Mr. Speaker, October 18 is the 75th anniversary of the persons case. The Famous Five went all the way to the Privy Council to prove that women were persons under the law and could hold public office in Canada. For some of the women it was an intensely personal fight.
Emily Murphy, as a police magistrate, had her judgments appealed repeatedly by one lawyer who said she could not as a woman legally hold that office. Nellie McClung helped women in Manitoba gain the right to vote. Henrietta Muir Edwards established training programs for women. Louise McKinney established women's property rights. Irene Parlby was one of the first women to sit in the Alberta legislature and the first to sit in any legislature in the British Empire.
Although I am proud to be one of the 175 women who have sat in the House since the Famous Five won their persons case, we still have very much work to do in Canada.