Voices of Change Story Map

Marianne Chalk: First Woman to Register at Huron (1957)

In the summer of 1957, Marianne Chalke, along with 11 others to follow, registered to become the first women to attend Huron, and the first to stay in the new women’s residence there, which would eventually become Hellmuth Hall. The integration process for these trailblazing women was not without barriers, however. Eating areas like the student-run snack bar were off limits to the women unless between the hours of 9-930pm, and women were prohibited from eating with men at the Refectory, who were relegated to their own dining area in Hellmuth Hall’s lower level. As well, residences were segregated outside of short, infrequent “Open House” times, limited to just 12:30-5:30pm, three Sundays a year. 

In the following years, with outcry from students, and society’s shifting social mores, the snack bar became a fully integrated space for men and women. Marianne Chalk and those other trailblazing women set the stage for this progress by attending and speaking up, paving the way for countless future women students. 

First Ontario Female NDP President: Pat Chefurka (February 18, 1971)

Pat Chefurka remains an important figure in local women’s history as the very first female president of Ontario’s NDP party. Her success began in London when she ran for Provincial candidate for the Middlesex South in 1963; and then a federal candidate in 1965. One of her first nomination meetings for the vice presidency took place at Medway High School on February 18th 1971. She rose to become the president for Middlesex North from 1970-72; and both vice president of Ontario’s NDP party and Chairman of the Ontario Provincial Resolutions Committee from 1972-74.

Meanwhile, Pat Chefurka played an important role at Western University as well. She taught physics from 1964-74 as well as becoming the faculty association executive in the latter two years.

Western University Homophile Association (1971) 

Western University’s Homophile Association (HALO) was created by students in October 1971, to provide a safe and welcoming space for LGBTQ discussion for those who felt ostracized, marginalized, or without a sense of community in the social environment of the time. Bars and nightclubs often served as the spaces and meeting places for LGBTQ+ peoples, which held events and promoted community. One of the sparks for the founding of HALO was the Stonewall Riots in New York City in 1969, where police assaulted patrons at the Stonewall Inn, a well-known LGBTQ+ bar, for violating laws against “decency” and gender appropriate clothing, prompting widespread riots against the injustice. HALO would champion the freedom of personal expression for lesbian women, as well as gay and non-binary peoples from its location at 649 Colborne Street for decades until financial hardships forced its closure in 2005.  

First Female Mayor of London (1972)

Jane Bigelow, described further on our blogs, became the first female Mayor of London in 1972. Before this, she had been the only woman on London’s Board Control in 1965 as the provincial VP of the NDP. It was under Bigelow that London first achieved the AAA credit rating we have today. Through her work, Bigelow took the first steps in changing London’s opinion of women in parliament.

Family Consultant Service (1973)

In 1973 London’s Deputy Chief of Police, Walter Johnson, wanted training for the London Police force and increased awareness among them of local services that would help families in crisis. The Family Consultant Service was a community-based response to this demand created at the suggestion of Dr. Willard Reitz of the University of Western Ontario.

This organization provides short-term assistance and referrals to victims of family conflict and trauma (violence, suicide attempt, child in trouble with the law, etc.) as well as facilitates interactions between law enforcement and health professionals and provides informal and formal training for officers. The Family Consultant Services also offers an outreach aspect; detecting problems early and providing diagnosis of social and emotional dysfunctions, increasing awareness of the police force and its role in society and provide a model force for other organizations.

Today, the Family Consultant/Victim Services remains in continuous contact with police officers on duty, providing support where needed.

Congress of Black Women in Canada (1973)

The Congress of Black Women in Canada’s establishment in 1973 grew out of a movement which was aimed at the empowerment and upliftment of Black women in Canada, and to serve as an avenue through which to address the struggles they faced in society. The Congress’ founder, Kay Livingstone, who was raised and educated in London, Ontario, came from a family with a storied pedigree in activism, and Kay was surely inspired by it. Her parents, James and Christina, were the founders of the London Black newspaper The Dawn of Tomorrow; it was her father James’ belief that Black Canadians needed to stay informed and connected with their community at a time when unity was sorely needed in the face of the many prejudices they faced. 

Kay’s vision for an organization which championed the welfare of Black Women has blossomed into what is today the Congress of Black Women of Canada, which boasts several chapters including one in her hometown of London at 301 Oxford Street. The organization has operated for decades providing a network and a voice to ensure Black women’s prosperity, provide motivation to Black women in the community to promote grassroots activism, and to generally serve as a safe and welcoming climate in which to further examine issues affecting their community today.

