Emily Murphy
Encyclopedia
Emily Murphy was a Canadian
women's rights
activist, jurist, and author. In 1916, she became the first woman magistrate
in Canada, and in the British Empire
. She is best known for her contributions to Canadian feminism, specifically to the question of whether women were "persons" under Canadian law.
In 1927, Murphy and four other women: Henrietta Muir Edwards, Nellie McClung
, Louise McKinney
and Irene Parlby
, who together came to be known as "The Famous Five
" (also called "The Valiant Five"), launched the "Persons Case
," contending that women could be "qualified persons" eligible to sit in the Senate. The Supreme Court of Canada
ruled that they were not. However, upon appeal to the Judicial Committee of the British Privy Council
, the court of last resort for Canada at that time, the women won their case.
who was a politician that founded a local branch of the Orange Order in 1830 and two uncles who were a Supreme Court justice and a Senator, respectively. Her brother also became a lawyer and another member of the Supreme Court. Her family were prominent members of society and she benefited from parents who supported their daughter receiving formal academic education. She is as well related to James Robert Gowan
, who was a lawyer, judge, and senator. Murphy attended Bishop Strachan School
, an exclusive Anglican private school for girls in Toronto and, through a friend, she met her future husband Arthur Murphy who was 11 years her senior. In 1887, they were married and had four daughters Madeleine, Evelyn, Doris and Kathleen. Doris died young of diphtheria
. After Doris’ death, the family decided to try a new setting and moved west to Swan River, Manitoba
in 1903 and then to Edmonton, Alberta in 1907.
While Arthur was working as an Anglican priest, Murphy explored her new surroundings and became increasingly aware of the poverty that existed. At the age of 40, when her children became independent and began their separate lives, Murphy began to actively organize women’s groups where the isolated housewives could meet and discuss ideas and plan group projects. In addition to these organizations, Murphy began to speak openly and frankly about the disadvantaged and the poor living conditions that surrounded their society. Her strong interest in the rights and protection of women and children intensified when she was made aware of an unjust experience of an Albertan woman whose husband sold the family farm; the husband then abandoned his wife and children who were left homeless and penniless. At that time, property laws did not leave the wife with any legal recourse
. This case motivated Murphy to create a campaign that assured the property rights of married women. With the support of many rural women, Murphy began to pressure the Alberta government to allow women to retain the rights of their land. In 1916, Murphy successfully persuaded the Alberta legislature to pass the Dower Act that would allow a woman legal rights to one third of her husband’s property. Murphy’s reputation as a women’s rights activist was established by this first political victory.
Murphy’s success in the fight for the Dower Act, along with her work through the Local Council of Women and her increasing awareness of women’s rights, influenced her request for a female magistrate in the women’s court. In 1916, Murphy, along with a group of women, attempted to observe a trial for women who were labelled prostitutes and were arrested for “questionable” circumstances. The women were asked to leave the courtroom on the claims that the statement was not “fit for mixed company”. This outcome was unacceptable to Murphy and she protested to the provincial Attorney General. "If the evidence is not fit to be heard in mixed company," she argued, "then the government must set up a special court presided over by women, to try other women.” Murphy’s request was approved and she became the first woman police magistrate for the British Empire
. Her appointment as judge, however, became the cause for her greatest adversity concerning women within the law. In her first case in Alberta on 1 July 1916, she found the prisoner guilty. The prisoner's attorney called into question her right to pass sentence, since she was not legally a person. The Provincial Supreme Court denied the appeal.
In 1917, she headed the battle to have women declared as “persons” in Canada, and, consequently, qualified to serve in the Senate. Lawyer, Eardley Jackson, challenged her position as judge because women were not considered “persons” under the British North America Act 1867. This understanding was based on a British Common Law ruling of 1876, which stated, "women were eligible for pains and penalties, but not rights and privileges."
