1911, over three and a half million immigrants had entered the country,
including Germans, Scandinavians and Ukrainians, with small minorities of
Russians, Poles, Austrians and Italians, all with their own cultures. Even the
normally conservative farmers of the prairies were in revolt, not because of any
sympathy with the ideas of Karl Marx but because they wished to preserve their
livelihood in a society increasingly dominated by industry and capitalist
finance. Such a diversity of peoples and interests created particular problems for
the federal government which felt it had to shape the economic future of
Canada and take bold and decisive steps to forge a sense of a common identity
and unity, in which justice was for all rather than the privileged few.^7
It was while Emmeline was in Vancouver that she heard the bitter-sweet
news that Nancy Astor, with whom she had occasionally corresponded, had
been elected by a huge majority in the Sutton constituency of Plymouth as their
Coalition MP in the British House of Commons. Emmeline rose to the occa-
sion, commenting to the press, ‘[O]ur hope as women will be that the first
woman elected to this body will measure up to the enormous responsibilities she
has undertaken.’^8 It was a bitter blow to know that the first woman MP had not
been active in the women’s suffrage campaigns nor known for her feminist
achievements but an outsider, an American, born in Virginia. Nancy Astor, an
ardent Christian Scientist, actively involved in old-style community and
national service, including the gift of nursery schools and maternity centres,
had stood in the shoes of her husband when, on the death of his father, he had
to take his seat in the House of Lords.^9
Emmeline returned to the United States after her short stay in Canada, but
was back in that country by early May 1920 when she addressed the Women’s
Canadian Club in Toronto. Her commitment to the British Empire and imperi-
alism had not wavered, and her advocacy of a particular role for women within
this work continued to be frequent themes in her talks as she mingled amongst a
network of like-minded women. Thus, in early May, she paid a warm tribute to
the Canadians for the welcome they had given the English war-brides and
expressed the hope that ‘we British women – whether born in Canada or the
Mother Country – have the power as well as the opportunity to develop this
wonderful country and make it one of the biggest and best in our wonderful
Empire’. Emmeline’s representation of the Empire as a family, with Britain as the
mother of colonial daughters, was not unusual and enabled women to participate
in the ideological work of empire, shaping what was considered their womanly
role and duty.^10 In particular, while she emphasised that both sons and daughters
should be trained for service to the nation, women of a high social standing had a
particular feminine role to play in imperial work. ‘The daughters of the rich
should be taught nursing, so that in time there might be developed a vast national
organization which would ensure that every woman, in no matter how remote a
district, would receive proper care and attention in time of childbirth or illness.’^11
The warm receptions that Emmeline received seemed to revitalise her. But
despite her fame, she was forever conscious of the financial pressures upon her.
LECTURER IN NORTH AMERICA