Lady Mary Pellatt. (née Dodgson) Born Toronto, Ontario 1858. The first Commissioner of the Girl Guides of Canada, Lady Pellatt lived in a Castle! Lady Mary often invited Girl Guides to have rallies at Casa Loma in Toronto. She was warranted as Commissioner of the Dominion of Canada Girl Guides on July 24, 1912. When she was to ill to attend events she enjoyed watching the girls from her bedroom window. When Lady Pellatt died in April 1924 she was buried in her Girl Guide uniform and the Girl Guides formed a Guard of Honour at the funeral service. Connect to the Girl Guide Fact Sheet at http://www.girlguides.ca/media/pdfs/14-3/14.3.1.8.pdf

Annie Caroline Macdonald. Born Wingham, Ontario October 15, 1874. Died July 17, 1931. She graduated in mathematics from the University of Toronto in 1901. She would turn to on of the opening professions for respectable young ladies of the day. She became one of the first professional secretaries of the Young Womens Christian Association (YWCA). By 1904 she was on her way to Japan to establish the YWCA in that country.  She became immersed in her new job and new home. She became fluent in the Japanese language and became a staunch advocate of penal reform in Japan. Among other things she established a settlement house in the city of Tokyo to provide support services for families of prison inmates, ex-prisoners and juvenile delinquents (dare we call it Macdonald House?) In 1924 her social work was recognized by the Emperor of Japan. In 1925 she returned to Canada and was the first woman to receive an LLD (Doctor of Law) from the University of Toronto.

Agnes Campbell Macphail.  Born Preston Tsp., Grey Co., Ontario March 24,  1890. Died February 13, 1954. She was the only woman elected to the Canadian parliament in 1921 when women first had the right to vote for parliament. She was the first woman to sit in the House of Commons as a Member of the Canadian Parliament. The first woman to inspect Kingston Penitentiary, which left her with a lifelong advocate for better conditions of women in prison. She was the founder of the Elizabeth Fry Society of Canada which even today works to give help to women in need.

Grace Hartman.  Born Toronto, Ontario July 14,1918. Died December 18, 1993. She was the first woman to hold the top position in a Canadian Union. In 1975 she was elected to the national president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE). She was elected as Vice President as early as 1963 when this union was firs formed from the merger of two previous unions.

Grace Bagnato. Born 1891.  Died 1950. Born in the United States her Italian immigrant family moved to Toronto Canada when Grace was about 5 or 6 years old. It was in this city in the 20’s, 30’s and 40’s that Grace would become known to many immigrant Canadians who needed help. She learned their languages in order to help them and to communicate with them. She went to court with them to help them get the best justice their new home could offer. She was the first woman to be appointed as court interpreter. During World War II when Canadians who had immigrated to Canada were all suspect simply because they were aliens, Grace worked hardest making sure their needs were understood. She was a mother of 13 children who worked hard for all the immigrants of Ward area in Toronto. Grace St. is a part of the acknowledged Italian district of Toronto. Learn more about Grace Bagnato in the video recording “An Act of Grace” (A scattering of seeds series) White Pine Pictures. You can borrow it from your own library or through interlibrary loan.

Nadine Hunt. Born Kingston, Ontario. Nadine attended the Labour College of Canada and graduated in 1971.  She went on to work on the executive of the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour.  In 1978 she was the first woman to lead a labour federation in Canada when she was elected president of the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour. She held this post until 1988.   She helped establish the Labour Studies Program at the University of Saskatchewan. She has served as a representative at the International Labour Organization where she served on a committee to establish international standards for the treatment of workers with family responsibilities.  The University of Saskatchewan has a memorial scholarship named in her honour.

Mary Wong. Born In Hamilton, Ontario this teacher and restaurateur also served as an interpreter of the Chinese language in the city courts. Her interest in politics led to a position on the Canadian Consultative Council on Multiculturalism.   In 1977 Mary Wong became the firs Canadian of Chinese origin to be appointed a Citizenship Court Judge, a position she held until retirement in 1985. Her personal motto is “I believe what you put into life, you get out.”

Nancy Ruth. January 6, 1942. Nancy Ruth is Canada's first feminist philanthropist. With less that 5% of funding from private foundations and corporations going to women and girls her philosophy remains: "If women don't give to women and girls, who will?" As an activist, Nancy Ruth was part of the 1981 push for the inclusion of the equity clauses (15 & 28) in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. She is a founding mother of Canada's largest women's history website www.coolwomen.ca, of The Womens' Legal Education and Action Fund - LEAF/FARJ. (Be sure check out the teen pages at the site www.LEAF.ca) and of the Canadian Women's Foundation/Foundation des Femmes Canadiennes, www.women.org who founded among other things the "White Ribbon Campaign". Nancy Ruth holds three honourary degrees and the Order of Canada. In 2005 she was appointed to the Senate of Canada.

Sue Johanson. A mother, grandmother and by training a nurse, Sue is extremely concerned about unplanned pregnancies, babies having babies, sexually transmitted disease and kids being used and abused. In 1970 she opened in Don Mills Birth Control Clinic, the first such clinic in a High school in North America. She had no idea that her forthright talk approach about sex would lead to the “Sunday Night Sex Show” on W television! In 2004 she entered the American market on Oxygen Network with 4 million viewers. She is a member of the Order of Canada. In March 2004 the National Post newspaper named her one of Canada’s most influential women.