A Woman's Place: History Unfinished
There are many great women whose campaigns, achievements and contributions have led to substantial change in Canadian history. Their stories need repeating!
The Women's History Project wants to illuminate those stories of past changemakers in a modern way, capturing the hearts of those new to history and the equality movement and honouring the women who came before us.
If you would like to sponsor one or more of our events, please contact us. We have sponsorship packages available.
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As part of the International Women’s Day celebrations, and since its launch in 2021, The Women’s History Project hosted its fourth webinar, Women’s Health: Sexual Health & Reproductive Justice, on Thursday, March 2, 2023, 4:00pm to 6:00pm.
The subjects of motherhood, sexual health, and reproductive justice are vast and complex. We covered some of the historical highlights relating to birth control, abortion rights, and reproductive technologies. Anti-choice rhetoric, the connection between sexual and mental health, intersectional and ethical issues around access, sterilization, sexual identity, and social class are still relevant today. We would like to consider the relevance of these hot topics and highlight the work that still needs to be done.
With Speakers
Donna Cherniak, MD is a physician specializing in family medicine. She is actively practising in the Sherbrooke area. She is co-author of the Birth Control Handbook, 1968, an initiative of the McGill Students Society, A Book about Birth Control, 1979, STD Handbook, 1997, and the Menopause Handbook, 1997.
Karin Wells is a CBC Radio documentary maker and a three-time recipient of the Canadian Association of Journalists documentary award. Wells is also a lawyer and in 2011 was inducted into the University of Ottawa’s Common Law Honour Society. Author of The Abortion Caravan, 2020 and More Than A Footnote: Canadian Women You Should Know, 2022.
Maureen McTeer, is a lawyer specializing in health law, an author of five books and a well-known women’s rights advocate. Her fifth and current book, FERTILITY: 40 Years of Change, (Irwin Law, 2022) covers the major issues of infertility, assisted human reproductive technologies, genetics and embryo research. Photo credit Valberg Imaging, Inc.
Jennifer Brant (She/Her) Kanien’kehá:ka, is a mother-scholar and assistant professor at the University of Toronto. Jennifer writes and teaches about Indigenous maternal pedagogies, reproductive justice for Indigenous women, and Indigenous women's literature. Jennifer is the co-editor, of Forever Loved: Exposing the Hidden Crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls in Canada and her work on Indigenous maternal pedagogies is featured in several Demeter Press collections. Jennifer positions Indigenous literature as educational tools to foster sociopolitical action and calls for immediate responses to racialized, sexualized, and gender-based violence.
Sponsors
We are delighted that the Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women (CRIAW) is our financial partner and continues to support our work.
The University of Ottawa Library’s Archives and Special Collections (ARCS) is a specialized unit with a mission to acquire, preserve and provide access to archival records, rare books and periodicals, and other special collections that support the teaching and research needs of the University of Ottawa community as well as the public. ARCS is home to the Women’s Archives, a collection of over 150 archival fonds which document that history of women and the feminist movement in Canada since the 1960s. ARCS is currently focused on a 5-year project to increase the visibility of the women’s archives and the documented history of women in Canada. For more information about this initiative please visit
Rise Up! is a digital archive of feminist activism in Canada from the 1970s to the 1990s. Our mission is to preserve original materials representing the radical grassroots history of the period and to make them accessible online to new generations of activists, students, and researchers. We particularly strive to make visible the contributions of those who are too often unacknowledged in mainstream narratives, in particular the role of Black, Indigenous, and Women of Colour, disabled women, immigrant women, and LGBTQ2S+ persons.
Events hosted by The Women's History Project are free. However, donations would be most welcome.
Click here for more information on how you can support us and receive tax receipts.
Your continued support will ensure that we can continue with our annual program.
October 27, 2022
In the third online event in our History Unfinished series, A Woman's Place in the Media, panelists explored the milestones and groundbreaking moments we should remember. Are women’s voices truly heard through the media? What are the barriers that still need to come down and what new opportunities have opened up? How have opportunities for women in the media evolved? What was it like starting out? What are the barriers that still need to come down? What new opportunities have opened up?
Moderated by:
Germaine Chazou-Essindi, was recently appointed the first Director of Diversity and Inclusion for the National Arts Centre. Prior to joining the National Arts Centre, Germaine was the Director of NationalPolicy, Programs and Partnerships at the Department of Women and Gender Equality Canada (WAGE), responsible for more than150 complex national projects involving diverse communities, including Indigenous women, Black women and women of colour (IBPOC), the LGBTQ2A+ community, as well as other vulnerable groups (e.g. women with disabilities). She is an accomplished leader, bringing over 15 years of experience managing grant and contribution programs within the federal government.
Speakers:
Monika Ille is a member of the Abenaki First Nation of Odanak. She has built a rich and diverse portfolio over the course of 30 years in the broadcasting industry. She entered the industry by working for the Société Radio-Canada and then, for the National Film Board (NFB). During her time at the NFB, she was instrumental in the development of a new training program for Indigenous filmmakers. This experience introduced her to the world of film production, eventually inspiring her to film her first documentary, French Man, Native Son. She has also worked with Quebec Native Women in Montréal and the Assembly of First Nations in Ottawa. Monika brought her strong creative vision to APTN in 2003 taking on different programming roles until her appointment as chief executive officer in December, 2019.