Murphy began to work on a plan to ask for clarification of how women were regarded in the BNA act and how they were to become Senators. In order for her question to be considered, she needed at least five citizens to submit the question as a group. She enlisted the help of four other Albertan women and on 27 August 1927 she and human rights activist Nellie McClung
, ex MLA Louise McKinney
, women’s rights campaigners Henrietta Edwards
and Irene Parlby
signed the petition to the federal Cabinet, asking that the federal government refer the issue
to the Supreme Court of Canada
. The women's petition set out two questions, but the federal government re-framed it as one question, asking the Supreme Court: "Does the word 'person' in Section 24 of the British North America Act include female persons?" The campaign became known as The Persons Case and reached the Supreme Court of Canada
on March 1928. The Court held that women were not qualified to sit in the Senate. The five women then appealed to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
in Britain. On 18 October 1929, in a decision called Edwards v. Canada (Attorney General)
, the Privy Council declared that women were considered as “persons” under the BNA Act and were eligible to serve in the Senate.
The women were known as the Famous Five and were considered leaders in education for social reform and women’s rights. They challenged convention and established an important precedent in Canadian history. In Canada’s Senate Chamber, the five women are honoured with a plaque that reads, “To further the cause of womankind these five outstanding pioneer women caused steps to be taken resulting in the recognition by the Privy Council of women as persons eligible for appointment to the Senate of Canada." Murphy, along with the rest of the Famous Five are featured on the back of the new Canadian 50 dollar bill. In October 2009, the Senate voted to name Murphy and the rest of the Five Canada's first "honorary senators."
Although Murphy’s views on race changed over the course of her life, the perspective contained in her book, the Black Candle, is considered the most consequential because it played a role in creating a widespread “war on drugs mentality” leading to legislation that “defined addiction as a law enforcement problem.” A series of articles in Maclean's
magazine under her pen name, “Janey Canuck,” forms the basis of the Black Candle. Using extensive anecdotes and “expert” opinion, the Black Candle depicts an alarming picture of drug abuse
in Canada, detailing Murphy’s understanding of the use and effects of opium
, cocaine
, and pharmaceuticals, as well as a “new menace,” “marihuana
.” Murphy’s concern with drugs began when she started coming into “disproportionate contact with Chinese people” in her courtroom because they were over represented in the criminal justice system. In addition to professional expertise and her own observations, Murphy was also given a tour of opium den
s in Vancouver’s Chinatown
by local police detectives
. Vancouver at the time was in the midst of a moral panic
over drugs that was part of the anti-Oriental campaign that precipitated the Chinese Immigration Act of 1923. Canadian drug historian Catherine Carstairs has argued that Murphy’s importance regarding drug policy has been “overstated” because she did not have an impact on the drug panic in Vancouver, but that nevertheless “her articles did mark a turning point and her book … brought the Vancouver drug panic to a larger Canadian audience.”
Race permeates the Black Candle, and is intricately entwined with the drug trade and addiction in Murphy’s analysis. Yet she is ambiguous in her treatment of non-whites. In one passage, for example, she chastises whites who use the Chinese as “scapegoats,” while elsewhere, she refers to the Chinese man as a “visitor” in this country, and that “it might be wise to put him out” if it turns out that this visitor carries “poisoned lollipops in his pocket and feeds them to our children.” Drug addiction, however, not the Chinese immigrant, is “a scourge so dreadful in its effects that it threatens the very foundations of civilization,” and which laws therefore need to target for eradication. Drugs victimize everyone, and members of all races perpetrate the drug trade, according to Murphy. At the same time, she does not depart from the dominant view of middle class whites at the time that “races” were discrete, biologically determined categories, naturally ranked in a hierarchy. In this scheme, the white race was facing degradation through miscegenation, while the more prolific “black and yellow races may yet obtain the ascendancy” and thus threatened to “wrest the leadership of the world from the British.”
