On the Job - Social Activists


Social Activists and Community workers
Anna Mae Aquash	née Pictou Born Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia March 27, 1945. Died 1976(?) . She grew up in sever poverty living with her family in an abandoned army house without electricity or running water. When her parents left the family the children went to live with their older sister but there were too many mouths to feed. Anna Mae dropped out of school in grade nine and joined the annual job hunting migration from Canada to the state of Maine in the United States. She picked berries, and harvested potatoes before finding a promotion to factory work in Boston. The mother of two children by the time she was twenty she married and settled to Boston suburban life. Divorce allowed her to consider herself and the meaning of her life and she began to have a deepened interest in her native culture. She wanted to help her people. She organized the Boston Indian Council and began to help aboriginal peoples find meaningful employment. In 1973 she joined in the now famous protest at Wounded Knee, South Dakota. She became more involved in AIM (American Indian Movement) and represented the group at functions across North America. She organized fundraising benefits with stars like Kris Kristoferson and Buffy Saint Marie. In 1974 she was at the occupation of Anicinabe Park, Kenora, Ontario. The tortured body of this courageous Canadian activist was found in February 1976.
Edith Jessie Archibald	née Archibald. Born St John's , Newfoundland April 5, 1854. Died 1936. As a young woman she was educated in London and New York. She married Charles Archibald, vice-president of the Bank of Nova Scotia and they had a family of four children. She would use her social position to advantage and become an influential leader in the Canadian Women's movement. She worked with various organizations at the local, regional and national levels. She was the Maritime Superintendent of the Parlor Meetings Department which orchestrated tea parties that organized temperance activities and discussed how to educate other women. She worked with the National Council of Women, the Red Cross and the Victoria Order of Nurses. She was a fighter for woman's suffrage that was finally granted in her home province in 1918 , largely due to her efforts. She would also find time to write the history of the Red Cross, a novel a three act play and the Life and Letters of Sir Edward Mortimer Archibald (1924), the biography of her father. The Canadian Historic Sites and Monuments Board recognized her as a national historic person in 1997.
Grace Bagnato.	Born 1891. Died 1950. Born in the United States her Italian immigrant family moved to Toronto Canada when Grace was about 5 or 6 years old. It was in this city in the 20’s, 30’s and 40’s that Grace would become known to many immigrant Canadians who needed help. She learned their languages in order to help them and to communicate with them. She went to court with them to help them get the best justice their new home could offer. She was the first woman to be appointed as court interpreter. During World War II when Canadians who had immigrated to Canada were all suspect simply because they were aliens, Grace worked hardest making sure their needs were understood. She was a mother of 13 children who worked hard for all the immigrants of Ward area in Toronto. Grace St. is a part of the acknowledged Italian district of Toronto. Learn more about Grace Bagnato in the video recording “An Act of Grace” (A scattering of seeds series) White Pine Pictures. You can borrow it from your own library or through interlibrary loan.
Maude Victoria Barlow	Born Toronto, Ontario 1947. She can perhaps be best described as a "loyal opposition" citizen. She was brought up with being exposed to the idea of speaking out against what you saw as wrong. As a young woman she was immersed in the Women's movement. After a failed attempt to become and elected member of the government of Canada she turned her energies to working to build something non-partisan. She has become Canada's best known voice of dissent. She is an ardent opponent of Free Trade as not be good to Canada. She has put her talks into some five books to give Canadians a chance to see another point of view to what the government is doing or sometimes not doing.
Andrea Brett Bronfman	née Morrison. Born London, England 1945. Died January 23, 2006. She married David Cohen and settled in Montreal and raised three children. In 1982 she married Charles Bronfman and became active in several philanthropic causes in North America and Israel. After 9/11 she created a program, the Gift of New York. She was also involved in Birthright Israel and the Association of Israel’s Decorative arts.
Rebecca (Becky) Buhay	Born London, England February 11, 1896. Died December 16, 1953. She was a union organizer for the garment industry in Montreal. She became involved in politics and lectured and toured across the country. Political friends knew her as a great communicator of radical ideas and for her loyalty.
