A Retelling of the Chilling “Persons” Case in Canada

92 years ago in Canada women were not considered “persons”- at least according to the fullest legal sense of the word. Canada’s constitution at the time , which was referred to as the British North America Act, stated that only “qualified persons” could be appointed to the Canadian Senate. Up until this point the Canadian government had unfailingly treated this phrase as meaning men only. This interpretation emerged from the historical precedent that when a law was written it was intended to mean men and only refer to men.

This blatant misogyny rallied outraged suffragists throughout Canada. But little changed, until a suffragist by the name Emily Murphy found a way to challenge this law. Murphy found a section in the Supreme Court of Canada Act that stated any five persons acting as a unit could petition against the supreme Court for an interpretation of any part of the constitution. Murphy then realized this clause by gathering four other women activists to her Edmonton home to meet on August 27, 1927. This group of five women would later be known as The Famous Five, as they signed a letter petitioning the supreme court to look into the matter of refusing to appoint female senators. The matter was finally debated on March 14, 1928 and quickly became known as the “Persons Case”. This initial confrontation with the court ended with the ruling that women were not “qualified persons” as related to section of the British North America Act The Five were challenging. The Famous Five were not disheartened by this decision for long, but instead petitioned an authority even higher than the Supreme Court of Canada itself; They petitioned the Privy Council in England. On October 18, 1929 the Privy Council released their judgement. To the absolute delight of The Five and the women in Canada, the Privy Council agreed that women were indeed persons and could be appointed senators. A representative of the Privy Council even went to state “The Exclusion of women from all public offices is a relic of days more babarous than ours”.

Sources:

“The ‘Persons’ Case.” Famou5, www.famous5.ca/the-persons-case. Accessed 15 Dec. 2021.

“Persons Case.” The Canadian Encyclopedia, www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/persons-case. Accessed 15 Dec. 2021.

“Senate of Canada – Why the Persons Case Matters.” Senate of Canada, sencanada.ca/en/sencaplus/how-why/why-the-persons-case-matters. Accessed 15 Dec. 2021.