The Person's Case: Were all Canadians equal before the law?


Lesson: http://www.virtualhistorian.ca/persons


Text: The goal of this lesson on the "Person's Case" is to use historical sources as evidence. The specific focus is on how to analyse primary source letters and make inference about the Canadian definition of "person" under the law of the time.

Students will discover in this short investigation that Canadian women were not considered as "persons" until the late 1920s and thus could not be appointed to the Senate of Canada. (A detailed lesson with additional sources is available in the Members' Section).

 

Subject: Canadian and Women history 

Level: Secondary