Emily Murphy

Introduction

Emily Murphy (March 14 1868 - October 17 1933) was a Canadian women's rights activist. In 1916, she became the first woman police magistrate in Alberta, and in the British Empire. She is best known for her contributions to Canadian feminism, specifically to the question of whether women were "persons" under Canadian law. During her term as a judge, several defence lawyers questioned her qualification to sit in judgment over their clients, questioning if she was even a "person" under the law. No female senator had yet been appointed, and she was considered a prime candidate; however, she was rejected by a succession of prime ministers. Finally she and four other women: Henrietta Muir Edwards, Nellie McClung, Louise McKinney and Irene Parlby, who together were known as The Famous Five (also called The Valiant Five), fought what came to be called the the Persons Case, to show that women could be "qualified persons" eligible to sit in the Senate. The Supreme Court of Canada ruled that they were not. However, after appealing to the Judicial Committee of the British Privy Council - the court of last resort for Canada at that time - the women won their case, and Cairine Wilson would become the first woman senator. She was also a journalist and author. Under the pen name Janey Canuck, Ms. Murphy wrote a number of articles with white supremacist and anti-immigration viewpoints. She inveighed against drugs, in particular opium and marijuana, arguing that they were being spread by Chinese immigrants in order to weaken the white race in Canada. One of her most notable books in this regard was entitled The Black Candle. Her legacy is disputed, with her important contributions to feminism being weighed against her anti-immigrant views that were extreme even for her time. Some argue that she was a racist and should not be honoured; others say that her racism was a product of her times and should not vitiate her activism on behalf of Canadian women. [1]

Early Life

Emily Murphy (March 14th, 1868 – October 17th, 1933) was born the third of six children in Cookstown, Ontario to wealthy landowner and businessman Isaac Ferguson and his wife – also named Emily. As a child, Murphy frequently joined her two older brothers Thomas and Gowan in their adventures; in fact, their father encouraged this behaviour and often had his sons and daughters share responsibilities equally. Considering her family involvement in the law and politics, it is no surprise that Murphy became one of the most influential suffragist in Canada. Murphy grew up under the influence of her maternal grandfather, Ogle R. Gowan who was a politician that founded a local branch of the Orange Order in 1830 and two uncles who was a Supreme Court justice and a Senator, respectively. Her brother also became a lawyer and another member of the Supreme Court. Her family were prominent members of society and she benefited from parents who supported their daughter receiving formal academic education. Murphy attended Bishop Strachan School, an exclusive Anglican private school for girls in Toronto and, through a friend, she met her future husband Arthur Murphy who was 11 years her senior. In 1887, they were married and three daughters – Evelyn, Doris and Kathleen. Tragically, Doris died at a young age of diptheria. After Doris’ death, the family decided to try a new setting and moved west to Swan River, Manitoba in 1903 and then to Edmonton, Albertain 1907.

Dower Act

While Arthur was working as an Anglican minister, Murphy explored her new surroundings and became increasingly aware of the poverty that existed. At the age of 40, when her children became independent and began their separate lives, Murphy began to actively organize women’s groups where the isolated housewives, could meet and discuss ideas and plan group projects. In addition to these organisations, Murphy began to speak openly and frankly about the disadvantaged and the poor living conditions that surrounded their society. Her strong interest in the rights and protection of women and children intensified when she was made aware of an unjust experience of an Albertan woman whose husband sold the family farm; the husband then abandoned his wife and children who were left homeless and penniless. At that time, property laws did not leave the wife with any legal recourse. Murphy found out that a woman could devote her entire life and energy to a farm that was not legally entitled to her. This case motivated Murphy to create a campaign that assured the property rights of married women. With the support of many rural women, Murphy began to pressure the Alberta government to allow women to retain the rights of their land. In 1911, Murphy successfully persuaded the Alberta legislature to pass the Dower Act that would allow a woman legal rights to one third of her husband’s property. Murphy’s reputation as a women’s rights activist was established by this first political victory.