Murphy’s ambiguity regarding non-whites is reflected in scholarly debates, but what is not controversial is that the Black Candle was written “for the express purpose of arousing public demands for stricter drug legislation” and that in this she was to some degree successful. This motivation may have influenced her racial analysis by playing to the popular prejudices of her white audiences. On the other hand, she may have deliberately tried to distance herself from those prejudices, especially the ones propagated by the more vulgar and hysterical Asian exclusionists in BC
in order to maximize her own credibility and sway her more moderate readers.
, theorized that the only reason for war was that nations needed to fight for land to accommodate their growing populations. Her argument was that: if there was population control, people would not need as much land. Without the constant need for more land, war would cease to exist. Her solution to these social issues was eugenics
. Selective breeding was considered a progressive scientific and social approach and Murphy supported the compulsory sterilization of those individuals who were considered mentally deficient. She believed that the mentally and socially inferior reproduced more than the “human thoroughbreds” and appealed to the Alberta Legislative Assembly for eugenic sterilization. In a petition, she wrote that mentally defective children were, “a menace to society and an enormous cost to the state…science is proving that mental defectiveness is a transmittable hereditary condition.” She wrote to Minister of Agriculture and Health, George Hoadley that two female “feeble-minded” mental patients already bred several offspring. She called it: “a neglect amounting to a crime to permit these two women to go on bearing children. They are both young women and likely to have numerous offspring before leaving the hospital”. Due in part to her heavy advocacy of compulsory sterilization, thousands of Albertans, who were not considered to possess any intelligence, were unknowingly sterilized under the Sexual Sterilization Act of Alberta
before its repeal in 1972.
being weighed against her nativist
views. In addition to being against immigration, she was a strong supporter of Alberta's legislation for the Sexual Sterilization of the Insane at a time when compulsory sterilization
was practiced in some North American jurisdictions. However, it has been argued that that those in the vanguard make mistakes; Murphy's views were a product of her times.
Recent memorializing of the Famous Five, such as the illustration on the back of the fifty dollar bill, has been used as the occasion for re-evaluating Murphy’s legacy. Marijuana decriminalization activists especially have targeted Murphy for criticism as part of the movement to discredit marijuana prohibition. They charge that today’s drug laws are built on the racist foundations laid by Murphy and that the drug war has harmed more women than the Persons Case has benefited. Conversely, Murphy’s defenders have been quick to point out that she was writing at a time when white racism was typical, not exceptional, and that Murphy’s views were more progressive than many of her peers. Moreover, her views on race or drugs in no way negate Murphy’s positive accomplishments in advancing the legal status of women.
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
women's rights
Women's rights
Women's rights are entitlements and freedoms claimed for women and girls of all ages in many societies.In some places these rights are institutionalized or supported by law, local custom, and behaviour, whereas in others they may be ignored or suppressed...
activist, jurist, and author. In 1916, she became the first woman magistrate
Magistrate
A magistrate is an officer of the state; in modern usage the term usually refers to a judge or prosecutor. This was not always the case; in ancient Rome, a magistratus was one of the highest government officers and possessed both judicial and executive powers. Today, in common law systems, a...
in Canada, and in the British Empire
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
. She is best known for her contributions to Canadian feminism, specifically to the question of whether women were "persons" under Canadian law.
In 1927, Murphy and four other women: Henrietta Muir Edwards, Nellie McClung
Nellie McClung
Nellie McClung, born Nellie Letitia Mooney , was a Canadian feminist, politician, and social activist. She was a part of the social and moral reform movements prevalent in Western Canada in the early 1900s...
, Louise McKinney
Louise McKinney
Louise McKinney née Crummy was a provincial politician and women's rights activist from Alberta, Canada. She was the first woman sworn in to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta and the first woman elected to a legislature in Canada and in the British Empire...
and Irene Parlby
Irene Parlby
Irene Parlby was a Canadian women's farm leader, activist and politician.Born in London, England, Parlby came to Canada in 1896. In 1913, Parlby helped to found the first women's local of the United Farmers of Alberta. In 1921, she was elected to the Alberta Legislature for the riding of Lacombe,...