Annie Buller.	(married name Guralnick) Born Ukraine December 9, 1895. Died January 19, 1973. She immigrated to Montreal from the Ukraine with her parents when she was a child. She studied Marxism at school and joined the Workers' (Communist) Party of Canada in 1922. She devoted herself to the politics of the her party. She would help workers of all trades, from mining to dressmaking, form unions to better their working conditions. She retired in the late 1950's but continued to lend her experiences to the Party organization until her death. While Communism never gained a strong foothold in Canada, her devotion to the betterment of workers lives and the bravado she displayed in her beliefs is a strong legacy for all Canadian women.
Audrey Burger	Born India 1912. Died January 15, 1988. Educated in England she began her working career as a teacher of languages in Germany until the Nazi regime forced her to relocate. She eventually settled in Canada in 1959. She became president of the Association of Women Electors in the 1960’s and was an active member of the Metropolitan Toronto Social Planning Council. She also served as a member of the Metro Toronto Housing C. Ltd. Which acted as the city’s public housing agency.
Marie Rosalie Cadron Sister Marie de la Nativité	Born Lower Canada January 27,1794. Died April 5, 1864. She married at 17 years of age to Jean-Marie Jetté , October 7, 1811. The two would have eleven children. As a widow she opened her home to care for unwed mothers. In 1895 she became an nun and took the name Sister Marie de la Nativité with the Institute of the Sisters of Mercy where she continued her efforts to help young pregnant girls. Source: Dictionary of Canadian Biography Vol. lX pg. 111-112
Maria Campbell.	Born April 6,1940. In Edmonton she assisted in founding a halfway house for women and a women's emergency shelter. She began writing because she was upset that so few people knew about historic and contemporary Native Cultures. She has written screenplays and books.
Bonnie Cappuccino	Born St Paul, Minnesota, U.S.A. 1934. She trained as a registered nurse. She married and had two children and then her family grew even more with 19 adopted children. In 1985 she founded and became director of Child Haven International which is a non-profit charitable organization. The organization helps destitute children and women throughout the world. They maintain three children's homes in India and one in Nepal and are affiliated with others. Bonnie travels to each of the children's homes four times a years. For her efforts she has been awarded the Ontario Citizenship Medal in 1985, the Canada Volunteer Award in 1986 the UNESCO Prize for teaching of Human Rights in 1998. She and her husband Fred were the first Canadians to win this award. In 1996 they both received the Order of Canada.
Linda Dorothy Crabtree	Born St Catherines, Ontario April 16, 1942. From 1970 through 1982 she was a journalist for the St Catherines Standard newspaper. in 1986 she developed It's OK! a magazine which publishes information on sexuality, self-esteem and disability. In 1984 she established and became president of the Charcot-Marie_Tooth (CMT) International. CMT is a progressively debilitating neuromuscular syndrome. Having the disease herself, she is an active role model. She earned her BA from Brock University, St Catherines in 1987. She is a member of the Advisory Board of the Canadian Organization for Rare Disorders (CARD). She became a member of the Order of Canada in 1994 and that same year was recipient of the YMCA Peace medal. She also received the Toronto Sun's Women on the Move Award. She also received the Canada 125 Medal, the Order of Ontario and the Ontario Medal for Citizenship.
Dorothy Danzker	Née Sternberg. Born Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA Died April 26, 1988. She was a community volunteer who worked with over one dozen organizations within her community including the B’Nai B’rith Women’s Organization, the Winnipeg Art Gallery, the Hadassah-Wizo Organization, the Council of Jewish Women, the Canadian Jewish Congress, the Young Women’s Hebrew Association, the Winnipeg United Appeal, the Canadian Red Cross, the Canadian Cancer Society, the Winnipeg Hear Fund, the Society of Crippled Children and the Multiple Sclerosis Society to name a few. Her volunteerism behind the scenes was an essential force that runs the organizations and without which such organizations cannot function.
Vega Dawson	née Gronlund Born New Brunswick 1894 (?) Died January 2, 1988. She completed her post secondary studies at Mount Allison University. For her work in Halifax during World War ll she was awarded the Order of the British Empire. She served as the chair of the Regional Advisory Committee of the Wartime Prices and Trade Board. In 1945 she organized the National Clothing Collection for Europe to help families suffering from the devastation of World War ll. She was also a member of the executive of the IODE, the Nova Scotia Tuberculosis Association and the Halifax Children’s Hospital Auxiliary. She was active with the Mount Allison University Federated Alumni and received a honourary degree from that institution.