Sexual Assault Centre London (1973)

This was a volunteer-based organization with ties to the London Police Department, Office of the Crown Attorney and London Hospital. It was part of the Ontario Coalition of Rape Crisis centers and in March 1985 became a separate body of the Women’s Resource center and renamed itself the Sexual Assault Crisis Line.

The line is a twenty-four hour hotline providing support for women who have been assaulted, providing them with counselling and offering them support in reasserting control over their lives. Between 1985 and 1987 they helped to organize the Take Back the Night events in London which were parades held by women at night on the streets of London showing that they were not going to submit to fear.

Womanpower (1974)

Womanpower is a free career counselling and coaching organization that aims to promote employment opportunities, maintain an employer visitation program, and train women for fulfilling careers. Womanpower formed in response to widespread challenges for women in the workplace, and sought to create “women-positive” environments. Margaret Simpson, who founded the Women’s Workshop served as one of the organization’s first directors.

Big Sisters of London (1974)

This group was formed by Janet Stewart in 1974 to address the needs of an identified gap in services available for girls age 6 to 16.They sought to provide a friendship with a responsible female adult volunteer for youth in need. Thirty-five years later, in 2009, Big Sisters merged with Big Brothers of London and became one unified organization.

Women's Workshop (1975)

Begun by a professor at Fanshawe, Margaret Simpson, Women’s Workshop worked with Fanshawe College, Western University, Western’s affiliated Colleges, and various other women’s organizations to provide education for women on how to deal with women’s issues and learn more about society. These provided a chance for women to learn more about themselves, share knowledge with one another and provide opportunities for women to socialize.

Lockwood Films (1977)

Lockwood Films Inc. is a film company created by Nancy Johnson, the first woman on the CFPL radio station. The company has won several awards for documentaries they produced; such as Doctor Woman: the Life and Times of Dr. Elizabeth Bradshaw’ in 1978 and ‘Nobody’s Child: Canada’s Home for Children’ in 1995.

My Sister’s Place (1977)

The vision behind My Sister’s Place began with a small committee of community members who met to discuss the conditions and circumstances faced by women and their children living with the consequences of violence and abuse in Alliston Ontario in 1977. Their discussions were aimed at tackling some key problems, namely, how to confront and tackle the plights of women who were turning up at local churches, hospitals and other establishments having been experiencing physical and emotional abuse. The perseverance of the group culminated in the incorporation of an agency with the title “People In Transition” which today is more generally referred to by the working name My Sister’s Place. The once small community effort spread, with the London location operating out of 566 Dundas St, offering support for women in crisis, legal aid, housing assistance, safety planning and transitional support to help women escape their abusers and lay the foundations towards the establishment of safe living away from violence and abuse. 

Canadian Congress of Learning Opportunities for Women (1978)

The Canadian Congress of Learning Opportunities for Women was an annually meeting organization constructed to draw together and analyse national trends in adult education and training for women. The organization sought to figure out what the barriers to women’s education were, and to find ways to encourage support for greater learning and training opportunities to overcome these barriers. The organization focused specifically on those put at a disadvantage by age, income, geographic location or other factors, and making their resources and processes available to join by any interested party.

While the core committee of the Congress was originally based in Toronto, it soon moved to London and Montreal in the spring of 1978. In the spring of 1980 they held a special national conference called ‘the Education connection’ where women discussed the needs of women in the labour market and in middle age. That same year, in July, they were represented by Dr. Margaret Fulton at a United Nations conference in Copenhagen. The congress disbanded in 2000.

Natives Peoples Resource Centre in London (1978)

Barbara Antone is an important woman who lives in London, who is described further in our blogs on this website. As a female member of the Oneida tribe, she worked hard to improve conditions for all indigenous women in London and Canada in general. One of the ways she did this was to set up this resource centre in London on a grant from the Secretary of State. The goal of this centre was to organize workshops and conferences to help indigenous women in the London area in any way they could.

Women Spirit Gallery (1978)

The Women’s Spirit Gallery was formed to promote interest in the skills of female artists. The goal was to make the works more public to bring more attention to the research and educational materials.

The chairman of the corporation to begin with was Sasha Clair Hayman, but Maureen Riley (who is presented on our blog) was an artist whose show was presented there in 1983.

Task Force on the Status of Women at Kings College (1978)

The Task Force on the Status of Women at King’s College was created as a result of a workshop held by the Association of Universities and colleges of Canada in November 1975 on the Status of Canadian Women in the Canadian Academic Industry. This workshop, as well as the Canadian Association of University Teachers encouraged the creation of a task force at King’s.

