The Valiant Five: Once in a Blue Moon

22 x 30

Watercolor on Paper

One of the most famous cases in Canadian legal history was the Person’s Case. It was brought by five Alberta women- Emily Murphy, Nellie McClung, Irene Parlby, Henrietta Muir Edwards and Louis McKinney.

They asked the Supreme Court of Canada to declare that women were persons under the meaning of the British North American Act and therefore eligible to be appointed to the Senate. Unfortunately, the judges did not believe that women were persons under the Act.
With the full backing of the government of Alberta, the five appealed to the British Privy Council, then Canada’s highest court of appeal. On October 18th, 1929, the Privy Council declared that women are indeed persons. Today, we celebrate “Person’s Day”, and since 1979, several women each year are awarded with Person’s Day medals.