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1930 AD to 1939 AD
Events listed relate to Canadian women with a few extra items added to give the timeline perspective.

This timeline is not all inclusive.

The timeline  was fun to prepare and hopefully it will be fun to read.  Perhaps it will even be  useful.

Events listed are drawn from various sources including those listed on other areas of http://famouscanadianwomen.com

If you wish more information on the women listed in this timeline be sure and check out the birthdays listed in
"Do you share a birthday with a famous Canadian woman?"

LAST UPDATED July 31 2005

DATES

EVENTS

1930
 
February 15 - Cairine Reay Wilson (1895-1962) become the first woman appointed to the Senate in Canada.

March 27 - The Edmonton Grads women's basketball team beat Seattle Ferry Lines by 59 points over two games to retain the Underwood Trophy and the  international  title.

The Business and Professional Women Canada (The Canadian Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs) is formed Source: BPW; History http://www.bpwcanada.com/history.html (accessed May 20, 2005)

Doctors at the Sick Children's Hospital in Toronto invent Pablum baby cereal.

Wonder Bread, the world's first packaged sliced bread enters the market place.
Source : Canuck Chicks and Maple Leaf Mamas : women of the Great White North by Ann Douglas Toronto, McArthur and Co., 2002. pg 15

Births:
Born Jane Margaret Carson Champagne, writer and landscape artist.
Born Marion Fry (1932-   ) noted educator and university administrator.
February 13 -
Born Miriam Mandel (1930-1982)  poet and author, winner of a Governor General's Award..
May 8 - Born  Agnes Helen Porter an author who excels in writing fiction, poetry and drama.
May 18 - Born Rose Sheinin, professor and author.
July 15 - Born Isobel Finnerty, political activist and Senator.
July 25 - Born Maureen Forrester, opera singer and Canadian nationalist who is a Companion of the Order of Canada.
September 29 - Constance Elvia Crook author of books for young readers.

Deaths:
November 1 -
Died Emily Ann McCausland Cummings (1851-1930) Journalist and first woman to receive an honorary degree from a Canadian University.

December 9 - Died Laura Muntz Lyall (1860-1930) artist.
1931 Helen Birdsall (1906-1988) produces an extravaganza for the Grandstand show at the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto using a cast of 1,500 people. Source: Canadian Obituary Record, 1988. Robert M. Stamp. Toronto: Dundurn Press, 1989)

Births:
January 22 -
Born Doris Giller Born Montreal, Quebec. Died April 25, 1993. Pioneer journalist and newspaper editor.
June 13 - Born Jean Jay Macpherson, award winning poet.
June 30 - Born Joyce Wieland ( 1931-1998) an artist with works covering a multitude of media from canvas, quilting , embroidery and film.
July 10 - Born Alice Munro, award winning author.
August 29 - Born Lise Payette , media journalist and Member of Quebec provincial parliament.

Deaths:
Died Kathleen Macfarlane Lizars, author.
January 3 - Died Lily Adams Beck (1862?-1931) author.
July 10 - Died Louise McKinney (1868-1931) , politician and member of the "Famous
5" .
September 5 - Died  Marion Osborne (1871-1931) poet, playright and author.
1932 Dr. Elizabeth Bagshaw (1881-1982) opens the first Canadian family planning clinic in Hamilton, Ontario.

Rose-Anna Vachon (1870 (?)-1948)
develops a delicious cream filled chocolate cake that she names for two of her sons ...Jos-Louis.   Source: I know That Name by Mark Kearney & Randy Roy (Toronto: Hounslow, 2002)

Births:
January 2 -
Born Jean Little (1932-  ) blind award winning children's author
May 16 -
Born Denise Fillatrault, actress.
June 6 - Born Anne-Claire Poirier, film director and producer.
August 16 - Born Jacqueline Lorraine Shepherd (1932-2006),
1960’s consumer advocate & activist.



