Winona Margaret Flett (June 10, 1884 – May 16, 1922) was a prominent

suffragist Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to v ...

and social reformer in

Manitoba Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...

Life

Flett was born in

South Dumfries Township, Ontario The County of Brant (2021 population 39,474) is a single-tier municipality in the Canadian province of Ontario. Although it retains the word " county" in its name, the municipality is a single-tier municipal government and has no upper tier. T ...

, the daughter of Isabella Bowie and James Flett. She left

Woodstock, Ontario Woodstock is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. The city has a population of 40,902 according to the 2016 Canadian census. Woodstock is the seat of Oxford County, at the head of the non-navigable Thames River, approximately 128 km from ...

in 1912 for

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

with her mother and sister Lynn. She worked there as a public stenographer. Flett and her sister helped found the Political Equality League (later the

Manitoba Political Equality League The Political Equality League was a group active in Manitoba, Canada between 1912 and 1916 that successfully lobbied for women's suffrage at the provincial level. One of the highlights of the campaign was a mock parliament in which Nellie McClung p ...

), whose aim was to gain the vote for women in the province. She was in charge of a petition organized by this group which bore the signatures of 39,584 women. The petition was photographed for posterity and the four women included in the photograph are Flett, the league's president Mary Elizabeth Crawford, the league's secretary, Lillian Kate Beynon Thomas, and the oldest signatory of the petition, Amelia Burrell. left, Presentation of petition on 23 December 1915 The petition was to

Tobias Crawford Norris Tobias Crawford Norris (September 5, 1861 – October 29, 1936) was a Canadian politician who served as the tenth premier of Manitoba from 1915 to 1922. Norris was a member of the Liberal Party.J. M. Bumsted"Tobias Crawford Norris" ''The Cana ...

who had won a victory for the Liberal party that August. In January 1916, Manitoba became the first province in Canada to grant women the vote. Eight women were honoured with being present for the third reading of the suffrage bill and Flett was included in that group. In October 1914, Flett married Fred Dixon, a Manitoba politician. She campaigned for her husband in the 1920 general election. She frequently spoke at

J. S. Woodsworth James Shaver Woodsworth (July 29, 1874 – March 21, 1942) was a pre–First World War pioneer of the Canadian Social Gospel, a Christian religious movement with social democratic values and links to organized labour. He was a long-time leader ...

's "Peoples' Forums", a series of Sunday afternoon lectures. Flett died of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...

in Winnipeg at the age of 37. Her funeral was attended by Liberal and Labour politicians, including

Tobias Norris Tobias Crawford Norris (September 5, 1861 – October 29, 1936) was a Canadian politician who served as the tenth premier of Manitoba from 1915 to 1922. Norris was a member of the Liberal Party.J. M. Bumsted"Tobias Crawford Norris" ''The Cana ...

, the premier of the province.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Flett, Winona M 1884 births 1922 deaths Canadian suffragists Deaths from pneumonia in Manitoba People from the County of Brant