Statues of Women

Statues of named women in Quebec City: Joan of Arc and 4 suffragists.

A statue of a woman, by a woman! Anna Bell Hyatt Huntingdon gifted this statue of Joan of Arc to the city of Quebec on condition they made a garden around her. They did, and at this site the national anthem O Canada! was performed for the first time (see plaque).

From L to R the suffragists are Marie Lacoste-Gérin-LaJoie, Idola St-Jean, Thérèse Forget-Casgrain and Marie-Claire Kirkland.

The first 3 were born in the 19th century and Marie-Claire in 1921. I love the way the statue installation shows the time gap between them and her. She was the first woman to sit in Quebec’s National Assembly (govt)

Quebec province didn’t give women the vote until 1940 or the right to sign legal documents until 1964! When Marie-Claire Kirkland came to the city in early ‘64 to take up her post as a MNA (elected member of the govt), her husband had to sign the lease on her apartment! In disgust, she brought forward legislation so that married women had legal property rights. (Elizabeth Elmy did this in the UK with 1882 Married Women’s Property Act).Read more