The Person’s Case

Murphy’s success in the fight for the Dower Act, along with her work through the Local Council of Women and her increasing awareness of women’s rights, influenced her request for a female magistrate in the women’s court. In 1916, Murphy, along with a group of women, attempted to observe a trial for women who were labelled prostitutes and were arrested for “questionable” circumstances. The women were asked to leave the courtroom on the claims that the statement was not “fit for mixed company”. This outcome was unacceptable to Murphy and she protested to the provincial Attorney General. "If the evidence is not fit to be heard in mixed company," she argued, "then the government must set up a special court presided over by women, to try other women.” With some reluctance, Murphy’s request was approved and she became the first woman police magistrate for the British Empire. Her appointment as judge, however, became the cause for her greatest adversity concerning women within the law. In 1917, she headed the battle to have women declared as “persons” in Canada, and, consequently, qualified to serve in the Senate. Lawyer Eardley Jackson, challenged her position as judge because women were not considered “persons” under the British North America Act of 1867. This understanding was based on a British Common Law ruling of 1876, which stated, "women were eligible for pains and penalties, but not rights and privileges." The only hope for women to be considered in the federal government, the British North America Act would need to be changed. Murphy began to work on a plan to ask for clarification on how women were regarded in the BNA act and how they were to become Senators. In order for her question to be considered, she needed at least five citizens to submit the question as a group. She enlisted the help of four other Albertan women and on August 27th, 1927 she and human rights activist Nellie McClung, ex MLA Louise McKinney, women’s rights campaigners Henrietta Edwards and [[Irene Parlby] signed the petition to the Supreme Court of Canada. The women asked, "Does the word 'person' in Section 24 of the British North America Act include female persons?" The campaign became known as The Persons Case and reached the Supreme Court of Canada on March 1928. The court denied the women from challenging the interpretation of the word “persons” which lead the five women to bring the case towards the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in Britain. On October 18, 1929, the Privy Council unanimously declared that women will also be considered as “persons” under the BNA Act and are eligible to serve in the Senate. Murphy and her group of women are now regarded as the Famous Five who lead the education for social reform and women’s rights. They challenged convention and are fundamental in Canadian history. In Canada’s Senate Chamber, these five Albertan women are honoured with a plaque that reads, “To further the cause of womankind these five outstanding pioneer women caused steps to be taken resulting in the recognition by the Privy Council of women as persons eligible for appointment to the Senate of Canada.”

The Race Controversy

The Black Candle was a collection of newspaper and magazine articles that Murphy published in 1922 under her pen name Janey Canuck. These articles had been written to advocate changing the law towards drugs and narcotics. Murphy believed that the increase in poverty, prostitution, alcohol and drug abuse were caused because of the high number of immigrants that were entering into Western Canada. She identified the “Chinese, Assyrians, Negroes, and Greeks” in The Black Candle for Canada’s social problems. Murphy was insistent throughout her articles that the Chinese and the Blacks were responsible for the high number of harmful narcotics that have been smuggled into the country. Her articles helped influence the ethnic biases and racial malcontent in Canada during the early twentieth century. Murphy was a strong believer in the term “yellow peril”. Due to the large population of China, and the increasing volume of Chinese immigrants entering Canada, Murphy feared that the Chinese could eventually take over power. She wrote, “It is claimed also, but with what truth we cannot say, that there is well-defined propaganda among the aliens of colour to bring about the degeneration of the white race… let us punish these foreign immigrants if they deserve it; let us exclude them from our country if our policy so impels, but let us refrain from making them the eternal scapegoats for the sins of ourselves or of our children." Murphy has been accused of being a racist but many scholars argue that Murphy’s perspective was parallel to the understanding of her social and political contemporary times and should not be taken out of context. "It's very easy to make fun of Emily Murphy about The Black Candle, but at the time that she wrote that, there was very little known about drugs or about the drug trade," says historian and author Tony Cashman. That same lack of knowledge about other cultures led her to form inappropriate opinions about certain minorities. He adds, "This is what we would now consider racism…but I don't think this one book negates everything that she has achieved." Whether or not Emily Murphy was a racist is left up to the judgment of the individual, but regardless of any personal opinions, Murphy was undoubtedly one of the most influential women in her era. Journalist Erik Floren concludes, “there's no doubt Murphy was a great crusader for women's rights. Just like there's no denying she was a racist.”

