Lecture | “Where was Democracy? The Case of Woman Suffrage in Canada

2017 Fall J.R. Mallory Lecture presented by Veronica Strong-Boag: “Where was Democracy? The Case of Woman Suffrage in Canada co-hosted by MISC and ROAAr, McGill Library.

When: November 1, 2017

Location: Colgate Room, McLennan Library Building, Colgate Seminar Room, Rare Books and Special Collections (4th floor), 3459 rue McTavish, Montreal, QC, H3A 0C9, CA

Description

French description below

Veronica Strong-Boag, F.R.S.C. and Professor Emerita at the Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice/Educational Studies at the University of British Columbia, reminded the audience that the current democratic deficit in Canada is nothing new.  She animated its a significant historical legacy. She presented the history of the federal franchise debates of 1885 to 1920. Those debates chronicled the failure of democracy in Canada at the time, as Strong-Boag pointed out.

World War One’s enfranchisement of most women signalled the single greatest extension of electoral rights in Canada. Even so, political power had barely shifted. As Asian and Indigenous voters everywhere would also discover, expanded voters’ lists did not guarantee true participation in democracy.

Veronica Strong-Boag showcased the records and stories of the history of women’s suffrage in Canada contained in McGill’s special collections and archives. A curated selection of these items were on display in the reading room, allowing attendees to immerse themselves in stories of suffragism at McGill. These rich archival examples illustrated some of the historical events Strong-Boag addressed in her lecture. The event attracted over 60 people from both McGill community and the larger general public.

Veronica Strong-Boag, membre de la Société royale canadienne et professeure émérite rattachée à l’Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice/Educational Studies de l’Université de la Colombie-Britannique, a rappelé à l’auditoire que les lacunes actuelles au chapitre de la démocratie au Canada n’ont rien de neuf et les a qualifiées d’héritage historique d'importance. Elle a relaté l’histoire sur le droit de vote au fédéral entre 1885 et 1920. Comme elle l’a souligné, ces débats constituent une chronique de l’échec de la démocratie au Canada à cette époque.

L’affranchissement de la plupart des femmes au cours de la Première Guerre mondiale a marqué la progression la plus considérable du droit électoral au Canada. Malgré tout, le pouvoir politique a à peine fléchi. Comme l’ont découvert les électorats asiatiques et autochtones de partout, l’allongement des listes électorales n’a en rien été le gage d’une participation à la démocratie.

Veronica Strong-Boag a présenté des registres et des récits sur le droit de vote des femmes au Canada extraits des collections particulières et des archives mcgilloises. Le salon de lecture abritait une sélection de ces documents pour que les participants puissent plonger dans les récits sur le suffragisme à McGill. Ces exemples riches extraits des archives illustrent certains des événements historiques qu’a dépeints Mme Strong-Boag. Sa conférence a attiré plus de 60 personnes issues de la communauté de McGill et du grand public.

Bio

Veronica Strong-Boag, Ph.D, FRSC, is a Canadian historian specializing in the modern history of women and children in Canada. In 1988 she won the John A. Macdonald Prize (awarded to the best book in Canadian history) for her study of the lives of women in Canada between the wars, entitled The New Day Recalled.
In 1993–94 she served as president of the Canadian Historical Association. She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2001. In July 2012 the Royal Society of Canada announced that Strong-Boag would be awarded the J. B. Tyrrell Historical Medal “for outstanding work in the history of Canada.”