The Organization published reports in April 1978 and March 1980, discussing a wide range of issues faced by the female students and faculty of universities across the country. This included the ‘old boy’s network’ which the authors felt indirectly led to the marginalization of women, among other issues such as the genderization of jobs. They also hosted events in which professionals discussed these issues and opened the floor for debate.

The Task Force consisted of members of the faculty, students and non-academic staff. Task force members participated in one of three committees; the awareness committee, the statistics committee or the attitudes committee who collected information for the reports. These reports generally inspired strong reactions from those who read them.

London Committee to End Women’s Abuse (1980)

This London based committee (previously known as the London Coordinating Committee on Family Violence) had a direct mandate that focused on ending familial violence in the community. This organization hoped to coordinate other local organizations, as well as the police and legal communities into a united front to deal with the prevalence of familial violence in a coherent and organized manner. The committee focused on expanding knowledge bases of changing community needs, ensuring funding direction to appropriate organizations, and ensuring effectiveness of information given out to questions of community members, and members of all levels of governance. In 1999 the committee chose to recognize the importance of gender in the discussion of women's abuse, prompting the renaming from the London Coordinating Committee on Family Violence to the London Committee to End Women’s Abuse.

The organization created the John Robinson Award in order to recognize those individuals who showed commitment and/or contributed to the community with respect to ending abuse of women. This award was created in honour of Detective John Robinson in recognition for his contributions to the cause prior to his retirement.

Women's Studies at the University of Western Ontario (1981-Present)

This program began in 1981 as a chance to challenge traditional norms in university readings and view the subjects of history, anthropology, art, philosophy, literature, psychology, law, languages and others. through the eyes of women. In the summer of 1981 the Women’s Studies Committee released a booklet describing courses that would be available in the 1981-1982 school year in the aforementioned subjects that would count towards a degree in Women’s Studies along with three graduate courses that would count towards the subject. The booklet also encouraged students to begin a women’s studies discourse in their classes and mentioned collections at the DB Weldon Library along with that of King’s and Brescia. Women’s Studies continues to be taught at Western.

The Children's Museum (1982)

The Children’s Museum in London Ontario was created by a woman named Carol Johnson (for more information see blog post), a nurse who researched childhood autism. She worked as a classroom assistant at Vanier for a time. Inspired by a children’s museum in Boston, Carol opened the Children’s Museum in London in 1982. Every child would be treated equally at the museum; there would be no rules disadvantaging any group of children.

Nokee Kwe Occupational Skill Development Incorporated (1983)

Nokee Kwe, which translates to ‘working women’ in Ojibway, was created in response to the low employment rate of Native American Women. Nokee Kwe employed women for 26 weeks, giving them a wage while they received instruction and training by the staff such as life skills training, education, technical training, career planning and job placement. Until 1987 the corporation also had a printing and binding service that women could take advantage of, but this was sold when funding from the government was cut.

YWCA Women of Distinction Award/Women of Excellence Gala (1984)

These dinners were held in order to celebrate the achievements of women in the world of Business, professions and labor, community and public service and arts and letters in London. The nominations are made and submitted by members who described the person’s achievements and handed in their Curriculum Vitae. A steering committee consisting of chairman, a subcommittee of seven and a two board representatives judged the nominees and selected one in each category.

The London YWCA was not the first to hold these, but followed the example of other YWCAs in Canada as it celebrated the achievements of women, raised funds for the organization through the selling of dinner tickets and corporate sponsorship and raised the profile of the YWCA in the community.

London Battered Women’s Advocacy Clinic (1984)

The London Battered Women’s Advocacy clinic, like many organizations of its time, reacted to a lack of support from traditional institutions of battered women in London. The complexity of the justice system combined with trauma to the women abused was considered to be a difficult combination when it came to situations like prosecution and divorce. As a result the Advocacy Clinic was established to provide legal and emotional counselling services for women as well as provide accurate data on battering by evaluating the impact of community services, determine demographic and characteristics of clients and how clinic services met their needs and described characteristics of abuse. It also had the legal goals of speaking out against obstacles for women attempting to end the cycle of violence in their lives and help women choose how to proceed legally and in their lives for free either with the help of direct consultation or through the aid of booklets and pamphlets published.

The Clinic opened in 1983 and found its services in high demand, resulting in it moving in June 1984. At first only individual counselling was offered, but in April 1983 group counselling was also offered. The Advocacy Clinic also worked with the public and professionals to raise awareness of the effect of violence in women’s lives to help end the cycle of violence with an outreach program started in 1989.

