Who were the Famous Five?

The Famous Five were five Alberta women's-rights advocates who together brought the 1928 to 1929 Persons Case (Edwards v. Canada (Attorney General)) to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, securing the legal recognition that Canadian women were 'persons' eligible for appointment to the Senate of Canada. The Five were Emily Murphy (1868 to 1933), Henrietta Muir Edwards (1849 to 1931), Nellie McClung (1873 to 1951), Louise McKinney (1868 to 1931), and Irene Parlby (1868 to 1965). The Famous Five are commemorated by statues on Parliament Hill (2000) and at the Alberta Legislature in Edmonton (1999), by the federal Persons Day on October 18, and by the annual Governor General's Awards in Commemoration of the Persons Case (since 1979).

Emily Murphy (born March 14, 1868 in Cookstown, Ontario) was Canada's first female magistrate, appointed in Edmonton in 1916. She was an accomplished journalist, suffragist, and social reformer, publishing under the pen-name 'Janey Canuck'. Murphy originated the 1927 reference to the Supreme Court that became the Persons Case. Her 1922 book 'The Black Candle' (advocating drug-control policies) is controversial today for its racist language toward Asian Canadians.

Henrietta Muir Edwards (born December 18, 1849 in Montreal) was a founder of the Working Women's Hostel in Montreal (1875) and the National Council of Women's laws committee (1893). She wrote extensively on Canadian women's legal status, publishing 'Legal Status of Canadian Women' (1908). She was the lead-named applicant in Edwards v. Canada because of alphabetical order. Nellie McClung (born October 20, 1873 in Chatsworth, Ontario) was the most famous Canadian suffragist of her generation. McClung's 1914 'Mock Parliament' at Walker Theatre in Winnipeg helped trigger Manitoba's 1916 women's suffrage. She was elected to the Alberta Legislative Assembly in 1921 (one of the first women elected to any legislative assembly in the British Empire). McClung published 16 books including 'In Times Like These' (1915).

Louise McKinney (born September 22, 1868 in Frankville, Ontario) was the first woman elected to a Canadian legislative assembly (Alberta, June 7, 1917) and the first woman elected to any provincial legislative assembly in the British Empire. She served as a Liberal MLA from 1917 to 1921. She was an active prohibitionist and Methodist Christian leader. Irene Parlby (born January 9, 1868 in London, England) was Canada's first female Cabinet Minister (United Farmers of Alberta, Minister Without Portfolio, 1921 to 1935). She was a leading voice for rural women's rights and was Canada's delegate to the League of Nations in 1930. Parlby returned to her ranch life after leaving politics in 1935. The Famous Five's collaborative work on the Persons Case has made them a permanent symbol of the early Canadian women's movement, despite the more controversial aspects of some of their individual records (particularly Murphy's racist drug-control writings and the Five's general support for eugenics).