Agnes Dennis	Born Truro, Nova Scotia April 11, 1859. Died April 21, 1949 President of the Victoria Order of Nurses (1901 - 1946) and the Halifax Council of Women (1906 - 1920) she mobilized women in World War I for the Red Cross for which she was also President at the provincial lever (1914-1920). She also helped co-ordinate relief efforts for the Halifax Explosion of 1917. Even with all this work she found time to raise ten children of her own!
Nora Ellen Dunwoody	née Bell. Born Dublin Ireland 1899. Died May 17, 1988. She attended the University of Manitoba and as a young woman she and her sport partner Art Snell, won the Canadian mixed doubles Badminton Championship. She settled down to a married life which included dedication to volunteering. She would pioneer the establishment of hospital gift shops through out Ontario. The idea of the hospital gift shop was for hospital auxiliaries to raise needed funding. She was the founder of the Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital Auxiliary. And became dedicated to the provincial organization as Vice President of the Hospital Auxiliaries Association of Ontario. She travelled extensively throughout the province encouraging fund raising with the help of the Gift Shop.
Henrietta Louise Edwards	(née Muir). Born December 18, 1849. One of the “Famous Five” women who took the Person case to England and had Canadian women declared” persons” under the law. Women, as 'non-persons' had no rights to own land, serve in government and had very few legal rights prior to 1929. Why not read about the "Persons Case" at the web site for the National Archives of Canada. http://www.archives.ca/05/0530_e.html
Agnes Fontaine	Born Fort Alexander, Manitoba June 29, 1912. Died August 10, 1988. She married young and became a busy mother of 15 children. She somehow always found time to serve her community as an elected band counselor and as a counselor at Camp Neecheewan. In 1953 she was awarded the Queen Elizabeth Coronation Medal of service to her community.
Thais Frémont	Born Montréal, Quebec October 18, 1886. Died April 6, 1963. A welfare worker by profession she was a social activist by avocation. She founded the Ste Justine Children's Hospital in Montreal in 1907. In 1926 she founded the Conservative Women's Association for Quebec City. She was appointed a Canadian delegate to the League of Nations Assembly in 1932. From 1933 to 1936 she was the Vice President of the League of Nations Society of Canada. In 1943 she was a member of the Women's National Advisory Committee on Problems of Post-war Rehabilitation. In 1947 she was still active in working with the Joint Committee on the legal status of married women in the Province of Quebec.
Bella Hall Gauld.	Born December 31, 1878. A political and social activist she worked with immigrants, founded the Labour College (1920-1924) , and the Woman’s Labour League which sponsored camps for poor children. In the desperate 1930’s she operated a soup kitchen and played piano at fundraisers for various ethnic communities. During World War II she was a frequent soloist at navy league concerts for servicemen. She became interested in the political beliefs of Communism, these beliefs she would retain all of her live.
Helena Rose Gutteridge	Born London, England 1879?- Died October 3, 1960. She immigrated to British Columbia in 1911. A ardent feminist she organized the British Columbia Women's Suffrage League. She had a sincere concern and interest in the lives and well being of working class women and was a proponent of trade unionism. She would be a leading personality of the Vancouver Trades and Labour Council. She was a member of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) political party and in March 1937 she became the first woman member elected to the Vancouver City Council. Her birth is sometimes reported as 1880.
Marie Gérin-Lajoie	(née Lacoste) Born Montreal, Quebec October 19, 1867. Died November 1, 1945. As a youth she read her father’s law books and developed a concern for women’s rights. She combined her religion and family life with reform work bringing together Canadian Francophone women. She worked closely with branches of the national Council of Women of Canada. She would give strong testimony before the Dorion Commission that recommended change to Quebec law.
May Gutterage	Born England 1917. Died February 2002. She preferred to be called a parish worker. She had come to Canada in 1955. She and her Anglican minister husband settled on Canada's west coast. Here May began her work as a mother and minister's wife by starting a small Dollar Club. Each member was encouraged to donate $1.00 a month. It was a little idea that was extremely successful! A women's centre would be build where neighborhood women could use tools such as steam irons and sewing machines and even typewriters! For some 40 years May worked her talents lobbying and advocating help for the needy to give them the resources to advance themselves by their own work from the shackles of poverty. Although encourage to take her energies to work in the houses of politics she preferred to keep her work "Hands on". Her efforts on behalf of her community were recognized not only in the bettered lives of the people who used the facilities she pushed to be established but also with an honourary degree from Simon Fraser University and the Order of Canada.
