Maureen Estella Ruth Irwin (October 7, 1934 – July 30, 2002) was a lesbian

activist Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived common good. Forms of activism range from mandate build ...

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 who advocated for Edmonton's 2SLGBTQ+ community. Irwin was actively involved with many organizations throughout her life including the

Girl Guides of Canada Girl Guides of Canada (GGC; ) is the national Guiding association of Canada. Guiding in Canada started on September 7, 1910, and GGC was among the founding members of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) in 1928. Histo ...

, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance (GALA), Womonspace, Common Woman Books, the Canadian Diabetes Association, the Edmonton Board of Health, and the Edmonton chapter of the Multiple Sclerosis Society.

Life and career

Maureen Irwin was born on October 7, 1934, in

Windsor, Ontario Windsor ( ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada. It is situated on the south bank of the Detroit River directly across from the U.S city of Detroit, Detroit, Michigan. Geographically located within but administratively independent of Esse ...

, to Estella and William Irwin. She joined the

Royal Canadian Air Force The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; ) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environmental commands within the unified Can ...

in 1953 and was stationed near

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

. Irwin met James Ronald Warren in 1955, marrying soon after in 1956. The pair welcomed two daughters and two sons before moving to

CFB Cold Lake Canadian Forces Base Cold Lake , abbreviated as CFB Cold Lake, is a Canadian Forces Base in the City of Cold Lake, Alberta. The facility is operated as an air force base by the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and is approximately south of the ...

, Alberta in 1965. Irwin was active in the community there, including holding various leadership positions in the local

Girl Guides Girl Guides (or Girl Scouts in the United States and some other countries) are organisations within the Scout Movement originally and largely still for girls and women only. The Girl Guides began in 1910 with the formation of Girlguiding, The ...

chapter. In 1974, the family moved to

where Maureen was employed by the

Edmonton Journal The ''Edmonton Journal'' is a daily newspaper published in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It is part of the Postmedia Network. History The ''Journal'' was founded in 1903 by three local businessmen — John Macpherson, Arthur Moore and J.W. Cunn ...

as a

librarian A librarian is a person who professionally works managing information. Librarians' common activities include providing access to information, conducting research, creating and managing information systems, creating, leading, and evaluating educat ...

until 1982. Irwin separated from her husband in 1978, coming out as a

lesbian A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...

in 1981. Their divorce was finalized in 1984. After leaving the Edmonton Journal, Irwin began working at the Boyle Street Co-op, now known as Boyle Street Community Services, finding housing for Edmonton's inner city residents. In 1986, Irwin was diagnosed with

multiple sclerosis Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease resulting in damage to myelinthe insulating covers of nerve cellsin the brain and spinal cord. As a demyelinating disease, MS disrupts the nervous system's ability to Action potential, transmit ...

, a disease she dealt with in addition to a prior diagnosis of

diabetes Diabetes mellitus, commonly known as diabetes, is a group of common endocrine diseases characterized by sustained high blood sugar levels. Diabetes is due to either the pancreas not producing enough of the hormone insulin, or the cells of th ...

. In the early 1990s, Irwin met Sheryl McInnes at a friend's party and fell in love. The two shared their lives together until McInnes died unexpectedly from a heart attack on October 5, 1998. After McInnes' death, Irwin moved to

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 to live closer to her grandchildren and two sons.

Volunteering and activism

After moving to Edmonton and working at the Boyle Street Co-op, now known as Boyle Street Community Services, Irwin became a social activist in 1982. The Pisces Bathhouse Raid, a 1981 police raid on a

gay bathhouse A gay bathhouse, also known as a gay sauna or a gay steambath, is a public bath targeted towards Gay men, gay and Bisexuality, bisexual men. In gay slang, a bathhouse may be called just "the baths", "the sauna", or "the tubs". Historically, they ...

frequented by the Edmonton's gay community, motivated Irwin to become a "gay and lesbian activist". Irwin's efforts to support the 2SLGBTQ+ community in Edmonton included donating to the Privacy Defense Fund, in support of those arrested following the Pisces Bathhouse Raid, actively participating in the Edmonton chapter of the Gay Alliance Towards Equality (GATE) as well as its successor organization, Gay and Lesbian Awareness (GALA). As a part of GALA, Irwin actively advocated for the

Alberta government The Executive Council of Alberta (the Cabinet) is a body of ministers of the Crown in right of Alberta, who along with the lieutenant governor, exercises the powers of the Government of Alberta. Ministers are selected by the premier and typicall ...

