OTTAWA-A Wikwemikong resident has been named as one of three aboriginal women chosen to be recognized as Nation Builders in the spirit of the Famous 5.
Allison Fisher, a Wikwemikong resident and executive director of the Wabano Centre for Aboriginal Health, is one of three women chosen for the award, along with National Chief Betty Ann Lavallee of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples and Michele Audette, president of the Native Women’s Association of Canada.
A luncheon to honour this year’s recipients will be held in Ottawa on Tuesday, April 29 from 11:45 am to 1:30 pm in the Panorama Room of the National Arts Centre.
“I am honoured at having been chosen by the Famous 5 Ottawa criteria committee,” stated Ms. Lavallee. “It is truly something that I never expected and I want to express my sincerest appreciation to the committee for bestowing me with this award alongside my colleagues, President Michele Audette of the Native Women’s Association of Canada and Allison Fisher, Executive Director for the Wabano Centre for Aboriginal Health.”
Ms. Fisher, who could not be reached by the Recorder for comment prior to this week’s press deadline, is the executive director of Ottawa’s Wabano Centre for Aboriginal Health, a state-of-the-art facility serving more than 10,000 aboriginal people every year and widely regarded as the premier aboriginal health centre in the country. Ms. Fisher was also recognized earlier this year with an Order of Ontario award.
Anishinabek Nation Grand Council Chief Patrick Madahbee said in a press release earlier this year that Ms. Fisher, “turned a struggling centre into a dynamic operation.”
The release stated, “The new Wabano Centre, which was opened in May 2013, provides a wide range of social services, health supports, and youth programs for 35,000 aboriginal people living in the Ottawa region. In its 14 year history, Wabano has had dramatic success in creating programs that reduce homelessness, poverty, unemployment, addiction rates and family violence against aboriginal people.”
The Famous 5 were five Canadian women from Alberta (Emily Murphy, Nellie McClung, Henrietta Muir Edwards, Louise McKinney and Irene Parlby), who in 1927 filed a petition seeking to have women legally considered persons so that women could be appointed to the Senate. The petition asked the Supreme Court of Canada to rule on the question, “Does the word ‘Persons,” in Section 24 of the British North America Act, 1867 include female persons?”
Even though, in 1928, the Supreme Court of Canada voted unanimously against the Famous 5, the decision was subsequently overturned on October 18, 1929 by the British Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. This historic ruling set a precedent in all Commonwealth Nations that enabled women to become Senators and inspired women to fully participate in other aspects of public life.
Last year’s Famous 5 Ottawa recipients were Mary Simon, Sheila Watt Cloutier and Nunavut Premier Eva Aariak—three Nation Builders from Canada’s Arctic. As in the past, the luncheon is expected to draw Parliamentarians as well as provincial, municipal, business and organization leaders throughout the Ottawa area as a way to honour the contributions made to Canada by Canadian women.