Mae Harman	Born 1921 ? . Died February 2005. She was the first member of her family to graduate from university. Early in her career she began a successful career as supervisor at University Settlement House at the University of Windsor. However it is not her career in the work force for which she will be remembered. She came into her own power when she retired and took on the causes of seniors. Being a social activist had its roots in her teens when she had written Prime Minister Mackenzie King about an economic situation. He acknowledged her letter. She renewed her letter writing skills and was the author of numerous submissions on behalf of senior's organizations such as the Canadian Pensioners Concerned. She could be sincere in her demands and could have a sharp edge to her tongue as the occasion demanded. In 2004 the Ontario Society of Senior Citizens Organizations honoured her with the Dan Benedict Award for her continued efforts on behalf of seniors in Canadian society.
Grace Hartman.	Born Toronto, Ontario July 14,1918. Died December 18, 1993. She was the first woman to hold the top position in a Canadian Union. In 1975 she was elected to the national president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE). She was elected as Vice President as early as 1963 when this union was firs formed from the merger of two previous unions.
Adelaide Sophia Hoodless.	(née Hunter) Born St George, Canada West (Ontario) February 27, 1857. Died February 26, 1910. She was an educational reformer who was the founder of the international women’s organization known as the Women’s Institutes. When her infant son died in 1889 from drinking impure milk she devoted herself to the betterment of education for new mothers. With Lady Aberdeen, she helped found the National Council of Women, the Victorian Order of Nurses and the national YWCA (Young Woman’s Christian Association). The University of Guelph recognizes her contribution to education by hanging her portrait in what was once called MacDonald Institute. ** Note the date of her birth is sometimes reported as February 26
Nadine Hunt.	Born Kingston, Ontario. Nadine attended the Labour College of Canada and graduated in 1971. She went on to work on the executive of the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour. In 1978 she was the first woman to lead a labour federation in Canada when she was elected president of the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour. She held this post until 1988. She helped establish the Labour Studies Program at the University of Saskatchewan. She has served as a representative at the International Labour Organization where she served on a committee to establish international standards for the treatment of workers with family responsibilities. The University of Saskatchewan has a memorial scholarship named in her honour.
Maisie Hurley	Born Swansea, Wales 1888. Died October 3, 1964. As a young woman she eloped with Martin Murphy, a lumberjack and boxer. She would manage a group of boxers who provided entertainment in the lumber camps of the Pacific northwest. It is said that she was taught to ride a horse by the infamous train robber, Bill Miner. While in Washington state she worked with the union known as the IWW- International Workers of the World. She had a sincere desire to better working conditions for families. She left Washington state and returned to Canada with her family of five children after a dangerous union riot. In 1946 she founded and edited the first native newspaper in the area called The Native Voice. She was a strong advocate of Native rights and was actually jailed at one point for her support of clients rights. Her second husband Tom Hurley was a lawyer working with the Native community. She also became a noted collector of Native art and artifacts. Her collection is now housed in the North Vancouver Museum and Archives. née Messina Born Italy 1920. She arrived in Canada as a child with her widowed mother in 1929. They settled in downtown Ottawa and she has become a cornerstone of Ottawa’s Italian Village. For 45 years from 1952-1997 she was a freelance court interpreter making certain that new immigrants were understood and could themselves understand. In the 1950’s she stepped up to help her family of three children when her husband suffered a series of work injuries. She studied and opened her own real estate business becoming the first Italian Canadian woman in Canada in the profession. She and her staff of 16 worked advising new immigrants on how to buy modest homes with affordable down payments. She was the founder of the Independent Realtor’s Association. She is proud that none of the families she helped never lost their homes to mortgage problems.
Mary Nazarena Dolores Ierullo	Née Messina. Born Italy 1920. She arrived in Canada as a child with her widowed mother in 1929. They settled in downtown Ottawa and she has become a cornerstone of Ottawa’s Italian Village. For 45 years from 1952-1997 she was a freelance court interpreter making certain that new immigrants were understood and could themselves understand. In the 1950’s she stepped up to help her family of three children when her husband suffered a series of work injuries. She studied and opened her own real estate business becoming the first Italian Canadian woman in Canada in the profession. She and her staff of 16 worked advising new immigrants on how to buy modest homes with affordable down payments. She was the founder of the Independent Realtor’s Association. She is proud that none of the families she helped never lost their homes to mortgage problems.