, who together came to be known as "The Famous Five
The Famous Five (Canada)
The Famous Five or The Valiant Five were five Canadian women who asked the Supreme Court of Canada to answer the question, "Does the word 'Persons' in Section 24 of the British North America Act, 1867, include female persons?" in the case Edwards v...
" (also called "The Valiant Five"), launched the "Persons Case
Edwards v. Canada (Attorney General)
Edwards v. Canada [1930] A.C. 124 – also known as the Persons Case – is a famous Canadian and British constitutional case where it was first decided that women were eligible to sit in the Canadian Senate...
," contending that women could be "qualified persons" eligible to sit in the Senate. The Supreme Court of Canada
Supreme Court of Canada
The Supreme Court of Canada is the highest court of Canada and is the final court of appeals in the Canadian justice system. The court grants permission to between 40 and 75 litigants each year to appeal decisions rendered by provincial, territorial and federal appellate courts, and its decisions...
ruled that they were not. However, upon appeal to the Judicial Committee of the British Privy Council
Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council is one of the highest courts in the United Kingdom. Established by the Judicial Committee Act 1833 to hear appeals formerly heard by the King in Council The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) is one of the highest courts in the United...
, the court of last resort for Canada at that time, the women won their case.
Early life
Emily Murphy is born the third of six children in Cookstown, Ontario to wealthy landowner and businessman Isaac Ferguson and his wife – also named Emily. As a child, Murphy frequently joined her two older brothers Thomas and Gowan in their adventures; in fact, their father encouraged this behaviour and often had his sons and daughters share responsibilities equally. Considering her family involvement in the law and politics, it is no surprise that Murphy became one of the most influential suffragists in Canada. Murphy grew up under the influence of her maternal grandfather, Ogle R. GowanOgle Robert Gowan
Ogle Robert Gowan was a farmer, Orangeman, journalist and political figure in Upper Canada and Canada West....
who was a politician that founded a local branch of the Orange Order in 1830 and two uncles who were a Supreme Court justice and a Senator, respectively. Her brother also became a lawyer and another member of the Supreme Court. Her family were prominent members of society and she benefited from parents who supported their daughter receiving formal academic education. She is as well related to James Robert Gowan
James Robert Gowan
Sir James Robert Gowan, KCMG, QC was a Canadian lawyer, judge, and senator.Born in Cahore, County Wexford, Ireland, the son of Henry Hatton Gowan and Elizabeth Burkitt, he was educated privately in Dublin. In 1832, he emigrated to Canada and settled outside of Toronto...
, who was a lawyer, judge, and senator. Murphy attended Bishop Strachan School
Bishop Strachan School
The Bishop Strachan School is Canada’s oldest day and boarding school for girls. The School has approximately 820 day students and 80 boarding students ranging from Junior Kindergarten to Grade 12 . The school seeks to nurture the academic, social, emotional, spiritual, creative and physical...
, an exclusive Anglican private school for girls in Toronto and, through a friend, she met her future husband Arthur Murphy who was 11 years her senior. In 1887, they were married and had four daughters Madeleine, Evelyn, Doris and Kathleen. Doris died young of diphtheria
Diphtheria
Diphtheria is an upper respiratory tract illness caused by Corynebacterium diphtheriae, a facultative anaerobic, Gram-positive bacterium. It is characterized by sore throat, low fever, and an adherent membrane on the tonsils, pharynx, and/or nasal cavity...
. After Doris’ death, the family decided to try a new setting and moved west to Swan River, Manitoba
Swan River, Manitoba
-Economy:The economic base of the town lies in agriculture and forestry along with support industries for same.Almost fifty percent of the surrounding area is under cultivation, most of which is seeded to cereal grain, oilseeds, and other specialty crops. Wheat, rye, barley, oats, flax, and canola...
in 1903 and then to Edmonton, Alberta in 1907.
