Timeline of Canadian Women's History

Twelfth to Eighteenth Centuries
Nineteenth Century
Twentieth Century

Timeline of Canadian Women’s History: from Moira Armour and Pat Stanton . Canadian Women in History: A Chronology 2^nd ed. (Toronto: Green Dragon Press, 1992).

The Twelfth to Eighteenth Centuries

1007- The first European woman to inhabit and colonize the new world: Gudrir, a member of the Viking expedition to Vinland.
1602- Francoise Marie Jacqueline de la Tour was the first European woman to make a home in Acadia.
1634- Between 1634 and 1662, 250 Filles du Roi, young French women were recruited by religious communities and agents of the One Hundred Associates with the intent of marrying them to men in the colony of New France in order to stabilize and increase the population of the colony. By 1663, there were 6 bachelors for each girl who reached puberty.
1639- The convent of the Ursulines de Quebec was founded by Marie de l’Incarnation.
1641- Jeanne Mance arrived in New France and began establishing a hospital in Montreal.
1649- Sister Marie Morin, the first nun born in New France. Her mother, Helene Desportes was the first child born in Quebec.
1653- Marguerite Bourgeoys, the first school teacher in Montreal, arrives from France.
1658- Marguerite Bourgeoys establishes the Congregation of Notre Dame, the first uncloistered order of nuns in North America. In April, the first students arrive at the school she built.
1683- The wife of the Hudson Bay Company Governor Sergeant, her companion, Mrs. Maurice, and a maidservant were the first English women to come to James Bay.
1722- On February 6, the death penalty becomes legal for women in New France who conceal their pregnancies and leave their babies to perish.
1733- Genevieve Millet becomes the first woman convicted of adultery between 1700 and 1760. She is whipped in the public square in Quebec and locked up with prostitutes at the Hopital General.
1737- Marguerite d’Youville and some friends begin taking in the poor and educating abandoned children. In 1747 they become the Sisters of Charity or the Grey Nuns of Montreal.
1738- Esther Brandeau is the first Jewish woman to arrive in Canada. Eventually she is deported to France for failing to abide by Catholic orthodoxy.
1758- Despite threats of jail and hanging, poor women in New France protest the continuing food shortages caused by the war in England.
1791- New Brunswick passes a law excluding women from the right to vote.

