Women in Canadian History: A Timeline

Title: Jeanne Mance
Source/credit: Library and Archives Canada/William Kingsford collection/e010957246

Jeanne Mance, a French nurse and settler of New France, opened Hôtel-Dieu in Montreal which was one of the first hospitals in Canada.

Laura Secord walked 32 kilometres to warn Lieutenant James Fitzgibbon of impending danger of attack by the Americans during the War of 1812.

Mary Ann Shadd Cary became the first Black newspaperwoman in North America, editing The Provincial Freeman, a Toronto-based newspaper that gave a voice to Black people in Canada.

Dr. Emily Stowe became the first Canadian woman physician to practice in Canada, although she was not licensed until 1880.

Title: Grace Annie Lockhart
Source/credit: Mount Allison University

Grace Annie Lockhart received a bachelor’s degree in Science and English Literature from Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick. It was the first degree awarded to a woman in Canada.

Title: Clara Brett Martin
Source/credit: Law Society of Ontario Archives photo collection 2006006-28P

Clara Brett Martin was admitted to the bar as Canada’s first woman lawyer.

Title: Emma Baker
Source/credit: University of Toronto Archives, 2007-47-1MS

Emma Baker became the first woman to receive a Ph.D. from a Canadian university. She earned the degree in psychology at the University of Toronto.

Title: Canadian nurses, CWM 19920085-353
Source/credit: George Metcalf Archival Collection, Canadian War Museum

During the First World War, more than 2,800 women served with the Canadian Army Medical Corps, with the majority serving overseas in hospitals, on board hospital ships, in several theatres of war and in combat zones with field ambulance units.

Title: Nellie McClung
Source/credit: Cyril Jessop, Library and Archives Canada

Manitoba women were the first in Canada to gain the right to vote in provincial elections, thanks to the efforts of Nellie McClung and the Political Equality League.

Title: Louise McKinney
Source/credit: Glenbow Archives, NA-825-1

Title: Roberta MacAdams Price
Source/credit: Glenbow Archives, NA-14004-1

Louise McKinney and Roberta MacAdams Price of Alberta became the first two women in the British Empire to be elected to a provincial legislature.

Title: Votes for women
Description: Image of a violet circle with the text “Votes for women” in the middle of the circle.

White women over the age of 21 who were Canadian citizens were granted the right to vote. It took another 40 years before all women in Canada were granted the same right.

Agnes Macphail, activist and founder of the Elizabeth Fry Society of Canada, became the first woman elected to the House of Commons.

Title: Cecile Eustace Smith
Source/credit: City of Toronto Archives, Globe and Mail fonds, Fonds 1266, Item 9842.

Cecile Eustace Smith, a 15-year-old figure skater, became the first Canadian woman to represent Canada in the Olympic Games. She competed in the first official winter Olympics in Chamonix, France.

Title: The Famous Five, 1930.
Description: Rt. Hon. W.L. Mackenzie King and guests unveiling a plaque commemorating the 5 Alberta women whose efforts resulted in the Persons Case, which established the rights of women to hold public office in Canada
Source/credit: Library and Archives Canada/National Film Board of Canada fonds/a195432

5 women who have since become known as the Famous Five launched a legal challenge that would mark a turning point for equality rights in Canada. Emily Murphy, Nellie McClung, Louise McKinney, Irene Parlby and Henrietta Muir Edwards were journalists, politicians, reformers and activists from Alberta who asked the Supreme Court of Canada to answer the following question: does the word “person” in Section 24 of the British North America Act include female persons? After 5 weeks of debate, the Supreme Court decided that the word “person” did not include women.

Title: "Now That We Are Persons" article by Nellie McClung.
Description: Photo of an article from Farm and Ranch Review, 2 January, 1930 (Vol XXV!, No. 1, pp.16), titled "Now That We Are Persons" written by Nellie McClung.
Source/credit: Provincial Archives of Alberta, A17201

The British Privy Council declared that women are “persons” and could therefore be appointed to the Senate of Canada.

Title: Canadian Women's Army Corps (C.W.A.C.) Pipe and Brass Bands preparing to take part in C.W.A.C. anniversary march past Apeldoorn, Netherlands, 13 August 1945
Source/credit: Library and Archives Canada/Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development fonds/a123915

The Canadian Women's Army Corps and the Royal Canadian Navy, Women's Division, were formed and over 45,000 women volunteers were recruited for full-time military service other than nursing.

Elsie Knott, an Ojibwa woman and member of the Curve Lake First Nation in Ontario, became the first woman elected chief of a First Nation community in Canada.

