October 18 is Persons Day in Canada. It memorializes the day that women were legally recognized as persons. Before this time, women could vote in most Canadian provinces, but women could not serve in the Senate, which means they had no say in how the country was run. It was the Famous Five: Emily Murphy, Henrietta Muir Edwards, Irene Parlby, Louise McKinney, and Nellie McClung who fought to have women recognized as persons. I sheepishly admit I could only name two of the five: McClung and Murphy, and I know Murphy’s name from those old heritage moment ads (“I, Emily Murphy author of the Janey Canuck books”). Murphy was the one who got the ball rolling on the Persons case, and here is her story.

Emily Murphy was a prominent suffragist from Alberta, and she also combined family life with a writing career. When she learned that widows and women who had been left penniless by their husbands had no legal recourse, she spent several years studying the law and worked to convince MLA’s that women deserved better. In 1917, the Dower Act was finally passed in the Alberta legislature, which allowed wives to be entitled to one third of their husband’s estate.

The fight for the Dower Act lead Murphy to request a female magistrate for the women’s court. The Attorney General appointed Murphy herself in 1916. Her right to be there was soon challenged. A lawyer named Eardley Jackson argued she could not be a judge because women were not persons under the British North America Act of 1867. His objection was overruled and in 1917 Alberta women were deemed persons, but this was not the case in other provinces or federally. Murphy decided to test the situation and allowed her name to go Prime Minister Sir Robert Borden as a candidate for the Senate. He rejected her bid based on the British North America Act.

Murphy devised a plan to work through the Supreme Court to ask for constitutional clarification regarding women being Senators. The question had to be submitted by a group of at least five citizens, hence the Famous Five was formed. On March 19, 1928, when Murphy was 60, the Supreme Court decided that women were not persons. The Famous Five refused to accept the decision and with the approval of Prime Minister Mackenzie King, they appealed the decision to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London, England, the true Supreme Court of Canada at the time.

On October 18, 1929, the Privy Council ruled that women were persons and could serve in the Senate. Murphy was elated, but due to red tape, was never actually appointed to the Senate, the first female Senator was Cairine Wilson, who was appointed in 1930. Murphy died in 1933, but the Famous Five helped guarantee that women are represented at all levels of Canadian politics.