Nellie McClung Would be Ashamed!

Recently, a friend came to my home to help with some envelope stuffing for a political organization. As we worked, a news report came on about the "Occupy" protests, my friend expressed her concern that while this protest may indeed have begun with good reasons, it appeared that those reasons had been lost over the past weeks.

My friend has been involved with many volunteer organizations over the years. Some of these organizations have been political. She believes that the time she gives to a political organization provides her with the opportunity to be directly involved with the democratic process. She also believes that the most basic way to get involved is by exercising your right to vote. I think one of her greatest concerns with the "Occupy" protesters was when she heard some of them say they hadn't had the time to vote in the recent Ontario Election. Worse, this comment came from a young woman.

I can understand my friend's frustration with this comment and the attitude of many young women who do not take the time to exercise their right to vote. This right was long fought for and only granted to women in Canada in 1918, less than 100 years ago. The fight did not end there. The following year, 1919, women were granted the right to run for election to the House of Commons. Agnes MacPhail was elected as the first female Member of Parliament in 1921.

Although Miss MacPhail had been elected as a Member of Parliament, she, and all other Canadian women, were not eligible to be nominated to the Senate. This stemmed from the understanding that the word "person" in Section 24 of the British North America Act referred to men and not women. This was not acceptable to a group of five women from western Canada who took their fight to the  Supreme Court of Canada and losing there, to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council of Great Britain. Here, they achieved success and the previous Supreme Court decision was reversed.

I cannot imagine any of the women in this group, including our own Nellie McClung, saying they just hadn't had the time to vote. These women found the time not only to vote but also to fight for equality of women. This was not an easy road. I believe they would be saddened to hear women say they couldn't make time in their day to simply cast a ballot.

Back to my friend. She is a lot like those five strong women. She takes her civic duty seriously and would never dream of not voting in an election. She makes sure to take the time to understand the issues and get involved in the election process. She gives countless hours to support her chosen candidate and never sees a job as beneath her. She does this because she understands how fortunate she is to live in a country where she can participate in the democratic process.

misskimmy