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Introduction

Mercy Anne/ Ann Coles.
Born February 1, 1838, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. Died February 11, 1921, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. Not much is known about Mercy. She was one of 12 children of George Coles (1810-1875) and Mercy (née Haines) Coles of P.E. I. Mercy would accompany her parents in 1864 to the events leading up to Canadian Confederation. They travelled to Quebec City, Montreal, and on to Niagara Falls, Ontario. It is known from comments in documents from Sir John A. Macdonald, Canada’s 1st Prime Minister and a political power figure, in the years building up to Confederation that the Coles’ daughters were attractive, well educated, and well informed. On his part, at this time he was a widower who was considered quite eligible to unattached women. At 26 years of age in 1864 when the Quebec Conference to consider Canadian Confederation took place, Mercy would have been one of the older unattached women. She was an ardent diarist and her legacy is that she has left behind the scene details which serve to enliven the rather dry political happenings of the day. There were numerous soirees, balls, and other social events that were used to court the visiting politicians to join Canada but were also used by the unattached ladies, such as Mercy, to entice courting from the eligible single politicians. Details, such as those of the ball of October 14, 1864, hosted by Governor General Lord Monck in the Parliament Buildings, were recorded by Mercy with particular attention paid to these unattached gentlemen. Alas, Marcy did not gain a suitor at the described events but remained single, living out her life in Charlottetown. Sources: Anne McDonald, Mercy Coles of PEI in Canada’s History August-September 2014 ; Ancestry Canada Accessed June 2015) (2020)

Pauline Vaillancourt. 
Born February 2, 1945, Arvida [Jonquière] Quebec. Pauline made her debut as a soprano soloist in 1970. Pauline earned her Masters in Music from the University of Montreal in 1976. She is active in classical as well as contemporary music. She has performed in Europe and throughout North America. She founded and is artistic director of the lyric company “Chants Libres” and has been artistic director since 1990. In her career she has won the Prix d’excellence Victor-Martyn-Lynch-Staunton from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Prix d’interprète de musique contemporaine Flandres-Québec. She has been a member-researcher at Hexagram since 2006. In 2009 she was named an ambassador of the Canadian Music Centre for her contribution to new music in Canada. In 2015, she was awarded the Opera America Service Award for her 25 years as Artistic and General Director of Chants Libres. (2020)

Isobel Moira Dunbar.
Born February 3, 1918, Edinburgh, Scotland. Died November 22, 1999, Ottawa, Ontario. An Oxford University graduate, Isobel immigrated to Canada in 1947 and worked in the far north joining the Arctic Section of the Defence Research Board.  An ice research scientist, she was  the 1st women to be taken for cruises on Canadian Government icebreakers. She visited the USSR and Finland in 1964 to look into icebreaking practices. The author of many scientific studies, including Arctic Canada From the Air, she received the Massey Medal in 1972. She was a Member of the Order of Canada and a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. (2020)

Charlotte-Francoise Juchereau de Saint Denis.
née Juchereau. Baptized February 4, 1660, Quebec. Died December 28, 1702, Quebec. On December 17, 1680 she married Beauport Francois Viennay-Pachot (died 1698). In 1702 she married for a second time to Captain Francois Dauphin de la Forest who became stepfather to her 16 children. That same year she purchased the Ile d' Orleans becoming the Comptesse de Saint Laurent. From 1704 through 1713 she was engaged in legal proceedings with respect to the land and she finally gave up on orders directly from the King of France. She was a strong business personality of New France that found it best to work through male supporters.  Source: D C B (2020)

