The Persons Case is resolved
The Famous Five, 1930. Provincial Archives of Alberta, A17201
1929
In 1928, five Alberta women, led by Emily Murphy and later known as the Famous Five, petitioned the Supreme Court of Canada to consider whether women were legally “persons” and therefore eligible to serve in the Senate. The court ruled that women were not “persons,” at least in this narrow sense. But the Famous Five made an appeal to Britain’s Privy Council, and that ruling was overturned in 1929, highlighting the importance of women’s rights in Canada.
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