Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This Monday coming, March 8th, is International Women’s Day. The Canadian theme for 2010 International Women’s Day is Strong Women, Strong Canada, Strong World; an apt phrase, I think. This Territory, this country, this world has been shaped by strong women and I would like to highlight a few.
First off, as we are hard on the heels of the 2010 Winter Olympics I have to mention the very strong women athletes of Team Canada who garnered so many medals for us in our record-setting total.
Canada has had, and still has, many strong, political women. I want to mention a few:
Agnes McPhail was a pioneer on the federal political scene. The first elected woman to the House of Commons. That was in 1921, only two years after women gained the right to vote federally. She was not joined by another woman in the House of Commons until Martha Black in 1935.
Ellen Fairclough was the first woman appointed to sit in a federal Cabinet in 1957.
Jeanne Sauve was elected as the first female Speaker of the House of Commons in 1980 and then appointed as the first female Governor General in 1984.
Hazel “Hurricane” McCallion, the current long-serving female mayor of Mississauga, Ontario, first elected to her post in 1978.
The NWT has many strong women of our own:
Lena Pedersen, first woman elected to the NWT Legislature in 1970.
Nellie Cournoyea, the first woman Premier of the NWT in 1991.
Ethel Blondin-Andrew, NWT’s long-serving first female Member of Parliament.
There are many, many more strong women in our Territory who are little known and who don’t ask to be known. They are the backbone of our families and our communities. They are our grandmothers and our mothers. They are the volunteers at our schools and community events. They are the caregivers for our residents and our children, the organizers of fundraisers to help a needy family, the leaders of our councils and our boards, and the elders that we look to for advice and wisdom. We don’t acknowledge them because they go about doing normal things and they don’t ask for recognition, but without their contributions our society would be sadly lacking in strength and character.
On Monday, as you’ve heard, the NWT Status of Women Council will honour five strong women at the 2010 Wise Women Awards. I wish to extend my congratulations to Frame Lake resident Lyda Fuller, this year’s recipient of the North Slave award.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Jacobson.