Anna Yonker.
née Humeniloyyck. Born February 5, 1890, Ukraine. Died May 6, 1944, Winnipeg, Manitoba. As a teen she moved with her family to Winnipeg following the Canadian Government promise of a good life for immigrants. Life in the Canadian west proved harsh, even in cities low paying jobs were the only avenue for immigrants. Her first marriage left her with two small children to raise. She worked as a housekeeper for Dr. Henry Yonker who moved to Winnipeg from the United States in 1905. The two were soon in love and married and a son, Zenon, was added to the family. Anna worked to improve the plight of Ukrainian immigrants and soon became a leader of women’s organizations a philanthropist and pioneer welfare worker. She personally contacted Senator Cairine Wilson (1885-1962) and Lady Ishbel Aberdeen (1857-1929), the activist wife of the Governor General of Canada, to ensure the plight of immigrant women was in the limelight. She urged the Canadian Council of Women to pursue international peace. Serving on the executive of Lesia Ukrayenka Women’s organization she formulated fund raisers such as concerts, book fairs, plays, dinners and dances. Upon her death she left not only a family but a grieving community. It was estimated that 1600 people attended her funeral. In 1962, on the 25th anniversary of her death a memorial dinner was held in her honour. Well known Ukrainian-Canadian author, Iryna Knych, wrote Patriotyzm Anny Ionker (the Patriotism of Anna Yonker) Winnipeg: [s n], 1964,  text in Ukrainian with a resume in English, as a tribute to the pioneering spirit. Sources: Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, May 8, 1936 page 7: Herstory; The Canadian women’s calendar 2007 Coteau Books, 2006. Page 62. (2020)Anna

Henriette Saint-Jacques.
née Dessaulles. Born February 6, 1860, St Hyacinthe, Canada East (now Quebec). Died November 17, 1946, Montreal, Quebec. Henriette began writing her diary when she was about 14 years old. She kept a daily diary until 1881 when she married Maurice St.-Jacques. The couple had seven children. After the death of her husband in 1897 she began writing a newspaper column for La Patrie. She also wrote for Le Journal de Françoise, Le Courrier de Montmagny, La revue de la femme, La Revue moderne, Le Canada, and Le Nationaliste prior to joining the staff of Le Devoir in 1910. As a journalist she used the pen - name "Fadette" Between 1918 and 1933 she also published three books, one of which Lettres de Fadette (Montreal 1918), was a collection of many of her newspaper columns. She continued her column with Le Devoir until the 1940's. In 1971 her childhood diaries were published; Fadette: Journal d'Henriette Dessaulles 1874-1881. In 1986 the diaries were translated into English: Hopes and Dreams, The Diary of Henriette Dessaulles 1874-1881. (2023)

Helen Bernard McColl.
née Barnard. Born February 7, 1899, Toronto, Ontario. Died May 1957, Dollarton, British Columbia. Helen went to live with an aunt and uncle  in British Columbia at an early age. As an only child she grew up with an independent spirit out of the necessity of executing the daily physical tasks of life. She loved to hike and enjoyed the beauty of nature. In the 1910's she was apprenticed at the photography studio of Robert F. L. Brown. After the “boys” returned home from World War l she married a practically disabled veteran, Hector McCall in 1920. Her independence and strength of spirit allowed her the fortitude to adapt a career to support herself and her family. There was not a lot of work in the small town of Gibson’s Landing, British Columbia.  Living without such luxuries as electricity she processed family photos of the locals as well as her own works. She showed pioneering spirit and followed her ideas to produce clear professional works of local evens and landscapes into popular post cards. Events depicted on her post cards made local lives seem important. She was the sole supporter of her two children during the Great Depression, providing not only for her family but leaving a legacy of recorded regional history from her own self-determination and common sense. Source: Saskatoon Women’s Calendar Collective. Herstory 2007: the Canadian Women’s Calendar (Regina: Couteau Books, 2006)  pg. 22; Canadian Women Artists History Initiative. Online (accessed 2020)

