CARRIE DERICK

By Susan Button on behalf of the Centenary Committee

Carrie Derick
Carrie Derick

Which founding member of our Club confronted Quebec Premier Sir Lomer Gouin in 1915 regarding his position on birth control and caused him to reportedly complain, “How she makes me blush, that old maid from McGill.”

Carrie Derick publicly supported birth control, which was illegal in Canada from 1891 to 1969. It was not until July 1, 1969 that contraception was decriminalized in the Criminal Code, giving all Canadians the right to prevent pregnancy without engaging in criminal behaviour. Bill C-150, The Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1968–1969, also included other changes including the decriminalization of homosexuality and revised abortion laws. (Some readers will remember the famous defense of these changes by the then Justice Minister Pierre Trudeau, “There’s no place for the state in the bedrooms of the nation.”)

Carrie Derick was obviously a pioneer, as well as an outstanding scientist, the first female professor in a Canadian university, and the founder of McGill University’s Genetics Department.

Born in Clarenceville, Quebec, on January 14, 1862, Derick received her B.A. from McGill in 1890, at the top of her class in natural science, and received the Logan Gold Medal. Her graduating class included another classmate who would also become a founding member of the UWCM, Maude Abbott.

Carrie Derick wanted to pursue her studies in Europe. At the University of Bonn, Germany, Derick completed the research, but was refused a Ph.D. based on a policy against awarding doctorates to women. She returned to McGill’s Botany Department and worked for seven years without a pay increase. In 1912, after three years of running the department, she was finally appointed Professor of Comparative Morphology and Genetics becoming the first woman in Canada to be appointed as a full professor.

Carrie Derick advocated for women’s education, served as President of the Montreal Suffrage Association and was a lifelong member of the National Council of Women. She died on November 10, 1941. A true trailblazer, she was designated as a National Historic Person in 2007. A street (Rue Carrie-Derick) is named after her in Montreal’s southwest borough.

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