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50 years of Nellie’s: A timeline

Posted on: November 16th, 2023 by Nellie's No Comments

Fifty years ago, a group of women activists realized that in the city of Toronto there were only 40 beds available for homeless women and over 400 beds for homeless men. Moved to action by this inequality, Nellie’s was founded in 1973 — and it was named after pioneer feminist, Nellie McClung (who was one of five women who challenged the Canadian government in the Supreme Court of Canada to have women declared persons under the law). Here are some of our biggest milestones over the last fifty years:

1973: Nellie’s opens its doors with a 16-bed shelter on Broadview Ave. While initially established for young homeless women dealing with teenage pregnancy, suicide, self-harm, crime, prostitution, ill-health and abuse, staff began to notice that most of the women accessing Nellie’s were middle-aged and older women fleeing domestic violence.

1978: Nellie’s purchases the beautiful historic residential building that became home for more than four decades. Over the years, in response to the overwhelming need, Nellie’s increased its occupancy rate to 36 beds and made the main focus of the organization disrupting violence against women and their children.

2002: Nellie’s opens its Community Support and Outreach office on Queen St. E. Here we provided programming, transitional housing support, a food bank, and more to women and their children who had moved out of the shelter and those who lived in our community at risk of homelessness.

2017: Thanks to a generous grant from La Fondation Emmanuelle Gattuso, Nellie’s launches a children’s program to address the wide range of issues facing children living at the shelter, while also providing them with a safe space to play, explore, and laugh. Two years later, an additional grant allowed Nellie’s to expand the program to also focus on supporting teens living in our shelter.

2019: Nellie’s secures a substantial government investment for the purchase of a new shelter building and begins raising capital to complete the necessary renovations.

2022: Nellie’s moves to the stunning three-storey Victorian building we now call home. Our new shelter has capacity for up to 38 beds across 22 bedrooms (an increase from 36 beds across 9 rooms in the old building), giving family units some privacy, and ample space to provide supportive programs and services. The move closed the Community Support and Outreach office on Queen St., and in 2023 we opened a new office on Cosburn Ave. in East York to offer these services.

2023: Nellie’s gains ground with empowerment self-defense work at the 2023 NGO CSW67 Forum in New York City, an event that runs in parallel to the UN Commission on the Status of Women.

Celebrating Women’s History Month

Posted on: October 1st, 2013 by Nellie's No Comments

In Canada, October is Women’s History Month. It is the month in which we celebrate the notable accomplishments and contributions made by women to our society at large. This year, the Status of Women Canada (SWC) chose the theme, Canadian Women Pioneers: Inspiring Change through Ongoing Leadership, to “highlight the history of women’s participation in various fields, such as science, technology and trades.”

There are many women who have significantly contributed to their fields. Some are famous; some less so. When we think of the remarkable feats accomplished by women, we may think of names like Roberta Bondar, Canada’s first female astronaut, or Agnes Macphail, the first woman elected to the House of Commons. We may also think of women like Dr. Leonara Howard King, the first Canadian doctor to practice medicine in China, or speak of women like Nellie McClung, an activist who fought for the women’s right to vote and run for public office.

Nellie’s Board of Directors at our AGM this year.

Despite the outstanding contributions these women made, let us not forget the women in our own personal histories who have inspired us and enabled change in our own lives. Their stories are passed down to us from clients and members of Nellie’s. They are grandmothers, survivors of war and women of unknown and silent strength. They are mothers, women who single-handedly raised their kids even in conditions of poverty and instability. They are shelter staff members who provide unflagging support to women fleeing homes filled with violence. They are the women continuing our fight for equality, to live lives free of discrimination and oppression.

While October may be the time to celebrate women for their contributions to society, we don’t have to wait until October to pay tribute to women who have inspired us. Beyond the thirty-one days of October, we should celebrate being women, capable of bringing life to this world and making a difference in each other lives. For what better way can we celebrate the achievements of the women who have inspired us than by embracing the fact we are all capable women, able to contribute, in our own way, to the communities we live in and to the society at large.

Nellie McClung and the Famous Five

Posted on: March 5th, 2012 by Nellie's No Comments

People often ask us the history of our name “Nellie’s Women’s Shelter.” In 1973, when Nellie’s was founded by a group of women activists, including June Callwood, they chose to name our organization after Nellie McClung, feminist, politician, social activist and one of the “Famous Five” who fought for women to be recognized as persons under the law, eligible to hold seats in Canadian Parliament.

(Nellie McClung)

On August 27^th, 1927, Nellie McClung along with Emily Murphy, Irene Parlby, Louise McKinney and Henrietta Muir Edwards, filed a petition to Canada’s Supreme Court asking the question “Does the word “persons” in the British North America Act include female persons?” Less than a year later, the Supreme Court came back with the answer: “No.” Obviously dissatisfied, the women took this case to a higher level of authority, the Privy Council in England, which was then Canada’s highest court. On October 18^th 1929 they finally got an answer:

“The exclusion of women from all public offices is a relic of days more barbarous than ours. And to those who would ask why the word “person” should include females, the obvious answer is, why should it not?”

Following this decision, Nellie McClung, Irene Parlby and Louise McKinney went on to be elected into the Alberta Legislature, Henrietta Muir Edwards helped establish the National Council of Women, and Emily Murphy continued her work as the British Empire’s first female judge. It is our honour that two of Nellie’s McClung’s granddaughters, Emily and Caitlin McClung volunteer at Nellie’s. You can meet the McClung sisters at LEAF’s Annual Persons Day Breakfast.

We are proud that our organization is richly grounded in the advancement of women’s rights in Canada. Just as the Famous Five identified women’s denial of legal “personhood” as a barrier to the full participation and inclusion of women in society, Nellie’s work today continues to identify barriers that make it difficult for women to leave abusive situations such as lack of affordable housing and childcare and an immigration system that keeps women vulnerable and in danger. In the spirit and memory of Nellie McClung and the Famous Five, we remain committed to the work of ending violence so that all women may live free from fear, able to contribute as full and participating members of society.