Emsdale Scotia and Area Womens Institute
32 Joseph Street P0A1C0 Emsdale, ON, Canada

Some Local History for Remembrance Day

The Emsdale~Scotia and Area Womens Institute is pleased to announce our annual Remembrance day ceremony will be on November 11th starting at 1045 at the Cenotaph. Social distancing and masks required. Come one come all. Looking forward to seeing you there.

October 18 is Persons Day. Before this day in 1929, women were not recognized as "persons" who could be appointed to the Canadian Senate. Five women petitioned ...the Supreme Court of Canada and argued that women met the definition of "persons." These women - Henrietta Muir Edwards, Nellie McClung, Louise McKinney, Emily Murphy and Irene Parlby - are now known as The Famous Five. Their petition was denied, so they appealed to the Privy Council of England. On October 18, 1929, the Privy Council declared that the definition of "persons" in the British North America Act did include women. The following year, Cairine Wilson became Canada's first female senator. The persons decision meant women were no longer excluded by definition from serving as senators. But it did nothing about the requirements for land ownership, wealth, and citizenship that effectively continued to exclude many women - including Indigenous women - for many more years.