Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to rise today to recognize October 18 as Persons Day in Canada. On this day in 1929, women became legally recognized as persons.
In 1927, five Canadian women began the fight to demand equal rights for women and to make their voices heard in the public domain.
Outraged by an initial Supreme Court decision that the word “person” did not include women, they took their case to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council of Great Britain, where the decision was made that there was no good reason for the word “person” not to include women. This was a milestone for Canada in moving toward gender equality, which remains a priority for our government to this day.
Today, we honour the Famous Five and their legacy.
I invite women of all ages across Canada to stand up and get involved in politics.