The Nineteenth Century

1809- Women in Quebec exercise their right to vote until 1834.
1829- Shawandithit, the last member of the Beothuk tribe, who was captured in 1823 by fur traders, dies of tuberculosis.
1836- Women excluded from the vote in P.E.I.
1837- The government of Upper Canada passes legislation recognizing the disgrace and wounding of parental feelings when a young woman is seduced.
1849- The Reform government bans women from voting.
1850s- Ruth Addams invents a cook stove and becomes the first woman to receive a patent.
1850s- Mary Bibb, Mrs. J.E. Grant, Matilda Nichols, Mary Ann Shadd, Sarah and Mary Anne Titre are the first black women teachers in Canada West.
1851- Mary Ann Shadd forms the Anti-Slavery Society in Toronto. She also becomes known for her establishing of schools, her advocation of rights for women, and because she will be the first female law student at Howard University in Alabama.
1851- Women are excluded from the vote in Nova Scotia.
1851- It becomes a criminal offense for a woman to obtain an abortion in Nova Scotia.
1855- The definition of "person" in Quebec and the rest of Canada does not include women.
1857- The British Matrimonial Causes Act is adopted in Canada making divorce possible for women on the grounds of adultery.
1859- The first Upper Canada legislation to grant married women certain property rights is "An Act to Secure to Married Women Certain Rights of Property.
1862- Mount Alison University is the first to admit women as students, followed by Acadia University in 1880, and Dalhousie University in 1881.
1867- Dr. Emily Stowe graduates in medicine from New York State University, but is not allowed to practice in Canada until 1880, when she becomes registered as a member of the Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario.
1869- The Roman Catholic Church considers that abortion is murder and imposes excommunication on anyone who procures an abortion.
1869- A clause in Section 6 of the Act for Gradual Enfranchisement of Indian states that " any Indian woman marrying other than an Indian shall cease to be an Indian, as will be the children of such marriage."
1871- Under Manitoba’s Act Respecting Married Women, any property a wife holds in her own name is free from her husband’s control and debts, but her earnings were his. If he was cruel or insane, she was entitled to her own earnings.
1872- The Ontario Legislature passes the Married Women’s Property Act, which gives a married woman the right to her own wage earnings free from her husband’s control.
1872- The Public Lands of the Dominion Statute gives homestead land to a woman only if she has no husband but has dependents under the age of majority.
1872- The women of British Columbia are the first to win the right to vote in municipal elections as a result of "An Act to Extend the Rights of Property of Married Women".
1875- Grace Anne Lockhart is the first woman graduate of a Canadian college, earning her B.Sc. from Mount Allison College. She is also the first woman to receive a baccalaureate in Canada and in the British Empire.
1875- Married women’s property legislation is passed in Manitoba.
1875- Dr. Jennie Trout is the first woman licensed to practice medicine in Ontario.
1876- The Toronto Women’s Literary Society is founded by Dr. Emily Stowe. It is a forerunner of the major suffrage group of Canada and its name disguises its real purpose of obtaining equal rights for women.
1876- The British North America Act states that "women are not persons in matters of rights and privileges".
1881- The YWCA introduces a course in typewriting for ladies and they are called "well-meaning but misguided ladies who made an error in judgement: the female mind and constitution could not possibly withstand the strain of the 6-month course".
1882- The Ontario legislature passes a law permitting unmarried women with property qualifications to vote in municipal by-laws, under the pressure of the Toronto Women’s Literary Society.
1883- The Toronto Women’s Literary Society disbands and reorganizes as the Toronto Woman’s Suffrage Association.
1883- Augusta Stowe Gullen (daughter of Emily Stowe) is the first woman to receive a medical degree from a Canadian university.
1884- Married women’s property legislation is passed in Nova Scotia.
1884- Ontario grants married women the right to own property and deal with it and sell it without consulting her husband.
1884- Married women’s property legislation is passed in Nova Scotia.
1884- Ontario grants married women the right to own property, to deal with it and sell it without consulting her husband.
1886- Married women’s property legislation is passed in the Northwest Territories.
1887- In Manitoba, single or married women are allowed to vote municipal elections, but are not eligible for municipal office until 1917.
1889- The Dominion Women’s Enfranchisement Association is formed to incorporate all suffrage groups in the country. In 1907, it becomes the Canadian Suffrage Association.
1890- The first Dominion Women’s Enfranchisement Association convention is held in Toronto on June 12-13.
1890- Laws of the North West Territories state that a father is the sole guardian of children under 14. Female adulterers have no legal right to their children while male adulterers do.
1890s- Icelandic women, led by Margaret Benedictsson start the first suffrage movement in the west, thus giving Manitoba an early lead in winning the vote for women.
1891- The Women’s Christian Temperance Union officially endorses the suffrage cause.
1892- The Ontario Mines Act prohibits women from working in and around mines.
1892- Section 179 of the Criminal Code reads: "Everyone is guilty of an indictable offense and liable to two years imprisonment who knowingly, without lawful excuse or justification, offers to sell, advertises, publishes an advertisement of or has for sale or disposal any medicine, drug or article intended or represented as a means of preventing contraception or causing abortion.". This law remains unchanged until 1969.
1893- The National Council of Women of Canada is formed to coordinate the various artistic, religious, political reform, and literary associations across Canada, enabling women to speak on matters of public interest. Ishbel, Lady Aberdeen (the wife of the Earl of Aberdeen, the Governor-General) is the first president.
1893- The House of Assembly refuses a suffrage bill for women property holders in Nova Scotia.
1894- In the North West Territories, unmarried women are permitted to vote in municipal elections but cannot hold office.
1894- Dr. Amelia Yeomans becomes president of the Manitoba Equal Franchise Club, the first English-speaking suffrage group formed west of Ontario. Nellie McClung initiates its educational campaign with a Mock Parliament.
1895- The Law Society of Upper Canada admits women as barristers.
1897- The Victorian Order of Nurses is set up to serve sparsely populated communities.