Dower Act
Legal recourse
A legal recourse is an action that can be taken by an individual or a corporation to attempt to remedy a legal difficulty.* A lawsuit if the issue is a matter of civil law* Many contracts require mediation or arbitration before a dispute can go to court...
. This case motivated Murphy to create a campaign that assured the property rights of married women. With the support of many rural women, Murphy began to pressure the Alberta government to allow women to retain the rights of their land. In 1916, Murphy successfully persuaded the Alberta legislature to pass the Dower Act that would allow a woman legal rights to one third of her husband’s property. Murphy’s reputation as a women’s rights activist was established by this first political victory.
The Persons Case
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
. Her appointment as judge, however, became the cause for her greatest adversity concerning women within the law. In her first case in Alberta on 1 July 1916, she found the prisoner guilty. The prisoner's attorney called into question her right to pass sentence, since she was not legally a person. The Provincial Supreme Court denied the appeal.
In 1917, she headed the battle to have women declared as “persons” in Canada, and, consequently, qualified to serve in the Senate. Lawyer, Eardley Jackson, challenged her position as judge because women were not considered “persons” under the British North America Act 1867. This understanding was based on a British Common Law ruling of 1876, which stated, "women were eligible for pains and penalties, but not rights and privileges."
Murphy began to work on a plan to ask for clarification of how women were regarded in the BNA act and how they were to become Senators. In order for her question to be considered, she needed at least five citizens to submit the question as a group. She enlisted the help of four other Albertan women and on 27 August 1927 she and human rights activist Nellie McClung
Nellie McClung
Nellie McClung, born Nellie Letitia Mooney , was a Canadian feminist, politician, and social activist. She was a part of the social and moral reform movements prevalent in Western Canada in the early 1900s...
, ex MLA Louise McKinney
Louise McKinney
Louise McKinney née Crummy was a provincial politician and women's rights activist from Alberta, Canada. She was the first woman sworn in to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta and the first woman elected to a legislature in Canada and in the British Empire...
, women’s rights campaigners Henrietta Edwards
Henrietta Edwards
Henrietta Muir Edwards was a Canadian women's rights activist and reformer.She was born Henrietta Louise Muir in Montreal. As a young woman, she espoused various feminist causes, forming the Working Girls' Association in 1875 to provide vocational training for women and editing the journal Women's...
and Irene Parlby
Irene Parlby
Irene Parlby was a Canadian women's farm leader, activist and politician.Born in London, England, Parlby came to Canada in 1896. In 1913, Parlby helped to found the first women's local of the United Farmers of Alberta. In 1921, she was elected to the Alberta Legislature for the riding of Lacombe,...
signed the petition to the federal Cabinet, asking that the federal government refer the issue
Reference question
In Canadian law, a Reference Question is a submission by the federal or a provincial government to the courts asking for an advisory opinion on a major legal issue. Typically the question concerns the constitutionality of legislation....
to the Supreme Court of Canada
Supreme Court of Canada
The Supreme Court of Canada is the highest court of Canada and is the final court of appeals in the Canadian justice system. The court grants permission to between 40 and 75 litigants each year to appeal decisions rendered by provincial, territorial and federal appellate courts, and its decisions...
. The women's petition set out two questions, but the federal government re-framed it as one question, asking the Supreme Court: "Does the word 'person' in Section 24 of the British North America Act include female persons?" The campaign became known as The Persons Case and reached the Supreme Court of Canada
Supreme Court of Canada
The Supreme Court of Canada is the highest court of Canada and is the final court of appeals in the Canadian justice system. The court grants permission to between 40 and 75 litigants each year to appeal decisions rendered by provincial, territorial and federal appellate courts, and its decisions...
on March 1928. The Court held that women were not qualified to sit in the Senate. The five women then appealed to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council is one of the highest courts in the United Kingdom. Established by the Judicial Committee Act 1833 to hear appeals formerly heard by the King in Council The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) is one of the highest courts in the United...
in Britain. On 18 October 1929, in a decision called Edwards v. Canada (Attorney General)
Edwards v. Canada (Attorney General)
Edwards v. Canada [1930] A.C. 124 – also known as the Persons Case – is a famous Canadian and British constitutional case where it was first decided that women were eligible to sit in the Canadian Senate...