Trina McQueen, O.C., is a media executive who began her career in television as host of the first season of CTV's W-5. She later moved to CBC, where she rose to Vice-President of the news; the first woman in North America to lead a network news department. She left CBC to launch the Discovery Channel, and later moved to CTV as vice-president and COO of the network. She has served on numerous Boards of Directors including CBC, Telefilm, the Canadian Television Fund, the Canadian Opera Company and the Banff Centre for Creativity. Today, she teaches at the Schulich School of Business at York University, where she is Director of Curriculum Development for the Arts, Media and Entertainment program.
Angela Antle (St. John's), has been a CBC host and producer for over 25 years. She was one of the founding producers and a guest host for Canada's premier culture program "Q". Antle is also a multi-platform producer who has worked on documentaries and digital strategies.
Sponsors
Reclaiming Our Place
Honouring Indigenous Women Leaders
Reclaiming Our Place - Monday, June 20, 2022
The Women’s History Project together with the Canadian Research Institute on the Advancement of Women (CRIAW) is staging its second online event in its History Unfinished series, Reclaiming Our Place, a virtual Indigenous Women’s Circle to honour Indigenous women activists, Indigenous women chiefs and storytellers. Speakers highlighted their personal journeys as part of this National Aboriginal Day special.
Moderated by
Dr. Dawn Lavell-Harvard, Director, First Peoples House of Learning, Trent University
Speakers
Courtney Montour, Kanien’keha:ka (Mohawk) filmmaker, ‘Mary Two Axe Earley: I am Indian Again’
The Hon. Lillian Dyck, O.C., retired Senator, member of the Cree Gordon First Nation
Jeanette Corbiere Lavell, Wikwemiknog First Nation, educator, advocate and founding member of the Ontario Native Women’s Association (ONWA)
Pam Palmater, Mi'kmaq lawyer, professor, activist
Sharon McIvor, Member of the Lower Nicola Band, Aboriginal women’s rights activist, Co-Chair of the Feminist Alliance for International Action
There are many great women whose campaigns, achievements and contributions have led to substantial change in Canadian history. Their stories need repeating!
The Women's History Project wants to illuminate those stories of past changemakers in a modern way, capturing the hearts of those new to history and the equality movement and honouring the women who came before us.
If you would like to sponsor one or more of our events, please contact us. We have sponsorship packages available.
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Women and the Law: Celebrating the
Charter of Rights and Freedoms at 40!
Sponsors
A Woman's Place in Law - Thursday, April 14, 2022
Framing the launch of History Unfinished, this event made references to women’s suffrage, the Persons Case, and explored Section15 and Section 28 in the Charter of Rights and the Constitution Act of 1982. Topics included landmark cases that were made possible by the Court Challenges Program and led by the Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF). Sponsored by the National Association of Women and the Lawn (NAWL) and the Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women.
Guest speakers:
The Hon. Judy Erola, former Minister responsible for the Status of Women, 1980-1984 –
Judy Erola is a former Canadian politician who represented the riding of Nickel Belt in the House of Commons of Canada from 1980 to 1984. In September 1981, Erola was given the position of Minister responsible for the Status of Women alongside her existing duties as Minister of Mines. She was the first woman to be named to that position, which had previously been held by Lloyd Axworthy.
In this role, she fought to protect Section Twenty-eight of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, a section of the then-proposed Constitution Act, 1982 which guaranteed the gender equality rights of men and women, against attempts by some provinces to quash the provision. She also supported efforts to improve maternity leave pay for women, attempts to toughen federal laws against domestic violence, reforms to the Indian Act which would improve the rights of indigenous women marrying non-indigenous men, reforms to the organizational structure of the National Action Committee on the Status of Women, and stricter policies against the use of gender stereotypes in government communications.
Mary Eberts, Constitutional Lawyer
Mary Eberts is a trailblazing lawyer and human rights advocate. She has strengthened equality rights of women and girls under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms through her work with the Canadian Advisory Council on the Status of Women, and as the co-founder of the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund. She was a key figure in the development and regulation of midwifery in Ontario and has served as litigation counsel—often pro bono—to the Native Women’s Association of Canada for more than 25 years.
Kerri A. Froc, Lawyer, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, University of New Brunswick and Chair, National Association of Women and the Law.
Kerri Froc is writing a book tentatively titled, “The Gendered Constitution.” It concerns gender equality in Canadian constitutional law. Before completing her Ph.D., Dr. Froc spent 18 years as a lawyer, including 10 years working as a staff lawyer for the Canadian Bar Association (CBA). While at the CBA, she worked on issues concerning diversity and inclusion in the legal profession and successfully lobbied for governmental benefits to be paid for the self-employed during parental leave. She is a Board member of the New Brunswick Coalition for Pay Equity, as well as a member of the Saskatchewan (1997) and New Brunswick (2020) bars.