10/19/2026
People for people, everywhere!
We owe something to the Famous Five: Emily Murphy, Henrietta Muir Edwards, Nellie McClung, Louise McKinney and Irene Parlby, whose determination helped change Canadian history.
But we can celebrate their achievements without putting them on pedestals.
Several of the Famous Five supported eugenics, a deeply harmful ideology used to justify controlling who could have children. Some also held racist and elitist beliefs. These ideas contributed to policies that violated the rights and dignity of people who were already marginalized.
Their story reminds us that women’s rights and equality have never been a simple, universally shared struggle. Some women fought to open doors while failing to recognize—or actively supporting the exclusion of—others.
That doesn't erase what The Famous Five achieved. But neither should their achievements erase the harm they supported.
For me, feminism must mean more than getting women into positions of power. It must also mean asking who is still excluded, whose rights are being denied, and whose freedom we are willing to fight for. None of us are free until all of us are free. The work doesn't end here.
Rights are not inevitable. Someone questions the rules. Someone refuses to stay silent. Someone changes the story.
Let’s honour progress, tell the whole truth, stay curious, keep questioning, keep learning and growing together, and keep working toward a world of equality and dignity FOR ALL ❤️
