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Introduction

 


 My goal was to have at least one name for each day of the year! Believe it or not, it took 20 years. But hey, I made it!

Want to know who was born the same year as you?  Check out the Famous Canadian Women's Historical Timeline!

Want to find out about other Canadian women of achievement?
"On-The-Job". Has over 3100 mini profiles of Canadian Women

Use your mouse pointer to touch a date on the calendar below
to see which Famous Canadian Woman has a birthday on that date.

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Copyright © 1998-2025 Dawn E. Monroe. All rights reserved

ISBN: 0-9736246-0-4

March 1

Anne Kahane - Langstadt.  
Born March 1, 1926, Vienna, Austria. Died September 29, 2023, Montreal, Quebec. Anne immigrated to Montreal with her parents when she was five years old. It was at the Montreal Ecole des beaux arts that she took her early formal art lessons. This sculptor emigrated from Austria with her parents in 1925. During the mid 1940's Anne studied at Cooper Union School, New York City, U.S.A. In 1953 she was the only Canadian winning international prizes for her three-dimensional figures carved in wood, works. Her woodcarvings are the decorative panels for the Winnipeg airport, Winnipeg General Hospital, and Montreal’s Place des Arts. She married artist Robert Langstadt. Her work has been shown nationally and internationally, representing Canada at the Canadian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, the Canadian Pavilion at the Worlds Fair, Brussels, and at Expo 67 in Montreal Abandoning wood in the late 1970's she began to work with sheets of aluminum with her first showing of this new medium at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario in 1980-1982. (2023)

March 2

Evelyn 'Lynne' Beatrice Blyth Marvin Tyrrell.
née Marvin. Born March 2, 1920, London, England. Died May 25, 2013, Toronto, Ontario. Lynne Began her working career as a
Stenographer during World War ll (1939-1945. Around 1944 she married Ron Tyrrell and the couple settled in Brighton, England,
running a guest house and a clothing consignment shop. In 1947 the family moved to Jamaica to run an hotel. By 1950 they were in
Toronto where their fourth child was born. Lynn apprenticed with a Toronto couturier, Rodolphe Liska. Opening her own shop called
Baroness, she sketched her own designs. The shop was eventually located on Scollard St. in the hippie Yorkville area of Toronto. The
Baroness dressed brides, wedding parties and Miss Canada contestants. Trans Canada Airlines asked her to design their uniforms.
The shop closed in the 1980's. (2022)

March 3

Marie-Madelaine Jarret de Verchères. 
Born March 3, 1678, Verchères. Quebec. Died August 8, 1747, Sainte-Anne –de-La Pérade, New France. She and her family lived in a “fort” which had been built as protection against marauding bands of Iroquois. Her mother had “held the fort” successfully fending off attacks in 1690. On October 22, 1692, while her parents were away in Montreal, she was in charge of her home. She was 14 years old when she, with only a handful of helpers, would successfully defend the family fort against attack. She was outside the walls of the fort when the attackers approached causing her to scramble and ran for the fortifications and safety. There was only one soldier at home at the time and Madelaine donned a soldiers hat and made motions of being in charge of a larger group of defenders. She had the cannon fired as a warning not only to the attackers but to other “forts” along the river that there was danger. By the time help arrived from Montreal the attackers had fled. There are various written reports about the successful defence that day. No doubt recalled in the aftermath of the events and in later years the reports may have exaggerated or did they? Her exploits have been written up in several books, plays, and even movies, extolling the young Madelaine as one of Canada's first youth heroines. Even though it was not unusual for girls to be married in their early teens, Madeleine married only on September 1706 to Pierre Thomas Tarieu de La Pérade (1677-1757). The couple would have Five children. It seems that she summoned her courage again in 1722 saving her husband from attack of two Indians. In turn her son, Charles-Francois, who was ten at the time, fended off four native women who came to help out the male attackers. It seems that both Madeleine and her husband were not held in high esteem as landlords. They were involved in numerous law suit concerning land ownership and Madeleine even sailed to France in attempts to have courts solve the disputes. In 1923 the Canadian Government designated Madeleine as a Person of National Historic Significance. Source: André Vachon, “JARRET DE VERCHÈRES, MARIE-MADELEINE,” in D C B  vol. 3( accessed July 27, 2014),