Title: In Hiawatha Council Hall on occasion of federal by-election
Source/credit: Library and Archives Canada/Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development fonds/a123915

All women in Canada were granted the right to vote in federal elections. Until the Canada Elections Act was enacted in 1960, First Nations women could not vote unless they had lost or given up their treaty rights and Indian status.

Title: Florence Bayard Bird
Source/credit: Council on the Status of Women, Ottawa, Ont.: 1969 / PA-135131

The Royal Commission on the Status of Women in Canada was established and was the first Commission to be chaired by a woman, Florence Bird. The Commission’s mandate was to “inquire into and report upon the status of women in Canada, and to recommend what steps might be taken by the federal government to ensure for women equal opportunities with men in all aspects of Canadian society.”

Title: Réjane Laberge-Colas
Source/credit: Université de Montréal

Réjane Laberge-Colas was a judge of the Quebec Superior Court and the first woman in Canada to be appointed as a judge to a superior court.

Title: Royal Commission on the Status of Women in Canada / e010858739
Source/credit: W. H. "Bill" Olson, Dominion-Wide Photographs Limited

The report of the Royal Commission on the Status of Women in Canada was tabled in Parliament. It included recommendations on updating the legislative system and addressing such critical issues for women as poverty, family law, the Indian Act and the need for a federal representative for women.

Source/credit: Canadian Labour Congress website
Description: A woman in the street with a sign in her hands during a protest. On the sign, you can read "Working women have a right to paid maternity leave".

Amendments were made to the Canadian Labour Code to include the prohibition of discrimination on the grounds of sex and marital status, the strong reinforcement of the principle of equal pay for equal work and the provision of 17 weeks of maternity leave.

The Canadian Human Rights Act was passed, forbidding discrimination on the basis of sex and ensuring equal pay for work of equal value for women.

Nellie J. Cournoyea, an Inuvialuit woman, was elected to the Legislature of the Northwest Territories, becoming the first Indigenous woman to lead a provincial or territorial government in Canada.

Title: Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
© Government of Canada. Reproduced with the permission of Library and Archives Canada (2020).
Source/credit: Library and Archives Canada/Robert Stacey fonds/e010758222

Women’s rights, ensuring equality before and under the law, were enshrined in the new Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Jeanne Sauvé was appointed Governor General of Canada, the first woman to hold this post.

Title: On June 20, 1989, Captain Jane Foster (left) and Captain Deanna “Dee” Brasseur stand atop a CF-188 Hornet fighter jet.
Source/credit: CKC89-3773, DND Archives

Combat roles in the Royal Canadian Air Force, such as flying fighter aircraft, were opened to women for the first time.

Dr. Roberta Bondar became the first neurologist in space and Canada’s first woman in space.

Title: The Honourable Jean Augustine
Source/credit: Library and Archives Canada/Althea Thauberger/e008299388

Jean Augustine became the first Black Canadian woman elected to the House of Commons.

Kim Campbell became the first woman Prime Minister of Canada.

Canada adopted the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action where we committed to advance the goals of equality, development and peace for all women and girls.

The Canadian Human Rights Act was amended to prohibit discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation.

The Canadian Human Rights Commission recommends to Parliament that a proactive pay equity system be established so that employees proactively get equal pay, without needing to file a complaint to receive it.

The Government of Canada appointed the Bilson Task Force to improve the federal pay equity approach. In total, 113 recommendations were made for a new proactive pay equity system.

Visit the Evolution of pay equity web page for more information.

The Standing Committee on the Status of Women was established in the House of Commons for keeping Parliament informed on issues pertaining to women's participation in society and promoting government action on equality for women.

Same-sex marriage becomes legal across Canada under the Civil Marriage Act.

Title: Josée Kurtz
Source/credit: Royal Canadian Navy

Commander Josée Kurtz became the first woman in Canadian history to assume command of a major warship when she took control of the frigate HMCS Halifax.

The United Nations formally adopted a resolution designating the International Day of the Girl under Canada’s leadership.

The Prime Minister of Canada announced the first gender-balanced Cabinet in history.

The Government of Canada launched the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.

The Canadian Human Rights Act was amended to prohibit discrimination on the grounds of gender identity or expression

Itʼs Time: Canadaʼs Strategy to Prevent and Address Gender-Based Violence (GBV), the first ever federal strategy on GBV, was launched.

Source: Canadian Human Rights Commission

Karen Jensen was appointed as Canada’s first Pay Equity Commissioner.

Reclaiming Power and Place, the two-volume Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, was released on June 3, 2019. It called for transformative legal and social changes to resolve the crisis that has devastated Indigenous communities across the country.

On November 9, 2022, the Government of Canada announced a historic milestone, the endorsement of a 10-year National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence.