At present there is not a great body of material relating to the Canadian suffrage campaign. There is, however, more being published, and teachers and students should be on the lookout for new releases. The only lengthy treatment of the Dominion-wide movement is Catherine Cleverden's The Woman Suffrage Movement in Canada (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1950, 1974) which is now somewhat dated as to materials and concepts, but still remains impressive in its coverage. Ramsay Cook and Wendy Mitchinson (eds.) The Proper Sphere: Woman's Place in Canadian Society (Oxford University Press, 1976) presents a series of brief readings on such diverse topics as legal rights, work and education, organizations, morality and the suffrage movement in the pre-World War I period. It is an excellent source for classroom use. More recently available is V. Strong-Boag, The Parliament of Woman: the National Council of Women in Canada 1893-1929, published by the History Division of the National Museum of Man, Mercury series paper no 18, 1976; it is a wide-ranging study of one of the most important components of the women's movement, G. Houle, La femme au QuΘbec, Collection Bibliographies quΘbΘcoises, no. 1 (MontrΘal: BibliothΦque Nationale du QuΘbec, MinistΦre des Affaires culturelles, 1975),V. Strong-Boag, "Cousin Cinderella: A Guide to Historical Literature Pertaining to Canadian Women", M. EichIer and L. Primrose, "A Bibliography of Materials on Canadian Women", both in M. Stephenson, Women in Canada (Toronto: New Press, 1973) and P. Atnikov, et al, Out from the Shadows (Manitoba Human Rights Commission, 1975) suggest where a wide variety of information may be found.
Until very recently there was very little available about the suffrage movement in Quebec. There are now, however, a number of important studies including: Jennifer Stoddart, "The Woman Suffrage Bill in Quebec" in Women in Canada; Marie Lavigne, Yolande Pinard, J. Stoddart, "La fΘdΘration nationale Saint-Jean-Baptiste et les revendications fΘministes au dΘbut du XXe siΦcle", Revue d'histoire de l'AmΘrique franτaise, vol. 29 (Dec. 1975), pp. 353-373; Mona-JosΘe Gagnon, Les Femmes vues par le QuΘbec des hommes (MontrΘal: Editions du Jour, 1974) and MichΦIe Jean, QuΘbΘcoises du 20e siΦcle (MontrΘal: Editions du Jour, 1974). Jean's volume, a collection of documents, has an especially valuable fourth chapter, "La politique", which includes excerpts from the writings of Henri Bourassa, Louis-Alexandre Taschereau, ldola Saint-Jean, and Mariana Jodoin. A rare biography by a French Canadian female activist is ThΘrΦse Casgrain's Une Femme chez les hommes (MontrΘal: Editions du Jour,1971) translated as A Woman in a Man's World (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1972).
Nellie McClung's In Times Like These (Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 1915, 1972) reprinted with an introduction by V. Strong-Boag, provides the most articulate and colourful statement of the suffragist position. McClung's thoughtful two volume autobiography, Clearing in the West (Toronto: T. Allen, 1935), and The Stream Runs Fast (Toronto: T. Allen, 1945) together with B.H. Sanders' biography, Emily Murphy: Crusader (Toronto: MacMillan, 1945), and E. McGill's biography of Helen Gregory McGiIl, My Mother the Judge (Toronto: Ryerson, 1955) help to make western campaigners the most well-known today. Individual biographies are also included in M.Q. Innis's very useful The Clear Spirit (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1966) and Eve Zaremba's less impressive Privilege of Sex (Toronto: Anansi, 1974). There are also a number of short examinations of the suffrage movement: P. Voisey, "The `Votes for Women' Movement", Alberta History, vol. 23 (Summer, 1975), pp. 10-23; J. Thompson, "The Influence of Dr. Emily Howard Stowe on the Woman Suffrage Movement in Canada", Ontario History vol - 54 (Dec. 1962), pp. 253-266; B. Tennyson, "Premier Hearst, The War and Votes for Women", Ontario History vol. 57 (Sept. 1965) pp. 115-121 and Christine MacDonald, "How Saskatchewan Women Got the Vote", Saskatchewan History, vol. 1(Oct. 1948), pp. 1-8. 19 John Garner's The Franchise in British North America (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1969) and L.G. Thomas, The Liberal Party in Alberta (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1959) provide useful material on the electoral and political background of enfranchisement. Particularly essential for its balanced discussion of Canadian life is Ramsay Cook and Robert Craig Brown, Canada: A Nation Transformed 1896-1921 (Toronto:McCleIland and Stewart, 1974).