, the Privy Council declared that women were considered as “persons” under the BNA Act and were eligible to serve in the Senate.
The women were known as the Famous Five and were considered leaders in education for social reform and women’s rights. They challenged convention and established an important precedent in Canadian history. In Canada’s Senate Chamber, the five women are honoured with a plaque that reads, “To further the cause of womankind these five outstanding pioneer women caused steps to be taken resulting in the recognition by the Privy Council of women as persons eligible for appointment to the Senate of Canada." Murphy, along with the rest of the Famous Five are featured on the back of the new Canadian 50 dollar bill. In October 2009, the Senate voted to name Murphy and the rest of the Five Canada's first "honorary senators."
Drugs and Race
Maclean's
Maclean's is a Canadian weekly news magazine, reporting on Canadian issues such as politics, pop culture, and current events.-History:Founded in 1905 by Toronto journalist/entrepreneur Lt.-Col. John Bayne Maclean, a 43-year-old trade magazine publisher who purchased an advertising agency's in-house...
magazine under her pen name, “Janey Canuck,” forms the basis of the Black Candle. Using extensive anecdotes and “expert” opinion, the Black Candle depicts an alarming picture of drug abuse
Drug abuse
Substance abuse, also known as drug abuse, refers to a maladaptive pattern of use of a substance that is not considered dependent. The term "drug abuse" does not exclude dependency, but is otherwise used in a similar manner in nonmedical contexts...
in Canada, detailing Murphy’s understanding of the use and effects of opium
Opium
Opium is the dried latex obtained from the opium poppy . Opium contains up to 12% morphine, an alkaloid, which is frequently processed chemically to produce heroin for the illegal drug trade. The latex also includes codeine and non-narcotic alkaloids such as papaverine, thebaine and noscapine...
, cocaine
Cocaine
Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system, an appetite suppressant, and a topical anesthetic...
, and pharmaceuticals, as well as a “new menace,” “marihuana
Cannabis
Cannabis is a genus of flowering plants that includes three putative species, Cannabis sativa, Cannabis indica, and Cannabis ruderalis. These three taxa are indigenous to Central Asia, and South Asia. Cannabis has long been used for fibre , for seed and seed oils, for medicinal purposes, and as a...
.” Murphy’s concern with drugs began when she started coming into “disproportionate contact with Chinese people” in her courtroom because they were over represented in the criminal justice system. In addition to professional expertise and her own observations, Murphy was also given a tour of opium den
Opium den
An opium den was an establishment where opium was sold and smoked. Opium dens were prevalent in many parts of the world in the 19th century, most notably China, Southeast Asia, North America and France...
s in Vancouver’s Chinatown
Chinatown (Vancouver)
Chinatown in Vancouver, British Columbia is Canada's largest Chinatown. Centred on Pender Street, it is surrounded by Gastown and the Downtown Financial and Central Business Districts to the west, the Downtown Eastside to the north, the remnant of old Japantown to the northeast, and the...
by local police detectives
Vancouver Police Department
The Vancouver Police Department is the police force for the City of Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada. It is one of several police departments within the Metro Vancouver Area and is the second largest police force in the province after RCMP "E" Division.VPD was the first Canadian police force...
. Vancouver at the time was in the midst of a moral panic
Moral panic
A moral panic is the intensity of feeling expressed in a population about an issue that appears to threaten the social order. According to Stanley Cohen, author of Folk Devils and Moral Panics and credited creator of the term, a moral panic occurs when "[a] condition, episode, person or group of...
over drugs that was part of the anti-Oriental campaign that precipitated the Chinese Immigration Act of 1923. Canadian drug historian Catherine Carstairs has argued that Murphy’s importance regarding drug policy has been “overstated” because she did not have an impact on the drug panic in Vancouver, but that nevertheless “her articles did mark a turning point and her book … brought the Vancouver drug panic to a larger Canadian audience.”
