Nellie McClung was born Helen Letitia Mooney on the 20th of October, 1873, in Chatsworth, Ontario. At an early age the family moved to rural Manitoba. She started school at 10 years of age and was a teacher when she was 16. She was an early believer in equality of the sexes, and encouraged all of her students to play football and other sports. The locals were aghast, but her oratorical powers won them over.

She wrote several short stories that became very successful. Her novel, Sowing Seeds in Danny, written in 1908, brought her a small fortune. This, along with her supportive pharmacist husband, allowed the family with 5 children to move to Winnipeg, where they resided from 1911 to 1915. Here she became active in the Suffrage Movement and the Temperance Society. Nellie said that the real spirit of the Suffrage Movement was sympathy. She had seen first hand the suffering of women and children caused by neglect, overwork, poverty and alcohol abuse. Her mock Parliament presentation, where she portrayed Rodmond Roblin, helped defeat the Manitoba Premier and his Conservative government in 1915.

My Grandmother was born in Iceland, coming to Canada at age 5 in the 1880’s. As a young woman, she was strong-willed and determined to not live the life in Canada that they had left in Iceland. Many other Icelandic-Canadian women shared my Grandmother’s view, that the long era of male domination was over. My father was born in 1912, the youngest of six children. He fondly told us kids of being pulled along with his 2 year older brother in a wagon, while his mother and the other women marched down Centre Street in Gimli. They vocally supported McClung and other strong-willed Reformers who advocated for change. The large female Icelandic community in Manitoba were early supporters of the Temperance Society and the Suffrage Movement. My Grandmother had seen the devastating effect of alcohol on the Lake Winnipeg fishermen, and was determined to effect change.

On January 28, 1916, the newly elected Liberal government gave women the right to vote in Manitoba - the first Province to do so in Canada. The McClung family moved to Edmonton and Nellie continued her fight in Alberta as an orator, author and reformer and she was elected to the Alberta Legislature in 1921. The family then moved to Victoria in the late 30s, where she continued to write and advocate reform.

A Canada wide poll gave McClung the overwhelming lead to be the first woman on a Canadian bank note. However, The Bank of Canada, in their wisdom, did not even allow McClung to make the short list. Nor was anyone else from Western Canada on the list. This affront prompted many of Icelandic descent to point out that the Eastern establishment tried the same tactic, when they tried to deny that the Winnipeg Falcons Hockey club were the first team to win Olympic gold medals. Why didn’t the Bank of Canada acknowledge the will of all Canadians who voted? Democratically speaking, shouldn’t McClung be on the banknote as she got an overwhelming majority of the votes? The Premier of Manitoba, at the time, Brian Pallister, and many other Canadians have added their voices of support for this truly remarkable woman. Nellie helped a large portion of our population get the right to vote, and have their voices heard by those in power. Today we exercised our right to vote for her, but those in power have chosen not to listen. What do you think Nellie McClung would do next?

Ken Kristjanson
February 2017