Amelia Le Sueur (1842-1913), physician, social
reformer and devout Christian, was born in Quebec City, province of Quebec in
Canada on March 29, 1842 to Peter and Barbara Le Sueur. Her father was a civil
servant and, for a time, served as secretary of the Civil Service Commission.
Her parents made sure that she and her brother, William, received a good
education both at home and in what was known as the Provincial School. William
went on to become president of the Royal Society of Canada and a well-known
writer.[1]
Marriage
& Family
On October 16, 1860, at the age of 18,
Amelia married Augustus A. Yeomans, a physician from Belleville, Ontario.
Shortly thereafter they moved to Calagry, Alberta where Augustus practiced as a
surgeon and where their first daughter, Lilian, was born the following year.
When the Civil War broke out in the United States in 1861, Augustus decided to
respond to an urgent appeal from the Union Army for his expertise as a surgeon.
This required a move to the United States, including a brief time in Washington
D.C. After the war ended in
1864, Augustus continued to serve as a military surgeon in the U.S. Army. This
meant that the family, which now included a second daughter, Charlotte, spent
much in the United States where they had legal residence. Their first love,
however, was always Canada.
She
Pursues Her Dream
When Augustus died in 1878, Amelia decided to pursue her dream of
becoming a physician. Because no medical school in Canada would accept women
students, she joined her daughter, Lilian, at the University of Michigan School
of Medicine. Upon her graduation with an M.D. in 1883, she joined Lilian who
had preceded her to Winnipeg, Manitoba. In Winnipeg they practiced together specializing
in midwifery and diseases of women and children. They were the first women
physicians in Winnipeg.[2] In 1890 Charlotte, who was
now a registered nurse, joined them in Winnipeg.
Involved
in the Suffrage Movement
In her medical practice in Winnipeg, Amelia observed first-hand the
plight of women because of their degradation and marginalization in society.
She also personally experienced discrimination because of her sex and because,
as a doctor, she was functioning in a role that had traditionally been reserved
for men. As a result, she became convinced that only by obtaining the right to
vote would the discrimination against women be alleviated. She thus became a
champion of equal rights for women and a leader in the suffrage movement in
Manitoba and Canada. A tireless worker, she helped found the Winnipeg Humane
Society in 1894 and the Equal Franchise Association, which was committed to
empowering women.
Not everyone appreciated her efforts. In fact, there was much
opposition. Not only were most men
opposed to women’s suffrage and convinced it would cause the disintegration of
the family, most women were apathetic or hostile to the concept. This, however, did not
deter Amelia. She continued relentlessly in her efforts to convince both men
and women of the advantages that society would accrue when women were given the
right to vote.
On February 9, 1893, Amelia served as premier of a mock parliament at
the Bijou Theatre in Winnipeg. This staged parliament was organized by the
suffragists of Manitoba for the purpose of bringing the suffrage issue to the
attention of the general public and the Manitoba legislature. During the
proceedings, Amelia argued that the right of women to vote was necessary “for
the sake of both justice and expediency” as well as “the best progress of the
commonwealth.” For a time it appeared that they had effectively influenced the
provincial legislature when a resolution, giving women the vote, was voted upon
and declared to have passed. The recorded vote, however, fell short of the
needed majority.
She
Tackles Other Social Issues
Winnipeg was booming when the Yeomans settled there in the early
1880s. Everyone traveling west stopped in Winnipeg and many decided stay.
Between 1881 and 1901 the population increased from 8000 to over 42,000. This
sort of growth also brought with it the sort of vice that seems to go with
boomtowns. At one time, it seemed there was a saloon on every corner and houses
of prostitution abounded. As a result, Winnipeg was known as one of the
wickedest cities in Canada.[3]
Observing first-hand the domestic violence perpetrated on women and
the role of alcohol in this abuse, Amelia came to see alcohol as the symbol of
the deterioration of the home and society. She, therefore, joined the Christian
Women’s Temperance Union of Canada and served as vice-president of that
organization. She saw the success of the temperance movement closely linked to
the success of the suffrage movement because women, “the protectors of
community morals, would vote against the liquor traffic.”[4]
Amelia’s social activism was not limited to the temperance and
suffrage issues. She forcefully addressed the problems faced by
non-English-speaking immigrants, the wretched state of prisons and the
deplorable conditions in the clothing factories where women worked for a
pittance. She also confronted prostitution and excoriated the men who kept the
vice going by their participation. One daily newspaper reported her speech to a
gathering for “men only” in which vividly described the ravages of venereal
disease in women patients whom she had treated; “Young women made to suffer
through the wickedness of men, their young lives ruined, while their betrayers
moved untarnished through the ranks of society.”[5]
Amelia believed in reform in all areas including the home. Although
she was not anti-male and reached out to both men and women, she obviously felt
that men had relinquished their responsibilities at home, being led away by
alcohol, prostitution and other social ills and distractions. As far as she was
concerned, this made them ill suited for provincial or national leadership. “If
men spent more time at home,” she said, “they would be more fitted to remedy
the social ills of the nation.” But as things stood at present, “it was women
who were most suited to govern the nation.”[6] These were strong words
for the 1890s.
