Mr. Speaker, today, on Persons Day, women celebrate 84 years since the British Privy Council overturned a Supreme Court of Canada ruling they called “a relic of days more barbarous than ours”. Many Canadian women were finally considered to be persons under the British North America Act.
Why not all women? Disgracefully, aboriginal women have struggled much longer for equal rights. Until 1960, they had to abandon their aboriginal status for the right to vote. Still, we celebrate those five feisty Alberta women who pursued their rights: Emily Murphy, Nellie McClung, Irene Parlby, Henrietta Muir Edwards, and Louise McKinney.
Of course, the struggle continues for equal pay for work of equal value, access to affordable child care, and equal seats at corporate and cabinet tables. Women continue to speak out for justice for missing and murdered aboriginal sisters and for equal access to education and services. Those with LEAF, Coalition des femmes de l'Alberta, Elizabeth Fry and Idle No More deserve our thanks.
I call on all MPs to commit to ending violence against women, discrimination, and poverty, and to seek true gender equality with the “famous five” as our guide.