On this day in 1936, Nellie McClung was making a brief stop in her former home of Edmonton.
When McClung moved to Edmonton in the 1910s, she was already a well-known public figure. She was a bestselling author and journalist with three published books, and a sought-after public speaker on women's rights. She was also a prominent advocate for women's suffrage, helping lead a push for women's voting rights in Manitoba. In 1916, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta all granted women the right to vote, due to the efforts of McClung and other suffrage activists.
But it was in Edmonton that McClung became a politician. In 1921, McClung ran as a Liberal Party candidate in Edmonton and was elected to the legislature. At the time, she was just the third woman in Canada to be elected to a provincial legislature.
In her five years as a member of the legislature, McClung advocated for progressive and feminist causes. She pushed for more equal property rights for women, as well as regulations to increase worker safety. McClung had a reputation for working across party lines, too. She found a frequent ally in Irene Parlby, a cabinet minister from the ruling United Farmers party, and, along with McClung, a future part of the Famous Five. Together, the two women worked on legislation to provide hot lunches and better health care to schoolchildren.
McClung's support of prohibition, which lasted until 1923 in Alberta, was much less successful. She had long been a leader in the temperance movement and expressed frustration that legalized liquor sales were returning to the province. McClung was also involved in Alberta's eugenics movement and supported legislation that led to the forced sterilization of people the province deemed mentally deficient.
During her term as an Edmonton MLA, McClung's husband was transferred to Calgary, where he lived with two of their children. That meant a lot of travel for McClung, who split her time between legislative business in Edmonton and family in Calgary. Political opponents and detractors seized on this, and McClung was often faced with hecklers at public events. Her response was that her children were in the capable care of her husband when she was working or travelling.
In 1926, McClung ran for reelection, this time in Calgary. The election was one in which she also attempted to force a plebiscite to re-establish prohibition. She lost on both fronts. This ended her time as an elected official and residency in Edmonton. But it did not end her advocacy. It would only be a few years later that McClung, Parlby and three other women would become known as the Famous Five, and their involvement in the significant "Persons Case" would lead to women finally being granted full legal personhood in Canada.
McClung might have spent less time in Edmonton than in other parts of Canada, but many city locations bear her name in honour of the monumental role she played in changing Alberta and Canada as a whole. The riding of Edmonton-McClung is named after her, as is a junior high program for girls run by the Edmonton Public School Board. A bust of McClung looks over the river valley from its spot on the Victoria Promenade. The 2021 Edmonton election saw more women elected to council than ever before, a small reminder that McClung's work helped set the stage for great things. The next council election is on Oct. 20, 2025.
This clipping was found on Vintage Edmonton, a daily look at Edmonton's history from armchair archivist Rev Recluse of Vintage Edmonton.