Race permeates the Black Candle, and is intricately entwined with the drug trade and addiction in Murphy’s analysis. Yet she is ambiguous in her treatment of non-whites. In one passage, for example, she chastises whites who use the Chinese as “scapegoats,” while elsewhere, she refers to the Chinese man as a “visitor” in this country, and that “it might be wise to put him out” if it turns out that this visitor carries “poisoned lollipops in his pocket and feeds them to our children.” Drug addiction, however, not the Chinese immigrant, is “a scourge so dreadful in its effects that it threatens the very foundations of civilization,” and which laws therefore need to target for eradication. Drugs victimize everyone, and members of all races perpetrate the drug trade, according to Murphy. At the same time, she does not depart from the dominant view of middle class whites at the time that “races” were discrete, biologically determined categories, naturally ranked in a hierarchy. In this scheme, the white race was facing degradation through miscegenation, while the more prolific “black and yellow races may yet obtain the ascendancy” and thus threatened to “wrest the leadership of the world from the British.”
Murphy’s ambiguity regarding non-whites is reflected in scholarly debates, but what is not controversial is that the Black Candle was written “for the express purpose of arousing public demands for stricter drug legislation” and that in this she was to some degree successful. This motivation may have influenced her racial analysis by playing to the popular prejudices of her white audiences. On the other hand, she may have deliberately tried to distance herself from those prejudices, especially the ones propagated by the more vulgar and hysterical Asian exclusionists in BC
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
in order to maximize her own credibility and sway her more moderate readers.
The Eugenics Movement
During the early twentieth century, scientific knowledge emerged in the forefront of social importance. Advances in science and technology were thought to hold answers to current and future social problems. Murphy was among those who thought that the problems that were plaguing their society, such as alcoholism, drug abuse and crime were caused because of mental deficiencies. In a 1932 article titled “ Overpopulation and Birth Control”, she states: "... over-population [is a] basic problem of all…none of our troubles can even be allayed until this is remedied." As the politics behind the Second World War continued to develop, Murphy, who was a pacifistPacifism
Pacifism is the opposition to war and violence. The term "pacifism" was coined by the French peace campaignerÉmile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress inGlasgow in 1901.- Definition :...
, theorized that the only reason for war was that nations needed to fight for land to accommodate their growing populations. Her argument was that: if there was population control, people would not need as much land. Without the constant need for more land, war would cease to exist. Her solution to these social issues was eugenics
Eugenics
Eugenics is the "applied science or the bio-social movement which advocates the use of practices aimed at improving the genetic composition of a population", usually referring to human populations. The origins of the concept of eugenics began with certain interpretations of Mendelian inheritance,...
. Selective breeding was considered a progressive scientific and social approach and Murphy supported the compulsory sterilization of those individuals who were considered mentally deficient. She believed that the mentally and socially inferior reproduced more than the “human thoroughbreds” and appealed to the Alberta Legislative Assembly for eugenic sterilization. In a petition, she wrote that mentally defective children were, “a menace to society and an enormous cost to the state…science is proving that mental defectiveness is a transmittable hereditary condition.” She wrote to Minister of Agriculture and Health, George Hoadley that two female “feeble-minded” mental patients already bred several offspring. She called it: “a neglect amounting to a crime to permit these two women to go on bearing children. They are both young women and likely to have numerous offspring before leaving the hospital”. Due in part to her heavy advocacy of compulsory sterilization, thousands of Albertans, who were not considered to possess any intelligence, were unknowingly sterilized under the Sexual Sterilization Act of Alberta
Sexual Sterilization Act of Alberta
In 1928, the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, Canada, enacted the Sexual Sterilization Act. The Act, drafted to protect the gene pool, allowed for sterilization of mentally disabled persons in order to prevent the transmission of undesirable traits to offspring.At that time, eugenicists argued that...
before its repeal in 1972.
