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Suffrage

Suffrage, also called the franchise, is the right for a group of people, such as adult female citizens, to vote in public elections. The word franchise here has nothing to do with McDonalds! This right has not always been universal among adult citizens of Alberta. Before 1916, only British male subjects with at least a minimum of property were allowed to vote. Does that sound fair? Alberta became the second Canadian province, after Manitoba, to grant women the franchise (vote) in provincial elections in 1916. The following year, the Wartime Elections Act was passed, temporarily giving all Canadian women in the armed forces or with military relatives the right to vote. The Act also disenfranchised (took the vote away) citizens of "enemy alien" birth, including German and Austro-Hungarian Canadians. Female citizens over twenty years old obtained the right to vote in federal elections in 1918. Status Indians were the last group of Canadians to be enfranchised in 1960.

Women Voters

Women Voters