Alberta’s Famous Five and Edmonton’s parks that bear their names

The Famous Five were prominent suffragists: Henrietta Muir Edwards, Nellie McClung, Louise McKinney, Emily Murphy and Irene Parlby. 

They were all accomplished women in a wide variety of fields. But it was their involvement in the landmark Persons Case that really cemented their places in history: the Famous Five initiated the case that started the legal fight to have women declared as persons in Canada. 

In 1928, Canada’s Supreme Court ruled that women were not “persons” under the British North America Act. The Famous Five were shocked by that decision and took the battle to London, England. And in 1929, in a decision handed down by the highest court of appeal in the British Empire, the Privy Council, they finally won. 

It was a great triumph for women’s rights, but the legacy of these suffragists is mixed. 

In addition to their common cause of women’s rights, the five also shared some other, far more problematic, views. Dr. Rebecca Sullivan is a women’s studies professor at the University of Calgary. In a 2019 interview with the CBC, Sullivan said that while the Persons Case was very important, it was also quite limiting: “It was limited to white women, and white, Christian, Protestant women. First Nations women did not receive the right to vote until 1960, and the Indian Act denied Indigenous women their full Indigeneity, dependent upon who they married. Their identity was dependent on their husband’s. That has only very recently changed. We also have to contend with the legacy of racism, eugenics and anti-immigration that was explicit from some members of the Famous Five.”

Mohammed Adam had this to say in a 2016 column in the Ottawa Citizen newspaper: “There was a dark side to them that we shouldn’t ignore. The women were leading advocates of eugenics and used their power and influence to push for legislation that led to the sterilization of nearly 3,000 Canadians (Albertans) deemed unfit to have children. Many of the victims were poor, disabled, mentally ill and aboriginal. The fact that the Famous Five were giants of women’s rights should not excuse their support for eugenics and the harm it did to innocent people. This part of their life-story must not be hidden.”

The Famous 5 Foundation acknowledges their problematic views: “The Famous Five did not know what we know now. We regret the statements and actions of the F5 which were racist and elitist and believe that if the F5 were alive today, they would apologize for such matters and work towards greater equality and diversity.”

But Dr. Sullivan doesn’t let the Famous Five off so easily. “We always knew that racism was racist. We always knew that denying full rights, because of gender or race or Indigeneity or immigration status, [was] wrong. To suggest that suffragettes, who knew it was wrong to deny women’s rights on the grounds that they were women, didn’t know that it was wrong to deny immigrants and people of colour and Indigenous peoples their rights because of their identity, that’s a slight of hand that I just can’t agree with.”

Despite the Famous Five’s mixed history, they do leave behind a positive legacy to citizens in the  Edmonton parks named after them, parks where all “persons” can go and enjoy themselves.

Louise McKinney Riverfront Park

Let’s start with Louise McKinney Riverfront Park. This beautiful riverfront park sits on the north end of the Tawatinâ Bridge. Adjacent to the downtown and immediately south of the Edmonton Convention Centre, Louise McKinney Park is the front door to the river valley parks system and the gateway to trails throughout Edmonton. This particular park features a beautiful Chinese Garden Ting. It houses authentic Chinese architecture, sculptures and horticulture, and has become a popular spot for wedding photos. 

All very lovely, but what of Louise McKinney herself? McKinney was born in rural Ontario in 1868, eventually ending up on a homestead near Claresholm, Alberta with her husband in 1903. She became one of the first two women elected to a legislature in the British Empire, winning her seat in the Alberta Legislature in 1917. 

McKinney signed the appeal to the Privy Council in 1929 in the Persons Case. But she didn’t get a chance to savour the triumph for very long. McKinney fell ill during the Temperance Union’s World Convention in June 1931, and her sickness became worse after her return to her home in Claresholm. She died a month later, less than two years after the Famous Five’s victory in the Persons Case. 

McKinney once said: “What, after all, is the purpose of a woman’s life? The purpose of a woman’s life is the same as the purpose of a man’s life; that she may make the best possible contribution to the generation in which she is living.” 

