1850s
Odille Morison (17 jul 1855 – 21 dec 1933 | Lax Kw’alaams, British Columbia – Metlakatla, British Columbia) Canadian linguist, translator, artifacts collector, First Nation Tsimshian leader
1860s
1870s
Emily Carr (13 dec 1871 – 02 mar 1945 | Victoria, British Columbia – Victoria, British Columbia) artist, author, landscape painter, Canadian cultural icon
Constance Lindsay Skinner (07 dec 1877 – 27 mar 1939 | Quesnel, British Columbia – New York NY) Canadian critic, writer, editor, historian, Rivers of America Series creator
1880s
Joyce Fairbairn (06 nov 1939 – Lethbridge, Alberta) Canadian senator, first woman to serve as Leader of the Government in the Senate
1890s
Margaret Chase Going Woodhouse (03 mar 1890 – 12 dec 1984 | Victoria, British Columbia – Sprague CT) educator, politician, economics professor,aka Chase Woodhouse, founder / director Institute of Women’s Professional Relations
Nell Shipman (25 oct 1892 – 23 jan 1970 | Victoria, British Columbia – Cabazon CA) actress, director, producer, screenwriter, animal trainer, born Helen Foster-Balham, one of first directors to shoot films almost entirely on location
1900s
Elizabeth Muriel Gregory [Elsie] MacGill (27 mar 1905 – 04 nov 1980 | Vancouver, British Columbia – Cambridge MA) author, aircraft designer, human rights activist, aka Queen of the Hurricanes, first female aeronautical engineer, Royal Commission on the Status of Women Canada commissioner
Margaret Anchoretta Ormsby (07 jun 1909 – 02 nov 1996 | Quesnel, British Columbia – Vernon, British Columbia) author, historian, British Columbia history specialist
1910s
Elizabeth Eileen Chater (22 aug 1910 – 10 nov 2004 | Vancouver, British Columbia – Irvine CA) Canadian-American poet, professor, science-fiction writer, historical romance novelist, pen names: Lee Chater, Lee Chaytor, Lisa Moore
Sheilah Beckett (05 sep 1913 – 17 nov 2013 | Vancouver, British Columbia – Ossining NY) children’s book illustrator, commercial advertising artist
Frances Kathleen Oldham (24 jul 1914 – 07 aug 2015 | Cobble Hill, British Columbia – London, Ontario) physician, pharmacologist, Canadian-American, US FDA reviewer, refused to authorize thalidomide for US market due to concern for birth defects
Janet Baillie Hardy (14 jan 1916 – 23 oct 2008 | Duncan, British Columbia – Baltimore MD) author, pioneering pediatrician, medical researcher, pregnancy prevention program project, founded Johns Hopkins Collaborative Perinatal Project, established connection between maternal rubella and birth defects
1920s
Joan Elizabeth Manning (11 dec 1923 – Sidney, British Columbia) Canadian etcher, painter, teacher, watercolorist
E. Mavis Hetherington (27 nov 1926 – British Columbia) Canadian-born American author, essayist, psychologist, women’s rights activist, focus on marriage and divorce
Phyllis Webb (08 apr 1927 – Victoria, British Columbia) poet, author, radio broadcaster
1930s
Muriel Ann Lipsey Smith (09 may 1930 – Britannia Beach, British Columbia) politician, women’s rights / human rights activist, affirmative action social work educator
Doreen Jensen (13 may 1933 – 18 sep 2009 | Kispiox, British Columbia – Vancouver WA) aka Ha’hl Yee, Gitsxan elder, artist, carver, activist, educator
Joy Nozomi Kogawa (06 jun 1935 – Vancouver, British Columbia) poet, novelist
Kathleen Shannon (11 nov 1935 – 09 jan 1998 | Vancouver, British Columbia – Kelowna, British Columbia) film director / producer, founded Studio D / National Film Board of Canada, produced first government-funded film studio dedicated to international women filmmakers
Barbara Anne Cameron (20 aug 1938 – Nanaimo, British Columbia) poet, novelist, screenwriter, short fiction writer, aka Cam Hubert and Anne Cameron, focus on Canadian First Nations’ culture and mythology
