Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to be in the House to celebrate the groundbreaking Persons Case for women's equality.
On this day in 1929, five courageous women forced a ruling that women were in fact persons in Canada. Who knew?
This was a landmark victory for Canadian women, but 87 years later our progress has stalled. We rank 60th in the world on gender parity in Parliament, and at only 26% in the House, we have not met the United Nations' threshold of female legislators required to ensure that women's issues are forefront in our policy-making.
Tomorrow, I urge my fellow parliamentarians to vote in favour of the gender equity act. We need concrete action much more than good intentions.
Let us continue the work of the Famous Five and a history full of trail-blazing Canadian women. Let us ensure our Parliament reflects the diversity of our Canada.