February 15, 1930 - Cairine Wilson - a podcast by Stephen Hammond

Cairine Wilson is sworn in as Canada’s first woman senator. In October 1929, Canada paved the way for women to enter real politics. It came about because Canada’s “Famous Five” women (Emily Murphy, Henrietta Muir Edwards, Nellie McClung, Louise McKinney and Irene Parlby) won the “Persons Case” before the British Privy Council of the House of Lords. This allowed women to be considered “persons” for appointment to the bench and Senate, as per Canada’s constitution. Less than five months later, Prime Minister William Lyon McKenzie King appointed the country’s first woman senator. Cairine Wilson was sworn in as a Liberal senator for Ontario on February 15, 1930. Wilson was born Cairine Reay Mackay in February 1885, the daughter of a Liberal senator from Quebec. She married Norman Wilson, a Liberal MP, and raised eight children. By the time she had entered the Red Chamber, she'd been involved with the Victorian Order of Nurses, the Young Women's Christian Association and the Salvation Army. As senator, she showed considerable interest in Canada’s role in international humanitarian matters. In 1949, she became Canada's first woman delegate to the United Nations General Assembly. A year later, her involvement with refugee children earned her the Knight of the Legion of Honour. Wilson died on March 3, 1962 in Ottawa.

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