Kitchener MPP co-sponsors bill to declare Oct. 18 as “Persons Day”
Posted Oct 19, 2024 05:45:00 AM.
Last Updated Oct 19, 2024 08:05:28 AM.
Kitchener Centre MPP and Deputy Green Party Leader Aislinn Clancy has co-sponsored a bill that would have Ontario recognize the day women were officially declared “persons” under the law.
On October 18, 1929, Emily Murphy, Louise McKinney, Henrietta Muir Edwards, Irene Parlby and Nellie McClung succeeded in their efforts to have the legal definition of persons changed to include women. It opened the door for women’s increased participation in political and public life.
The Bill was co-sponsored by Liberal MPP Mary-Margaret McMahon and the NDP’s Kristyn Wong-Tam.
In a press release Clancy said, “This was a landmark moment in the fight for women’s equality in Canada. Our hope is that by proclaiming October 18 as Persons Day in Ontario, we can continue to foster women’s and gender-diverse leadership in political life and beyond.”
Persons Day was first declared by the federal government in 1979.
The Ontario legislature returns from its summer break on Monday, Oct. 21.
