What was the Royal Commission on the Status of Women?

The Royal Commission on the Status of Women (Bird Commission) was a federal Royal Commission established by Lester B. Pearson on February 16, 1967, chaired by Florence Bird (Anne Francis), that investigated the status of women in Canada and made 167 recommendations in its 1970 report. The Commission's recommendations shaped Canadian women's rights policy for decades. The report was presented to Parliament on December 7, 1970 and is one of the most influential federal Royal Commission reports of the 20th century.

The Commission was created in response to sustained advocacy by Canadian women's organisations. The Committee for the Equality of Women in Canada (founded 1966 by Laura Sabia, Cerise Morris, and others) lobbied Pearson for a Royal Commission. Pearson established the Commission with a broad mandate: 'to inquire into and report upon the status of women in Canada, and to recommend what steps might be taken by the Federal Government to ensure for women equal opportunities with men in all aspects of Canadian society'. Florence Bird, a senior Canadian Broadcasting Corporation journalist, chaired the Commission. Other commissioners included John Humphrey, Jacques Henripin, Lola Lange, Doris Ogilvie, Elsie Gregory MacGill, and Donald Gordon Jr.

The Commission's investigation was extensive. Public hearings were held in 14 cities across Canada in 1968 and 1969, with about 890 witnesses presenting in person. The Commission received 468 written briefs and about 1,000 letters. Major issues investigated included women's participation in the labour force, pay equity, childcare, family law, education, criminal law, immigration, and Indigenous women's rights (the Commission's findings on the Indian Act's discriminatory provisions were particularly influential, leading eventually to the Bill C-31 amendments of 1985). The Commission's December 1970 final report was 488 pages and contained 167 recommendations.

Major recommendations included a federal Status of Women Office (created 1971), pay equity legislation, the elimination of discrimination in hiring and promotion, extended unemployment insurance maternity benefits, federal childcare programmes, amendments to the Indian Act removing discrimination against Indian women who married non-Indians, expansion of women's presence in the public service, and the creation of a Federal Advisory Council on the Status of Women (created 1973). About 75 per cent of the Commission's recommendations had been implemented within 25 years. Federal responses included the Canadian Bill of Rights amendments of 1971, federal Public Service pay equity legislation, the establishment of the federal Status of Women Canada agency (now Women and Gender Equality Canada), and the 1985 Bill C-31 amendments to the Indian Act. The Commission also catalysed the broader Canadian women's movement, contributing to the founding of women's centres, rape crisis centres, and feminist political organising. The Commission is sometimes called the founding document of modern Canadian feminism.