Life Changing Surgery

A picture of jennie smillie roberston

One surgeon is all it took to help make one of the most famous surgeries more known in todays world. One woman is all the world of exams, diagnosis and maybe even prescriptions needed. That one lady is Jennie Smillie Roberston. She has a very long name, but it’s recognized by a load of doctors. Brace yourself because this report with leave you in stitches.

Early Life

Roberston was born on February 10th, 1878,  which was a long time ago from now. She was born in Hensall, Ontario to Benjamin and Jane Smillie as one of several children. She showed interest in medical science from a early age. She says in a later interview “ I was only three when I first thought about being a doctor, when I was 5, I asked my mother if women could be doctors. She told me they could and from then on, I knew it is what I wanted to do”.

College Career

She started her role as a kindergarten teacher before applying to the scalpel. Roberston did this to save for tuition for the Ontario Medical College for Women until 25. Before her second year in medical school in 1906, the college eventually merged with the University of Toronto’s Medical School. Some women felt hostility from their male peers. Roberston thought the women positively influenced the men to be better. She eventually ended up graduating in 1909. That’s when she knew it was going tibia okay.

Getting Started in the Medical Career

At this time period, medical internships were hard for women to obtain in Canada. To be a doctor, it took some real guts. No hospital would take her as a resident intern which forced her to move to USA to complete an internship at the Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. The land of the founding fathers and the land of cuisine.

In 1910, she returned to Toronto to begin her practice but was not accepted by any doctor for surgical training which she thought was a sick joke. Thus, she went back to the founding fathers land of Philadelphia to do another six months of brutal training under another female surgeon. She did oversee a surgical ward, an experience which she credited with building her confidence.

Portrait of jennie smillie roberston in black and white

A photo of jennie and her colleagues infront of the hospital she created

The Legacy Created

She returned to the city of Drake once again, no hospital would allow her to perform any type of surgeries. Instead, she performed her first surgery to remove a tumour on a patient’s kitchen table. She told the patient “Urine good hands” but she was freaked out the entire time she stated. This made her the first surgeon to perform a major gynecological surgery in Canada. As a result, she was recorded as the country’s first female surgeon in the field’s modern era. Luckily she trusted her gut and became a success story.

In 1911, she and her other female colleagues reestablished the Ontario Medical College for Women as the Women’s college Hospital due to an increase in female patients wanting their services. This required a lot of patience from the doctors. The number of female physicians in Canada grew with the help of Roberston. She then helped founded “The Federation of Medical Women of Canada”. She once served as the president of the Women’s Liberal Association.

A PHOTO OF JENNIE SMILLIE ROBERSTON’S GRAVE

Even though her efforts costed her an arm and a leg, it paid off for the future of female doctors all around Canada. In 2022, 49.7% of family medicine physicians and 40.2% of specialist physicians were female which took many people’s breaths away. Without her, the female doctors wouldn’t beLung together. I am sorry for that joke. But in all seriousness, she ended up trying to help for a cure for amnesia and with all her efforts…. Sorry I don’t remember how this joke goes. Roberston must be a coronary artery because she will be wrapped around our hearts for life.

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Hi I’m Zoe Farmer. I am a 20 year old, second year Professional Writing student at Algonquin College. I normally spend my time watching movies and listening to podcasts. I write horror stories mixed with a little sprinkle of romance. I want to direct and make my own stories into movies like James Cameron.

The Ice Dominator

One of the most goal-oriented women in Canadian history is a well-known hockey player named Hayley Wickenheiser. She has impacted the Canadian hockey league for many generations. She is one of the most successful female hockey players in this whole country.

Incase you don’t know who this phenomenal player is, Hayley was the first women to play full-time professional men’s hockey in a position other than goalie. She is also a resident physician and assistant general manager for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Hayley began her journey in August of 1978 when she was born. Her parents are Tom and Marilyn Wickenheiser. She had two siblings who were Jane and Ross. She had a normal teen life until the age of 13 when she began her career playing on male teams. Many of her teammates called her “The annihilator”.  Then she finally got a big break, when she helped Team Alberta win the gold in the Canada Winter Games event in the under-17 category which at the time girls weren’t really taken seriously in the hockey league.

After that tournament she named MVP, the first of many awards that she should win in her entire career. In 2003, Wickenheiser became the first woman to score a goal player in the men’s semi professional league. Over the course season, she played 23 games, scoring two goals and adding 10 assists. Wickenheiser’s journey there was not easy to get to this point. She joined the European league to play professional hockey as the game is more open and less physical than the North American League. She initially wanted to play in Italy but then confederation ruled that women were ineligible to play in a men’s league. The European league supported letting women play in the men’s league which lead to her debut in the Suomi Sarja team called “HC Salamat”. It was the 3rd highest hockey league in Finland. She left after 10 games when the team ended up getting a promotion that didn’t fit for her.

