Being Heard (part 4) by Leanne Dyck

 In Part 3 of "Being Heard," we learned how Canadian suffrage grew from a grassroots movement to an undeniable force thanks to some key players. In Part 4...

  In 1915, the Roblin government was capsized by scandal and the Liberals swept to power. [In August 1915,] Premier Tobias Norris pledged his government would grant women the vote if formally presented with a petition signed by 17,000 supporters. On 23 December, [6] the Political Equality League [and Icelandic Manitoban women] sent a delegation to present [9] a scroll...listing 39,584 signatures. A second petition accounted for 4,250 names collected by Amelia Burdett of Sturgeon Creek [a neighbourhood in Winnipeg], Manitoba, age 94.

    On 28 January 1916, Manitoba women became the first in Canada to win the right to vote and the right to hold provincial office. However, they could not vote in federal elections, a separate jurisdiction. [6]

    The First World War [, which began on July 28, 1914 and ended on November 11, 1918] interrupted the suffrage campaigns and divided activists. Many concentrated on supporting the war effort...in groups such as Women’s Patriotic Fund. Socialists and pacifists...endorsed the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, formed in 1915. [5]

    Many [women] saw the war as an opportunity to not only serve their [country] but to gain more rights and independence. [10] More than 2,800 women served with the Canadian Army Medical Corps, and roughly 2,500 went overseas where they served close to the front lines in hospitals, on board ships, and in combat zones with field ambulance units…

    Over 40 lost their lives while in service, and of this number between 20 and 30 were killed by enemy action…

    [I]n the labour market[, o]ver 30,000 women worked outside the home in munitions factories, offices and in the countryside on their family farms due to the shortage of male workers. [11]

    When the war had begun, [Prime Minister Robert Borden] had promised not to enact conscription. But losses at the front meant that he had to break this promise. Which presented a problem for his [1917] re-election campaign. The solution? Change the voting laws in his favour.

    In September, the House of Commons passed the 1917 Wartime Elections Act, under the leadership of Robert Borden. The new rules specified that “enemy aliens” (Canadian immigrants who had been born in an “enemy” country after March 1902) and conscientious objectors, in other words, those most opposed to conscription, were barred from voting unless they had a son, grandson, or brother serving as a solider. And further, the mothers, wives, widows, or brothers of soldiers (or those allegedly more likely to support conscription) were granted the right to vote, unless they were otherwise excluded…

    It’s unclear whether or not the Wartime Elections Act made any difference in terms of Borden’s campaign, but he was re-elected. [3]

    [Borden’s g]overnment wished...to acknowledge women’s contribution to the war effort...by extending the franchise. [5] [T]he 1918 Act to Confer the Electoral Franchise Upon Women...permitted women to vote so long as they met the same eligibility criteria of men. [3]

    I]t’s important to note that not all women gained the right to vote in Manitoba in 1916—or federally in 1918 for that matter. It would be a long road before First Nations and Inuit women (and men) won the franchise. The same was true for many Asian and South Asian communities. [6]

    Asian women and men waited until 1948 to receive the vote, the year of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which Canada helped to draft and then adopted. [5]

    Status Indians would not gain the right to vote in federal elections until 1960.

    The Inuit, who were not included in the Indian Act, were barred from voting with the passage of the 1934 Dominion Franchise Act. The Inuit did not regain the right to vote in federal election until 1950, without any qualifications. However, even though they were eligible to vote as of 1950, most Inuit were unable to vote until the 1962 election, since beforehand they were rarely added to voting lists and ballot boxes were not provided to all Inuit communities.