Sarah Persis Johnson Darrach.
Born February 8, 1886, Rosscarberry, Ireland. Died September 4, 1974, Brandon, Manitoba. Sarah's family emigrated to Canada in September 1898 and settled at Beresford, Manitoba. In 1908, she was admitted to the nursing program at Brandon General Hospital and graduated as gold medalist in 1911. She did her postgraduate work at Chicago, Illinois and returned home to become Assistant Matron of Brandon General Hospital. She was  posted overseas in 1914. Working as a nurse during the First World War she nursed in field hospitals in France, and war hospitals in England. She served Matron of No. One Canadian Casualty Clearing Station. She was awarded the Royal Red Cross, Second and First Class, the latter being awarded to her by the Prince of Wales in 1919. Returning home in 1919, she became Superintendent of Nurses at Brandon Hospital where she worked to improve the working conditions of nurses and establishing standardized nursing training programs. In 1920 she married Robert Darrach. The couple set up a fresh-air camp for disadvantaged kids at Lake Clementi, south of Brandon that accepted needy children for ten years. In 1934, she was the recipient of the Order of the British Empire. In 1936 she became the Dean of Women at Brandon College where she retired in  1953. She received the Canada Centennial Medal in 196 . Darrach Hall at Brandon University was named in her honour as was Darrach Avenue in the City of Brandon. Source: Memorable Manitobans Online (Accessed February 2014) (2020)

Marie Angèle Gauthier.
Born February 9, 1828, Vaudreuil, Lower Canada (now Quebec). Died May 25, 1898, Duncan, British Columbia. A hardworking farmer's daughter she joined the order of the Sisters of St Anne on November 6, 1849 taking the name as Sister Marie Angèle. On August 30, 1854 she became superior general of her congregation for three years. She traveled as one of the 1st group of religious orders of women to open schools on Vancouver Island. The adventures of her trip to Victoria, British Columbia, were published in 1859. Perhaps more of a legacy than her writings was her teaching. She taught native children many skills including knitting. This skill would be used in Duncan B.C. to make the famous Cowichan sweaters. (2020)

Jean Coulthard. Born February 10, 1908, Vancouver, British Columbia. Died March 9, 2000, North Vancouver, British Columbia. A composer and educator she was the 1st of Canada’s West Coast composers to receive wide recognition. She began to compose music as a child. With a scholarship from the Vancouver's Women's Musical Club she was able to study at the Royal Collage of Music, London, England in 1928/29.In the 1930's  and 1940's she studies with various composers. In 1944/5 she studied at the Juilliard School, New York City, U.S.A. She taught piano through the years and in 1947 she began teaching at the Department of Music at the University of British Columbia.  She has more then 350 compositions for a wide variety of vocal, instrumentals, and symphonic works.  She was induced as an Officer in the Order of Canada in 1978. In 1994 she was awarded the Order of British Columbia. A short biography, Jean Coulthard: Life and Music was written by William Bruneau and David Gordon Duke and published in 2005. (2020)

Rebecca 'Becky' Buhay.
Born February 11, 1896, London, England. Died December 16, 1953, Toronto, Ontario. Becky immigrated to Canada in 1912 and settled in Montreal. During World War ll she was active in socialist causes in Montreal. She studied at the Rand School of Social Sciences, New York, U.S.A. Back in Montreal she became  a union organizer for the garment industry. Around 1921 she joined the Workers Party of Canada (Communist Party) lectured and toured across the country. In Alberta she helped organize the striking Coal miner's wives in the Women's Labour Leagues. In 1929 she was secretary of the Canadian Labour Defense League. In the 1930's she headed the Canadian women's delegation to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). In World War ll she worked to free interned communists. Political friends knew her as a great communicator of radical ideas and for her loyalty. (2020)