R. Allen's The Social Passion, Religion and Social Reform in Canada 1914-1928 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1971) discusses the influence of radical Christianity on the reform movement as a whole. The condition of working women in particular is presented in a series of essays of varying quality in Woman at Work, Ontario 1850-1930 (Toronto: Women's Press, 1975). The post-suffrage political careers of Agnes MacphaiI in Doris French and Margaret Stewart, Ask No Quarter (Toronto: Longmans, Green, 1959) and Judy Lamarshin her autobiography Bird in a Gilded Cage (Toronto: McClelIandand Stewart, 1969) demonstrate the continuing discrimination facing Canadian women in politics. Political disadvantages are further documented in the Report of the Royal Commission on the Status of Women (Ottawa, 1970).
The position of the anti-feminists is developed by Henri Bourassa Femmes-Hommes ou hommes et femmes (MontrΘal, 1925). Susan Trofimenkoff considers Bourassa's anti-feminism in "Henri Bourassa and `the Woman Question' " Journal of Canadian Studies, vol. 10 (Nov. 1975),pp. 3-11. Goldwin Smith's Essays on the Questions of the Day (New York and London: MacMillan, 1893) and Stephen Leacock's The Social Criticism of Stephen Leacock (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1973) set forth the views of other anti-feminists. The Canadian Annual Review of Public Affairs (Toronto: Annual Review Publishing Company, 1901-1937) is similarly antagonistic to the movement for woman's rights.
1993 UPDATE
THE CANADIAN CAMPAIGN FOR WOMAN SUFFRAGE
Veronica Strong-Boag
Debate about the first Canadian woman's movement has developed substantially since the mid-seventies. Much analysis, like that by Carol Bacchi and Mariana Valverde, has focused on the class, racial, and heterosexual biases of first-wave feminists. These critics insist that many suffragists were preoccupied with the interests of middle-class women of European origin and ignored the needs of other groups, and indeed oppressed those groups. More sympathetic writers, like Ernest Forbes, Marta Danylewycz, and Strong-Boag emphasize that suffragists, facing powerful anti-feminist opponents, have to be appreciated in the context of their time and region. Recent work by Constance Backhouse also describes the extensive obstacles facing those who sought legal equality. Disagreement about the essence of the suffrage campaign mirrors in some ways the controversy about the modern women's movement.
Bibliography
Bacchi, Carol Lee. Liberation Deferred? The Ideas of the English Canadian Suffragists, 1877-1918. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1982.
Backhouse, Constance. Petticoats and Prejudice: Women and Law in Nineteenth Century Canada. Toronto: The Osgoode Society, 1991.
Collectif Clio. Quebec Women: A History. Toronto: Women's Press, 1987. Originally published as L'Histoire des femmes au QuΘbec depuis quatre siΦcles (MontrΘal: Les Quinze, 1982, 1992).
Danylewycz, Marta. Taking the Veil: An Alternative to Marriage, Motherhood, and Spinsterhood in Quebec, 1840-1920. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart Limited, 1987.
Forbes, Ernest. Challenging the Regional Stereotype. Fredericton: Acadiensis Press, 1989.
Kealey, Linda, ed. A Not Unreasonable Claim: Women and Reform in Canada, 1880s-1920s. Toronto: The Women's Press, 1979.
Kealey, Linda, and Joan Sangster, eds. Beyond the Vote, Canadian Women in Politics. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1989.
Light, Beth, and Joy Parr, eds. Canadian Women on the Move, 1867-1920. Toronto: New Hogtown Press and OISE, 1983.
Prentice, Alison, et al. Canadian Women: A History. Toronto: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1988.
Strong-Boag, Veronica, and Anita Clair Fellman, eds. Rethinking Canada: The Promise of Women's History. Toronto: Copp Clark Pitman, 1992.
Valverde, Mariana. The Age of Light, Soap and Water: Moral Reform in English Canada 1885-1925. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1991.