    And these are just the restrictions put in place. There is also the matter of accessibility, since individuals with disabilities were often unable to vote due to physical barriers. [3]

    In the early 1980s, a special House of Commons committee on the disabled...heard complaints throughout its hearings that the voting systems at the national and provincial levels made it difficult for many Canadians with disabilities to vote on election day. Polling stations were often located too far away and/or were inaccessible. At that time, only one jurisdiction in the country, Manitoba, had made provisions for a postal vote system for general elections. The parliamentary committee argued that Canada Elections Act should reflect the fundamental principle that elections are conducted for the convenience of all voters, including seniors and people with disabilities, and therefore made recommendations on providing polls at hospitals, nursing homes and apartment buildings. [12]

    Unbelievably it wasn’t until 1982 in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms that all citizens were given the right to vote. [13]

[1] “Canadian Women’s History”, Public Service Alliance of Canada ,January 9, 2013 

https://psac-ncr.com/canadian-womens-history/,

[2] Katherine, “Women and the Vote in Canada: a Timeline”, Toronto Reference Library Blog, January 27, 2016

https://torontopubliclibrary.typepad.com/trl/2016/01/women-and-the-vote-in-canada-a-timeline.html

[3] Andrea Eidinger, “Inconvenient Pasts: Women’s Suffrage in English Canada”, Unwritten Histories, February 13, 2018

https://www.unwrittenhistories.com/inconvenient-pasts-womens-suffrage-in-english-canada/

[4] “Background Information: Women and the Vote”, Elections Canada, 2024

https://electionsanddemocracy.ca/civic-action-then-and-now-0/background-information-women-and-vote#:~:text=The%20earliest%20women's%20rights%20organizations,politicians%20to%20secure%20their%20support

[5] Veronica Strong-Boag, “Women’s Suffrage in Canada”, The Canadian Encyclopedia, June 21, 2016

https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/suffrage#:~:text=Representative%20of%20more%20than%20justice,See%20also%20Women's%20Suffrage%20Timeline.

[6] The Canadian Encyclopedia staff, “Women’s Suffrage in Manitoba”, The Canadian Encyclopedia, May 6, 2016

https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/womens-suffrage-in-manitoba#:~:text=On

%2028%20January%201916%2C%20Manitoba,federal%20politicians%20to%20enfranchise

%20women

[7] Kym Bird, “Mock Parliament”, The Canadian Encyclopedia, April 14, 2016

https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/mock-parliament-1914

[8] Linda McDowell, “Political Equality League (1912-1916)”, The Nellie McClung Foundation, 2024 https://www.nelliemcclungfoundation.com/political-equality-league

[9] “Political Equality of Manitoba”, Archives of Manitoba,

https://pam.minisisinc.com/scripts/mwimain.dll/144/PAM_AUTHORITY/WEB_AUTH_DET_REP/HEADING%20%22Political%20Equality%20League%20of%20Manitoba%22?SESSIONSEARCH

[10] “Women in WWI”, The National WWI Museum and Memorial,

https://www.theworldwar.org/learn/women

[11] “Women Veterans”, Government of Canada

https://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/those-who-served/women-veterans/timeline

[12] Michael J Prince, “Electoral Insight—Persons with Disabilities and Elections”, Elections Canada, April 2004 https://www.elections.ca/content.aspx?section=res&dir=eim/issue10&document=p2&lang=e

[13] Judith Kays, “Your vote is your voice: use it! Why it’s important to exercise your right to vote as a Canadian”, Saltwire, posted October 7, 2019

https://www.saltwire.com/nova-scotia/more/your-vote-is-your-voice-use-it-why-its-important-to-exercise-your-right-to-vote-as-a-canadian-361063/

Audur Styrkarsdottir, “Women’s Suffrage in Iceland”, 2006

https://kvennasogusafn.is/index.php?page=Womens-Suffrage-in-Iceland

Thank you for reading "Being Heard."

photo by ldyck

"Sailing Away" 

(any opportunity to share this song)

photo by ldyck

On this blog in October

This month I have a rare treat for you—a guest post.

Sunday, October 4

Sunday, October 11

Judee Fong will introduce her soon-to-be-released book:

"Murder on the Menu"

Sunday, October 18

Sunday, October 25

We will continue our study of Canadian history with a 2-part article on the history of the disabled in Canada: "The Unfit."

Surprisingly, this article has a connection to "Being Heard."

Here's a hint: Nellie McClung

Being Heard (part 3) by Leanne Dyck

In Part 2 of "Being Heard," we learnt that the champion for Canadian women to get the vote was a grassroots movement. A diverse group of women contributed to this cause. And in part 3...