March 4

Nellie J. Cournoyea. 
Born March 4, 1940, Aklavik, Northwest Territories. Nellie grew up traveling and hunting in the traditional manner of her people. She married a Canadian Forces officer and the couple were posted in Halifax and Ottawa prior to heading back to the Northwest Territories with their 2 children. Shortly after the couple divorced.  In the 1960’s she worked as an announcer for the CBC radio. In 1969 she co-founded with Agnes Semmler a political association to help the people of Inuvialuit which gave her an active role in the 1984 land claim. In 1979 she was elected to the Legislature of the Northwest Territories and served on various cabinet positions prior to becoming the 1st native woman to lead a provincial territorial government in CanadaShe served as Premier of the Northwest Territories from November 14, 1991 to November 2, 1995. Nellie was awarded the Woman of the Year for NWT in 1982 and in 1986 she received the Wallace Goose Award. She was recognized with the National Aboriginal Achievement Award in 1994. In 2004 she received the Energy Person of the Year from the Energy Council of Canada. In 2008 the Governor General of Canada awarded Nellie Cournoyea the Northern Medal in recognition for her significant contributions to the evolution and reaffirmation of the Canadian North as part of our national identity. She volunteers as Director of the Ingamo Hall Friendship Center in Inuvik and is a founding member of the Northern Games Society. She is also a volunteer in Inuvialuit historical and cultural activities. In 2008 she was inducted into the Order of Canada and the Aboriginal Businee Hall of Fame. In 2016 she received the Order of the Northwest Territories. Sources: The Canadian Encyclopedia Online (accessed 2006); Nellie J. Cournoyea, Collections Canada. National Library of Canada, (accessed 2006).

March 5

Phyllis Dewar-Lowrey.  
Born March 5, 1916, Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. Died April 8, 1961, Toronto, Ontario. As a young swimmer she earned the nickname 'Moose Jaw Mermaid'. In 1934 & 1935 she held every single Canadian freestyle swimming record from 100 yards to one mile! She set records and won a 4 gold medals at the 1934 British Empire Games in London, England. That same year she won the Velma Springstead Trophy as Canadian female athlete of the year,. She returned to the British Empire Games in Australia 1938 for another gold medal in the 4 X 110 yard freestyle relay.  She married Murray Lowery and the couple have 4 children.  In 1967 she was inducted into the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame and in 1971 she was inducted into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame followed in 1972 with a membership in the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame.  Sources: Who’s who in Canadian Sport by Bob Ferguson, (Scarborough: Prentice Hall, 1977; Phyllis Dewar (1916-1961), The Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan, Online, (accessed March 2016)

March 6

Mary Tkachuk.
née Janishewski. Born March 6, 1912, Mundare, Alberta. Died April 23, 2003, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. After graduating high school in Edmonton, Alberta Mary attended Normal School (teachers' college). In 1935, she and her husband Paul Tkachuk (1903-1976), settled in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, where they established a well known music store. Mary soon became active in the Ukrainian Women's Association of Canada and was a founding member of the Ukrainian Museum of Canada. In 1964 she helped found the Saskatoon Fold Arts Council and later became Saskatchewan's director for the National Fold Arts Council. She also served as the first president of the National Ukrainian Self-Reliance League from 1990 through 1996.  As you may realize Mary had an interest encouraging music in her community. She was conductor of adult and children's choirs over six decades.  She received the Saskatoon Century Award, the Ukrainian Canadian Congress Centennial Medal, the American Association for State and Local History Award of Merit. Source: Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan online (accessed 2022); Find a grave Canada (accessed 2022)

March 7

Ada Maud Boyer McAnn Flemming.
née McAnn. Born March 7, 1896. Died January 25, 1994. Aida changed the spelling of her name after the Verdi opera Aida. Her mother died just a few months old. The family lived in British Columbia until the death of her father when she was just eleven. Aida returned to New Brunswick to live with her uncle. Aida earned her Bachelor of Arts from Mount Allison, University, and then earned her Certificate in Education at the University of Toronto. She would later earn her Master' of Arts from Columbia University, New York City, New York, U.S.A. She taught at Mount Allison University and then at a private secondary school in New York City. She then worked as a freelance writer of advertising copy in New York before she returned home to New Brunswick to work as a writer for the Department of Tourism. In 1938 she published The New Brunswick Cookbook. She also directed a cooking program on local radio. By 1944 she was working as a reporter for the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick. On August 20 1946 she married Hugh John Flemming (1899-1982), a business man and future premier of New Brunswick and future Member of Canadian Parliament. After her marriage Aida became active volunteering for the local Red Cross and helped establish the local school library. In Fredericton from 1952-1960 as the wife of the Premier, she continued to support libraries serving as the patron of Young Canada Book Week in 1953 and helping to establish the Fredericton Public Library. She served on the Library Board from 1955-1958. She was appointed to the Board of the Beaverbrook Art Gallery and was also on the board of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (S P C A) and the Children's Aid. In 1959 she founded the Kindness Club to teach children to love and be kind to animals. The Kindness club would grow with chapters throughout North America and England. In 1962  and again in 1976 the Fredericton Chamber of Commerce named her as their Atlantic Woman of the Year. In 1964 she the Humane Society of the United States named her Humanitarian of the Year. By 1978 she had been made a member of the Order of Canada. In her will she left property near Woodstock, New Brunswick to create a wildlife sanctuary. (2020) 

