October is Women’s History Month in Canada, proclaimed in 1992 by the federal government. October was chosen in recognition of Persons Day, Oct. 18, celebrating the landmark decision on Oct. 18, 1929 to recognize at long last that women were indeed included as “persons” under the British North America Act of 1867.

The case was brought forward in 1927 when five prominent women – Emily Murphy (whose right to sit as a magistrate in Alberta had been challenged as she was not a “person” under the Act), Nellie McClung, Irene Parlby, Louise McKinney, and Henrietta Muir Edwards, later dubbed “The Famous Five” – asked the Supreme Court of Canada to rule if the term “person” in the Act included “female persons.”

Denied by the court, they pressed on with their argument to Britain’s Privy Council, Canada’s final arbiter at the time, which ruled, in part, “The exclusion of women from all public offices is a relic of days more barbarous than ours. And to those who ask why the word ‘person’ should include females, the obvious answer is, why should it not?”

UFCW Canada is recognizing Women’s History Month with the launch of a new project by the National Women’s Advisory Council, with short biographies of rank-and-file women members  posted on a weekly basis to the union’s website.

“All across Canada, there are activist women members who are making a difference in their workplaces and in their communities,” UFCW Canada National President Wayne Hanley says.

“These are the stories of members who are the heart of our union.”
For more, visit www.ufcw.ca/women.