McKinney, Louise (1868-1931), was a Canadian feminist and politician. McKinney worked to promote woman suffrage (women’s right to vote) and temperance (limiting alcohol consumption). She also is famous for her role in the Persons Case of 1927, a legal case that changed the political status of Canadian women.
McKinney was born Louise Crummy on Sept. 22, 1868, in Frankville, Ontario. She graduated from the Ottawa Normal School and became a teacher. In the early 1890’s, she moved to North Dakota. She continued teaching and also began working for the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU).
In 1896, Louise Crummy married James McKinney, a farmer and fellow temperance worker from Ontario. In 1903, the family moved back to Canada and established a homestead in what is now southern Alberta. Louise McKinney continued working for the WCTU, setting up new chapters of the group and raising public awareness of alcohol abuse. By the 1910’s, she had emerged as a leader in the temperance movement. For more than 20 years, she served as president of the WCTU’s Alberta chapter and as vice president of its national chapter. A talented speaker and writer, she contributed regularly to Canadian White Ribbon Tidings, a WCTU newspaper.
In 1917, McKinney won election to Alberta’s legislature as a member of the Non-Partisan League, a political party representing farmers’ interests. She was one of the first women in the British Empire to hold a parliamentary seat. During her four years in office, McKinney promoted temperance; legislation to aid women, children, and immigrants; public health bills; and the Dower Act. The act gave Alberta women the right to a portion of their husbands’ property.
McKinney also was involved in the Imperial Order Daughters of the Empire, a charitable and patriotic women’s group. In 1925, she became one of four women to sign the constitution of the new United Church of Canada, now Canada’s largest Protestant church.
In 1927, McKinney joined with four other reformers—Henrietta Muir Edwards, Nellie McClung, Emily Murphy, and Irene Parlby. The group requested a court ruling on whether women could serve in Canada’s Senate. The case challenged the meaning of the word persons in the British North America Act, Canada’s basic governing document. In 1929, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom ruled that the word persons included women as well as men. Women thus became eligible for appointment to the Senate. McKinney and her fellow reformers became known as the Famous Five (see Famous Five ).
McKinney died on July 10, 1931, in Claresholm, Alberta.