Deaths:
Died
Onésime Dorval (1845-1932) the first trained teacher in the Red River area and a National Historic Person of Canada
May 2 - Died Ellen Elizabeth Spragge (1854-1932) free lance journalist.
November 6- Died Nina Jamieson (? - 1932) journalist and novelist.
November 11- Died Georgina Alexandrina Newhall (1859-1932) journalist and poet.

1933 Rose-Anna Vachon invents the Jos Louis Cake which is named after two of her sons.

Canadian Actress Fay Wray (1907-2004) has lead female role in movie King Kong.

Births:
Born Mary Dohey ( 1933-   ) a stewardess who became a heroine saving lives of passenger and crew from a hijacker in 1971.
August 23 -
Born Betty Lambert (1933-1983) prolific Canadian playwright.
November 20 -
Born Maryon Kantaroff ( 1933-   ) award winning sculptor.

Deaths:
Died Margaret Hubner Wetherell (d. 1933) local historian
February 27 -
Died
Alice Jones (1853-1933) one of Canada's leading authors for her era.
April 15 -
Died Mary Isabella Macleod (1852-1933)pioneer of western Canada.
May 3-
Died Mary Ellen Smith
 (1863-1933)  first woman elected to BC Legislature and first woman appointed to a Cabinet position in the British Empire.
July 17 -
Died Mary Agnes Fitzgibbon (1862-1933) Journalist ...pen-name Lally Bernard.
September 3 -
Died Jean Wilson award winning speed skater.
October 10 -
Ione Christensen former Commissioner of the Yukon Territories and Appointed to the Senate of Canada 1999.
October 27 -
Died Emily Murphy,(1868-1933) judge and member of the Famous Five.
1934 March 9 - New Brunswick women win the right to hold provincial office.

Ethel Stark  (1916?-   ) is the first woman soloist heard on radio when she plays violin performing under conductor Fritz Reiner the Tchaikovsky “Concerto.

 Helen Alice Kinnear (1884-1970)  is the first woman in the British Empire to be appointed King's Counsel.   

Phyllis Dewar (1916-    ) becomes the first Canadian woman to win four gold medals for swimming at the British Empire Games, a record not broken until 1966.
Source: www.womenwarriors.ca Timeline

Births:
Born Nancy Bauer, author
February 12 -
Born Mary Alice Dawe Downie (1934-   ) children's author.
March 9 -
Born Marlene Streit, champion golfer, former Canadian Female Athlete of the Year , and member of the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame and first Canadian in the World Golf Hall of fame.
May 15 -
Born Julia Levy, medical researcher and professor.

May 28 - Born Annette, Emilie, Yvonne, Cécile, and Marie Dionne all share the same birthday in Corbeil, Ontario  They were the only known-surviving quintuplets in the world at the time of their birth. There is incredible international media attention.
August 2 - Born Valerie Knowles, author and biographer.
August 25 - Born List Bacon, Member of the Senate of Canada.
September 21 - Gloria Saarinen ( 1934-   ) renowned  pianist

October 6 - Born Joan Cook Businesswoman and member of the Senate of Canada.

Deaths:
August 19 -
Died
Jean Blewett (1862-1934) journalist, novelist and poet.
September 29 - Died
Dora Olive Thompson (1895-1934) Author of books for young readers.
1935 Helen Alice Kinnear (1894-1970)  is the  first woman lawyer in Canada to appear as counsel before the Supreme Court in Canada.

The Canadian Bowling Association, out of Toronto, creates a Ladies Section.
Source: 5-pin Bowling History cvnet.net/burnstd  (Accessed May 2005. )

The Canadian government selects Alice Wilson (1881-1964), Canada's first woman geologist, as a "notable woman in the Civil Service".
Source:100 Canadian Heroines: famous and forgotten faces by Merna Forester. Toronto : Dundurn Press, 2004.

Alice Wilson (1881-1964), Canada's first woman geologist is appointed as a member of the Order of the British Empire.
Source:100 Canadian Heroines: famous and forgotten faces by Merna Forester. Toronto : Dundurn Press, 2004.

