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F5 MAQUETTE alberta trailblazers TOUR

The Famous 5 Maquette is touring alberta - returning to the province where they made history, and inspiring the next generation of trailblazers!

The F5 Maquette Alberta Trailblazers Tour will introduce Albertans to these provincial heroes, and inspire the next generation of trailblazers to be leaders and nation builders! Bring others with you to learn more about the Famous 5, discuss equality issues in your community and find inspiration in the stories of these remarkable achievers!

With plans to visit 20 communities throughout Alberta, the first stop on this history-making tour is the Town of Okotoks Municipal Centre. The F5F is grateful to Mayor Tanya Thorn for bringing the Famous 5 to her community! On display until Friday, March 28, 2025. Read about the tour launch HERE.

This tour is made possible with the support of the Alberta Government, Dept. of Arts, Culture & Status of Women.

Photo: Famous 5 FoundationCoFounder Frances Wright, left, Youth Presenter Amlika Nair, centre, and Mayor Tanya Thorn, right, cut a ribbon to launch the Famous 5 Foundation’s “Women Are Persons!” exhibit at the Okotoks Municipal Centre on March 7. The exhibit will be on display until March 28. Robert Korotyszyn/WesternWheel

Next stop: High River Library, April 1 - 30, 2025

We are also looking for additional funders! Please contact us HERE.

Being with the Famous 5 Maquette will propel conversations about controversial matters – women’s leadership and our contributions to the building of Canada, racism, eugenics, immigration, politics, equal pay, etc., – and hopefully these discussions will lead to greater understanding and appreciation of our country and perhaps even to solutions. Learning more about the F5 will be an inspiring experience – as more women and girls become leaders, become nation builders – and it can be thanks to your leadership and generosity!

The F5 Maquette is a miniature of the F5F’s Women are Persons! Monuments in Olympic Plaza in Calgary and in front of the Senate of Canada in Ottawa. They were designed by Barbara Paterson and created by Bronzart Foundry. The maquette bronzes stand approximately 18” high on an oak table (6 ft. long x 4.5 ft. wide and 3.5 ft high) and toured provincial and federal legislatures from 1998 and 2002. 

The Maquette Tour

Two pop-up banners briefly explain (in both English and French) the achievements of the F5 and raise questions about some of the F5 beliefs and perhaps some of ours which don’t/won’t withstand the test of time.

Collectively, Canada’s democratic champions’ major achievements include securing the rights for most Canadian women to vote, to run for elected office and to serve as Senators, the latter occurring because the word ‘persons’ was revised to include both women and men throughout the British Empire.

Individually they are also responsible for provincial and federal legislation including the Dower Rights, Mothers Allowances, Minimum Wage for Women Workers, etc., as well as the establishment of libraries, distance education and travelling medical clinics.

However,  like most Canadians 100+ years ago, the F5 believed and advocated for ideas that more information and experience have caused us to discard. They didn’t know then what we know now and hopefully, if they did, their views would be different. Paraphrasing our new Governor General, we have an opportunity to be ‘the bridge between the tensions of the past and the promise of the future’.

Clearly, there is much we can learn from the F5 which will benefit us as we assess what has happened and how we want Canada to flourish!

• December 10, 2024 – January 31, 2025: The F5 are now spending time at the Bata Library at Trent University, Peterborough, ON. This visit to Trent U is co-sponsored by the First Peoples’ House of Learning. Visit the maquette during library hours and watch for event details in the new year!

• March 1 – May, 2024: The City of Westmount, QC welcomed the Famous 5 to its City Hall! Thanks to Mayor Christina Smith for hosting the F5 and organizing a Pink Tea for International Women’s Day on May 8th with the maquette front and centre. A special invitation was extended to school groups to visit May 9 & 10.

• October 1 – February 16, 2024: Mount Saint Vincent University welcomed the Famous 5 Maquette National Leadership Tour to their campus - the only Nova Scotia host on this portion of the tour. On October 11 from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., a Pink Tea was held on October 11 with speeches by Dr. Joël Dickinson, President and Vice-Chancellor, MSVU, Hon. Twila Grosse, MLA – Preston, and Minister of African Nova Scotian Affairs and the Public Service Commission, and Frances Wright, CEO & Co-Founder, Famous 5 Foundation.

• July 1 - September 31, 2023: Culture Summerside welcomed the F5 to the Lefurgey Cultural Centre in Summerside, PEI. Our CEO and Co-Founder, Frances Wright presented at a July 19th reception, hosted by Lt. Governor Antoinette Perry. Three of PEI’s Famous Five attended – former Premier & Senator, Catherine Callbeck; Pat Mella, former Minister of Finance & Leader of the Official Opposition; and Libbe Hubley, former Deputy Speaker & Senator. Our thanks to Lori Ellis & Marlene Campbell of Culture Summerside.

More details to follow as the F5 visit Quebec, Toronto, Manitoba and then back west and north.

Looking for female funders!

We are also working to secure another female funder this year for the F5 Maquette National Leadership Tour - total budget: $200,000 or $40,000 each over three years ($13,333.33 each year).

We are very grateful that four female leaders have stepped forward – Lisa Poole, Clarice Siebens, Nancy Ruth and Kris Matthews.  Thank you, F5 protégé!

Please contact Frances Wright at admin@famous5.ca if you are able to be a funder or have suggestions! Thank you! Merci! Miigwetch!

VIRTUAL PINK TEAS

When the Famous 5 were campaigning for women to have the right to vote and run for elected office, their suffrage meetings were often disrupted by their opponents. Women traditionally held teas for the birth of children, when someone left the community or other reasons. Men didn’t attend these teas so suffragists started calling their political meetings Pink Teas and very few opponents attended.

We proudly continue the history and tradition of Pink Teas today, and have moved the conversation online! Typically held the first Friday of the month, these virtual events feature inspiring female leaders, profiling challenging issues and opportunities. These modern Pink Teas are accessible to all, with a goal of helping today’s and tomorrow’s female leaders: “To feel equal to high and splendid braveries!”

Register for one - or all - and hear inspiring female leaders, challenging topics, and lively conversation. Engage in the chat and Q&A in our online Famous 5 Pink Tea Conversation setting.

2024 Seasons Passes now available! Click here to purchase a seasons pass and save!