WOMEN ARE PERSONS!

 Montreal, January 16, 2001 – In collaboration with the Famous 5 Foundation, and the Communauté urbaine de Montréal (CUM), the McCord Museum presents an installation to commemorate five women who changed the course of history in Canada.

The five bronze statuettes that make up Women are Persons celebrate the democratic triumph of these Canadian women in the early part of the twentieth century. Their tireless effort led to the 1929 decision by the Privy Council of Great Britain to recognize women as persons in their own right.

Emily Murphy 1868 – 1933
Leader of the Famous 5
First female police magistrate in the British Empire
Social activist / author

Henrietta Muir Edwards 1849 – 1931
Publisher of the first women’s magazine in Canada
Co-founder of the Victorian Order of Nurses
Legal expert and advisor

Hon. Irene Parlby, M.L.A., 1868 – 1965
First female cabinet minister in Alberta, second in the British Empire
First president of the United Farm Women of Alberta
Advocate for libraries, travelling medical clinics & distance education

Louise McKinney, M.L.A., 1868 – 1931
First woman elected by both men and women and to serve in a provincial
legislature in the British Empire
International Vice President of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union

Nellie McClung, M.L.A., 1873 – 1951
Preeminent suffragist
Popular author and orator
Delegate to the League of Nations

Until March 25, 2001, the McCord also presents finsdesiècle@mccord, a multimedia exhibition that highlights the contribution of women to the social movements that transformed the institutions of education, work and the family in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. A winning project in the Millennium Bureau of Canada’s millennium competition, finsdesiècle@mccord demonstrates how social status and identity are linked to the urban environment, and how this relationship shapes the personal histories of the young bourgeois and working-class women featured in the exhibition.

Women are Persons, on display in the McCord’s Entrance Hall until January 28, 2001, celebrates an important constitutional victory obtained for Canadian women. The McCord is proud to commemorate this important moment in Canadian history.

Location and Opening Hours

The McCord Museum is located at 690 Sherbrooke Street West. Opening hours are Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekends. Admission fees (including tax) are $8.50 for adults, $5 for students, $17 for families, $6 for seniors, and $2.00 for children between 7 and 12 years old. Children of 6 and under are admitted free, and admission is free on Saturday mornings between 10 a.m. and noon.

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Source : David Rollins  
McCord Museum of Canadian History  
(514) 398-7100, ext. 305
david@mccord.lan.mcgill.ca

The McCord wishes to acknowledge the support of the Heritage Canada Museums Assistance Program, the Quebec Ministry of Culture and Communications and the Arts Council of the Montreal Urban Community.