Commenting rT years after
B.C, women started voting in
provincial elections, Prince
George North M.L.A. Lois
Boone said women are still hav-
ing difficulty gaining politicial
power. Then as now, it can be a
long and arduous process.

The Book of Canadian Facts
and Dates understates the facts
when it notes that on April 5,
1917, ‘‘Women were given the
vote in B.C.’’ In fact, B.C.

women fought long and hard — .

for. over thirty years — -to

Terrace Review —

..Qut running for office in B.C. is a rough road

wrestle this basic right from the
men in power. The Woman Suf-
frage Movement in Canada tells
us that many petitions by
women’s groups and no less
than 11 bills to bestow provin-
cial political: privileges upon
women were introduced, unsuc-
cessfully, in the B.C. legislature
between 1884 and 1899,

The Victoria Daily Times
editorialized on February 28,

City complimented
on representatives

The office of the Mayor of
Terrace recently released the
following communication from
‘the Mayor of Quebec City. It
was received shortly after
Charlotte Schoeps, Miss Ter-
race, and her chaperone Barb
Ziraldo returned from an of-
ficial visit to the Quebec Winter
Carnival.

Quebec City,
February 22, 1988

Mr. Jack Talstra, Mayor
The City of Terrace
3215 Eby Street

Terrace, B.C,

V8G 2X8

Dear Colleague:

J thank you very much for the
most cordial message sent to me
by your lovely ambassador, Miss
Terrace mademoiselle Charlotte
Schoeps, who was so charming
and so proud of her city of
which she talked with such en-
thusiasm that I could not help
mention it to your Premier, Mr.
William N. Vander Zalm, who
visited Quebec during that first
Carnival weekend.

You can be proud of Char-
lotte. She did honor to your city.

Yours truly,
Jean Pelletier
Mayor of Quebec

During thelr recent excursion to the Quebec Winter Carnival, Miss Terrace
Charlotte Schosps and chaperone Barb Ziraldo posed for this photograph
with the Mayor of Quebec City, Jean Pelletier.

Let's talk
about our schools ...

School District $8 trustees
are holding a public meeting

Tuesday, April 26, 1988 at 7:30 p.m.
in the Caledonia Secondary School
Lecture Theatre

We invite you to attend.

AGENDA
1, Board's educational goals and objectives.
2. The change in teacher/board negotiations.
3. Community/parent concerns. |

Ms. V. Napoleon, Board Chairman, |

1891:

_ “The true woman who would
make the most of her every God-
given attribute asks not for the
ballot, but for love and home,
where the carols of babyhood
are sung to the sweetest of
babes, where home is heaven,
and where the weary husband
may find rest....”’

However, women in B.C, had
been voting in municipal elec-
tions as early as 1873, and had
been able to vote for and then
run as school trustees for several
years, without dire consequences
to ‘love and home’’, ;

Arguments for and against
women voting in provincial elec-
tions raged. James H. Haw-
thornwaite of the Socialist Party
argued for it, saying in 1906
that more and more women were

leaving their homes to enter the:

labor market, and needed
political as well as economic
clout, Conservative A.E. Mc-
Phillips spoke against it in 1913
in a lengthy speech in which he
attempted to prove that the most
evil aspects of the French
Revolution were due to the in-
fluence of women.

The Liberal Party saw the op-
portunity to swell its ranks with
the support of suffragists —
after all, a 1913 petition
supporting votes for women had
been signed by 10,000 peopie.
Liberal Leader H.C. Brewster
won a 1916 by-election on this
platform and ‘‘became a fearless
champion of women’s rights in
the legislative chamber.”’

Political jockeying then began
with veteran Socialist J.T. W.
Place introducing a_ private
member’s bill for woman suf-

frage, Conservative Premier
Bowser astounding the legis-
lature with his announced inten-
tions for a similar government
bill, and much ridiculing from
Brewster and other Liberals.

Later in that interesting spring
of 1916, the Conservatives push-
ed through a bill which would
give women the vote on one con-
dition — a majority of voters
(necessarily excluding women)
would have to approve of the
idea in a special referendum to
be held at the time of the next
general election. —

Suddenly even the Daily
Times jumped on the band-
wagon of female suffrage and
accused Premier Bowser of mak-
ing a “devious concession” for
fear of losses of two important
by-elections coming up; whereas
had he been sincere, he would
have supported the Place bill.
The Conservatives lost the
general election, and the suf-
frage referendum won by more
than two to one,

Third reading and royal assent
of the bill were both bestowed
on April 5, 1917, much to the
satisfaction of Maria (Pollard)
Grant of Victoria, who had
headed a delegation to the
legislature almost every year
throughout the entire struggle.
A large delegation of women at-

tended the April 5 session, bear-

ing congratulatory bouquets of
lilies and roses for the Premier
and Attorney-General.

Mary Ellen Smith became
British Columbia’s first woman
legislator, winning a by-election
on January 24, 1918, In the 1988
legislature, there are nine

woman M.L.A.s, only a small

Thornhill

Grocery
Market

Wednesday, April 20, 1988 17.

Women began voting 61 years ago this month ©

percentage of the total.

In International Women’s
Year, 1975, Women of British
Columbia reported lona Cam-
pagnola, then Skeena MP,
speaking to a women’s group
here in Terrace. She encouraged
them to enter political life, to
‘“‘Pry open that first painful
door, move into the political
system at every level, so we can
alter the future for our
daughters.’”

Lois Boone says that ‘‘first
painful door’? for women wish-
ing to enter politics can be secur-
ing a nomination. ‘You're on
your own then, without the
financial backing of a party you
would have as a candidate, or
the salary you get as an M.L,A.
That’s when you really need sup-
port.”’

She says it’s absolutely essen-
tial that a woman running for —
nomination or election have the
moral, emotional, and often fi-
nancial support necessary. “In
my own campaign, I required
daycare for my children and
financial suport to lessen the
burden on my family as I took
time from work to travel.”

She also has advice on how
women can increase their num-
bers in the legislature,‘‘First of
all we have to seek out good can-
didates, and we have no short- .
age of competent, qualified
women. Women seem to feel
they have to know everything,
they have to be experts to run.
This is certainly not the case: |
know a lot of men who do so
with a minimum of intelligence
or expertise,’’she laughed.

She suggested that northern
candidates shouldn’t run on
‘single issue’? campaigns, such
as day care or equality or other

continued on page 23

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