100 Canadian Heroines: Famous and Forgotten Faces

Margaret Conrad is Canada Research Chair in Atlantic Canada Studies at
the University of New Brunswick. She is the author of Atlantic Canada: A
Region in the Making, and co-author of Intimate Relations: Family and
Community in Planter Nova Scotia, 1759–

In her foreword to this book, former Canadian Prime Minister Kim
Campbell argues that women in leadership roles are usually seen as
anomalies and often lost to the historical record. Publications such as
this one, she argues, help to restore the historical memory of women’s
contributions to society and thus to “reprogram” the way that people
see gender roles. Merna Forster has chosen a direct route to her
reprogramming mission, providing a brief biographical profile and a
photograph or two of each of her 100 “heroines,” along with a direct
quotation by or about them. That she has taken her mission seriously is
confirmed by the careful balance of time, place, and ethnic background
in her choices, as well as by the extensive research that went into this
project, as is evidenced by the endnotes and selected bibliography. Most
notable among her unpublished sources are the Historic Sites and
Monuments Board reports on women who have received national recognition
for their achievements.

Forster demonstrates a great deal of courage in selecting 100 women to
showcase in this way. Inevitably, some readers will notice that one or
another female leader is missing or that the sources are somehow
incomplete. Few readers, however, will claim that they failed to learn
something new from browsing this book. While many Canadians know the
names of Laura Secord, Emily Carr, Lucy Maud Montgomery, and Nellie
McClung, who are profiled here, they are less likely to be able to
identify Marie-Joseph Angélique, Nellie Cashman, Asayo Murakami,
Nahnebahwequay, Gudridur Thorbjarnardottir, and Eileen Vollick, whose
accomplishments also merit recognition. Forster acknowledges that her
heroines also had their warts and blemishes, but she uses this forum to
highlight their heroic deeds or excellence in their fields. Whether used
as a reference book or for bedside reading, this is a convenient
compendium of information on Canadian women, and a tribute not only to
the individuals who made the cut but also to a generation of scholarly
research that has restored the lives of these women worthies to the
historical record.