Births:
January 14 -
Born Lucille Wheeler  Canada's first ever Canadian Olympic Ski medalist in 1956.
January 27 - Born Christine McCall (1935-2005) journalist, author and biographer of Pierre Elliot Trudeau.
March 15 - Born Mary Pratt ,  her paintings look so real you think they are photographs!
April 2 - Born Sharon Acker, actress.
April 22 - Born Rita Margaret Johnston, politician and the first woman to serve as a provincial premier in Canada.
June 2 - Born Carol Shields (1935-2003) award winning author.
June 6 - Born Joy Kogawa, author of children's books, poetry and essays and social activist.
July 29 -
Born Patricia Lowther (1935-1975) respected poet, the Patricia Lowther Award now honours the best Canadian Poets.

Deaths:
February 9 -
Died Margaret Ross (1845-1935) Biographer
March 31- Died Emma Lorne Duff ( ?-1935) teacher and author.
May 8 - Died Susie Frances Harrison (1858-1935) she used the pen name Seranus and wrote novels and poetry.
September 5 - Died
 Eliza Ritchie, (1856-1935)  probably the first Canadian woman to receive her doctor of letters.
November 25 - Died
Gwethalyn Graham. (1913-1935) award winning author.
1936 Barbara Hanley is the first woman elected to the position of a mayor of a town in Canada, Webwood, Ontario.

November - Lydia Gruchy
(1895-   ) is the first woman to be ordained as a minister in the United Church of Canada.

The Governor General's Award in Literature is founded.

Social worker Dorthea Palmer is arrested and charged under the Criminal Code of Canada for offering birth control information.
Source : A History of Abortion in Canada http://www.prochoiceactionnetwork-canada.org/history.html (accessed July 30, 2003)


Births:
March 1 -
Born Monique Bégin , federal cabinet minister who was responsible for old age security increases and the child tax credit.
April 19 - Born Sharon Pollock, playwrite and winner of the Governor General's Award.
May 13 - Born Patricia Beatty, dancer and founder of the New Dance Group of Canada.
May 30 - Born Ruta Lee, actress.
June 26 - Born Marion Margaret Cuming, an artist to uses her talents to help emotionally disturbed children.

Deaths:
Died Edith Jessie Archibald (1854-1936) social activist for women's rights. A National Historic Person of Canada.

1937 September 1 - Trans Canada Air Lines begins regular flights.

Alice Evelyn Wilson (1881-1964) is the first woman elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.

Elsie MacGill  (1905-1980.)  is the first woman to be admitted corporate membership in the Engineering Institute of Canada.

Léa Roback (1903-2000) leads 5000 garment industry workers in Montreal on a massive strike that lasted 25 days. They were protesting 60 hour work weeks, poverty level wages and miserable working conditions. Source: 100 Canadian Heroines : famous and forgotten faces by Merna Forester. Toronto : Dundurn Press, 2004 Pg. 205.

Synchronized swimming is introduced in Canada at the Peterborough YWCA. Source: History of the YWCA  http://www.ywcacanada.ca/ (accessed January 12, 2005)


Dorothea Palmer is acquitted on charges of unlawfully advertising birth control methods. The trial is a landmark in the ongoing fight by women to control their reproductive capacity. The criminal law with respect to birth control information and advertising was not changed until 1969. Source : Cool Chronology at www.coolwomen.org (accessed July 2005)


Kraft Diner is introduced to the world. Source : Canuck Chicks and Maple Leaf Mamas : women of the Great White North by Ann Douglas Toronto, McArthur and Co., 2002.  pg 17.

The invention of the blender is introduced to the North American market. Source : Canuck Chicks and Maple Leaf Mamas : women of the Great White North by Ann Douglas Toronto, McArthur and Co., 2002.

