Ottawa women make history

WN3
The wrap
Ottawa women make history
By Jeannine Ouellette
The month of October is Women’s History Month in Canada. Do
you know the answer to these
questions about women with Ottawa connections?
1. Did you know that the City of
Ottawa has declared Nov. 28 to
be Dr. Lotta Day in Ottawa?
What was her accomplishment?
2. How many women have sat as
Supreme Court judges in Ottawa since 1875? Who is the current Chief Justice of the Supreme Court? She is the first
woman to ever hold this position.
3. Since the Order of Canada has
first been awarded in 1967,
how many women recipients
have an Ottawa connection (i.e.,
were born in Ottawa or lived in
Ottawa at the time of their
award)?
4. Young girls did not always
have access to formal schooling
in Ottawa. What is the name of
the woman who founded the
very first school for girls in Ottawa in 1915? This school is
still in existence today.
5. What was the name of the
woman who was born in the
House of Parliament Speaker’s
Chambers in Ottawa in 1876?
She went on to become one of
the most sought after dramatic
1
2
actresses of the early 1900s,
and even had her own Shakespearean touring company.
These are a few of the fascinating women I have learned
about while doing research for
my blog entitled Women in Ottawa: Mentors and Milestones. I became interested in women as
makers of history in 2005 while I
was hosting a program on Rogers
TV which chronicled 150 years of
Bytown and Ottawa history. I was
familiar with a few famous Ottawa women such as Élizabeth
Bruyère, Charlotte Whitton and
Lady Aberdeen, but soon ran out
of women to showcase on the
program D’hier à aujourd’hui. I
met with Michel Prévost, chief archivist at the University of Ottawa, who provided a list of names,
yet indicated to me that the information on women’s contribution
to Ottawa’s history deserved
more attention. He encouraged
me to document my findings. In
2008, the information took shape
as a blog, and my incentive for
this research deepened even
more once I began corresponding with Dawn Monroe, a retired
reference librarian who spent
part of her career at the Library
of the National Archives in Ottawa. Dawn is the author and creator of the Famous Canadian
Women website. You can visit her
at www.famouscanadianwomen.
com.
By virtue of its historical role
as the capital of Canada, Ottawa
has been a land of opportunity
for many “female firsts” and other exceptional contributions from
Canadian women. My blog profiles women who were born in
Ottawa, or moved to Ottawa at
some point in their lives either to
work or to study. They all connect
in some way to Ottawa’s history
Answers:
1. Lotta Hitschmanova, a great
humanitarian who founded
USC Canada (Unitarian Service Committee) in 1945 in
Ottawa. She dedicated her life
to helping people in far-off
lands, mobilizing Canadians
from coast to coast, and putting Ottawa on the map as a
centre of Canadian concern
for the rest of the world.
2. Since 1867, a total of seven
women sat on the Supreme
Court of Canada in Ottawa including current Chief Justice
Beverley McLachlin, the first
woman to ever hold that position.
3. There were 470 awards given
to residents of the former Regional Municipality of OttawaCarleton (now Ottawa) of
which 113 are women. Each
one of these women is presented on the blog.
4. Theodora A. Philpot founded
or institutions, to our country’s
development or to Canada’s place
on the world stage. Many of them
have reached historical milestones; all are women of vision
and influence — mentors — who
leave a trail of light that captures
our imagination.
If you know of a woman who
has an Ottawa connection and
the Rockcliffe Preparatory
School in Ottawa which later
became Elmwood School. It is
an all-girls International Baccalaureate World School providing schooling to 400 students.
5. Margaret Anglin. She is the
daughter of Canadian politician Timothy Warren Anglin
who was Speaker of the
House of Parliament at the
time of her birth in 1876.
1 Lotta Hitschmanova –
Original art work by Katherine Allen. Reprinted with
permission from Dawn Monroe, www.famouscanadianwomen.com
2 Beverley McLachlin –
Original art work by Katherine Allen. Reprinted with
permission from Dawn Monroe, www.famouscanadianwomen.com
could be included in the “mentors
and milestones” blog, email me at
[email protected].
Jeannine Ouellette is an Ottawa writer. You can visit her blog
at http://womeninottawa.blogspot.com and her production
company at www.triyana.ca.
Canadian Showtime Chorus new members’ night Oct. 11
By Nancy Lambrechts
Public Relations and
Marketing Coordinator
Canadian Showtime Chorus
D
o you like singing in
groups, at church or
at other events? Do you
want to make music? Do you
want to improve your vocal skills
and be part of a great group of
women who compete internationally? If so, come out and sing
with us!
You’ll meet a warm and
friendly group of women from all
walks of life and in all different
stages of life who share the uncommon joy and wonder of sing-
ing in harmony. We don’t all have
“great” voices, but we learn to
perform in the art and technique
of singing four-part a cappella
harmonies that make the hair
stand up on the back of your
neck.
Joining Canadian Showtime
Chorus would be a great weekly
night out for you. Enjoy the company of new friends, and go home
at the end of each rehearsal with
that great feeling of satisfaction,
knowing that you’re a better
singer, artist and performer than
you were at the start of the evening. It’s not only fun to see the
transformation in our own abilities – it’s even more fun to be part
of a group learning to perform
and compete at the highest degree of excellence at the international level.
Come out and see for yourself.
Our regular weekly rehearsals
are held Tuesdays from 7:15 p.m.
to 9:30 p.m. at the Nepean Creative Arts Centre in Bells Corners,
35 Stafford Road, Ottawa. New
members’ night is Oct. 11, at 6:30
p.m. Hope to see you there.
For more information see
www.canadianshowtimechorus.
com or email: mgmt_team@
canadianshowtimechorus.com.
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