Marion Dewar. 
née Bell. Born February 12, 1928, Montreal,, Quebec. Died September 15, 2008, Ottawa, Ontario. Educated as a nurse at the University of Ottawa, she began her working career as a public health nurse. In the 1970's she turned to municipal politics in Ottawa. She was elected Mayor of Ottawa for three terms from 1978 through1985. She believed that local action could serve the global cause and she spearheaded Operation 4000 that welcomed Vietnamese boat people to settle in Ottawa. She successfully promoted increases accessibility to child care, services to the elderly and disabled. rights of minorities and equal opportunities for women. She was co-host for the Women's Constitutional Conference calling for gender equality provisions in the Canadian Charter of Rights. In 1985 she was elected president of the federal New Democratic Party and in 1997 was elected in a federal by-election  to the House of Commons.  In 1989 she was executive director of the Canadian Council on Children and Youth and in 1995 continued serving social causes when she headed up Oxfam Canada. In May 2002, she was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada. (2020)

Lois Ruth Maxwell. 
née Hooker. Born February 14, 1927, Kitchener, Ontario. Died September 29, 2007, Fremantie, Australia. Lois ran away from home at fifteen to join the Canadian Women's Army Corps during World War 11. She was quickly on stage as part of the Army Show in Canada. Later as part of the Canadian Auxiliary Services Entertainment Unit she was sent to England where she appeared next to such entertainers as Wayne and Shuster. When her true age was discovered she was discharged and she enrolled at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London. She became friends with fellow student Sir Roger Moore. They would re-unit during their careers in the James Bond film series. During her acting career she also used the name Lois Hooker. At 20 she moved to Hollywood and won the actress Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer for a role with actor Shirley Temple. Between 1950-1955 she lived in Rome, Italy,  making films and at one point becoming an amateur race driver. Visiting Paris, France she met her future husband Peter Marriott (died 1973) and they married in 1957 settling in London, England. The couple had two children together. After the death of her husband she returned to Canada living in Fort Erie, Ontario. She appeared in numerous TV shows including, The Saint, with her old friend Roger Moore.  While she is credited with some 68 roles in movies and TV she will perhaps be best remembered for her portrayal in the Ian Fleming's James Bond films as Miss Moneypenny. In her first appearance as Miss Moneypenny she even supplied her own wardrobe. Her last appearance in the Bond films was in a View to Kill, 1985. She wrote a column from 1979-1994 for the Toronto Sun newspaper using the pen name Miss Moneypenny. In 1994 she returned to England to live closer to her family. In 2001 she relocated to Perth, Western Australia to live with her son. (2021)

Marketa Goetz-Stankiewicz.
Born February 15, 1927, Liberec, Czech Republic. Died November 6, 2022, Vancouver, British Columbia. Marketa emigrated from her home in 1948. She attended high school and university in Toronto and then at Columbia University in New York City, U.S.A. She received her PhD from the University of Toronto in 1957. She would edit, write, and teach her love of Germanic studies. Among her many awards is a Certificate of Merit for Excellence in Teaching 1972 and in 1988 she received the order of the Ordo Scriptores Bohemici in Prague. In 1992 she received the Hlavake Medal of the Czech Academy of Science. She is Professor Emerita at the University of British Columbia. (2020)(2023)

Vera Harrison Prindle-Chappell.
née Prindle. Born February 16, 1891, Tweed, Ontario. Died February 24, 1967, Belleville, Ontario. In 1916 she graduated from the Nursing School at the Belleville General Hospital, Ontario. May 5, 1917 she enlisted as a Nursing Sister with the Canadian Army Medical Corps (CAMC). Overseas she was posted to Canadian military hospitals in Taplow, Buxton, Westenhanger, Orpington and Granville, England. In the beginning of 1919 she herself was in hospital with influenza. Discharged back in Canada she married on December 17, 1919 to war veteran Joseph Edward Chappell. She worked as a private nurse in Thomasburg, Ontario. Source: Nurses of World War 1 by Donald Brearley, 2018 online (accessed 2021)

