Alice Jane Jukes Jamieson (July 14, 1860 – July 4, 1949) was an American and Canadian

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

and

magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judi ...

Career

Jamieson arrived in

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

, Canada in 1903 when her husband,

Reuben Rupert Jamieson Reuben Rupert Jamieson (December 12, 1856 – May 30, 1911), also known as Reuben Roper Jamieson, was a Canadian politician who served as the 16th mayor of Calgary, Alberta. Biography Jamieson was born on December 12, 1856, in Westover, Ca ...

, became the area general superintendent for the

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway () , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadian Pacific Kansas City, Canadian Pacific Ka ...

. They prospered in Calgary and after his retirement, he became the 19th

mayor of Calgary This is a list of mayors of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. List of mayors of Calgary See also *List of Calgary municipal elections *Calgary City Council Notes References SourcesBiographies of Calgary's mayors from the City of Calgary web pa ...

. After the death of her husband, Alice continued to be active in the community. She was involved in organizations such as the Calgary Council of Women and the YWCA of Calgary. In 1914, Jamieson was appointed the first female judge in the

British Empire The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...

of a juvenile court. In 1916, she became the second female magistrate of the Empire, just months after

Emily Murphy Emily Murphy (born Emily Gowan Ferguson; 14 March 186826 October 1933) was a Canadian women's rights activist and author. In 1916, she became the first female magistrate in Canada and the fifth in the British Empire after Elizabeth Webb Nichol ...

was appointed in

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

, Alberta. Jamieson's right to serve as magistrate came into question in 1917 in the Lizzie Cyr Case. Cyr's lawyer argued that as a woman, Alice was legally "incompetent and incapable" of holding the office. The Alberta Supreme Court upheld her right to serve in this position. This was a precursor to the 1929

Persons Case ''Edwards v Canada (AG)'', also known as the ''Persons Case'' (), is a Canadian constitutional case that decided in 1929 that women were eligible to sit in the Senate of Canada. The legal case was put forward by the Government of Canada on the ...

where five other Albertan women fought to answer the question, "Are women persons?" Jamieson retired in 1932.

Legacy

When the

Calgary Board of Education Calgary School District No. 19 or the Calgary Board of Education (CBE) is the public school board in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. As a public system, the CBE is required to accept any students who meet age and residency requirements, regardless of ...

opened its only all-female school in 2003, it honored her by naming it the

Alice Jamieson Girls' Academy The Alice Jamieson Girls' Academy (AJA) is an all-female public school in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It is the only single gender school run by the Calgary Board of Education (CBE), and is one of a very small number of fully public single-gender s ...

. Bentall Capital LP and

British Columbia Investment Management Corporation British Columbia Investment Management Corporation which uses the trade name BCI, is a Canadian company established by way of the 1999 ''Public Sector Pension Plans Act'' to provide investment services to British Columbia’s public sector pensi ...

(bcIMC) broke ground in February 2007 on a new office tower called Jamieson Place in honour of Alice Jukes Jamieson. The tower opened in 2009.

Personal life

Alice Jukes Jamieson had 4 children.

References

External links

Great Alberta Law Cases:The Cyr Case:People:Alice Jamieson
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jamieson, Alice Canadian feminists American expatriates in Canada Judges in Alberta Canadian Christian Scientists Canadian women judges 1860 births 1949 deaths