Making
a Difference
The influence of Amelia and other reformers grew until city officials
began to take needed action and the police began to make arrests and issue more
than token fines. Amelia led the way in this reform. One writer said of her,
“She enlisted the help of the city fathers, pressured the police, wrote to
newspapers and was always ready to speak to any group that could be gathered to
hear her.” Through these efforts the character of the city began to change for
the good. As one writer said, “The days of Winnipeg’s wickedness were waning.”[7]
Her
Faith in God
Although Amelia did not wear her faith on
her sleeve, it was obvious that she spoke and acted from a deep sense of faith in
God and from a Christian world-view. A devout Anglican, she believed equal
rights for women to be a part of God’s plan for human society. To have the vote
was to have a voice in building that society according to God’s plan. She once
said, “Christ, when on earth, never gave any example to the men to keep the
women silent, for many women followed and helped Christ while on earth.” The
respect she gained because of her faith and integrity was highlighted by one
newspaper report that a prisoner, condemned to die, had requested “Dr. Yeomans”
as his spiritual adviser rather than a priest.[8]
A
Powerful Speaker
Amelia was a very effective and popular
public speaker. One writer said, “You didn’t fall asleep when Amelia Yeoman’s
was giving a lecture. And you weren’t allowed to sleep afterwards either. Dr.
Amelia’s speeches were given to stir you into action, and she saw that there
was action.”[9]
The Calgary Daily Herald called her “a most eloquent and effective speaker “
and declared that to listen to her was to “arouse the intellectual ambition, to
enrich the mind and enlighten the life.” She was in much demand as a
spokesperson for temperance, suffrage and other issues including her faith in
Christ. Her daughter Lilian, who became a popular author and speaker in both
the U.S. and Canada, once said, “I can always get a hearing in Canada, for
people think I am my own mother and come to my meetings.”[10]
Her
Later Years & Legacy
In 1904 Amelia and her daughter,
Charlotte, relocated to Calgary, Alberta where she had lived for a short time
after her marriage. Two years later, in 1906, Lillian joined them. Both Amelia
and Lilian were, by this time, in much demand as public speakers and they set
aside their medical practices and concentrated on advancing social issues and
their Christian faith. Amelia lived out the remainder of her life in Calgary
where she died at the age of 71 on April 23, 1913. Her funeral was held at the
Church of the Redeemer in Calgary. At the time of her death she was
Vice-President of the Dominion WCTU, honorary Vice-President of the Ottawa
Equal Suffrage Society and honorary President of the Calgary Suffrage
Association.
Although she did not live to
see women obtain the right to vote in Canada, there is no question that her
tireless efforts played a major role in the Manitoba legislature, on January
27, 1916, granting women the right to vote. Other provinces followed suit until
the enfranchisement of women was a reality across Canada. For this we can thank
God and Amelia Yeomans. Upon hearing of her death, her friend and fellow
suffragist, E. Cora Hind, declared,
""There should be a life-sized portrait of Dr. Amelia Yeomans placed
in the city hall [of Winnipeg] for it is very questionable if any worshipful
mayor whose portrait now adorns the walls ever did one tithe as much for the
real up building of the city.[11]
[1] The Manitoba Historical
Society, www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/people/yeomans_a.shtml.
[2] University of Manitoba,
Health Sciences Library, www.umanitoba.ca/libraries/health/resources/womhist/ayeomans.html.
[3] Carlotta Hacker, The
Indomitable Lady Doctors, Halifax: Formac Publ., 2001), 91.
[5] Hacker, The Indomitable
Lady Doctors, 89.
[6] Hacker, The Indomitable
Lady Doctors, 90-91.
[7] Hacker, The Indomitable
Lady Doctors, 91.
[9] Hacker, The Indomitable
Lady Doctors, 92.
[10] Yeomans, Balm of Gilead,
14.
[11] Hacker, The Indomitable
Lady Doctors, 93.
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