March 8

Charlotte Elizabeth Hazeltyne Whitton. 
Born March 8, 1896, Renfrew, Ontario. Died January 25, 1975, Ottawa, Ontario. Charlotte attended Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, where she enjoyed playing hockey and was editor of the Queen's Journal  in 1917 as the 1st female editor of this newspaper while she earned a Master’s of Art degree. This social worker, politician, and feminist was a colourful, energetic, outspoken, and flamboyant individual. In the 1920’s she was a relentless crusader for professional standards of juvenile immigrants and neglected children. She was the spark that ignited the Canadian Council on Child Welfare. She was in demand across North America as a lecturer on social programs. In 1934 she was named a Commander of the British Empire. In 1943 she published two books, The Dawn of Ampler Life and A Hundred Years A-fellin;1842-1942, a History of Logging. When she became mayor of Ottawa in 1951 she was the 1st woman in Canada to be a mayor of a major metropolitan area. In November 1950, Whitton entered Ottawa City politics when she won a seat on what was then called the board of control. When the elected mayor died in office  the next year she succeeded him as mayor. She was elected mayor in 1952, 1954, and 1960 serving until 1964. In 1964 she was named by the Toronto B'nai Brith as Woman of the Year. Later she served as an alderman until 1972. As mayor she pioneered communications with the electorate by hosting her own TV show and her own newspaper column. In 1967 she was inducted into the Order of Canada. Charlotte never married but lived for 32 years with her companion, Margaret Grier (1892-1947), a friend from her university days. She did not have a life without controversy and there are accusations of anti-Semitism and that she was a racist preferring only British immigration to Canada. In 2011 her name was kept off the new Archives building in Ottawa due to her life controversies. Numerous biographies about Charlotte have been published over the years. (2022)

March 9

Flavia Elliott Redelmeier. née Elliott. Born March 9, 1926. Flavia received her BA in 1948 from the University of Toronto, on the same day as her mother received her degree.  On December 29, 1950 she married Ernest Redelmeier and the couple had two sons. Her wedding dress was the adapted gown from her grandmother's wedding in 1897. By 1951 she had graduated with a Masters degree. This volunteer has donated her life time to such organizations as the Girl Guides of Canada where she was an executive member and camping commissioner for Canada. She has served on hospital and museum boards including as a board member at the Canadian Museum of Nature.  May 8, 2013 Flavia was honoured by the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) with the  Distinguished Service Award tor the incredible impact and support for the ROM.

March 10

Julia Catherine Hart. 
née Beckwith. Born March 10, 1796, Fredericton, New Brunswick. Died November 28, 1867, New Brunswick.  
She wrote the 1st work of fiction by a native born Canadian to be published in Canada.  Her novel was called:: St Ursula’s Convent or The Nun of Canada, Containing Scenes from Real Life”  published in 1824. It took her 10 years to find this publisher and only 165 copies were made. Almost all original copies have been lost. She wrote this book when she was only 17 years old! In 1820 shortly after her father's death she relocated to Kingston, Upper Canada (Now Ontario) to live with family. Here she met and married George Henry Hart and established a boarding school for girls. She would continue publishing with two additional novels  while she raised a family of six children! It was not until the turn of the century in 1900 that she was recognized. (2017)

 

Avril 'Kim'  Phaedra Campbell. 
Born March 10, 1947, Port Alberni, British Columbia. Known as “Kim” since a teen, she attended the University of British Columbia and went on to earn a PhD at the London School of Economics, London England. Entering politics as a member of the Vancouver School Board from 1980-4. She moved to the British Columbia Provincial Legislature, 1986-88 and was elected to the Canadian House of Commons in 1988. In 1989 she was appointed Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development.  The 1st woman to serve as Minister of Justice, February 1990, by January 1993, she also became the 1st woman Minister of Defense of a NATO country.   In June 1993 she became the 1st woman elected leader of the Progressive Conservative Party and the 1st woman Prime Minister of Canada. She resigned after election defeat in, November 1993. Appointed Consul General to Los Angeles, California from 1996-2000, she was also chair, 1999 – 2003, for the Council of Women World Leaders. Working with a group of national leaders to strengthen democracy in the world, she was founder and acting President of the Club de Madrid, and was appointed Secretary General in 2004.  A lecturer of public policy at Harvard, she currently describes herself as a teacher and recovering politician. Sources: Canadian Encyclopedia Online (accessed 2004); Canadian Who's Who. Photograph © Famous Canadian Women

