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Last Modified: October 16, 2024
Trailblazers and Visionaries: Celebrating Canadian Women’s History Month

In 1992, the month of October was designated Canadian Women’s History Month by the Government of Canada as an annual celebration of women’s achievements and their contributions to inclusivity throughout Canadian history.

As the Canadian Women’s Foundation VP Public Engagement Andrea Gunraj explains “The exercise of showcasing under-remembered people and achievements helps us paint an accurate picture of our past. If we value and use it correctly, it can prepare us for the future we want and need to create.” 

Alberta’s magazines have long-chronicled and celebrated women throughout Canadian history and today. We have just a few examples to share here, but a look through any of your favourite publications is sure to reveal further stories of women trailblazers and pioneers, politicians and entrepreneurs, artists and visionaries. 

There’s the Where Canadian Rockies feature story “Trailblazing Women of the Mountains,” chronicling the incredible feats of women explorers, climbers, guides, and record-breakers in the Canadian Rockies, including Mary Vaux Walcott, Caroline Hinman, Georgia Engelhard, and sisters Agnes and Mona Harrigan.

In Alberta Views, we find a review of Alexandra Zabjek’s non-fiction book We Need to Do This: A History of the Women’s Shelter Movement in Alberta and the Alberta Council of Women’s Shelters. We learn of the late-20th-century Alberta women Ardis Beaudry and Ruth Scalp Lock, who were instrumental in establishing essential support services for victims of intimate partner violence. 

There’s the story of “The Calgary Mothers’ Milk Bank: Jannette Festival, The Visionary Behind It All” as shared by Birthing Magazine, describing the establishment of Canada’s second milk bank in Calgary, and the instrumental role of this community resource for babies and families in Alberta. 

In a 2021 exhibition review Threading Black: Eva Birhanu and Simone Elizabeth Saunders on Connecting Race, Roots and Identity from the Alberta Craft Council (publishers of Alberta Craft magazine), we discover art that asks us to “consider the historical and contemporary continuity of discussions of race, gender, roots and identity.”

Alberta-based Galleries West magazine introduces us to Shelley Niro: 500 Year Itch, a current retrospective of work by the multimedia artist who grew up on the Six Nations Reserve near Brampton, Ontario. Niro’s work spans over fifty years, reflecting on both contemporary life and Kanyen’kehá:ka (Mohawk) philosophies, and providing “deep understandings of history and a woman-centred worldview.”

Lastly, we bring your attention to Trailblaz*her magazine, an entire publication dedicated to “the lives and businesses of women who are choosing a rural-based life and business.” The magazine is an incredible example of this year’s Canadian Women’s History Month theme “Women at Work: Economic Growth Past, Present and Future,” highlighting not just the historical contributions of women, but also “the critical role [women] continue to play in driving economic innovation and progress that has benefited Canada as a whole.”