THEIR PETITION FOR OUR WOUNDED
THE POWER OF A SIGNATURE: How a piece of paper turned into a weapon of war
A blank petition that the committee sent out that would soon be filled with the names of Canadian wounded.
Petitions have long been used to study the goals held by women at different times throughout history. Due to existing within a patriarchal society women are at an inherent disadvantage to men in terms of the autonomy they possess to dictate politics. Petitions have long been used by women in groups like the Emergency Women’s Committee for Wounded Veterans to claim autonomy in politics. (11) The Women’s Emergency Committee’s petitions reached out across the country asking people to sign their names in aid of the veterans at Christie Street. As the petitions began to return to the Women’s Committee the names signed all largely belonged to women. (12) This turnout reflected the makeup of Canada at the time as while embroiled in World War 2 many able men who could normally sign a petition were away at war. The turnout on the petitions also reveals how many women outside the committee resonated with its cause. Each woman who signed her name on the Committee’s petition was fulfilling her role as an emotional nurturer and using it as a weapon to fight against the patriarchal government. The male-dominated Canadian government treated Veterans Hospitals as factories to cure physical injuries. The women of Canada however knew that Christie Street needed to be a place for both mental and physical rehabilitation.
Circulation of the Petition
ACROSS THE COUNTRY: The impact the committee’s petition had on organizations across Canada
Letter to Mrs. Lawrence Grout
This letter to Mrs. Lawrence Grout asking her to get more women to sign the Emergency Women’s Committee’s petition is an example of how the Women’s Committee reached out to women across the country. The letter also reveals the massive amount of support that the committee was receiving across the country as well as their ambition to reach even more.
Letter from Canadian Business and Professional Women's Club
This letter from the Canadian Business and Professional Women's Club shows the comradery that the different women’s groups across Canada shared with each other. The Women’s Club supported the Emergency Women’s Committee’s cause and went out of their way to aid them.
Letter from the 18th Battalion Association
The Emergency Women’s Committee’s fight was largely supported by women however the fight itself was to support male soldiers. This in turn garnered support for the Emergency Women’s Committee’s fight from branches of the Canadian army such as the 18th Battalion Association whose support is shown in this letter.
Letter of Thanks from the Women’s Emergency Committee
The Emergency Women’s Committee did not let those who signed their petition go without thanks as this was a fight they were in together. Those who signed the Committee’s petition would receive letters of thanks such as the one above.