The Royal Commission on the Status of Women in Canada was established in February 1967. It held an up-to-then unheard-of programme of hearings: public meetings in 14 cities across the country with most of them broadcast on the CBC, as well as receiving briefs and letters and commissioning 34 studies on relevant topics.

Today is the 50th anniversary of the tabling of the Commission’s report, which included 167 recommendations that addressed a wide range of issues in public and private life, calling, among many many other things, for an end to restrictions on abortion, for shifts in labour law to address equality, for access to childcare, and for the funding and creation of feminist organizations–inside and outside of government–to continue to organize for change.

For more information (and useful archival resources), see https://riseupfeministarchive.ca/…/the-royal…/.

Also visit the CBC Archives for original clips from television and radio coverage of the Commission, including one featuring Mrs. Sam Lavallee’s speech to the Commission on the Status of Indigenous Women.