Mona Louise Parsons.
Born February 17, 1901, Middleton, Nova Scotia. Died  November 28,1976, Wolfville, Nova Scotia. She pursued life on stage after attending Acadia University. She taught at Conway Central College, Arkansas, U.S.A.  moving to New York City in 1929 working as a Ziegfeld chorus girl. She then studied nursing at the Jersey School of Medicine graduating in 1935.  On September 1, 1937 she married a rich Dutch businessman, Willem Leonhardt. During WW ll their home in The Netherlands was used as a refuge by escaping allied airmen. On September 29, 1941 she arrested, found guilty of treason and sentenced to death by firing squad.  a sentence which was later commuted to life with hard labour. On March 24, 1945 as allied forces bombed the prison camp, Mona escaped. She spoke fluent German a help in making her way back to The Netherlands. Reunited after the liberation, Mona nursed her husband Willem, returning to Canada only after his death in 1956. Mona was presented with citations from General Eisenhower and Air Chief Marshal Tedder of the Royal Air Force for helping allied airmen evade enemy capture. Back in Nora Scotia she married Harry Foster in 1959.  In 2005 Historica Canada produced a Heritage Minute for TV detailing her arrest and her escape. (2020)

Joan Miller.
Born February 18,1910, Nelson, British Columbia  Nelson. Died August 31, 1988, Oxford, England. Joan began her acting career on stage in Canada but relocated to England to work live theatre in 1931. She was soon working on British Broadcasting Company television (BBC). During World War ll she worked on stage, radio, film, and television. In 1934 she won the Bessborough Trophy for Best Canadian Actress at the Dominion Dram Festival. In 1948 she married Peter Cotes, a producer and director. In the 1950's she appeared in made for television movies and the British series, Anne of Green Gables. She was the 1st paid professional television performer in the world according to a History of Canadian Television written by Sandy Stewart. Joan was also the 1st performer to appear on a trans-Atlantic television broadcast between London, England and New York, U.S.A. (2020)

Hilda Marion Neatby. 
Born  February 19, 1904, Sutton, England. Died May 14, 1975. Hilda earned her BA and MA from the University of Saskatchewan and a PhD from the University of Minnesota, U.S.A. From 1949 to 1951 she was the only woman serving on the Royal Commission on National Development in the Arts, Letters and Science which established the Canada Council. From 1958 through 1969 she taught history at the University of Saskatchewan and served as head of the History Department. In 1966 she published, in both French and English par the the Canadian Centenary Series.  In 1967 she became a Companion of the Order of Canada.  She was a professor of History at Queen's University where she wrote the history of Queen's in 1978. In 1986 the Canadian Historical Association has awarded the Hilda Neatby Prize for writings in French and English of an article published in Canada that makes an original and scholarly contribution in the field of women's history. In 2000 Canada Post issued a millennium stamp to honour her. Established in 1986 Le Prix Hilda Neatby Prize is offered for writings in English and French making a scholarly contribution to the field of women's history by the Canadian Historical Association. In 2005 a lecture theatre at the University of Saskatchewan was named the Neatby--Timlin Theatre in honour of her and former economics professor Mabel Timlin (1891-1976). (2020)

Kathleen 'Kit' Coleman.
Born February 20, 1856*, Castleblakeney, Galway, Ireland. Died  May 16, 1915, Hamilton, Ontario. Kit was born Catherine Ferguson. The young Kit was educated at Loretto Abbey, Rothfarnham, Ireland and then at finishing school in Belgium. She married Thomas Willis  under her adopted name of Kathleen Blake.  After the death of her first husband, and their only child, Kit immigrated to Canada in 1884. She worked as a secretary and then married her boss, Edward Watkins. The couple would live in Toronto and Winnipeg raising two children. She turned to journalism to support herself and her two children after the death of her second husband she worked cleaning houses but then began to see her writings published in such magazines as Saturday Night. Back in Toronto in 1890 she became the first woman journalist to be in charge of her own section of a newspaper with the Women's Kingdom in the Toronto Mail. Her full page column not only discussed fashion but reported in her personal outspoken manner all the top topics of the day. Soon her columns were syndicated to newspapers across the country. In 1893 she covered the World's Fair in Chicago, Illinois. In 1897 she reported on Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee.  Boarding a boat in Florida she landed in Cuba as the world’s first woman accredited war correspondent in 1898 reporting on the Spanish American War for the Toronto Mail newspaper. She would work with the Toronto Mail newspaper until she retired. Back from Cuba she married Dr. Theobald Coleman and settled in Copper Cliff, northern Ontario. By 1901 the couple were living in Hamilton, Ontario. She was part of the group of Canadian women Journalists who were sponsored to go to the St Louis World's Fair in 1904 and during the trip they established the Canadian Women's Press Club, with Kit as the first president. Kit also became known for her published books of poetry.  *Her birth is often listed as 1864. (2022)

