Category: Statues

Amid the shouts of media scrums and hustle of high school tours, a quiet tea party takes place on Parliament Hill.

It's night time in Ottawa and a light shines down on a lone figure outside the National Arts Centre. Hands clasped in front of him and clad in dress pants, vest, and bow tie, he sits at one end of a piano bench, as if inviting passers-by to stop and perform with him.

Standing alone beside an empty chair, Emily Murphy invites anyone to accompany her while she stares at a newspaper. The headline reads “Women are Persons.” This indicates the enormous contribution that she, along with four other women, had on the court decision that women are considered to be persons under the law.

The bronzed, larger-than-life version of Louise Crummy McKinney has an earnest, grandmotherly sort of expression on her unnervingly still face. Immortalized in statue form with the rest of the Famous Five on the east side of Parliament Hill, McKinney’s thin, round glasses and pearls make her look more matronly than her trail-blazing career would suggest.