August 27 - The Five Become Famous

nPosted on August 27, 2019

Key points

n“The Governor General shall…summon qualified Persons to the Senate…”

That little tidbit from one of the source documents of Canada’s Constitution was the subject of a Canadian Supreme Court case when, on this date in 1927, five women filed a petition asking the question if the word “Persons” included female persons.

nFor sure, a woman is a person. But maybe the problem was with the word “qualified”?

nI was all set to state that Canada’s Supreme Court answered with a big “OF COURSE.” But, actually, the Supreme Court affirmed that women could not be “qualified Persons”!

nAt that time, Canadians had one court even more supreme than their Supreme Court: the British Judicial Committee on the Privy Council. This British court was the highest court of appeal of all nations and territories in the Commonwealth.

nAnd it was that court that overturned all the other decisions by declaring that Canadian women could be appointed as senators!

nOf course this was a huge win for Canadian women’s rights. But perhaps even more important was the new attitude that the nation’s constitution should be re-interpreted as society changed, adapting to new ideas and an expanding circle of human rights. That idea of adaptation to change is called the “living tree doctrine.”

nThe Persons Case not only helped Canadian women take steps to political equality, it also made the five petitioners famous! As a matter of fact, they are called the Famous Five!

nThe Five included Emily Murphy, the British Empire’s first female judge; Irene Marryat Parlby, a farm labor leader and the first female Cabinet Minister in Alberta; Nellie Mooney McClung, a women’s suffrage activist, author, and legislator; Louise Crummy McKinney, the first female Member of Legislative Assembly in the British Empire; Henrietta Muir Edwards, an activist and author.

nThe first female senator, Cairine Reay Wilson, was appointed four months after the ruling. Actually, long after the Famous Five had died, in 2009, the Canadian Senate voted to make the five women honorary senators!

They are also commemorated in the Senate building with individual and group plaques. There are several statues of the group, and one city named each of five parks after one of the Five.