Births:
Born Aiko Geraldine Suzuki (1937-2005)
a sculptor, painter, printmaker, dance set designer, curator and teacher,.
Born Dorothy Thomas (1938-2005) feminist and community social activist.
June 8 -
Born Cathy Townsend, the first Canadian woman to win the Bowling Cup and member of the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame.
June 15 - Born Lola Lemire Tostevin, bilingual author and poet.
June 18 - Born Rose-Marie Losier-Cool, Member of the Canadian Senate.
September 8 - Born Barbara Frum, (1937-1992) Award winning multi media journalist.
September 15 - Born Marjorie Harris, (1937-  ) renouned author and gardening enthusiast, she is the expert of her era.

Deaths:
August 1 - Died Constance Woodrow (1899-1937) author.
1938 The DuPont company introduces Teflon non stick coating for cooking pots and pans.  Source : Canuck Chicks and Maple Leaf Mamas : women of the Great White North by Ann Douglas Toronto, McArthur and Co., 2002. pg 16

Births:

February 17 - Born Martha Henry, leading stage and film actress.
March 31 - Born Beverley Simons, playright,
May 5 - Born Barbara Wagner She and skating partner Robert Wagner were to international medal winning pairs skaters and are members of the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame.

June 10 - Born Ernestine Russell Weaver (1938-   ) Champion gymnast.
June 28 -
Born Shelagh Dawn Grant, author and historian.
August 9 - Born Micheline Saint-Marcoux (1938-1985) composer and teacher.
August 16 - Born Dorothy Lidstone, world champion archer.

Deaths:
Died
Mary Ella Dignam (1857-1938) feminist, artist, founder of the Women's Art Association of Canada.
January 12 -
Died
Annie Charlotte Dalton (1865-1938) author
February 12 - Died Amy Parkinson (1859?-1938) poet.
June 6 - Died
Georgina Fane Pope (1862-1938) The Florence Nightingale of Prince Edward Island and first Matron of the Canadian Army Medical Corp.
October 22 - Died
May Irwin, (1862-1938.)  Stage performer and  star of pioneering one minute movie by Thomas Edison.
November 17 - Died
Jean Newton McIlwraith (1959-1938) author.
December 15 - Died Marjory Willison Lady Willison was an Author.
1939

 

 

 

 

May 2 - the National Film Board is created.

September 10 - Canada declares war on Germany beginning participation in World War ll.

The first Canadian Elizabeth Fry Society was established in Vancouver.

The Royal Winnipeg Ballet is founded by
Gweneth Lloyd and Betty Farrally.

Isabel McLaughlin  (1903-2002.) is the first woman to hold the position of president of the Canadian Group of Painters.

Kay Martin
(married name Snelgrove) (1921-2005) begins delivering covert letters from the British War Office for delivery to the President of the United States under the direction of William Stevenson, also known as INTREPID.

Elsie Gregory MacGill (1905-1980) is the first woman to design and witness the construction of an airplane based on these designs. Source: Canadian Chronology Http://tdi.uregina.ca/~maguirec/chron.html (accessed April 28, 2003)

Births:
Born Sheila Cantor (1939-1988) internationally renownd researcher in the field of schizophrenia.

January 11 -  Born Anne Heggtveit born Ottawa, Ontario. Olympic gold medalist in figure skating 1960.
February 10 - Born Adrienne Louise Clarkson, second woman to be appointed as Governor General of Canada.
March 8 - Born Berta Lynn Seymour (1949-   ) dancer and choreographer
April 2 - Born Lise Tibault, Lieutenant Governor of Quebec.
April 15 - Born Hugette Labelle, nursing teacher and civil servant.
April 16 - Born Sandra Ann Djwa (1939-   ) author, biographer, and educator.
June 5 - Born Margaret Hollingsworth, renowned playwright.
July 3 - Born Renée Claude, singer.
July 26 - Born Catherine Callbeck, politician and business woman, former Premier of Prince Edward Island and Senator.
October 5 - Born Marie-Claire Blais , one of Quebec's finest contemporary authors.

Deaths:
January 23 - Died Mary Townsend Schaffer (1861-1939) Historian and author.
December 22 - Died Evelyn Bolduc, (1888-1939) translator and author.

   

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