Sue Johanson.	A mother, grandmother and by training a nurse, Sue is extremely concerned about unplanned pregnancies, babies having babies, sexually transmitted disease and kids being used and abused. In 1970 she opened in Don Mills Birth Control Clinic, the first such clinic in a High school in North America. She had no idea that her forthright talk approach about sex would lead to the “Sunday Night Sex Show” on W television! In 2004 she entered the American market on Oxygen Network with 4 million viewers. She is a member of the Order of Canada. In March 2004 the National Post newspaper named her one of Canada’s most influential women.
Cathy Kerr	Born 1951(?) Died October 22, 2004. She had a quick mind and by the mid 1970's when she was 23 she was the youngest person to be head of the correspondence section in the Prime Minister's Office. By 1988 she was Director of operations c-ordination for the Winter Olympics in Calgary. While campaign manager for John Manley she was in a car accident caused by a drunk driver. She was confined to a wheel chair but the chair did not confine her spirit, determination nor her energies. She became a tireless worker for the disabled and was a board member of the Disabled Persons Coalition and the Ottawa Rehabilitation Centre. in 200 she received the Rick Hansen Award in recognition of her efforts. In 2001 it was the United Way Community Builder Award and in 2004 it was the Ottawa Civic Appreciation Award.
Marie Catherine Pélissier Sales Laterière	née Delezenne Born March 26, 1755. Died 1831. As a young woman she was forced to marry a man more than twice her age, Christophe Pélissier, in 1775. During her arranged marriage she continued her affair with the man she really loved, Sale de Laterière. The lovers eventually signed a marriage contract for which she was excommunicated from the Catholic Church. In 1779 Laterière was imprisoned for treason. Marie visited him in prison until his release in 1782. They became legally married in 1799 with the death of Pélissier. She is perhaps a true symbol of one who fought for the rights of individuals.
Annie Caroline Macdonald.	Born Wingham, Ontario October 15, 1874. Died July 17, 1931. She graduated in mathematics from the University of Toronto in 1901. She would turn to on of the opening professions for respectable young ladies of the day. She became one of the first professional secretaries of the Young Womens Christian Association (YWCA). By 1904 she was on her way to Japan to establish the YWCA in that country. She became immersed in her new job and new home. She became fluent in the Japanese language and became a staunch advocate of penal reform in Japan. Among other things she established a settlement house in the city of Tokyo to provide support services for families of prison inmates, ex-prisoners and juvenile delinquents (dare we call it Macdonald House?) In 1924 her social work was recognized by the Emperor of Japan. In 1925 she returned to Canada and was the first woman to receive an LLD (Doctor of Law) from the University of Toronto.
Catherine McLellan	née Morton Born Penobsquis, New Brunswick 1837. Died August 18, 1892. She married Alexander McLellan , a self directed railroad entrepreneur,wo took her to British Columbia in 1865. During the early years with her husband she travelled throughout the British Columbia Interior and as far as Southern California. By the 1880's she was more settled and played an active role in church missionary societies and other women's activist groups such as the Women's Christian Temperance Union established in Victoria , British Columbia, 1883. During her executive tenure there was support for the Crosby Girls' Home in Port Simpson, the Orienta Rescue Home in Victoria and several hospitals.
Violet Clara McNaughton	(née Jackson). Born November 11, 1879. Died February 3, 1968. She forced the formation of the women’s section of the Saskatchewan Grain Growers Association and sparked the formation of the Saskatchewan Equal Franchise League. In 1919 she became president of the Interprovincial Council of Farm Women. As a journalist she wrote the women’s column in the “Western Producer”.
Margaret May McWilliams	née Stovel. Born Toronto, Ontario 1875. Died April 12, 1952. She graduated with her B.A. from the University of Toronto in 1898 and shortly after , 1903 marry d Roland Fairbairn McWilliams and the couple would move west to Manitoba. Like her husband , who would become the Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba, she enjoyed politics, but she was not content to just be chatelaine to her province. and would serve 4 consecutive terms as an alderman in Winnipeg. in the 1920's, 1930's and 1940's she would publish several books, many historical in nature such as Manitoba Milestones (Toronto, 1928) and many concerning women such as Women of Red River ( 1923). She also was adamant about social reforms and wrote Blueprint for Canadian Social and Economic Reform (1931). She was a Canadian Delegated to the League of Nations. Perhaps her longest lasting legacy is that she was the founder and first president of the Canadian Federation of University Women. She also provided the inspiration for and was a charter member of the International Federation of University Women founded in 1920. Both organizations have successfully celebrated their Centennial and are enthusiastic about entering another century of service.
