The Governor General shall... summon qualified Persons to the Senate; and ... every Person so summoned shall become and be a Member of the Senate and a Senator."
Only men had been appointed to the senate thus far. For years, pressure had grown for women to be appointed to the Senate.
In Edwards v. Canada (Attorney General) [1930] S.C.R. 276, The Supreme Court of Canada ruled unanimously that women were not qualified to be senators. The stated grounds included:
- the framers of the act, in 1867, could not have had it in mind to permit women senators, since women did not participate in politics at that time;
- the act exclusively used the word he to refer to senators.
The women went to London, England, to appeal to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, which was effectively Canada's highest court at that time. On October 18, 1929, the committee ruled that Canadian women were indeed persons and were competent to serve in the Senate. In their decision (Edwards v. Canada (Attorney General) [1930] A.C. 124 (P.C.)), the Privy Councilors called the exclusion of women from public office "a relic of days more barbarous than ours." Because the Judicial Council was a final court of appeal for the British Empire as a whole, this decision set a precedent for jurisdictions over the world. However, because the Council did not hear appeals from within the British Isles, the decision was non-precedental for the British House of Lords. The right of women to sit in the House of Lords remained a point of legal and political controversy long after.
Four months later, Cairine Wilson became the first woman to sit in the Senate.
Along with Thérèse Casgrain, the Five have been commemorated on Canada's newest fifty-dollar bill.
The Valiant Five have also been commemorated with a statue on Canada's Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Canada, a plaque in the antechamber of Canada's Senate and at the Olympic Plaza in Calgary, located in the women's home province of Alberta. The City of Edmonton has named five parks in its River Valley Parks System in honour of the "Famous Five".
Opinions on the Valiant Five vary considerably. Many laud them as trailblazers for women. Others are disturbed by the opinions of some of the women on other issues, such as non-white immigration and their successful campaigns to have eugenics legislation introduced in Canadian provinces. Some might well question the overall significance of the decision, noting that by the 1920s, the Canadian Senate was a largely powerless body. The more powerful Canadian House of Commons had elected its first female member (Agnes Macphail) in 1921, well before the Persons Case. However, the precedent did establish the principle that women could hold any political office in Canada. Moreover, the Five clearly did devote their energies to increasing women's participation on legislative bodies with greater power: two became members of the Alberta Legislature and one a member of the House of Commons.
See also
External links
- The Famous Five from the National Archives of Canada
- Edwards v. A.G. of Canada [1928] S.C.R. 276 - decision of the Supreme Court of Canada
- Edwards v. A.G. of Canada [1930] A.C. 124 (P.C.) - decision of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
- Canadian Enclyclopedia entry