March 11

Eva Von Gencsy.
Born March 11,1924, Hungary. Died April 11, 2013, Montreal, Quebec.  She studied ballet at the Trognoff Russian Ballet Academy as a young girl. She won a scholarship to study at the University Mozartium Saltzberg in 1924. The next year she made her solo debut. In 1948 as she entered Canada a customs officer, seeing she was a dancer, suggested she move to Winnipeg, Manitoba. Working as a domestic servant to fulfill the requirement of working for a year in order to stay in Canada she studied with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. In 1954 when the RWB was destroyed by fire she moved to Montreal to continue dancing. She worked in Banff and taught jazz dance for 13 years. Often summers vacations were spent in New York City taking ballet and jazz classes. She specifically loved jazz-ballet as a celebration of the soul. In Montreal she formed a jazz ballet group Les Jazz-Ballet Contemporaines but left in 1978 after a disruptive collision of ideas with others in the group. She spent the next 35 years as a freelance teacher. In 2003 Mireille Dansereau completed a documentary feature EVA about the talented dancer. She had married at one time but did not relish the role of homemaker and definitely loved dance more than married life which also carried the treat of motherhood. She had a love of learning often taking courses at local institutions. At 80 years of age she discovered and embraced life with a computerSource: Her legacy is all that bale-jazz by Paula Citron, The Globe and Mail, April 30, 2013.  

March 12

Mary Dyma.
née Sawchak, Born March 12, 1899, Ukraine. Died October 12, 1998, Winnipeg, Manitoba. By the end of World War l (1914-1918) Mary was an orphan and in 1920 she immigrated to Canada to live with her aunt, Joanna Westlake, in Winnipeg. To learn English she attended St. Mary's Academy. By 1923 she had graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Manitoba (U of M). After graduating from U of M she taught  school and in 1924 she became principal at Ethelbert School. In 1925 she married Dr.  Bronislaw Dyma (1897-1966) and the couple had two sons. In 1928 she organized the Ukrainian Handicraft Guild.  In 1932 through 1935 she was a trustee with the Winnipeg School Division. She served as president of the League of Women Voters and in 1936 she ran as a Liberal-Progressive in the Provincial election but was defeated. In 1945 she was a founding member and first national president of the Ukrainian Canadian Women's Committee. In 1950 the Ukrainian Canadian chapter of the Imperial Order of Daughters of the Empire (I O D E) was established in her honor. In 1953 after attending the coronation of Queen Elizabeth ll in England she visited Ukrainian families in displaced persons camps.  In 1967 she was awarded a Canada Centennial Medal. In 2001 Mary Dyma was listed as a Manitoba Woman Trailblazer by the Nellie McClung Foundation. Source: Memorable Manitobans online (accessed 2022); Find a Grave Canada (2022)

March 13

Helen Callahan.
Born March 13, 1923, Vancouver, British Columbia. Died December 8, 1992, Santa Barbara, California, U.S.A.  Coming from an avid and supportive sports loving family she left home to join the All American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL). Within a few months her concerned father sent her older sister Margaret to join the league and look after the younger Helen. The girls played successfully in the league for several years from 1944. The left handed out fielder did not play in 1947 due to illness but returned after a marriage and the birth of a child to play in 1948 retiring in 1949. The original “boys of summer” had left the playing fields to join the fighting in World War ll were now coming home and reclaiming the baseball fans back to the all male games. The sisters never spoke of their life on the road with the league with family. However when son Kelly found his aunt’s old scrapbook he used it to produce a Public Broadcasting Service documentary on the girls. Hollywood director Penny Marshall was taken with the documentary and the well-known movie A League of Their Own was released in 1992. In 1998 all 64 Canadian Women who had played in the AALGBL were inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame. Helen’s Grandson Casey Candaele has played for the Montreal Expos, the Houston Astros, and the Cleveland Indians.

