Nellie McClung leads suffragettes in a mock Parliament

February 7, 2017

Nellie McClung Cyril Jessop. Library and Archives Canada, 1966-094, PA-030212

January 27, 1914

In 1914, activist Nellie McClung sought to rally public support for women’s suffrage in the province of Manitoba. On January 27, before the province’s legislative assembly, she and other suffragettes petitioned Premier Sir Rodmond Roblin for the vote, which he rejected. The next evening, the Women’s Political Equality League held a “mock Parliament” at the Walker Theatre in Winnipeg, in which McClung, acting as premier, and its female members debated the merits of male suffrage. The satirical event brought national attention for the suffrage movement. Two years later, Manitoba became the first province in Canada to grant women the vote.

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