In the Footsteps of the Suffragettes

100 years ago on April 19, 1916 women in Alberta earned the right to vote (in the Provincial elections). A full century later, I get to join a group of wonderful women who will remember and honour the brave Canadian Suffragettes with a special ceremony at the Alberta Legislature. As you can imagine, I am just overjoyed to be invited to this tea party!

You see,  I just became a Canadian citizen earlier on March 2016. I am originally from Turkey: A country where the path for the women's rights movement was very different than Canada. Women in Turkey didn't need to organize "Pink Teas*" to plan for their strategies to push for gender equality. In a predominantly muslim country, they were simply granted those rights by a visionary leader, named Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. The "civil code" enacted by the Turkish Parliament in 1926 included great provisions towards gender equality and full voting rights soon followed in 1934. That is when ALL women, representing an ethnic/religious minority or not, earned the right to vote and be elected to office in my home country.

Now as I get ready to join more than 100 women at the Rotunda for a Tea Party, and later a smaller group of women at the Gallery as guests of the Honourable Robert Wanner, Speaker of the Alberta Legislature, I am happy to call Canada "my new home" and honoured to celebrate MY newly earned right to vote in Canadian elections at such a special occasion.

I spent the last few days researching and reading on the internet so I could learn more about the great leaders of the Suffrage Movement, like Emily Murphy, Nellie McClung, Henrietta Muir Edwards, Louise McKinney, and Irene Parlby. The more I read the more I am inspired by their struggles and determination.

I am sure these "Famous 5" ladies have inspired many women before me. As I walk up the stairs of the Legislature on April 19, together with some wonderful women from all walks of political and social life in Alberta, I will remember one of the trademark quotes of Emily Murphy:
“Whenever I don’t know whether to fight or not, I fight.”

I will continue to fight for a more inclusive, better world where we will hopefully put aside religious, ethic, and cultural divides one day, and simply work on being better humans!

*For a short video that gives more information about the Famous 5, and their pursuit in getting women to be recognized as "persons" visit https://vimeo.com/150376397




UPDATE: I had written the above post before the event. Here are a few more photos from the event. We had a busy morning at the legislature setting up the display and the tea tables.  Thanks to Lee Craig (who had thought of every detail about the display) and her friend Wes, we were able to get the display ready before the event started upstairs at the Rotunda.


Honourable Robert Wanner, Speaker of the Alberta Legislature hosted the event and we had wonderful speakers who inspired us by their speeches.







A separate but complimenting event took place outside at the Legislature steps immediately following our Tea Party. Almost 200 women got together to reenact the photo of women from 100 years ago. Premier Rachel Notley was there along with the Status of Women Minister babywearing her son.

Other organizers and I, from Our Vote Edmonton group couldn't go out for the large group photo shoot because we were worried that we wouldn't have enough time to clear through security to make it in time for our recognition at the Gallery during the Question and Answer period.

 I was delighted that 5 other wonderful Turkish women could join me on this special day. Our group needed volunteers for the day of the event, and Ozlem Erzen Demirer, Funda Saldıran, Emine Suleymanoglu, Idil Poturoglu and Pelin Kıvrıkoglu were there to help.

At the end of the day a few of the event we were tired but very proud.

A great shout out goes to  Gail Gravelines for coming up with the idea for the event and for organizers like Susanne Goshko, Kristy Kritters, and Lee Craig for making this happen.

There were many other great ladies I met at the photo shoot last week. So, there were a lot more brains and sweat behind the event.

Finally, I do have to give a shout out to Mark Hughes, who was gracious to take the beautiful photos of the Our Vote Edmonton team. Here's his Facebook page in case anyone ever wants to work with a great photographer.

https://www.facebook.com/mark.hughes.7564?fref=ts