March 14

Abigail Becker Rohrer. 
née Jackson. Born March 14, 1830. Died 1905. At eight she married a widower who was a trapper by profession and lived at Long Point Island, Lake Erie. In November 1854 she became a heroine when she was instrumental in saving the lives of the master and the six crew members of the schooner, Conductor, which was wrecked off of Long Point Island.  The story of her heroism was reported in the Atlantic Monthly in 1869 and in 1899 a book entitled The story of Abigail Becker was published. Since the turn of the 20th century her story seems to have been forgotten by most. (2017)

March 15

Rita Joe.
née Bernard. Born March 15, 1932, Whycocamagh, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. Died March 20, 2007, Sydney, Nova Scotia.  Her mother died when she was only five years old and she began to live in various foster homes. When she was ten her father died and she left Cape Breton to attend Shubenacadie Residential School. Here she was told that she was no good. Years later she would publish a book on her life at the school. After school she returned to live on the Eskasoni First Nations Reserve. In 1954 she married Frank Joe and the couple would raise 8 children and two adopted sons. In 1978 her 1st book of poetry was published. She would continue to produce books of poetry and stories and her works were included in anthologies. Her writings earned her the unofficial title of Poet Laureate of the Mi’kmaq people. In 1989 she became a Member of the Order of Canada. In 1992 she was called to the Queen’s Privy Council, one of the few non-politicians to be appointed. In 1993 she was the subject of a National Film Board Documentary “Song of Eskasoni”. In 1996 she wrote her autobiography. In 1997 she was presented with the National Aboriginal Achievement Award. Source: The Canadian Encyclopedia Online (accessed January 2014) (2020)

March 16

Patricia Irene Rideout-Rosenberg. 
March 16, 1931, Saint John, New Brunswick. Died September 8, 2006, Cambridge, Ontario. Patricia studied piano in the early 1940's and then voice from 1946 through 1948. She also enjoyed performing in theatricals in Saint John. In 1949 she earned a scholarship to the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto and went on to the Royal Conservatory Opera School at the University of Toronto from in 52 to 1955. In 1950 she performed as a singer and dancer at the Red Barn Theatre at Jackson's Point, Ontario. In 1954 she taught at University Settlement, Toronto and appeared as soloist in opera at the Banff School of Fine Arts, Alberta. first important operatic role was Madame Flora in a 1955 Royal Conservatory Opera School production of Menotti's The Medium at Hart House, University of Toronto. That same year she has a role in an Opera Festival Association (now Canadian Opera Company, C O C). As well as her career stage work which took her throughout North America and Europe she was popular with opera fans on CBC-TV throughout the decades. In the 1980's she taught voice at Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario and the late 1980's at the University of Toronto. (2019)

March 17

Clara Morrison. 
née La Montagne. Born March 17, 1848, (sometimes recorded as 1846) Toronto, Ontario. Died November 20, 1925, New Canaan Connecticut, U.S.A.  As a youth Clara studied ballet moving to Cincinnati, Ohio and finally settling in New York, U.S.A. in 1870 to play in the Fifth-avenue Theatre. It was hear that her stage career took off. Her stage name was Clara Morris also known as the “Queen of the Melodrama”. She is said to have had the ability to bring a whole audience to tears with her acting. From 1885 through 1910 she devoted her talents to writing, publishing some 12 books. She wrote actively after retiring from the stage contributing articles on acting to various magazines and wrote a daily newspaper column for ten years. She became blind in 1910 and after her home was sold she moved to Long Island, New York, U.S.A. She would later write her life story in three volumes of memoirs.

 

Pat Messner. 
Born March 17, 1954,  Hamilton, Ontario. This former Girl Guide was the first Canadian woman to win a world championship in waterskiing in 1979. She is also the first Canadian woman to win an Olympic medal in her sport. Pat won a bronze Olympic medal in the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, Germany. She holds 19 Canadian titles and 20 national records. She is also the first Canadian woman to have won the United States Master’s waterskiing title. She is the founder of the Water Ski and Wakeboard Canadian Hall of Fame. In her spare time she has a career as a high school teacher, musician and paramedic. She was inducted into the Order of Canada in 1980, the youngest Canadian woman to ever receive this honour. Photograph © Famous Canadian Women