Margaret Smith Polson Murray	née Polson. Born Paisley Scotland June 1, 1844. Died January 27, 1927. The oldest of seven children she did not have time for education outside of the home where she was expected to help care for her brothers and sisters. In 1821 she married John Clark Murray and she emigrated to Kingston , Ontario with her professor husband. They soon moved to Montreal where she applied her considerable energies to helping other women established the Young Woman's Christian Association. In 1891 she was a known writer and she founded the publication Young Canadian to help instill patriotism in Canadian youth. She returned from an 1899 trip to England with the embryo of an idea to form a patriotic organization of women. On January 13, 1900 she sent telegrams to the mayors of major Canadian cities entreating them to encourage women to organize and become part of a federation of Daughters of the Empire. February 13, 1900 the National organization of the Federation of the Daughters of the Empire was formed. At the height of the setting up of the organization she would send cables, postcards and as many as 500 letters a day to seek patrons and members. The IODE celebrated its centennial in 2000.
Lady Mary Pellatt.	(née Dodgson) Born Toronto, Ontario 1858. The first Commissioner of the Girl Guides of Canada, Lady Pellatt lived in a Castle! Lady Mary often invited Girl Guides to have rallies at Casa Loma in Toronto. She was warranted as Commissioner of the Dominion of Canada Girl Guides on July 24, 1912. When she was to ill to attend events she enjoyed watching the girls from her bedroom window. When Lady Pellatt died in April 1924 she was buried in her Girl Guide uniform and the Girl Guides formed a Guard of Honour at the funeral service. Connect to the Girl Guide Fact Sheet at http://www.girlguides.ca/media/pdfs/14-3/14.3.1.8.pdf
Judy Rebick	Born Reno, Nevada, U.S.A. 1945. A well known journalist she is an established social activist for women's issues. She honed her skills as President of the National Action Committee on the Status of Women from 1990-1993. She is perhaps one of Canada's best known political commentators. She has hosted shows on the CBC such as Face-off and From the Hip, a women's discussion show on CBC Newsworld. She has co-authored a book Politically speaking with Ken Roach (Toronto,1996) and published in the traditional manner two books, Imagine democracy (Toronto, 200) and Ten thousand roses: the making of a feminist revolution (Toronto, 2005). She contributes on a regular basis to various Canadian newspapers and magazines and is one of the founders of Rabble.ca a virtual publication that is a lively forum of critical politics meant to be an alternative to mainstream media. She lectures across the country and is on staff in women's studies at the University of Toronto as well as being the GINDIN Chair in social justice and democracy at Ryerson University in Toronto.
Flavia Elliott Redelmeier.	Born March 9, 1926. This volunteer has donated her life time to such organizations as the Girl Guides of Canada where she was an executive member and camping commissioner for Canada. She has also served on hospital and museum boards She is currently a board member at the Canadian Museum of Nature.
Nancy Ruth (Jackman)	Born January 6, 1942. Nancy Ruth is Canada's first feminist philanthropist. With less that 5% of funding from private foundations and corporations going to women and girls her philosophy remains : "If women don't give to women and girls, who will?" As an activist, Nancy Ruth was part of the 1981 push for the inclusion of the equity clauses ( 15 & 28) in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. She is a founding mother of Canada's largest women's history website www.coolwomen.ca of The Womens' Legal Education and Action Fund - LEAF/FARJ. ( Be sure check out the teen pages at the site www.LEAF.ca ) and of the Canadian Women's Foundation/Foundation des Femmes Canadiennes, www.women.org who founded among other things the "White Ribbon Campaign". Nancy Ruth holds three honourary degrees and the Order of Canada. In 2005 Prime Minister Paul Martin appointed her to the Senate of Canada.