The Twentieth Century

1900- The Married Women’s Property Act makes a wife responsible for her own property, wages, profits, etc. She is also jointly responsible for the support of her children.
1900- Teaching is the only profession open to women that leads to a pension.
1900s- Women are allowed to enter most forms of sport except those where bodily contact is possible.
1902- Under a section of the Revised Statutes of Manitoba, the widow of a man who dies without a will is entitled to one third of the estate if she has children and the entire estate is she has no children.
1902- The first Canadian degree course in Household Science is given at the University of Toronto.
1903- Emma Baker is the first woman to receive a Ph.D. from a Canadian University.
1907- Married Women’s Property Legislation is passed in Saskatchewan.
1909- The Canadian Suffrage Organization, the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, and many others organize a delegation of 1000 to the Ontario Legislature on March 14. A petition of 100,000 names of people supporting suffrage is presented.
1909- The International Congress of Women is held in Toronto, including delegates from Europe, the United States, and Australia.
1910- Emily Murphy convinces the Alberta legislature to pass the Married Women’s Relief Act, which authorizes the court to give a widow part of her husband’s estate if he did not adequately provide for her.
1911- The Saskatchewan Deserted Wives’ Maintenance Act requires husbands to pay support if they deserted their wives or forced them to leave.
1912- The Manitoba Illegitimate Children’s Act provides that an unwed mother can bring court action against the alleged father, if her claims are substantiated, he can be forced to pay support and expenses.
1912- Carie Derick is the first woman in Canada to become a full professor, becoming a professor of Morphological Botany at McGill.
1913- On July 31, Alys McKey Bryant is the first woman to pilot an airplane in Canada.
1913- In February, a women’s court is established in Toronto.
1914- On January 28, Nellie McClung and the Political Equality League stage a mock "Women’s Parliament" in the "Walker Theatre" in Winnipeg.
1915- Nurse Elizabeth Smellie is the first woman appointed Colonel in the Canadian Army, becoming head of the Canadian Army Nursing Corps.
1916- On January 29, Manitoba is the first province to extend the franchise to women.
1917- On September 20, the Military Voters Act extends federal enfranchisement, until the end of the war, to women in the services and to those women who had close relatives in the armed services of Canada or Great Britain.
1917- Roberta MacAdams and Louise McKinney are the first women elected to a provincial legislature, being elected to the Alberta Legislature on June 7.
1917- In April, British Columbia women are given the vote.
1917- Alberta is the first province to adopt a minimum wage law for women.
1917- Under the Military Voters Act, nurses in the armed forces are given the vote.
1918- On April 26, Nova Scotia women are given the right to vote and hold public office.
1918- On May 24, The Women’s Franchise Act is passed federally.
1919- On April 17, the women of New Brunswick are given the right to vote in provincial elections.
1920- In the Dominion Elections Act, uniform franchise is established and the right for women to be elected to parliament is made permanent.
1921- Agnes MacPhail is the first woman elected to the House of Commons.
1921- In British Columbia, the first maternity leave legislation is passed granting women 6 weeks leave.
1925- In Newfoundland, women over 25 are given the right to vote and hold provincial office.
1925- The Federal Divorce Law allows women to obtain a divorce on the same grounds as men, simple adultery.
1928- Chatelaine Magazine first appears on March 28.
1928- The first time Canada’s Olympic team includes women.
1929- On October 18, the British Privy Council decreed that Canadian women are "persons".
1932- The first family planning clinic in Canada is established in Hamilton under the direction of Dr. Elizabeth Bagshaw.

