Hon. Joyce Fairbairn:

Honourable senators, I rise today to support the motion of Senator Cochrane to recognize posthumously the "Famous Five" women — Emily Murphy, Nellie McClung, Irene Parlby, Louise McKinney and Henrietta Muir Edwards — as honorary senators.

It is with great enthusiasm that I continue the lively discussion in this chamber on the long-time memory of the Famous Five Alberta women, who fought through the 1920s to have a fair chance to be chosen to enter the Senate of Canada, which, in those days, was open only to men.

In many ways, the Canadian women were left aside against a series of stubborn laws that shut the door to many who were having enormous difficulties to even vote in elections or run as candidates, let alone be offered a place in the Senate.

In 1929, with great vigour, the Famous Five managed to push aside the curtains in Ottawa and force the ear of the Prime Minister of the day. Their stubborn capacity led to an opportunity in London, England, to force a change in the Senate of Canada to welcome women from every corner of this country who have been chosen as a member of the upper chamber.

None of the Famous Five had the benefit of that opportunity, but their first female senator, Cairine Wilson, started a pathway for the rest of us and we can nod to her figure as we step into the Senate Chamber every day.

I want to thank Senator Cochrane for asking us to help push that door even further, and respond to a request from the Famous Five Foundation in Calgary, Alberta, asking the Senate to make those Famous Five women honorary senators in Canadian history.

This is an extraordinary suggestion, as the history it represents is already on a little hill underneath the glorious trees just beyond the Senate building on Parliament Hill. In larger-than-life-sized bronze statues, the Famous Five women are there every day forever, sitting on chairs, or standing to speak, or reading a book and drinking some tea. There is hardly a moment when a child or an adult is not sitting on those chairs or on one of the bronze laps trying to read the story written in bronze or taking pictures of these outstanding women.

When I grew up in Lethbridge, Alberta, the story of these women was there for me to read. Even a child had to know how outstanding they were. When I came to Parliament Hill in the 1960s, as a young "female newsman," as I was called, I met a very interesting and highly entertaining fellow named Mark McClung. He was a former journalist who had worked in naval intelligence during the Second World War, and continued to work in the public service in the shadows of the Cold War. He was a great talker. All that was fascinating, but just as interesting for me was that his mother's name was Nellie — Nellie McClung.

It struck me at once that without the historic leadership of Nellie McClung, Emily Murphy, Louise McKinney, Henrietta Muir Edwards and Irene Parlby back in those early learning years, I could not be sitting in the Senate of Canada along with so many bright and interesting colleagues and friends.

Today I remember and I remain connected with the group of women in Calgary and around the country who keep alive the legacy of the Famous Five. A remarkable person named Francis Wright is deeply committed to the Calgary foundation. The current Leader of the Government and I worked day and night to make sure that the Senate would support the creation of our extraordinary lifelong "persons" bronzes, on the Hill, not any place else. It was a very difficult day or two, and the Leader of the Government and I were on the phone non-stop holding hands and just almost in prayer that something was not going to go awry. At any rate, it worked. Frances Wright remained in our gallery all of that time hoping for the best. I will be seeing those friends in Calgary very soon. I hope that we will have a positive response for the future as was given to us here in the Senate by our friend, and we thank you for it.

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