Other Herstoric Firsts
On this page, you can explore the many stories of Canadian women who made history and became the “first” accredited women in their fields.
A century ago, forensic tools were elementary at best. One of those at the cutting edge of improving them was a small, no-nonsense woman who refused to be sidelined by her gender. She became not only Canada’s first female pathologist, but also one of the most significant experts of the first half of the 20th century.
Stories
Life & Legacy, Part 3
Harriet Starr Stewart
Harriet Starr Stewart was just ten years old in 1872 when her father seconded the motion before the Mount Allison University Board of Governors to formally admit women, but he may have already been thinking of her future.
Stories
Dr. Harriet Victoria (Foxton) Clarke
First Woman Graduate from Medical School in Manitoba
Dr. Hattie Foxton-Clarke emerged as a trailblazing force in early 20th-century Canada and carved out a legacy that shaped Canadian healthcare in ways history is only beginning to uncover.
Stories
Black Canadian Women in the Field of Medicine
A StoryMap
This StoryMap features Black Canadian women, historical and current, who have made their mark in the field of medicine in North America. These women may have met with rejection, obstacles, and discrimination but the one thing they all had was determination; and that made them into trailblazers whose legacies have made an indelible imprint in Canada’s medical landscape.
StoryMaps
Unit Plan: Case Studies
These Case Studies present the histories of pioneering women from Western Canada, and encourage students to see how their perseverance and resilience in STEM can be tools to inspire our own lives today.
Education Resources
Dr. Maud Menten
A First in Cancer Research
Maud Menten is a highly celebrated figure today, not only as being among the first Canadian women to become a medical doctor, but also because of her career which includes a lengthy list of other notable ‘firsts’.
Stories
Dr. Carrie Derick
The First Woman to a Full Professorship
Carrie Derrick’s intellectual legacy, especially by virtue of introducing the subject of evolution and genetics to Canadian Universities will continue to tell her story of determination and resilience. As a co-founder of the National Council of Women, she will be remembered as a pioneer of gender equality and a trailblazer for Canadian women in science.
Stories
Dr. Henrietta Ball Banting
Of Equal Impact to Name “Banting”
It may come as a surprise to many that Dr. Frederick Banting’s second wife, Lady Henrietta Banting, was a highly accomplished obstetrician, and the champion of routine mammography and breast cancer prevention in Canada. One can even argue that Henrietta Banting’s accomplishments at very least equal that of her husband’s in medicine and research.
Stories
Dr. Leone Farrell
The Toronto Method
Working tirelessly, Dr. Leone Farrell had formulated a method, famously dubbed the ‘Toronto Method’, that brought the rate of polio infections among Canadian children from 50,000 in the 1950s to almost zero by 1965. Yet, the story of this little known science heroine became buried in the archives, and has only recently been unearthed in the face of the global COVID-19 pandemic and the race for a vaccination.
Stories
Joan Fitzgerald
A Canadian Woman’s Experience
Fitzgerald, and those who came before her, helped pave the way toward a greater acceptance of women in the Canadian military. She served in one of history’s most famous wars, in Canada’s so-called forgotten war, and in between, she worked within the traditional field of nursing in order to carve out leadership, travel, and educational opportunities.
Historical Articles