Idola Saint-Jean.	Born Montreal, Quebec 1880. She studied in Montreal and became a teacher of the French language. However it would be her dedication to the fight for women's rights, specifically the right to vote in her home province of Quebec for which she would be best remembered. Quebec would be the last province in Canada to grant the vote to women and the battle was won by the direct efforts of women like Idola Saint-Jean. She founded the Alliance canadienne pour le vote des femmes du Quebec. In 1991 the Federation des femmes du Québec (FFQ) instituted Le Prix Idola Saint-Jean.
May Sexton	Born New Brunswick. Died 1923. She attended the Massachusetts institute of Technology and graduated with a degree in science. She married Frederick Sexton who worked with her to assure provision of technical education was available for women. The Local Nova Scotia Council of Women supported May and her efforts and lobbied politicians and made a presentation to the Federal Royal Commission on Technical Education in 1910. During the first world war, May was tireless in her efforts on behalf of the Nova Scotia Red Cross committing herself to a grueling speaking tour of the entire province to raise funds for the Red Cross war effort.
Jacqueline Lorraine Shepherd	née Le Drew. Born St John’s, Newfoundland August 16 1932. Died January 27, 2006. In the 1960’s, Jackie was a consumer advocate to be reckoned with and an activist to whom people listened. In 1967 she formed the Consumer Housewives Union and convinced members to picket food warehouses. A strong supporter of the New Democratic Party in politics she was an unsuccessful NDP federal candidate for York West in 1968. She spearheaded a fight for better housing for low-income residents and helped convince the government of the day to pass legislation that banned landlords from refusing to rent to people with children.
Elizabeth Smith-Shortt	Born Vinemount, Ontario January 18, 1859. Died January 14, 1949. One of Canada’s early women doctors she almost single handedly fought fore Queen’s University in Kingston Ontario to become co-educational and accept women as students in medicine. She was an enthusiastic champion of women’s rights and was elected Vice President of the National Council of Women.
Dorothy Thomas	née Mikos Born Toronto, Ontario 1938. Died May 9, 2005. She stated studies at the University of Toronto bu opted instead to a more practical training in on-the-job journalism at the Toronto Star. She married a fell journalist, Ralph Thomas and became a stay at home Mom. She used her excess energies working for resident group and from these she entered local politics. She was elected to two terms on Toronto City Council from 1972-1976 and again from 1981 to 1985. An excellent politician she worked hard for her constituents initiating Toronto's "poop and scoop" program, establishing the City of Toronto's Persons Day Award and heading the mayor's Task Force on the Status of Women. During all of this time she made sure she was home every night to have dinner with her son. She maintained a reputation as a serious hostess and shared her talents talents for auction with local charities. After moving to Port Hope, Ontario she became immersed in her community again with the development of the Port Hope Ecology Garden.
Sheila Watt Cloutier	Born Kuujiuaq, Quebec December 2, 1953. Her mother was a well known healer and no doubt taught her daughter about living with the environment. Her brother, Charlie, is a Canadian member of the Senate, and no doubt accounts for some of her interest in politics. She was sent at 10 years of age, to Nova Scotia and then Churchill Manitoba for her education. She continued studies at McGill University at Montreal. A mother of two children she has been a life long social activist who has gained international clout. She is recognized for her all out efforts on behalf of the Artic indigenous peoples world wide. She is a contemporary champion against persistent organic pollutants (POP’s) and has served as President of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference (Canada) In 2005 she was awarded the generous and coveted SOPHIE Award from Norway for her efforts to draw the world’s attention to the devastating effects of climate change and of emissions of toxic chemicals.
Mary Wong	Born Hamilton, Ontario. In 1943 she and her husband opened a family restaurant in Hamilton, Ontario. She soon became involved with her home community as principal of the National Chinese School and as an interpreter of the Chinese language in the city courts. She served as a member of the Canadian Consultative Council on Multiculturalism. In 1977 Mary Wong was the first Canadian of Chinese descent to be appointed as a Citizenship Court Judge. She retired from the "bench" ( as a Citizenship Judge) in 1985. She is an appointee to the Hamilton [Ontario] Gallery of Distinction.
Lititia Youmans	(née Creighton) Born Hamilton Township, Upper Canada (Ontario) January 3, 1827. Died July 18, 1896. After visiting a rally of the American Women's Temperance Crusade in 1874, she returned to Canada full of determination. Her efforts founded the Women's Christian Temperance Union in Canada and she would be the first president. She would remain, after 1889, its honorary president for the rest of her life. Read more about her determination in her autobiography Campaign Echoes.

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