Episode 6 - Controversial Women, Part 2: Nellie McClung

The Irish in Canada Podcast

Nellie McClung was a provocative woman, stirring up controversies and column inches in her own lifetime and in all the years since she died. Arguably Canada’s most famous first-wave feminist, her efforts guaranteed that Manitoba’s women won the provincial vote in 1916, a first in Canada. She was also one of The Famous Five, the group of activists who won the right for Canadian women to be considered as legal ‘persons’ under the law. On the other hand, Nellie is also the first woman we’ve featured on this podcast to have been literally burned in effigy—and many of her opinions from the 1910s and 1920s are roundly criticized today. Controversial? Chances are, Nellie ‘Shanty Irish’ McClung wouldn’t have had it any other way.