March 18

Maude Elizabeth Seymour Abbott. 
née Babin. Born March 18, 1869, St. André Est, Quebec. Died September 2, 1940, Montreal, Quebec. Her father abandoned Maude after the death of her mother and the child was legally adopted and raised by her maternal grandmother, Mrs. William Abbott. Maude was one of the 1st women to receive a BA from McGill University, Montreal, Quebec in 1890.Four years later she earned Medical Degree with honours from Bishop's University, Lennoxville, Quebec as the only woman in her class. She opened her own medical practice in Montreal where she also worked with the Royal Victoria Hospital and was elected as the 1st woman to be a member of the Montreal Medico-Chirugical Society. She went on to post graduate medical studies in Vienna, Austria. In 1906 she co-founded the International Association of Medical Museums with fellow Canadian, Dr. William Osler. In 1907 she served as the secretary and spent years editing the institution's articles.  This doctor wrote a successful medical paper on heart murmurs, but a male friend had to present her paper since women were not admitted to the hall where the paper was presented! In 1910 she became a lecturer in pathology at McGill University even though the university did not accept female students. Leaving McGill she worked at the Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania, U.S.A. in 1923. In 1924 she founded the Federation of Medical Women of Canada. By 1925 she was once again at McGill working as an Assistant professor.  Later she would specialize on heart disease and eventually published the “Atlas of Congenital Cardiac Disease" in 1936  for which she gained a good deal of respect. She also wrote a history of nursing, a basic text for Canadian nursing schools. She was even made an honorary member of the all-male Osler Society. In 1958 the International Academy of Pathology created the Maude Abbott Lecture. In 1993 she was declared a f National Historic Person of Canada and the following year she was inducted into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame. 
In 2000, a bronze plaque was erected in her honour on the McIntyre Medical Building at McGill University. In the same year, Canada Post issued a forty-six cent postage stamp entitled The Heart of the Matter in her honour.

March 19

Marie Morin. 
Born March 19, 1649, Quebec City, New France. . Buried April 8,1730, Montreal, New France (Now Quebec). At the age of 13 she became an novitiate of a convent in Montreal. She took her vows as a nun with the Religious Hospitallers of Ville, Marie, Montreal. on 
October 27, 1671. She was the 1st Canadian born woman to become a religious sister. She would become bursar and superior of the Hospitalièrs of Montreal. In 1693 through 1698  she was the 1st Canadian born superior of the Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal. Sister Morin oversaw the rebuilding of the Hotel Dieu beginning in 1689 and again when the new structure burned on February 24 1695. She served a second time as superior of her order from 1708 to 1711. She was also one of the 1st women writers in New France. She wrote the annals of the Hotel Dieu (1697-1725) and her own memoirs. She was a heroic woman, a true product of the early days of New France. (2017)

March 20

Caroline Brunet. 
Born March 20,1969, Quebec City, Quebec. In March 1998, Caroline became the recipient of the Velma Springstead Award to become Canada's Outstanding Female Athlete of the Year. Her recognition began in 1995 when she won a gold and 2 silver medals at the World Championships. In Atlanta's Olympic Games in 1997 she claimed the silver medal. She swept the World Sprint Canoe Championships in 1997 when she won three gold medals which represented "a best ever" Canadian Kayak team performance.  She gold medal also represented a first for a Canadian woman in a singles event. She also won a Bronze medal in the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece before taking her retirement. In 2009 she was inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame. 

March 21

Jehane Benoit. 
née Patenaude. Born March 21,1904. Died November 24, 1987. She is best remembered as Madame Benoit. This food consultant turned to TV as a medium to explain Canadian cuisine to her home and native land.  She also published some 30 books to generate interest in her field. She studied at the Cordon Bleu and held a degree as a food chemist from the Sorbonne in France. She opened  her own cooking school in Montreal, Fumet de la Vieille France.  She also opened one of the 1st Canadian vegetarian restaurants, the Salad Bar in 1935. She became a proponent of microware cooking and was hired as salesperson for Panasonic microwaves.  In 1973 she became an Officer of the Order of Canada.

March 22

Jane Mackenzie. 
née Sym. Born March 22,1825. Died March 30, 1893.  On June 17, 1853 Jane would become the second wife of Alexander Mackenzie (1822-1892), second Prime Minister of Canada married June 17, 1853. She had no children but was stepmother to her husband's daughter from his prior marriage. The Toronto Globe newspaper described her as "the best-known woman of Canada... and one of the most admired and respected." It was a role she did not really enjoy but she supported her husband and entertained all of Ottawa's politicians. (2019)

March 23

Amanda Michael Plummer. 
Born March 23, 1957, New York, New York, U.S.A. Amanda is the daughter of Canadian actor Christopher Plummer. Amanda attended Middlebury College and as a young adult she studied acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre in New York City. Following her fathers love for acting she won a Tony in 1982 in Agnes of God.  She has starred in such films as The Fisher KingThe World According to Garp, Pulp Fiction, Dallmake, The Last Angel, and Triggerman. In 1996 she won a Cable Ace Award for The Right to Remain Silent and an Emmy Award for her guest appearance on The Outer Limits TV showWith movies and TV she has had some 9 appearances in 2002 alone! In 2005 she was awarded a second Emmy for her appearance on in Miss Rose White, a Hallmark made for television filmShe has also had success on Broadway and off Broadway stage performances.

