Suffrage in British Columbia – and elsewhere in Canada – is best understood as a continuum: although white settler women achieved the federal vote in 1917, it would take another thirty years before the provincial government would remove race-based restrictions on voting rights.

British Columbia is often overlooked in the national story of women’s suffrage. A Great Revolutionary Wave challenges that omission and the portrayal of suffragists as conservative, traditional, and polite. Lara Campbell follows the propaganda campaigns undertaken by suffrage organizations and traces the role of working-class women in the fight for political equality. She demonstrates the connections between British Columbian and British suffragists and examines how racial exclusion and Indigenous dispossession shaped arguments and tactics for enfranchisement. A Great Revolutionary Wave rethinks the complex legacy of suffrage by considering both the successes and limitations of women’s historical fight for political equality. That legacy remains relevant today as Canadians continue to grapple with the meaning of justice, inclusion, and equality.

Lara Campbell is Associate Professor of Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies at Simon Fraser University.

Lara Campbell's profile page

• Winner, Clio Awards (British Columbia), Canadian Historical Society
• Commended, Lieutenant Governor’s Medal for Historical Writing, British Columbia Historical Association

A core rationale for this book series, Lara Campbell explains, is the need to 'tell regional stories' about the women's suffrage movement. Campbell's regional focus is justified by her treatment of elections at the municipal level and for school boards.

BC Studies

Her book makes a valuable contribution to the understanding of herstory.

The Ormsby Review

...[A Great Revolutionary Wave] compellingly argues that the stories of women’s suffrage cannot be read in isolation without recognizing their intimate connections with the stories of all people who were discriminated against and denied the vote on account of race, ethnicity, religion, marital status, and other characteristics of their personal, social, and political identities.

Canadian Law Library Review

An excellent addition to the Canadian series Women’s Suffrage and the Struggle for Democracy, the volume is a meaningful contribution to the ongoing dialogue on human rights and social justice.

BC History