| On April 24, 1928, after debating a petition presented by Henrietta Edwards and her co-petitioners, known as the "Famous Five" (Nellie McClung, Louise McKinney, Emily Murphy and Irene Parlby), the Supreme Court of Canada ruled unanimously that women were not "persons" and were therefore not eligible for appointment to the Canadian Senate. The judgment was unanimously reversed the next year by the British Privy Council, at that time Canada's final court of appeal. It declared in part: "To those who would ask why the word "person" should include females, the obvious answer is, why should it not?" A statue of the "Famous Five" Alberta women now graces Parliament Hill in Ottawa. RG 125, vol. 563, file 5426 |