Person’s Day celebration hosted by Beaches-East York MPP McMahon set for this Saturday at Judy’s Beach Cafe

Nearly 100 years after the landmark Persons Case, Beaches-East York Member of Provincial Parliament Mary-Margaret McMahon will be celebrating the women who changed Canadian history over a cup of tea this Saturday afternoon.

She introduced the bill at Queen’s Park to recognize Oct. 18 as Persons Day each year in 2024.

And to mark the occasion, local residents are welcome to join her at Judy’s Beach Café, 2188 Queen St. E., on Saturday, Oct. 17, from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., to celebrate.

The Persons Case established the right of women to be appointed to Canada’s Senate in Ottawa.

The case was initiated by a group of female activists called the Famous Five: Nellie McClung, Henrietta Muir Edwards, Irene Parlby, Louise McKinney, and Emily Murphy.

In the British North America Act of 1867, now known as the Constitution Act, it is stated that to be a “qualified person,” one had to be 30 years of age and own property in their province. The Act did not specify whether “persons” included women or not. Canada at that time had decided it meant only men.

Murphy, Canada’s first female judge, invited the rest of the women to her home in Edmonton in 1927, and they petitioned the Supreme Court to consider whether “persons” included women.

In 1928, the court ruled unanimously that they were not, and therefore weren’t eligible for appointment to the Canadian Senate.

The Supreme Court has been the highest in Canada since 1949, but before that there was one higher authority that the Famous Five could appeal to: the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London, England.

This was the body that declared that Canadian women were indeed “persons” on Oct. 18, 1929.

After the provincial bill was passed, McMahon has held a Pink Tea to celebrate Persons Day every October.