First
Ladies of Canada
© 2012 Jeannine Ouellette
There is a select group of women in Canada, who although they are
rarely the focus of books or articles, have played a key role in our Canadian
history and sense of identity. They are the Prime Ministers’ Wives.
Since 1867, Canada has had 22 different prime ministers. Among
those 22, three of them married twice, two of them never married, one was a
widower at the time he was elected prime minister and one prime minister was a
woman, bringing the total number of Canadian Prime Ministers’ Wives to 21.
Like other women all over the country, the Prime Ministers’ Wives
have experienced their share of life ordeals, some having to leave their native
home to set up family life in a new country, others grieving the loss of their
newborn children, some surviving widowhood, others breaking new ground through
commitment to change and dedication to a better life for all. During their
husband’s mandate(s), many of these women participated in social and philanthropic
work, and thus helped to shape a compassionate vision of a caring Canada.
October is Women’s History Month
in Canada. Do you know the answers to these questions about the Prime
Ministers’ Wives?
1. Which PM’s wife spent her first transcontinental voyage of
the Canadian railroad on a platform built for her on the cowcatcher of the
train (with her chair nailed down for safety) so she could see the “land united
by the train”? Clue: There is a trailhead named after her at Lake Louise in
Alberta. The trail leads to a lake that bears her name.
2. The oldest PM’s wife lived to be 102 years of age. Who is
she? Clue: She was born in Granby, Québec in 1883 and died in Toronto, Ontario
in 1985. She is interred next to her husband in the town of St.Marys, Ontario.
3. Which PM’S wife was a relative of Canadian hero Dr. Norman
Bethune, a physician and medical innovator who is credited with developing the
first mobile blood transfusion in Spain in 1936? Clue: Her husband was the
first Canadian-born prime minister.
4. This PM’s wife was honorary vice-president of the Victorian
Order of Nurses, served as one of the vice-presidents of the National Council
of Women of Canada in 1893, and was also a piano teacher. Clue: A lounge in the
Château Laurier in Ottawa was named in her honour.
5. Which PM’s wife was given “unprecedented eulogies for a non-MP”
in the House of Commons for having devoted her energies to the advancement of
her husband’s political career? She edited his speeches, was a constant
presence in the visitor’s gallery and would also visit towns before her husband,
so that he was prepared with information on the inhabitants. Clue: She was born
in Manitoba and worked as a schoolteacher in Saskatchewan in the late 1920s.
6. One of the PM’s wives is the granddaughter of one of the founders
of Amherst, Nova Scotia. Who is she? Clue: Two of her sons had career in
politics (one son was a member of parliament, the other was a lieutenant
governor).
7. This PM’s wife was quoted as saying: “Behind every successful
man, there stands a surprised woman”. Can you guess who she is? Clue: At her
request, it is reported that the practice of curtseying to the Governor General
was discontinued.
8. Only one PM’s wife studied English literature at Simon
Fraser University and went on to author three books on her life. Who is she?
Clue: Her father was Minister of Fisheries and Oceans from 1952 to 1957.
9. This PM’s wife was the first and only spouse of a former
Canadian Prime Minister to have run for political office. Do you know who she
is? Clue: She was the first Canadian to be awarded an MA in Biotechnology, Law
and Ethics from the Department of Law at the University of Sheffield in 2004.
10. One of the PM’s wives was the great-niece of John McCrae,
author of the poem In Flanders Fields. Which one is she? Clue: She studied at
Harvard Business School and is a past employee of IBM.
Answers:
- Agnes Bernard, John A. Macdonald’s second wife, Canada’s first PM.
- Isabel Cox, Arthur Meighen’s wife, Canada’s ninth PM.
- Mary Bethune, John Abbott’s wife, Canada’s third PM.
- Zoé Lafontaine, Wilfrid Laurier’s wife, Canada’s seventh PM.
- Edna May Brower, John Diefenbaker’s first wife, Canada’s thirteenth PM.
- Frances Amélia Morse, Charles Tupper’s wife, Canada’s sixth PM.
- Maryon Elspeth Moody, Lester B. Pearson’s wife, Canada’s fourteenth PM.
- Margaret Joan Sinclair, Pierre E. Trudeau’s wife, Canada’s fifteenth PM.
- Maureen McTeer, Joe Clark’s wife, Canada’s sixteenth PM.
- Geills McCrae Kilgour, John Turner’s wife, Canada’s seventeenth PM.
Sources:
http://www.parl.gc.ca
http://en.widipedia.org
www.canada.com
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