London Status of Women Action Group (1988-2006)

The London Status of Women Action Group co-sponsored events such as International Women’s Day (March 8) and Person’s day (October 16) which celebrated the winning of rights and freedoms for women in society. They also hosted the Nellie McClung Essay Contest beginning in 1984 which was a competition for primary and middle school students to write an essay about influential women in Canadian History with cash prizes for the winners. This was meant to inspire students’ interest in women’s role in Canadian History.

In addition to raising awareness about women’s role in society in the past, they also supported those women whom they felt were being unjustly treated by various local companies by helping with civil suits, human rights complaints, speaking to employers and picketing workplaces. They also supported women’s rights by participating in protests such as the pro-choice rally in 1992.

Women’s Monument Project Records (December 6, 1994)

On December 6th 1994 that London Ontario that London presented the Women’s Memorial Sculpture, in remembrance of the Montreal massacre at École Polytechnique (the 5th anniversary of the shooting). The artist who designed the sculpture, Leigh Rainey, has faces etched into the black stone to represent women suffrage.

Unfortunately, there was a lot of controversy against putting such a women’s monument in a park that already featured several war memorials.

Inscription: “It is a place to remember and reflect on violence, particularly violence against women, and all women and men who work to end it”.

London Women’s History Group (April 2000)

The London Women’s History Group came together in the fall of 1999 with the plan to create a cultural resource for women about local history.[11] They proposed in April 2000 to create a new public library that would become a Women’s Resource room, providing an opportunity for women to learn more about the women’s rights movements that were active between 1965 and 2000.[12] Their proposal was rejected, but on September 20, 2007 it was announced by Western News that the documents and interviews collected by the group would be housed at Western.[13]

Since then, the interviews have been transcribed by university students…

Miss G Project (2013)

In 2005, a conversation between a group of female students in a dorm room would result in the very first action toward an eight-year struggle to get gender studies included in the Ontario high school curriculum. Sarah Ghabrial and Sheetal Rawal were having a conversation regarding another girl’s experience having been sexually assaulted at a high school party, mainly the upsetting and degrading comments that she had endured from her peers. The Western students talking about the situation had seen and heard experiences just like it

The Miss G Project for Equity in Education was created to combat sexual assault by pressuring the Ontario government to add sex education to the high school curriculum. Their activism took on many forms over the years it took for their work to fully come to fruition. Calls to local politicians, peaceful demonstrations at provincial legislature buildings, lobbying, campaigning, fund-raising and more, propelled the project towards the students’ goals.  

In 2013, the efforts of the Miss G Project paid off, and legislation to include gender studies classes in the Ontario Curriculum was passed, effective the following September. The mission of the Miss G Project lives on in the curriculum and hopes to provide a foundation on which a consciousness of gender equality can be built. 

London Women’s March (2017)

Following the win of Donald Trump in the November 2016 United States Presidential election, and the loss of Hillary Clinton, there was a mass organization of protest movements to take place the day before the presidential inauguration. London’s women took up the call raised by their southern neighbours, and through online forums such as Facebook a march was successfully organized, mirroring the work of many female-led activist groups across North America and Western Europe. This march inspired both the London Women’s History Group to remobilize, knitting many pink hats for the march, as well as inspiring future marches to be organized annually starting in 2018. 

Arielle Kayabaga election to parliament (2021)

A refugee of the Burundian civil war, and a graduate of Carleton, Arielle Kayabaga has been a vocal activist and city councillor for London's Ward 13 since 2018, but was elected as a member of parliament in 2021, and is expected to be a cabinet minister. While a councillor, Arielle became a voice for London's marginalized, working with many local organizations.

Western University Student Walkout (2021)

Following the start of an investigation, news reports, and rumors of multiple instances of sexual violence on Western’s campus in the inital two weeks of classes, many students and faculty chose to protest the culture that existed surrounding these events. This protest involved a mass, online organized, walkout that saw some ten thousand university students meeting up on UC hill to demand a change in university culture.This walkout has inspired Western’s administration to create awareness campaigns on the issues at hand, create safeguard measures, and has inspired a will to seek further innovative change. Thus far changes have been made such as requiring courses that are essential to not be offered as night classes, and to create further poster-based awareness campaigns. How this change will continue to evolve remains to be seen at the time of writing. 

Take Back The Night (2021)

In response to the investigation that caused the student walkout, news reports and general unease regarding the events of multiple instances of sexual violence on Western’s campus, as well as general critiques of university culture, many students and administrations chose to organize additional events to raise awareness and demand change. The event organized online and in person by the Huron University Students Council and Urvi Maheshwari was one such event, open to all female and non-binary identifying members of the student body. The event sought to affirm and demonstrate a stand against recent gender and sexual assault based violence on campus, and did so through affirmation of basic rights like a peaceful walk and demonstration through campus at night.