March 24

Agnes Campbell Macphail.  
Born March 24, 1890, Preston Township, Grey County, Ontario. Died February 13, 1954, Toronto, Ontario. Like many young women of her era she attended Normal School (Teacher’s College) after high school. She taught in numerous schools Related imagein Ontario and Alberta. She was the 1st and only woman elected to the Canadian parliament in 1921 when women finally had the right to vote. A pacifist she was a member of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom and in 1929 she became the 1st woman nominated to the Canadian delegation to the League of Nations (forerunner to the United Nations). As the 1st woman to inspect Kingston Penitentiary, it left her a lifelong advocate for better conditions of women in prison. In 1935 the Royal Commission to Investigate the Penal System in Canada and the 1939 Penitentiary Bill with 88 recommendations for change were no doubt influenced by her efforts. She became a founding member of the C.C.F., Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (forerunner of the National Democratic Party). Losing her federal seat in the 1940 election, she toured giving lectures and wrote for the Toronto Globe and Mail newspaper before turning her attention to provincial politics. In 1943 she was 1 of 2 women elected to the Ontario Legislative Assemble where she continued to support farmers, industrial workers, prison inmates and women’s rights.  In 1951 she saw the passage of the 1st equal pay legislation in the province. She was also the founder of the Elizabeth Fry Society of Canada which even today works to give help to women in need. She died just prior to have been offered a seat in the Canadian senateSources: The Canadian Encyclopedia Online Accessed 2001); Agnes Macphail website Online (accessed 2003)

March 25

Ethel Dorothy Blondwin-Andrews. 
Born March 25, 1951, Tulita, Northwest Territories. Ethel attended various schools including residential school and Grandin College Leadership Program at Fort Smith. She followed this with a teacher certificate from Arctic College prior to earning her Bachelor of Education from the University of Alberta in 1974. She was one of the 1st accredited Aboriginal teachers in the North, teaching in Tuktoyaktuk, Délįnę, Fort Providence, and Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. From 1984-1986, she served as a Senior Public Servant with the Public Service Commission in Ottawa and before returning to the north to join the Government of the Northwest Territories as Assistant Deputy Minister for Culture from 1986 to 1988 where she served on the Arctic Institute of North America for two terms as well as the Assembly of First Nations Language Committee and worked on the Special Committee on Education for the Government of the Northwest Territories. In 1988, Ethel was elected as a Liberal from the District of the Western Arctic to the Canadian Parliament, the 1st aboriginal woman elected to the House of Commons. She went on to win the next four federal elections in 1993, 1997, 2000, and 2004. Under Prime Ministers Jean Chrètien and Paul Martin she would be appointed to the Cabinet as Secretary of State, then Minister of State for Children and Youth. She returned to the North to work as Chairperson for Sahtu Secretariat Incorporated the organization created by the Sahtu region’s seven land corporations to ensure the Sahtu land claim (signed in 1994) is properly implemented. Sources: Ethel Blondwin-Andrews. Canadian House of Commons. Online (Accessed 2004) ; Ethel Blondwin-Andrews, Biography. Sahtu Secretariat INC. Online (accessed July 2015)

March 26

Marie Catherine Pélissier Sales Laterière. 
née Delezenne. Born March 26, 1755, Quebec. Died 1831. As a young woman she was forced to marry a man more than twice her age, Christophe Pélissier, in 1775. During her arranged marriage she continued her affair with the man she really loved, Sale de Laterière.  The lovers eventually signed a marriage contract for which she was excommunicated from the Catholic Church. In 1779 Laterière was imprisoned for treason. Marie visited him in prison until his release in 1782. They became legally married in 1799 with the death of Pélissier. She is perhaps a true symbol of one who fought for the rights of individuals. 

