Women Who Give Away Millions: Portraits of Canadian Philanthropists

Pauline Carey is the author of Magic and What’s in a Name?

When Nancy Jackman’s father died, she sold her shares in the family
foundation and freed up six million dollars, which she began to spread
around in areas that affected women. She gave money and time to such
issues as the Charter of Rights, to the Women’s Legal Education and
Action Fund (LEAF), to the establishment of university chairs and
scholarships in women’s studies, and to innumerable other feminist
concerns. She also took the United Church to court, considered suing the
Pope, garnered a lot of press attention, and met the author of this
book, who went on to explore the activities of 13 other Canadian women
who gave away millions, and did it their way. Some of the stories are as
much about the men who created the wealth as about the women who were
left to nurture it, but the resulting story of money—where it came
from, where it goes—provides a fascinating look at many aspects of our
history and culture.

Esther Honens funneled money from real estate into music programs for
Calgary, including the Esther Honens International Piano Competition.
Phyllis Lambert grew up on Seagram’s whisky and devoted her life to
architecture. Kathleen Richardson’s money came from grain and ended up
supporting the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. Viola MacMillan made her own
millions and her own reputation in mining, was thrown in jail (and later
pardoned) as a result of the Windfall scandal, and then donated money to
buy a collection of minerals and gems for the National Museum of Natural
Sciences. Margaret McCain and family violence research, Anne Tannenbaum
and Alzheimer’s disease, Joan Chalmers and Canadian crafts, Alison
Rice and Habitat for Humanity, medical research, university funding, the
Montreal Museum of Decorative Arts—there is much food for thought in
Nowell’s look at how and why people give away money.