10 amazing Canadian women whose stories you need to know

Mary Ann Shadd Cary (1823–1893)

Shadd Cary’s life is awash with firsts: The eldest of 13 children, she went on to become the first female newspaperwoman in North America and the first female editor in Canada for her anti-slavery publication, the Provincial Freeman. The firsts continued later in her life, too — she was the only female recruiting officer in the American Civil War and became Howard University’s first female law student, at age 60, no less.

Barbara Frum (1937–1992)

Frum’s savvy journalistic instincts translated to audience gold throughout her career, first as an original host of CBC Radio’s As It Happens, then the network’s current affairs series, The Journal, for which she interviewed former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Nelson Mandela. Frum was named to the Order of Canada in 1979, and is the namesake of both a Toronto library and the character “Barbara Plum,” a Muppet on the now-defunct Canadian offshoot of Sesame Street.

Harriet Brooks (1876–1933)

Regarded by her mentor, the physicist Ernest Rutherford, as the “next Marie Curie,” Brooks did eventually work under the famed French scientist. But before that, she became the first woman to earn her Master’s degree from McGill University, the discoverer of atomic recoil and one of the first researchers to test the atomic mass of radon. She is widely considered one of the great, founding minds of the field of nuclear science.

Pauline Johnson (1861–1913)

Johnson, who is of Mohawk descent on her father’s side, is best known for her pioneering role in Canadian literature. Her performances and poems — most notably “The Song My Paddle Sings” — were published in the United States, Canada and Great Britain, and were lauded for their celebration of Johnson’s indigenous heritage.

Carrie Derick (1862-1941)

In addition to being an activist and suffragette, Derick was the first woman to hold a professorship in Canada. Despite her groundbreaking work in genetics, she wasn’t able to earn that position without a fight: When she was first recommended as a full-time lecturer at McGill, the school’s board of governors wouldn’t allow women to be lecturers, so she was paid less to work as a demonstrator. She went on to earn her PhD and was named in the book “American Men of Science” in 1910 in recognition of her work. She became a full professor in 1912.

Mona Louise Parsons (1901–1976)

After marrying a Dutch millionaire and moving to Holland, Parsons became part of the resistance movement against the Nazi invasion of 1940. She was imprisoned for her efforts, and when the Vechta prison (where she was held) was bombed in 1945, Parsons escaped, eventually finding her way to a Canadian military unit. She was later recognized with a commendation from British Air Marshal Lord Tedder and U.S. president Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Viola Davis Desmond (1914–1965)

Davis Desmond was a business owner who became a civil rights champion after she was arrested in 1946 for sitting sitting on the lower level of a Nova Scotia movie theatre — an area then reserved exclusively for white patrons. She appealed her conviction, but wasn’t officially pardoned until 2010, 56 years after segregation was finally abolished in Nova Scotia.

Ellen Fairclough (1905–2004)

Fairclough became Canada's first female cabinet minister when John Diefenbaker’s Progressive Conservatives rose to power in 1957. A chartered accountant who owned her own firm before becoming a politician, Fairclough fought for equal pay in parliament and established the Department of Labour Women's Bureau.

Kenojuak Ashevak (1927–2013)

One of Canada’s most well-known Inuit artists, Ashevak began her career while hospitalized for tuberculosis in the early 1950s. She went on to have her print "The Enchanted Owl" imprinted on a Canadian Post stamp in 1960, and enjoyed a long career as a graphic artist, carver and textile designer. She was recognized with multiple awards, including the Order of Canada and the Governor General’s Award for Visual and Media Arts.

Doris Anderson (1921–2007)

A lifelong author and editor (at Chatelaine from 1957–77), Anderson moonlighted as a tireless proponent of women’s rights. In addition to peppering our own magazine’s pages with feminist sentiments — a subversive move for her time — Anderson also lobbied for the inclusion of women’s rights in what would become Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms. True to her literary roots, Anderson also authored a number of books, including Rebel Daughter, an autobiography.

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