to include sexual orientation in its Individual Rights Protection Act, now the Alberta Human Rights Act, for over a decade. GALA also organized various Edmonton Pride activities. In 1991, Irwin worked together with

Michael Phair Michael Albert Phair (born August 1950) is a Canadian politician, who served on Edmonton City Council from 1992 until 2007. He was the first openly gay elected politician in the province of Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of ...

and others as part of their GALA duties to host the first

Pride parade A pride parade (also known as pride event, pride festival, pride march, or pride protest) is an event celebrating lesbian, Gay men, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) social and self-acceptance, achievements, LGBT rights by country o ...

in Edmonton. The parade began at McIntyre Park, near

Whyte Avenue Whyte (82) Avenue is an arterial road in south-central Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It became the main street of the City of Strathcona as it formed, and now runs through Old Strathcona. It was named in 1891 after Sir William Whyte, the supe ...

and was attended by less than 30 people. Around the same time that Irwin was involved with GATE, she also joined Common Woman Books, a feminist bookstore in Edmonton, and played a role in the creation of Womonspace, a recreational and social group for lesbians. Irwin was an active member of Womonspace and went on to become the membership coordinator of the organization in 1993. When Michael Phair ran for Edmonton City

Councillor A councillor, alternatively councilman, councilwoman, councilperson, or council member, is someone who sits on, votes in, or is a member of, a council. This is typically an elected representative of an electoral district in a municipal or re ...

in 1992, Irwin volunteered as his campaign office manager. Following Phair's win, Irwin stayed on for a few months to run Phair's City Hall office. In 1995, Phair ran for a second term in office with Irwin running his campaign once more, promoting Phair's bid for reelection as "a way to silence the critics". In the 1990s, Irwin and her partner, Sheryl McInnes, challenged the

heteronormativity Heteronormativity is the definition of heterosexuality as the normative human sexuality. It assumes the gender binary (i.e., that there are only two distinct, opposite genders) and that sexual and marital relations are most fitting between peo ...

of greeting cards by stocking "lesbian and feminist cards" at their mail-order bookstore, Woman to Womon Books. Irwin and McInnes also spoke at a 1996 meeting in Edmonton, dubbed 'Alberta Through the Eyes of Women', to leverage Canada's signature on the

Beijing Declaration The Beijing Declaration was a resolution adopted by the UN at the end of the Fourth World Conference on Women on 15 September 1995. The resolution adopted to promulgate a set of principles concerning the equality of men and women. Text Declar ...

to improve the lives of women in

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 ...

. Throughout her life, Irwin also spent time volunteering for the Canadian Diabetes Association, the Edmonton Board of Health, and the Edmonton chapter of the Multiple Sclerosis Society.

Awards

In an interview for Womonspace News, Irwin noted that she felt the most meaningful award she received in her life was the Silver Thank You Badge from the

as "it can only be given by people you work with in Guides". Irwin received both the Silver Thank You Badge and an Award of Merit from the CFB Cold Lake's Community Council for her volunteer work in 1974. In 1993, Irwin was recognized for her 27 years of volunteer service with the Canada Volunteer Award Medal and Certificate of Honour. Edmonton's first openly gay city councillor,

, was one of the people to nominate Irwin for the award. She was also nominated for the

YWCA The Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) is a nonprofit organization with a focus on empowerment, leadership, and rights of women, young women, and girls in more than 100 countries. The World office is currently based in Geneva, Swit ...

Tribute to Women Award (Public Affairs and Communications) for her work with the gay community in Edmonton. At the 1993 Gay and Lesbian Pride event in Edmonton, the Maureen Irwin Pride Award was created in honour of Irwin's contributions to the community. Patricia Warren, Irwin's daughter, presented her mother with the inaugural Maureen Irwin Award for Community Service.

Death and legacy

On July 30, 2002, Maureen Irwin in died in Calgary, Alberta after a battle with

abdominal cancer Stomach cancer, also known as gastric cancer, is a malignant tumor of the stomach. It is a cancer that develops in the lining of the stomach. Most cases of stomach cancers are gastric carcinomas, which can be divided into a number of subtypes ...

. She left behind her children, grandchildren, and friends.

References

External links

Womonspace Newsletter
on the Internet Archive {{DEFAULTSORT:Irwin, Maureen 2002 deaths 1934 births 20th-century Canadian LGBTQ people 21st-century Canadian LGBTQ people Canadian LGBTQ rights activists Activists from Alberta People with multiple sclerosis Canadian activists with disabilities Royal Canadian Air Force personnel Canadian lesbians