“Canada is a democracy whose citizens share expansive rights and freedoms. Despite this fact, the dominant narrative of Canada’s evolution largely overlooks women’s contributions to it."
Heather Morrison spent 15 years working in a women's shelter and a sexual assault centre before beginning her Master of Education at Queen's Faculty of Education. As she worked on her coursework, Heather often stared out the window, looking at the abandoned building across the street, which was formerly the federal Prison for Women.
For Morrison, the building was representative of women's oppression throughout Canadian history. The building itself was being neglected, the way women's participation in Canadian history had been neglected.
This sparked the idea for the Canadian Museum of Women's History.
Now in the second year of her PhD in Education at Queen’s University, the focus of Morrison’s studies is to explore and understand how a national museum of women’s history, as an institution of public pedagogy, could strengthen liberal democracy in Canada.
Morrison says:
“Canada is a democracy whose citizens share expansive rights and freedoms. Despite this fact, the dominant narrative of Canada’s evolution largely overlooks women’s contributions to it.
It is the role of the Canadian Museum of Women's History to add accuracy to our national story. The Canadian Museum of Women's History will fulfill its role by amplifying the little-known and untold stories of the contributions pre and post-colonial women made to the lands now known as Canada.
The victories of the women's movement are a blueprint for future generations to solve ever-evolving social injustices. We need this institution in Canada to tell these stories and teach us how we can make our world a better place. The creation of a national museum dedicated to women’s history is democracy in action.”
Morrison and the Founding Board of the Canadian Museum of Women's History invite you to celebrate International Women’s Day with them by adding your name to a petition at Change.org.
Happy International Women’s Day 2023!