The Eugenics Movement

During the early twentieth century, scientific knowledge emerged in the forefront social importance. Science and technology began to see large advances and was considered as being able to provide answers to current and future social problems. Murphy was among the believers that the problems that were plaguing their society, such as alcoholism, drug abuse and crime were caused because of mental deficiencies. In a 1932 article titled “ Overpopulation and Birth Control”, she states that - over-population [is a] basic problem of all…none of our troubles can even be allayed until this is remedied. As the politics behind the Second World War continued to develop, Murphy, who was a pacifist theorized that the only reason for war was because nations needed to fight for land to accommodate their growing populations. Her argument was that: if there was population control, people would not need as much land. Without the constant need for more land, war would cease to exist. Her solution to these social issues was – Eugenics. Selective breeding was considered a progressive scientific and social approach and Murphy supported the sterilisation of those individuals who were considered mentally deficient. Emily Murphy believed that the mentally and socially inferior reproduced more than the “human thoroughbreds” and appealed to the Alberta Legislative Assembly for eugenic sterilization. In a petition, she wrote that mentally defective children were, “a menace to society and an enormous cost to the state…science is proving that mental defectiveness is a transmittable hereditary condition.” She wrote to Minister of Agriculture and Health, George Hoadley that two female “feeble-minded” mental patients already bred several offspring. She stated that, “in my opinion, it is a neglect amounting to a crime to permit these two women to go on bearing children. They are both young women and likely to have numerous offspring before leaving the hospital”. Due in part to her heavy advocacy of sterilization, thousands of Albertans, who were not considered to possess any intelligence, were unknowingly sterilized under the Sexual Sterilization Act before its repeal in 1971.

TIMELINE

1868 – Born in Cookstown, Ontario on March 14th. 1887 – Marries Arthur Murphy and has three daughters – Kathleen, Evelyn and Doris 1899 – Family moves to England. Emily begins to write under the pseudonym – Janey Canuck. 1901 – Moves to Swan River, Manitoba. Impressions of Janey Canuck is published. 1907 – Moves to Edmonton, Alberta and begins her social activism. 1910 – First woman appointed to the Edmonton Hospital Board. 1911 – The Dower Act of 1911 is passed and gives Alberta women property rights. 1916 – Alberta women get the vote. Becomes first female magistrate in the British Empire. 1922 – The Black Candle concerning the drug trade in Canada is published. 1927 – Enlists Nelly McClung, Henrietta Muir Edwards, Louise McKinney and Irene Parlby to support a petition to the Supreme Court of Canada to include women in the definition of “persons”. 1929 – October 18th England’s Privy Council declares Canadian women as “persons”. 1933 – Dies in her sleep on October 27th at the age of 65.

External Links

Emily Murphy – Celebrating Women’s Achievements/Women in Canadian Legislatures: http://www.collectionscanada.ca/women/002026-305-e.html Emily Murphy – Historica: Your Place in History. - http://www.histori.ca/minutes/minute.do?id=10205 Famous Five Foundation: http://www.famous5.org/ International Implications of the Persons Case – Publication – Library and Archives Canada: http://www.collectionscanada.ca/04/0431_e.html The Famous Five – Library and Archives Canada: http://www.collectionscanada.ca/05/0530/053001_e.html The Famous Five – Emily Murphy : http://www.abheritage.ca/famous5/achievements/emily_murphy.html