Timeline
- 1868 – Born in Cookstown, Ontario on 14 March
- 1887 – Marries Arthur Murphy and has four daughters Madeliene, Kathleen, Evelyn, and Doris
- 1898 – Family moves to England. Emily begins to write under the pseudonym – Janey Canuck.
- 1901 – Moves to Swan River, Manitoba. Impressions of Janey Canuck is published.
- 1907 – Moves to Edmonton, Alberta and begins her social activism.
- 1910 – First woman appointed to the Edmonton Hospital Board.
- 1911 – The Dower Act of 1911 is passed and gives Alberta women property rights.
- 1916 – Alberta women get the vote. Becomes first female magistrate in the British Empire.
- 1922 – The Black Candle concerning the drug trade in Canada is published.
- 1927 – Enlists Nelly McClung, Henrietta Muir Edwards, Louise McKinney and Irene Parlby to support a petition to the Supreme Court of Canada to include women in the definition of “persons”.
- 1929 – 18 October, England’s Privy Council holds that women, pursuant to s. 24 of the British North America Act, 1867 (now called the Constitution Act, 1867), are eligible for appointment to the Canadian Senate.
- 1933 – Dies in her sleep on 27 October at the age of 65.
Legacy
Her legacy is disputed, with her important contributions to feminismFeminism
Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...
being weighed against her nativist
Nativism (politics)
Nativism favors the interests of certain established inhabitants of an area or nation as compared to claims of newcomers or immigrants. It may also include the re-establishment or perpetuation of such individuals or their culture....
views. In addition to being against immigration, she was a strong supporter of Alberta's legislation for the Sexual Sterilization of the Insane at a time when compulsory sterilization
Compulsory sterilization
Compulsory sterilization also known as forced sterilization programs are government policies which attempt to force people to undergo surgical sterilization...
was practiced in some North American jurisdictions. However, it has been argued that that those in the vanguard make mistakes; Murphy's views were a product of her times.
Recent memorializing of the Famous Five, such as the illustration on the back of the fifty dollar bill, has been used as the occasion for re-evaluating Murphy’s legacy. Marijuana decriminalization activists especially have targeted Murphy for criticism as part of the movement to discredit marijuana prohibition. They charge that today’s drug laws are built on the racist foundations laid by Murphy and that the drug war has harmed more women than the Persons Case has benefited. Conversely, Murphy’s defenders have been quick to point out that she was writing at a time when white racism was typical, not exceptional, and that Murphy’s views were more progressive than many of her peers. Moreover, her views on race or drugs in no way negate Murphy’s positive accomplishments in advancing the legal status of women.
Emily Murphy House
Emily Murphy's House in Edmonton, Alberta is on the Canadian Register of Historic People and Places. She lived in this home from 1919 until her death in 1933. It is now located on the campus of the University of Alberta and houses the Student Legal Services.Further reading
- James, D. 2001. Emily Murphy. Toronto : Fitzhenry & Whiteside
- Karamitsanis, A. 1992. Emily Murphy : portrait of a social reformer [microform]. Ottawa : National Library of Canada.
- — 1991. microfiches. (Canadian theses on microfiche ; no. 70075). M.A. thesis, University of Alberta.
- Mander, C. Emily Murphy: Rebel. Empire. Toronto : Simon & Pierre, 1985.
- Murphy, Emily F. 1922. The black candle. Toronto: Thomas Allen.
- Sanders, B. 1945. Emily Murphy, crusader: "Janey Canuck". Toronto: Macmillan.
- — 1958. Famous Women: Canadian Portraits. Toronto: Clarke, Irwin & Company Limited.
External links
- Library and Archives Canada Emily Murphy – Celebrating Women’s Achievements/Women in Canadian Legislatures
- Historica Historica Minutes: Emily Murphy
- Library and Archives Canada International Implications of the Persons Case
- Library and Archives Canada Famous Five
- Famous Five