She then participated in her first international competition with the CWN team at the age of 15.  Then in 2010, she won six gold and three silver world championship medals. She found even greater success when in 2002 according to her national website “Hayley Wickenheiser Biography”, she captured the gold medal as well as being the tournaments top scorer and MVP. She then repeated that again at the 2006 games. She has won numerous national championships with the Edmonton Chimos, Calgary Oval X-Treme and in 2010, she joined the University of Calgary Dinos for the 2010-2011 University season.

She was a member of the Canada’s national ice hockey team for 23 years from 1994 until announcing her retirement on January 13, 2017. A lot of people were very upset when she announced that she wasn’t going to play hockey anymore since she was such a great and enthusiastic player. She still to this day is the team’s career points leader with 168 goals and 211 assists in 276 games which is super impressive. In 2019 after her retirement, she was named to the Hockey Hall of Fame in her first year of eligibility. She was then inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame in the same year. She deserved this after all her hard work in the hockey league.

When she decided to help the Toronto Maple Leafs by being their assistant general manager, I remember seeing her talent help the team. My parents weren’t big Toronto fans, but they loved seeing her improvements she was making to the team.

Wickenheiser took a shot and scored her goal into the Hall of Fame. So many women including myself will be and have been impacted by this hockey legend. Her goals will stand the puck of time.

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Hi I’m Zoe Farmer. I am a 20 year old, second year Professional Writing student at Algonquin College. I normally spend my time watching movies and listening to podcasts. I write horror stories mixed with a little sprinkle of romance. I want to direct and make my own stories into movies like James Cameron.

Impact of Women: Nellie McClung Story.

 Women’s history is super important when it comes to Canada. So many empowering women have influenced our lives and the rules we follow. One of the most influential people is Nellie McClung. She helped pave the way for many impressive women and men. We have known many important and encouraging women but none are like our hero McClung.

Who Is Nellie McClung?

According to The Canadian Encyclopedia, McClung was born Oct.20th.1873 in Chatsworth, Ontario. She was a women’s rights activist, legislator and an author who is best known for her involvement in the Persons case. This woman was a prairie woman who used her talents, determination and energy to bring about change in our lives.

Early Life and Career

Her family moved from Chatsworth and instead was raised on a homestead in Souris Valley, Manitoba. Unlike most of us, she did not attend school until she was 10. Instead of going to school full time, She received a teaching certificate at 16 and then taught school. She then married Robert Wesley McClung in 1896.

In Manitou, Manitoba, her husband was a druggist, Nellie became prominent in the “Woman’s Christian Temperance Union” of which her mother-in-law was provincial president. In 1908, McClung then published her first novel which was called “Sowing Seeds in Danny”. This novel was a witty portrayal of a small western town. It was a national best seller and was followed by numerous short stories and articles in magazines

Activism and Politics

The Nellie Foundation stated that in 1911, McClung’s and their five children moved to Winnipeg which is where the “Winnipeg Women’s Rights and Reform Movement” welcomed her as an effective speaker who won audiences over with humorous arguments. She played a leading role in the 1914 Liberal Campaign against Sir Rodmond Roblin Conservative Government. This government had refused women suffrage but moved to Edmonton before the liberals won in Manitoba in 1915.

In Alberta, she continued to fight for women’s rights. She gained wide prominence from addresses in Britain at the Methodist Ecumenical Conference and elsewhere in 1921 and from tours throughout Canada and the United States. She was a Liberal MLA for Edmonton also from 1921-26.

The Canadian Encyclopedia said that McClung was also known as one of the “Famous 5” a group that was filled with 5 activists. These activists petitioned the Supreme Court to have women declared “qualified persons” who were eligible for public office as senators. Even though, the court decided against this group in 1928, the British Privy Council overturned the decision the following year and officially declared women as “persons”.

Later Life

She then was appointed the only woman for CBC in 1932 according to “The Nellie McClung Foundation”. She remained a human right’s advocate throughout her decades in public life. She urged the government of British Columbia to extend the vote to Japanese Canadians in the 1930s, then petitioned the Canadian Government to open it’s doors to Jewish refugees in late 1930s and early 1940s. She often wrote about the need for equal pay for equal work.

Nellie was a force to be reckoned with and paved the way for so many laws and rights. She helped women become something other then what the law was classifying them as. She made them become more than property. She helped make women one of the most driving forces in the world. She was a national hero until her death in 1951. McClung paved the way, and many people will be forever grateful for the work she put in to make women’s rights a reality.

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Hi I’m Zoe Farmer. I am a 20 year old, second year Professional Writing student at Algonquin College. I normally spend my time watching movies and listening to podcasts. I write horror stories mixed with a little sprinkle of romance. I want to direct and make my own stories into movies like James Cameron.