1939- To encourage women to join the labour force during World War II, child care centers and tax incentives are provided. These promptly disappeared at the end of the war while unequal pay remained.
1939-1945- Women joined traditionally male fields of employment in record numbers as part of the war effort.
1940- On April 25, Quebec women are granted the right to vote.
1948- Barbara Ann Scott is the first Canadian woman to win the World Figure Skating Championship.
1951- The first woman to become mayor of a major city is Charlotte Whitton, the mayor of Ottawa.
1952- Elsie Knott, member of the Objibwa tribe, is the first Native woman elected chief.
1955- Restrictions on the employment of married women in the federal public service are removed.
1957- Ellen Fairclough is the first woman to become a federal cabinet minister, being sworn in as Secretary of State in the Conservative government.
1960- Native men and women are granted complete franchise on July 1.
1960- In December, birth control pills are available for sale.
1967- The United Nations adopts the Declaration of Elimination of Discrimination Against Women.
1967- Dr. Henry Morgentaler urges the repeal of the abortion laws and later opens an abortion clinic in Montreal.
1968- The new Federal Divorce Act establishes a uniform divorce law, allowing for divorce on the basis of marital breakdown as well as for adultery and mental or physical cruelty.
1969- The Criminal Code is amended to permit abortions under certain circumstances. In some hospitals, therapeutic abortion committees are formed.
1969- The Criminal Code and Food and Drug Acts is amended, allowing contraceptive devices and certain drugs to be manufactured, sold, and advertised under the supervision of the Food and Drug Directorate.
1970s- Radical and Socialist feminism have a major impact on Women’s Studies as the field develops in Canada.
1971- Gwen Landolt forms "The Right to Life", an anti-abortion organization.
1971- Amendments to the Canadian Labour Code include: prohibition of discrimination on the grounds of sex and marital status, strong reinforcement of the principle of equal pay for equal work, and the provision of 17 weeks of maternity leave.
1972- Rosemary Brown is the first black woman elected to a provincial legislature as a member of the NDP in Vancouver.
1972- The Income Tax Act allows the deduction of the cost of child care from the income of working mothers.
1973- The Ontario Advisory Council on the Status of Women is set up with Laura Sabia as chair.
1973- The first Canadian lesbian journal, Long Time Coming is published by the group Montreal Gay Women.
1973- The National Native Women’s Association is established in Winnipeg.
1978- The Canadian Human Rights Act ensures equal pay for work of equal value. It also prohibits discrimination on grounds including sex, disability, and race.
1978- The Canadian Advisory Council for the Status of Women reports that 43 of 122 recommendations of the Royal Commission of the Status of Women, that fell within the jurisdiction of the federal government, are fully implemented. 53 are partially implemented, 24 remain untouched, and 2 are unapplicable.
1978- In a landmark decision, the Supreme Court of Canada grants half the property acquired in her husband’s name to Saskatchewan farm wife Helene Marie Rathwell.
1978- The Omnibus Bill is passed, eliminating pregnancy as a basis for layoff or dismissal.
1978- Judy Cameron is the first woman pilot hired by Air Canada.
1979- The Feminist Party of Canada is launched in Toronto on June 10.
1979- The Canadian Association for Repeal of the Abortion Law protests reduction in federal grants for family planning.
1980- Jeanne Suave is the first woman Speaker of the House of Commons.
1980- Fishermen’s wives get jobless benefits as unemployment insurance is granted to 10,000 women working with their husbands.
1982- Bertha Wilson is the first woman appointed to the Supreme Court.
1987- The Supreme Court states that sexual harassment is a form of sexual discrimination and that employers who tolerated it would be held responsible.
1988- Sheila Hellstrom is the first woman Brigadier-General in the Canadian Armed Forces.
1988- Men with less than a grade 8 education earn, on average, $22,387 annually while women college graduates on average earn less than $20,000 annually.
1988- Ethel Blondin us the first Native woman to sit in the House of Commons.
1989- The Canadian Human Rights Commission defined a homosexual couple as a family.
1989- Chantal Daigle of Chibougamou, Ouebec has an abortion, despite her former boyfriend’s seeking of an injunction preventing the abortion which was upheld by the Quebec Court of Appeal. The Supreme Court overturned the case in favor of Daigle.
1989- The PC Government introduces a bill to re-criminalize abortion.
1989- Audrey McLaughlin, of the New Democratic Party, is the first woman federal leader of a Canadian political party.
1989- On December 6^th, 14 female engineering students at the Ecole Polytechnique were massacred by a man shouting his opposition to feminism. He then committed suicide.
1990- Dr. Roberta Bondar is the first Canadian woman astronaut, being selected by NASA to participate in a flight of the space shuttle in December 1991.
1990- Kim Campbell is the first woman federal Minister of Justice. She is also attorney-general.
1990- Canada wins the first Women’s World Hockey Championship.
1990- The Supreme Court rules that battered wife syndrome is a legitimate defense against a murder charge.
1991- Rape victim Jane Doe sues the Metro Toronto police for neglecting to warn and protect her against a serial sex criminal, police believed women would become hysterical if warned about a serial rapist. The Court of Appeal allows her to proceed with her $600,000 lawsuit.
1991- The Supreme Court reaffirms that a fetus is not legally a person until after it has been born alive.
1991- Louise Frechette is the first Canadian woman ambassador to the United Nations.
1991- Manon Rheaume, 19, is the first woman to play for a major junior hockey team as goalie for the Trois-Rivieres Draveurs.