Timeline
of Canadian Women's History
Timeline of Canadian Women’s History: from Moira Armour and Pat Stanton
. Canadian Women in History: A Chronology 2nd ed. (Toronto:
Green Dragon Press, 1992).
The Twelfth to Eighteenth
Centuries
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1007- The first European woman to inhabit and colonize the new world:
Gudrir, a member of the Viking expedition to Vinland.
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1602- Francoise Marie Jacqueline de la Tour was the first European woman
to make a home in Acadia.
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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.
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1639- The convent of the Ursulines de Quebec was founded by Marie de
l’Incarnation.
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1641- Jeanne Mance arrived in New France and began establishing a hospital
in Montreal.
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1649- Sister Marie Morin, the first nun born in New France. Her mother,
Helene Desportes was the first child born in Quebec.
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1653- Marguerite Bourgeoys, the first school teacher in Montreal, arrives
from France.
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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.
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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.
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1722- On February 6, the death penalty becomes legal for women in New
France who conceal their pregnancies and leave their babies to perish.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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1758- Despite threats of jail and hanging, poor women in New
France protest the continuing food shortages caused by the war in England.
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1791- New Brunswick passes a law excluding women from the right to vote.
The Nineteenth
Century
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1809- Women in Quebec exercise their right to vote until 1834.
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1829- Shawandithit, the last member of the Beothuk tribe, who was captured
in 1823 by fur traders, dies of tuberculosis.
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1836- Women excluded from the vote in P.E.I.
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1837- The government of Upper Canada passes legislation recognizing
the disgrace and wounding of parental feelings when a young woman is seduced.
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1849- The Reform government bans women from voting.
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1850s- Ruth Addams invents a cook stove and becomes the first woman
to receive a patent.
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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.
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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.
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1851- Women are excluded from the vote in Nova Scotia.
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1851- It becomes a criminal offense for a woman to obtain an abortion
in Nova Scotia.
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1855- The definition of "person" in Quebec and the rest of Canada does
not include women.
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1857- The British Matrimonial Causes Act is adopted in Canada making
divorce possible for women on the grounds of adultery.
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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.
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1862- Mount Alison University is the first to admit women as students,
followed by Acadia University in 1880, and Dalhousie University in 1881.
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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.
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1869- The Roman Catholic Church considers that abortion is murder and
imposes excommunication on anyone who procures an abortion.
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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."
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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.
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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.
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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".
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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.
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1875- Married women’s property legislation is passed in Manitoba.
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1875- Dr. Jennie Trout is the first woman licensed to practice medicine
in Ontario.
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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.
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1876- The British North America Act states that "women are not persons
in matters of rights and privileges".
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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".
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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.
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1883- The Toronto Women’s Literary Society disbands and reorganizes
as the Toronto Woman’s Suffrage Association.
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1883- Augusta Stowe Gullen (daughter of Emily Stowe) is the first woman
to receive a medical degree from a Canadian university.
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1884- Married women’s property legislation is passed in Nova Scotia.
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1884- Ontario grants married women the right to own property and deal
with it and sell it without consulting her husband.
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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.
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1886- Married women’s property legislation is passed in the Northwest
Territories.
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1887- In Manitoba, single or married women are allowed to vote municipal
elections, but are not eligible for municipal office until 1917.
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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.
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1890- The first Dominion Women’s Enfranchisement Association convention
is held in Toronto on June 12-13.
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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.
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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.
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1891- The Women’s Christian Temperance Union officially endorses the
suffrage cause.
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1892- The Ontario Mines Act prohibits women from working in and around
mines.
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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.
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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.
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1893- The House of Assembly refuses a suffrage bill for women property
holders in Nova Scotia.
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1894- In the North West Territories, unmarried women are permitted to
vote in municipal elections but cannot hold office.
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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.
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1895- The Law Society of Upper Canada admits women as barristers.
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1897- The Victorian Order of Nurses is set up to serve sparsely populated
communities.
The Twentieth
Century
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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.
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1900s- Women are allowed to enter most forms of sport except those where
bodily contact is possible.
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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.
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1902- The first Canadian degree course in Household Science is given
at the University of Toronto.
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1903- Emma Baker is the first woman to receive a Ph.D. from a Canadian
University.
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1907- Married Women’s Property Legislation is passed in Saskatchewan.
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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.
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1909- The International Congress of Women is held in Toronto, including
delegates from Europe, the United States, and Australia.
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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.
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1911- The Saskatchewan Deserted Wives’ Maintenance Act requires husbands
to pay support if they deserted their wives or forced them to leave.
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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.
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1912- Carie Derick is the first woman in Canada to become a full professor,
becoming a professor of Morphological Botany at McGill.
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1913- On July 31, Alys McKey Bryant is the first woman to pilot an airplane
in Canada.
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1913- In February, a women’s court is established in Toronto.
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1914- On January 28, Nellie McClung and the Political Equality League
stage a mock "Women’s Parliament" in the "Walker Theatre" in Winnipeg.
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1915- Nurse Elizabeth Smellie is the first woman appointed Colonel in
the Canadian Army, becoming head of the Canadian Army Nursing Corps.
