Glossary
ALIMONY
An allowance paid under a court order by one spouse to another, as a result of separation—and later—divorce.
ANENT
Concerning.
AT–HOMES
Before computers, Sony PlayStations, TVs, and telephones were invented, people had to entertain themselves in other ways. For women, one of these ways was to have an “AT-Home.” Women would go to each other’s homes to drink tea and talk about things going on in their towns or the world. These “AT-Home” parties took place once a month or on weekends. Some women went to three or four “AT-Homes” in a single afternoon.
BRITISH NORTH AMERICA ACT
The governing body of legal principles in Canada from 1867 to 1982.
CAVEAT
A formal notice requesting the court or officer to refrain from taking some specified action without giving prior notice to the person lodging the caveat.
CITIZENS
A citizen is an individual allowed to become an official member of a country. This is like joining a club, a very big club! If you are born in Canada, you are a Canadian citizen. If you are coming to live in Canada from another country, you have to pass a test to become a Canadian citizen.
COMITY OF INTERESTS
Mutual civility; Friendly recognition of the rights and interest of the other.
EUGENICS
Literally means "good birth" in Greek. A movement prevalent in Western Canada and elsewhere during the early 20th century to prevent the reproduction of children by persons deemed to have mental deficiencies.
FAMOUS Five
Emily Murphy, Henrietta Muir Edwards, Louise McKinney, Irene Parlby and Nellie McClung got the Canadian government to see women as “persons” under the law in 1929. They also worked in their own ways to better women’s lives in Alberta, across Canada and the world. Together, these Alberta women became known as the Famous Five.
FEMINISM
Feminism is the idea that women are equals with men and deserve the same rights. Feminists are people (male or female) that support this idea. As a movement it caused major changes in society during the late 1800s and early 1900s. In the past, most people thought women were not supposed to work outside the home. Instead, they were supposed to cook, clean and look after children. Feminism changed all that. Now women can, and do, work in almost all the same jobs as men.
HOMESTEAD
A farmhouse, all the other buildings on the land, and the land itself. The person who lives there and owns it is called a homesteader.
IDEOLOGY
A body of ideas that reflects the beliefs and interests of a group, society, nation, political system, etc., and underlies political action.
JUDICIAL COMMITTEE OF THE PRIVY COUNCIL
Based in Britain, the court of final appeal for Canada from 1844 to 1931 for criminal case rulings and to 1949 for appeals in civil cases.
JUVENILE DELINQUENT
A child or young person guilty of some offence, act of vandalism, or antisocial behaviour or whose conduct is beyond parental control and who may be brought before a juvenile court.
"PERSONS" CASE
In 1927, Emily Murphy, Henrietta Muir Edwards, Louise McKinney, Irene Parlby and Nellie McClung (known together as the Famous Five) persuaded Prime Minister MacKenzie King to ask the Canadian Supreme Court to clearly define the word “persons” under the British North America Act of 1867. At this time women were not considered to be “persons” under the constitution. When the Canadian court rejected their argument on April 24, 1928, the Famous Five asked the Government of Canada to appeal to the Judicial Committee of the British Privy Council. The Famous Five won, and on October 18, 1929, Canadian women were legally declared “persons.” Their fight to gain this recognition for women became known as the "Persons" Case.
PROHIBITION
When you are told that you can’t do something, you are being prohibited. Prohibition is the banning of making, moving, selling and drinking alcoholic beverages. On July 1, 1916, the drinking of alcohol for beverage purposes was outlawed in the province of Alberta. Prohibition in Alberta finally ended in 1923 when the United Farmers of Alberta government took over control of the sale of alcohol.
QUARTER SECTION
If you have driven through Alberta you would have noticed that all the farmland is divided up into sections. These are called quarter sections. Sometimes pieces of land are smaller or larger, but the quarter section is the most popular unit of area for farmland. A quarter section measures 160 acres.
SOCIAL GOSPEL
‘Social Gospel’ was a set of ideas that existed in Canada from the 1890s to the 1930s. People believed that God was at work changing society and creating order. The idea was that if we used the lessons God taught us in the Bible, that all the problems of society would be fixed. The prohibition and female suffrage campaigns were based on this philosophy.
STERILIZATION
Any medical procedure that disables a person's ability to reproduce.
SUFFRAGE
The right for a group of people, such as adult female citizens, to vote in public elections. Before 1916, only British male subjects who owned land could vote. Alberta became the second Canadian province, after Manitoba, to give women the vote in provincial elections.
TEMPERANCE
Temperance is related but different from Prohibition, which means legally you can’t drink alcohol. Temperance involves the personal decision to drink alcohol in moderation (once in a while a little bit is ok), if at all, and to not do any other drugs that alter the mind and body. The Women’s Christian Temperance Union was a group in Alberta that tried to educate the public about what they regarded as the evils of drinking and drug taking.