The [Suffrage] movement was relatively small until social reformers picked up on it as an important tool in their campaign for a better society.

The social reform movement, or the moral reform movement...[is a] term used to refer to individuals and organizations dedicated to solving the modern problems of industrialization, urbanization, and the growing number of non-Anglo-American immigrants… These individuals and organizations believed that women were morally superior to men, and, as women, they were naturally disposed toward being caregivers. As such, they had an obligation to step out into society to save it from itself. In effect, they were to be “mothers of the nation." Today this approach is referred to as maternal feminism, as it was a key component to the women’s suffrage in Canada.

...Throughout the 1870s and 1880s, [the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU)] petitioned governments at all levels to enact legislation [against the consumption of tobacco, alcohol, and illegal drugs]. These campaigns were largely failures due to the unpopularity of the movement among male politicians. So, in 1888, the WCTU officially endorsed women’s suffrage as the only way in which to enact their reforms. [3]

In 1890, a chapter of the WCTU was established in Manitoba, and it quickly became the first English-speaking organization to officially support the women’s suffrage movement in the province. [6]

[In] 1893[,] Manitoba’s Woman’s Christian Temperance Union and Icelandic Manitoban women present[ed] a petition for female suffrage to the provincial legislature. It [was] rejected[,] and they stage[d] the first mock Parliament to raise funds and educate the public on women’s suffrage. [2]

[P]erformed in Winnipeg at the Bijou Opera House on 9 February 1893 [7] [,it was roundly applauded. And so more mock parliaments were staged. In total there were at least seven performed from the late 19^th to the early 20^th centuries, in a variety of locations—including four in Manitoba and seven in Ontario.]

On March 29, 1912[,] a group of women and men met at 808 Wolseley Avenue, home of Mrs. A. G. (Martha Jane) Hample, Winnipeg’s first businesswoman. Their main objective was to organize and work for woman suffrage [,] but they were also concerned about a number of social and educational issues…

The first big event planned was a public meeting to give information about their organization and about [women's] suffrage to the public. [Ontario-born and Manitoban-by-choice, Nellie McClung was one of the speakers at this event and]...later became an active member of the League.

Lack of money was a problem at the beginning because the League needed to be able to provide speakers to take their message to the small towns and farms of Manitoba as well as the Winnipeg audience. Mrs. Hample provided some initial funding. Later they raised money by selling membership [,]and, when Nellie McClung joined them, she suggested that she could add a lecture on woman suffrage to her already successful public readings of her books…

The journalist members constantly wrote articles for the newspaper [and for]... The Grain Growers’ Guide…

In 1913 the League ordered one hundred “Votes for Women” banners [,] which were placed on Winnipeg streetcars. [And as well during that same year,] they also had a booth at the Winnipeg Stampede and handed out pamphlets. It was a great advantage that the Stampede program included so many women...roping and riding champions! The Women’s Parliament of 1914 was the League’s most successful activity… [And as a result,] woman suffrage suddenly became very respectable [,] and everyone wanted to get involved. [8] [To add national and international momentum to the cause, Nellie McClung, now living in Alberta, published In Times Like These simultaneously in Canada (McLeod & Allen) and the United States (D. Appleton and Company) in 1915.] Her...best-seller...combined serious argument with satiric put-down of anti-suffragists. [5]

In 1913 the Political Equality League [and Icelandic Manitoban woman] present[ed] a petition with the signatures of twenty thousand men to Liberal leader T. C. Norris [,] and the Liberals agreed to endorse the vote for women. [9] Though members of the Political Equality League campaigned for their new allies during the 1914 election, the Conservative government of Sir Rodmond Roblin was returned to power. [6]

photo by ldyck

The Ballad of Terry Fox by Byran Adams

After watching the video
After listening to the song
I can no longer say I can't
I can only say I can

There is no excuse
for not doing
what is in my heart
to do.

 

photo by ldyck

On this blog in September

Sunday, September 6

to

Sunday, September 27

Being Heard

a four-part article on the history of women voting in Canada