March 27

Elizabeth Muriel Elsie Gregory  MacGill.  
Born March 27, 1905, Vancouver, British Columbia. Died November 4, 1980, Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.A.  She became Canada’s 1st
woman graduate to hold a degree in electrical engineering.  She also held a master’s degree in aeronautical engineering from the U.S. During WW II her primary responsibility was the production of the Hawker Hurricane fighter aircraft. Her staff of 4,500 people produced more than 2000 aircraft.  In 1937 she was the 1st woman to be admitted corporate membership in the Engineering Institute of Canada. In the 1940 an American comic book featured Elsie by her nickname Queen of the Hurricanes referring to her role in the production of the Hawker Hurricane fighter aircraft. In 1943 she married an aviation project works manager E. J. 'Bill' Souls and the couple opened an aeronautical consulting business. In 1946 she became the 1st woman serving as a Technical Advisor for the International Civil Aviation Organization. The following year she became the 1st woman to chair a United Nations Committee becoming chairman of the UN Stress Analysis Committee.  In 1953 she was one of only 50 people, and the only woman, to have her picture in the Gervaert Gallery of Canadian executives honour her contributions and influence. That same year she published the biography of her mother: My Mother the Judge:  A Biography of Judge Helen Gregory MacGill. She became an honourary member of the American Society of Women Engineers and was named Woman Engineer of the Year becoming the 1st woman out of the United States to earn this award.  In 1967 she received the Canadian Centennial Medal and in 1971 she received the Order of Canada. for her accomplishments as an engineer and for being a member of the Royal Commission on the Status of Women, the National Action Committee on the Status of Women and the Ontario Status of Women Committee. . She is a member of Canada’s Aviation Hall of Fame and in 1992 she was among the 1st to be listed in  the Canadian Science and Engineering Hall of Fame.

March 28

Frances Ramsey Simpson. 
née Simpson. Born  March 28, 1812, London, England. Died March 21, 1853. (Lady Simpson) She married her cousin, George Simpson, February 24 1830. His career a Governor with the Hudson Bay Company would bring her to Canada. She and her companion, Catherine Turner, wife of another HBC employee, were the first white women to travel to remote Hudson Bay Company areas. After a visit to Rainey Lake ( in modern Ontario) the settlement was named Fort Frances in her honour.  Living in Red River she became homesick and lonely and remained semi invalided after the birth and death of her first child. Eventually the family settled permanently in Lachine Quebec in 1845 and raised their five Canadian born children.
photograph Public domain

March 29

Amelia Yeomans. 
née Le Sueur. Born March 29,1842. Died April 11, 1913. In 1878, after the death of her medical doctor husband, Amelia and her daughter Lillian decided to study medicine. Since there were no schools in Canada accepting women as students the two women studied in the U.S. Both specialized in midwifery (birth of children) and diseases affecting women and children in the Canadian Midwest. Soon they were joined by another daughter Charlotte who was a nurse. The medical trio became champions of woman's suffrage ( votes for women), temperance (stopping excess drinking of alcohol) and crusaded against prostitution and the diseases of prostitution. Amelia had a great speaking presence and lectured successfully for social equality and improvement of life. Modern Canadian women owe a lot to these social pioneering women.

March 30

Céline Dion.  
Born March 30, 1968, Charlemagne, Quebec. Céline is an internationally known recording artist and superstar. She began performing
with her family when she was only five years old!  Her first song composed when she was 12 caught the eye of manager René Angelil who financed the recording. Her career advanced with the Gold Medal at the Yamaha World Song Festival in 1982.  There was no looking back. She became the first Canadian to receive a Gold Record in France. She recorded the sound track for Disney's Beauty and the Beast which would win and Academy Award and a Grammy. Other movie hit songs have been in Sleepless in Seattle and Titanic. She married her manager and has chosen to slow her career to have private time devoted to her family. She returned to the stage to do her own show in Las Vegas. She is a member of the Order of Canada.  photograph © Famous Canadian women

March 31

Ethel Blanche Ridley.
Born March 31, 1874, Belleville, Ontario. Died July 18, 1949, Belleville, Ontario. Ethel graduated from St. Hilda's College, University of Toronto with a Bachelor of Arts in 1895. She followed this in 1899 by graduating from the New York Training School for Nurses in the U.S.A. She served in the Philippines during the Spanish American War with the United States Army. Later she served as a Medical Missionary in China.  Returning to the United States she worked at the Hospital for Ruptured and Crippled in New York. September 16, 1914 she enlisted as a Nursing Sister with the Canadian Army Medical Corps (CAMC). She served as Matron for the No. 2 Canadian General Hospital, and was posted to Le Touquet, France. Returning to England she served in Granville, Ramsgate and Buxton. In 1918 she was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire C B E. After the war she worked as Directress of Nursing at the Vancouver General Hospital, British Columbia but soon left the position due to ill health. Relocating to the United States she worked at the New York Orthopaedic Hospital as Director of Nurses until she retired in 1942 when she settled in Belleville, Ontario. Source: Nurses of World War 1 by Donald Brearley, 2018 online (accessed 2021)

   

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