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1916- On January 29, Manitoba is the first province to extend the franchise
to women.
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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.
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1917- Roberta MacAdams and Louise McKinney are the first women elected
to a provincial legislature, being elected to the Alberta Legislature on
June 7.
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1917- In April, British Columbia women are given the vote.
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1917- Alberta is the first province to adopt a minimum wage law for
women.
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1917- Under the Military Voters Act, nurses in the armed forces are
given the vote.
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1918- On April 26, Nova Scotia women are given the right to vote and
hold public office.
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1918- On May 24, The Women’s Franchise Act is passed federally.
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1919- On April 17, the women of New Brunswick are given the right to
vote in provincial elections.
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1920- In the Dominion Elections Act, uniform franchise is established
and the right for women to be elected to parliament is made permanent.
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1921- Agnes MacPhail is the first woman elected to the House of Commons.
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1921- In British Columbia, the first maternity leave legislation is
passed granting women 6 weeks leave.
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1925- In Newfoundland, women over 25 are given the right to vote and
hold provincial office.
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1925- The Federal Divorce Law allows women to obtain a divorce on the
same grounds as men, simple adultery.
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1928- Chatelaine Magazine first appears on March 28.
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1928- The first time Canada’s Olympic team includes women.
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1929- On October 18, the British Privy Council decreed that Canadian
women are "persons".
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1932- The first family planning clinic in Canada is established in Hamilton
under the direction of Dr. Elizabeth Bagshaw.
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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.
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1939-1945- Women joined traditionally male fields of employment in record
numbers as part of the war effort.
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1940- On April 25, Quebec women are granted the right to vote.
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1948- Barbara Ann Scott is the first Canadian woman to win the World
Figure Skating Championship.
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1951- The first woman to become mayor of a major city is Charlotte Whitton,
the mayor of Ottawa.
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1952- Elsie Knott, member of the Objibwa tribe, is the first Native
woman elected chief.
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1955- Restrictions on the employment of married women in the federal
public service are removed.
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1957- Ellen Fairclough is the first woman to become a federal cabinet
minister, being sworn in as Secretary of State in the Conservative government.
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1960- Native men and women are granted complete franchise on July 1.
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1960- In December, birth control pills are available for sale.
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1967- The United Nations adopts the Declaration of Elimination of Discrimination
Against Women.
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1967- Dr. Henry Morgentaler urges the repeal of the abortion laws and
later opens an abortion clinic in Montreal.
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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.
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1969- The Criminal Code is amended to permit abortions under certain
circumstances. In some hospitals, therapeutic abortion committees are formed.
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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.
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1970s- Radical and Socialist feminism have a major impact on Women’s
Studies as the field develops in Canada.
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1971- Gwen Landolt forms "The Right to Life", an anti-abortion organization.
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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.
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1972- Rosemary Brown is the first black woman elected to a provincial
legislature as a member of the NDP in Vancouver.
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1972- The Income Tax Act allows the deduction of the cost of child care
from the income of working mothers.
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1973- The Ontario Advisory Council on the Status of Women is set up
with Laura Sabia as chair.
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1973- The first Canadian lesbian journal, Long Time Coming is
published by the group Montreal Gay Women.
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1973- The National Native Women’s Association is established in Winnipeg.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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1978- The Omnibus Bill is passed, eliminating pregnancy as a basis for
layoff or dismissal.
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1978- Judy Cameron is the first woman pilot hired by Air Canada.
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1979- The Feminist Party of Canada is launched in Toronto on June 10.
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1979- The Canadian Association for Repeal of the Abortion Law protests
reduction in federal grants for family planning.
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1980- Jeanne Suave is the first woman Speaker of the House of Commons.
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1980- Fishermen’s wives get jobless benefits as unemployment insurance
is granted to 10,000 women working with their husbands.
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1982- Bertha Wilson is the first woman appointed to the Supreme Court.
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1987- The Supreme Court states that sexual harassment is a form of sexual
discrimination and that employers who tolerated it would be held responsible.
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1988- Sheila Hellstrom is the first woman Brigadier-General in the Canadian
Armed Forces.
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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.
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1988- Ethel Blondin us the first Native woman to sit in the House of
Commons.
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1989- The Canadian Human Rights Commission defined a homosexual couple
as a family.
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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.
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1989- The PC Government introduces a bill to re-criminalize abortion.
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1989- Audrey McLaughlin, of the New Democratic Party, is the first woman
federal leader of a Canadian political party.
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1989- On December 6th, 14 female engineering students at
the Ecole Polytechnique were massacred by a man shouting his opposition
to feminism. He then committed suicide.
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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.
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1990- Kim Campbell is the first woman federal Minister of Justice. She
is also attorney-general.
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1990- Canada wins the first Women’s World Hockey Championship.
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1990- The Supreme Court rules that battered wife syndrome is a legitimate
defense against a murder charge.
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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.
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1991- The Supreme Court reaffirms that a fetus is not legally a person
until after it has been born alive.
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1991- Louise Frechette is the first Canadian woman ambassador to the
United Nations.
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1991- Manon Rheaume, 19, is the first woman to play for a major junior
hockey team as goalie for the Trois-Rivieres Draveurs.