Grace Annie Lockhart. 
Born February 22, 1855, Saint John, New Brunswick. Died May 18, 1916, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. Grace graduated with her Bachelor of Science and English Literature from Mount Allison College, Sackville, New Brunswick on May 25, 1875 becoming the first woman in the British Empire to receive a bachelor’s degree. She would teach in her home town of Saint John after graduation. In 1881she married a Methodist minister John L. Dawson  and settled into life as a minister's wife and became a mother of three sons.  (2020)

Sarah Eugéne 'Nini' Fischer. 
Born February 23, 1896, Paris, France. Died May 3, 1975. Her family came to Canada when she was 12 and it was not until after World War I that she would train her soprano singing voice in London. She was made an honorary member of the Royal College of Music in London. In 1941 she opened a studio in Montreal helping many young Canadian artists to make their debuts.(2020)

Martha Louise Black.
née Munger. Born  February 24, 1866, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.  Died October 31, 1957, Whitehorse, Yukon. Martha attended Saint Mary's College in Indiana, U.S.A. In 1897 she married Will Purdy and the couple had two sons. One of Canada's more colourful characters she joined the search for gold by hiking the famed Chilkoot Pass in the Yukon Gold Rush of 1898! Her husband, Will, decided to go to Hawaii instead of following the gold rush.  She gave birth to  her third son alone in a log cabin. She went back to Chicago but returned to the Klondike in 1900. In order to survive she raised money to purchase a saw mill and bossed 16 men on a mining claim. In 1904 she married George Black. She became the First Lady of the Yukon when  George Black, was Commissioner 1912-1916. In 1917 Martha became a Fellow with the Royal Geographical Society for a series of lectures she presented in England. In 1935 she was elected to the Canadian Parliament taking place of her ill husband. She was the second woman ever elected to the House of Commons. In 1938 she published her autobiography; My Seventy Years. The autobiography was updated to My Ninety Years which was republished in 1998 as Martha Black; Her Story from the Dawson Gold Fields to the Halls of Parliament.  She received the Order of the British Empire in 1946 for her cultural and social contributions to the Yukon.  In 1986 a Canadian Coast Guard high-endurance multi-tasked vessel was given the name "Martha L. Black" in her honour. In 1997, Canada Post issued a $0.45 stamp in her honour. (2020)

Moretta Fenton Beall 'Molly' Reilly. 
Born  February 25, 1922, Lindsay, Ontario. Died November 24, 1980. In 1939. Molly tried to sign up with the Royal Canadian Air Force, but they were not accepting women until 1941 when the Women’s’ Division was founded.  She was one of the 1st recruits and she worked in the photographic area to get to fly. She finally earned her pilots license after the war and in 1953 she went to England to earn a senior commercial license. In 1959 she married John Hardisty 'Jack' Reilly (1921-2003)  and that same year, 1959, she became a full time charter pilot where she was the 1st woman in Canada be a captain and the 1st woman to fly to the Arctic professionally. She became the 1st woman to be a corporate pilot in Canada when she was Chief Pilot for Canadian Utilities Company in 1965. .She was inducted as a member of the Canadian Aviation Hall of Fame in 1994. (2020)

