“We, Women of Canada, sincerely believing that the best good of our homes and nation will be advanced by our own greater unity of thought, sympathy and purpose, and that an organized movement of women will best conserve the highest good of the Family and the State, do hereby band ourselves together to further the application of the Golden Rule to society, custom and law.”
The general policy is thus stated:
“This Council is organized in the interest of no one propaganda, and has no power over the organizations which constitute it, beyond that of suggestion and sympathy; therefore, no Society voting to enter this Council shall render itself liable to be interfered with in respect to its complete organic unity, independence or methods of work, or be committed to any principle or method of any other Society, or to any act or utterance of the Council itself, beyond compliance with the terms of this Constitution.”
In 1893 the Local Council of Women of Montreal was founded on a similar basis in relation to the many separate associations, which, in its turn it should hope to draw together.
It is therefore an organization which aims to secure the united action, of both men and women and all existing organizations of women, into closer relations through organized effort. Each society entering the Local Council preserves its own independence in aim or method, and is not committed to any principle or method of any other society in the council, the object of which is to serve as a medium of communication and a means of prosecuting any work of common interest.
Believing, therefore, that the more intimate knowledge of one another’s work would result in larger mutual sympathy and greater unity of thought, and therefore in more effective action, the various women’s associations interested in philanthropy, religion, education, literature, art and social reform thus formed a local council, its date of organization being November 30, 1893. Thirty societies united at first, the majority of which still adhere. There are now fifty societies affiliated with the local council. The first president was Lady Drummond, who is still active in the work of the body. The first board consisted of the following officers, in addition to the president: Madame Thibaudeau, vice president; ex-officio vice president, president of all affiliated societies; Miss Fairley, late principal of Trafalgar Institute, corresponding secretary; Mrs. Clarke Murray, recording secretary; Mrs. Carus Wilson, associate secretary; and Mrs. Wurtele, treasurer. Subsequent presidents have been Mrs. John Cox (deceased), Mrs. Bovey, Miss Carrie M. Derick and Dr. Ritchie England, now presiding.
Among those who served either on the presidential board or as officers for many years after the establishment of the local council were: Mrs. H.C. Scott, who was early elected secretary and served for several years; Mrs. William MacNaughton, Mrs. Robert Reed, Mrs. Learmont, Mrs. John Cox, Mrs. Frank Redpath, Mme. Gérin-LaJoie, Mme. Beïgue, Mme. Dandurand, Mrs. Warwick Chipman and Mrs. John Savage. Mrs. William MacNaughton, Mrs. Plumptre, Mrs. Walton and Miss Helen Reed served as chairman of the presidential board when this body conducted affairs instead of a president. The following names have also appeared on the roll of officers during the early years, for long or short terms: Lady Hingston, Mrs. A.D. Durnford, Mrs. E. McNutt, Mrs. F. McLennan, Mrs. E. Hanson, Mrs. Gillespie, Mrs. John McDougall, Miss Galt, Mrs. Hugh Allan, Mrs. Wolferston Thomas, Mrs. J.F. Stevenson, Mrs. DeSola and Mrs. Leo.
The present officers are: Dr. Ritchie England, president; Mrs. Warwick Chipman, Mrs. N.C. Smillie and Mrs. J. Henderson, vice presidents; Mrs. Walter Lyman, corresponding secretary; Miss Eleanor Tatley, recording secretary; and Mrs. A.K. Fiske, treasurer.
Individual local members represent the local council of Montreal in the National Assembly on committees such as laws for the better protection of women and children, the custodial care of feeble-minded women, work for dependent classes, finance, immigration, press, vacation schools and supervised play grounds, the equal moral standard and the prevention of traffic in women, on peace and arbitration, on public health, on education, covering problems of childhood.