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Nellie McClung, one of the Famous Five, and Women's Suffrage in Canada - Page 2

© J. M. Bridgeman

Nellie McClung moved from Winnipeg to Calgary in 1915, and published In Times Like These. She ran for office, was elected, and sat as a member of the provincial legislature from 1921-26. After her defeat, she wrote The Stream Runs Fast, documenting her life commuting from Calgary to the legislature in Edmonton. She also wrote a weekly newspaper column, Nellie McClung Says.

The Alberta Famous Five

While she was an MLA, Nellie McClung had become one of the Famous Five—five Alberta women who petitioned the government of Canada to expand the legal definition of the word person to include women. Ottawa refused, but the Five persevered, appealling to London. Eventually, they won their case; in 1929, the women of Canada legally became persons.

In 1933, Nellie and Wesley retired to Victoria, British Columbia. Nellie began her autobiography, Clearing in the West: My Own Story. She was appointed in 1936 to the first Board of Governors of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and in 1938, as Canada's delegate to the League of Nations in Switzerland.

In all, Nellie McClung published 16 books and wrote numerous speeches and columns. Through her work as a teacher, a writer, an activist, a legislator, and as a political appointee, she improved the lives of all women in Canada.

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