Robertine Barry.
Born February 26, 1863, L’isle-Verte, Canada East (now Quebec). Died January 7, 1910, Montreal, Quebec. A well known personality in Montreal society she was a pioneer feminist lecturer and writer. She is considered the first woman journalist in French Canada. From fall 1889 through summer 1892 she was a student at a boarding school with the Ursuline nuns in Quebec and wrote for the student newspaper, L'Echo du cloitre. She joined the staff of the weekly newspaper La Patrie in 1891. Her column, Chronique du lundi, was written for almost ten years under the nom de plume of 'Françoise'. She would go on in her career to found Le Journal d Françoise, published from 1902-1909. She did fundraising to save the bail from the Fortress of Louisbourg in Nova Scotia. She also would publish books of her short stories. In 1900 she was one of the Canadian government representatives to the famous Paris International Exhibition. In 1904 the government of France named her as an “Officer de l’Acaémie”. She was part of the group of Canadian women Journalists who were sponsored to go to the St Louis World's Fair in 1904 and during the trip they established the Canadian Women's Press Club, with herself being elected as vice president. Sources: D C B  (2020)

Adelaide ' Addie' Sophia Hoodless.
née Hunter. Born February 27, 1857, St George, Canada West (now Ontario). Died February 26, 1910, Toronto, Ontario. Young Addie attended the Ladies College at Brantford, Ontario where she med John Hoodless. On September 14, 1881 the couple were married and settled in Hamilton, Ontario. The couple had four children. On August 10, 1889 her youngest son died at 14 months of age from meningitis. It was a time when dairy practices where questionable and pasteurization was not common leaving milk often tainted and was not refrigerated. Contaminated milk for a baby would have increased. It was after the child's death that Adelaide began to participate in public life his suffering. to help spread knowledge and prevent baby deaths. She served as president of the Hamilton Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) and worked to establish domestic science education She is one of the founder of the Canadian National YWCA in 1895. In 1989 she published a book Public School Domestic Science. February 12, 1897 while speaking at the Farmer's Institute Ladies Night she suggested forming a social group to broaden the knowledge of domestic Science and agriculture. A week later a group of 100 women became the 1st branch of the Women's Institute. with Adelaide as honorary President. S. With Lady Aberdeen (1857-1939), she helped found the National Council of Women, the Victorian Order of Nurses. In 1902 she approached the wealthy Sir William MacDonald, a tobacco merchant, to fund Domestic Science Programmes in Guelph, Ontario and Quebec at the college level. In 1907 the Women's Institutes for their 10 anniversary commissioned a portrait of Adelaide. The University of Guelph recognizes her contribution to education by hanging her portrait in what was once called MacDonald Institute. Several Ontario schools have been named in her honor. In 1937 a cairn near St George, Ontario is dedicated to her. In 1975 the Adelaide Hoodless Rose was developed and in 1993 Canada Post issued the Adelaide Hoodless commemorative postage Stamp. in 2003 to mark the 100th anniversary of the founding of MacDonald Institute in Guelph the Hoodless Garden was dedicated beside MacDonald Hall. A large aluminum portrait is mounted on the wall by the garden allowing light to cast a shadow image of Adelaide. The Adelaide Hunter Hoodless Homestead is a National Historic Site. Image copyright Canada Post. Used with permission. (2020)

Meg Luxton.
Born February 28, 1946. Meg earned her Master's Degree and her doctorate in Social Anthropology from the University of Toronto. A professor in women's studies she co-founded the excellent Women's Studies Program at the University of Toronto. She is also professor in the School of Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies , York University, Toronto, Ontario. She served as Director of the Graduate Programme in Gender, Feminist and Woman's Studies and of the Centre for Feminist Research. She has served on various committees including the National Action Committee on the Status of Women. Her writings on the history of women include: More than a Labour of Love: Three Generations of Women's Work in the Home. In 2015 she was a visiting professor. (2020)