Henrietta Muir Edwards Park

On the south end of the Tawatinâ Bridge is another of the parks named for a member of the Famous Five: Henrietta Muir Edwards. The Henrietta Muir Edwards Park is a forested 14-hectare park north of the Muttart Conservatory. The park is popular for activities like walking, biking and jogging. Throughout the park are picnic tables, a shelter and floral gardens. On the shore of the river is a dock where the Edmonton Queen River Boat operates from.

The woman for whom the park is named, Henrietta Muir Edwards, was born in Montreal in 1849. From an early age, she fought for women’s rights, education and health. Edwards helped establish many organizations aimed at improving the lives of women. She was also a successful artist. She and her husband, who was a doctor, moved to Fort Macleod, in southern Alberta, in 1903. Like Louise McKinney, she died two years after the Persons Case was won.

Edwards gave her take on the Persons case, writing in 1930: “The rejoicing all through Canada was not so much that it opened the door of the Canadian Senate to women, as it was that it recognized the personal entity of women, her separate individuality as a person.”

Emily Murphy Park

Emily Murphy was born in 1868 in Ontario and moved to Edmonton in 1907. Murphy stood out in the Famous Five as she had become, in 1916, the British Empire’s first female judge. Before that, she had been a passionate advocate for women’s rights and for the poor and disadvantaged. 

In her first case as a judge, Murphy found the prisoner guilty but the prisoner’s lawyer challenged her fight to pass sentence since Murphy was not legally a person. In 1917, she began and headed up the battle to have women declared as “persons” in Canada. “Whenever I don’t know whether to fight or not, I fight,” she said. Murphy died in 1933. 

A beautiful park on Edmonton’s south side now bears her name. Emily Murphy Park can be found between Kinsmen Park and Hawrelak Park. It features picnic sites, a playground, boat launch, and in the winter, a toboggan hill. 

Irene Parlby Park

Next up in our tour of the Famous Five and their parks: Irene Parlby. Parlby was born in 1868 in London, England. At the age of 28 she moved to Canada, got married and settled near Alix, a village in central Alberta. 

In 1921, Parlby was elected to the Alberta legislature and received a cabinet post in the United Farmers government, becoming the second woman in the British Empire to hold ministerial rank. She was still serving in that capacity at the time of the Persons Case. “The woman, in a battle of fists or guns, may not be as great a power as a man; but a woman behind a vote is every bit as useful as a man,” she said.

Parlby later served on the Board of Governors of the University of Alberta. She died in 1965 in a nursing home in Red Deer, the last of the Famous Five to pass away.

Irene Parlby Park is in Rossdale, south of the James Macdonald Bridge. It is not the typical kind of river valley park. There are no picnic sites, but there are trails, small gardens and areas to sit.

Nellie McClung Park

We now come to the last and arguably most famous of the Famous Five. Nellie McClung was born in Ontario in 1873. After marrying, she and her husband moved to Manitoba and then on to Edmonton. McClung had a lot of jobs over the years, including teacher, best-selling author, public speaker, temperance activist, politician and internationally known women’s rights activist. 

McClung was elected to the Alberta Legislature in 1921. She was a Liberal but often worked with the United Farmers government on progressive issues like women’s rights. She lost in the 1926 Alberta election but in the next year became a member of the Famous Five. McClung eventually moved to Victoria, British Columbia, where she died in 1951.

The park named after her is a small one on the south side of the North Saskatchewan on 99 Street, between Cloverdale Park and Queen Elizabeth Park. The Nellie McClung Park has no picnic sites but has scenic viewpoints, including lovely views of the Walterdale Bridge. 

While in Nellie McClung Park, or any of the other Edmonton parks named for the Famous Five, one might reflect on these words of McClung: 

“If politics mean…the effort to secure through legislative action better conditions of life for the people, greater opportunities for our children and other people’s children…then it most assuredly is a woman’s job as much as it is a man’s job.”

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Today, the Famous 5 Foundation celebrates the accomplishments of these women, while also seeking to remedy the negative aspects of their legacy and inspire new generations of women towards leadership and social activism. 

As their website states: “Taking into consideration the totality of their ideas and actions, there is much we can learn from Canada’s democratic champions as all of us now build our country based on our current knowledge and experiences.” 

The next time you have the leisure to relax in one of Edmonton’s parks named for these women, it might be worth a moment to consider your own actions and how they will resonate through history, as we continue our country’s project of building an inclusive democracy that leverages the best from all of its persons.