WebStamp March 07, 2018
Women are Persons!
WebStamp continues exploring Calgary’s Public Art as we go a few blocks south of The Family of Man that we explored in our last issue to Olympic Plaza and visit The Famous Five. These statues honour five Alberta women active in campaigning for women’s rights, whom in 1927 sought to legally have women considered as persons. They wanted women to be able to be appointed to the Senate. An identical statue of the famous Five exists also on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
Emily Murphy, Irene Parlby, Nellie McClung, Louise McKinney and Henrietta Edwards, gathered together to ask the Supreme Court of Canada to answer the question, "Does the word 'Persons' in Section 24 of the British North America Act, 1867, include female persons?". On April 24, 1928, a unanimous decision that women are not such "persons" was decided by Canada's Supreme Court. Known as the Persons Case and fueled by a continent-wide drive for political equality the judgment was overturned on October 18, 1929, by the British Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.
Nellie McClung, an author who became a member of the Alberta Legislature in 1921, is holding up the newspaper with the announcement that in 1929 that they had won the "Persons" case. Irene Parlby standing next to McClung gesturing to the newspaper with the headline that Women are Persons. Irene a political activist and the first female Cabinet Minister in Alberta.
Henrietta Edwards is sitting holding up her cup of tea toasting the victory looking at McClung holding up the newspaper. Henrietta was a founding member of the Victorian Order of Nurses and an advocate for working women. Next to her sits Louise McKinney with a sense of pleasure, pride and satisfaction with hands folded rejoicing the victory. The British Empire's first female judge, Emily Murphy, is the one standing next to a chair gesturing to come sit and think about how the world has changed.
Be sure to visit and experience Canada’s history where some have interpreted this as a monumental change in the Canadian judicial approach to the Canadian constitution. This approach has become known as the living tree doctrine stating that a constitution is organic and must be read in a broad and progressive manner so as to adapt it to the changing times. This was a major leap towards equal rights. With the theme of National Building where for the first time in Canadian history, Canadian women were featured on a note - on the back, are also the Famous Five.
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The Family of Man
In WebStamps last issue we explored the Brotherhood of Mankind statues, more commonly known as the Family of Man, is one of those Calgary’s iconic landmarks. The tall group of aluminum sculptures reflects the “Dominance of Man” with raceless and expressionless human children, women, and men extending their hands in a gesture of goodwill and fellowship.
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