Eileen Kernaghan (06 jan 1939 – Grindrod, British Columbia) speculative fiction novelist, former elementary teacher, creative writing instructor
1940s
Anna Banana (24 feb 1940 – Victoria, British Columbia) critic, artist, ‘artistamp’ innovator, performance artist, born Anne Lee Long, small press publisher, mail art movement pioneer
Judith [Judy] H. Myers (03 jul 1941 – Vancouver, British Columbia) author, ecologist, researcher, Canadian-American, focus on theory and practice of biological control, first president of Canadian Society for Ecology and Evolution
Eleanor Millard (04 mar 1942 – North Vancouver, British Columbia) novelist, memoirist, former politician, short story writer, kinship / grandparents’ rights activist / leader
Lorna Marsden (06 mar 1942 – Sidney, British Columbia) author, academic, sociologist, women’s rights activist, former politician / university administrator / president
Anna-Marie Ellerbeck Holmes (17 apr 1942 – Mission City, British Columbia) ballet dancer, educator, choreographer
Maureen Scott Harris (24 apr 1943 – Prince Rupert, British Columbia) poet, essayist
Patricia Churchland (16 jul 1943 – Oliver, British Columbia) Canadian-American editor, author, co-author, neuro-philosopher
Frances Estelle Reed Simons (26 apr 1945 – Vancouver, British Columbia) author, physician, researcher, founded Allergy and Clinical Immunology section of the Pediatrics department at University of Manitoba
Carolyn Zonailo (21 jan 1947 – Vancouver, British Columbia) poet, publisher, founded Caitlin Press, studied Jungian psychology, mythology, astrology
Susan McCaslin (03 jun 1947 – British Columbia, Canada) poet, editor, author, essayist, educator, memoirist, essayist, children’s author, creative nonfiction writer
Margaret Joan Sinclair Trudeau (10 sep 1948 – Vancouver, British Columbia) author, actress, memoirist, photographer, tv show host, former First Lady of Canada
Alexina Louie (30 jul 1949 – Vancouver, British Columbia) Canadian composer of contemporary art music
1950s
Lee Maracle (02 jul 1950 – Vancouver, British Columbia) First Nations Coast Salish poet, fiction / nonfiction author
Wendy Lill (02 nov 1950 – Vancouver, British Columbia) playwright, screenwriter, radio dramatist, former member Canadian Parliament
Sharon Kwung Yin [Sky] Lee (15 sep 1952 – Port Alberni, British Columbia) artist, author, novelist, feminist, short fiction writer
Beverly Anne Giesbrecht (26 aug 1953 – 2010 | Vancouver, British Columbia – Pakistan) media consultant, website designer, convert to Islam, created JihadUnspun.com
Lynne Naylor-Reccardi (07 nov 1953 – Vancouver, British Columbia) artist, writer, director, designer, producer, animator, executive producer
Alison Smith (22 aug 1954 – Osoyoos, British Columbia) journalist, radio / television anchor
Jacqueline Jill Robinson (16 jun 1955 – Langley, British Columbia) editor, teacher, fiction / creative non-fiction author
Jamie Lee Hamilton (20 sep 1955 – Vancouver, British Columbia) author, politician, women’s / gender studies lecturer, poverty / sex trade / aboriginal / transgender activist
Lynda Williams (17 feb 1958 – Prince George, British Columbia) analyst, blogger, serial science fiction author
Sandra Louise Schmid (07 mar 1958 – Vancouver, British Columbia) author, cell biologist, first to identify dynamin’s key role in endocytosis, co-founded journal Traffic, editor-in-chief of Molecular Biology of the Cell, past-president of American Society for Cell Biology
Vikky Alexander (30 jan 1959 – Victoria, British Columbia) photo-conceptual / mixed-media installation artist
Jennifer Mulhern Granholm (05 feb 1959 – Vancouver, British Columbia) author, politician, educator, political commentator, first female governor of Michigan