FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE NOVEMBER 5, 1997
SENATORS INTRODUCE BILL TO ESTABLISH
PARK IN HONOUR OF "PERSONS CASE"
OTTAWA -- Senator Colin Kenny and Senator Raynell Andreychuk today tabled a Private Members Bill entitled, An Act to establish a National Historic Park to commemorate the "Persons Case". The location of the Park would be the Daly site, located at the intersections of Rideau Street, Sussex Drive, and borders Mackenzie Avenue in downtown Ottawa.
"I am talking about a park designed to give Canadians a place to relax and embrace Canada's history - especially an important historical chapter like "The Persons Case," said Senator Kenny.
Vacant and boarded for the past six years, the Daly site, (named after the building formerly on the area) is a 1.1 acre site located in the downtown core. Situated across from many key attractions in Ottawa, including the National Conference Centre, the National War Memorial, and the Chateau Laurier, the Park would provide a green pedestrian bridge from the popular Byward Market to Parliament Hill. In addition, a park located at the Daly site would offset the increasing density of the downtown core, particularly with the addition of the new American Embassy on Sussex Drive.
The prominence of the Daly site is a suitable location to establish Ottawa's first National Historic Park which will commemorate the 1929 ruling on the Persons Case. The Persons Case gained historic importance when Canada's highest appeal court at the time, England's Privy Council, made a breakthrough ruling that women were persons under the law. From this point on, women were eligible to be appointed to the Senate and other federal bodies.
The Persons Case was not only a victory for women, but all Canadians. It was a victory for every member of every minority group in this country, who at one point or another has been disadvantaged, either because of beliefs, race, religion, income, or gender," Senator Andreychuk concluded.