Monk, Elizabeth Carmichael, 1898-1980

Elizabeth Monk was born in 1898 in Montreal. She completed her B.A. degree at McGill University in 1919 and received the Governor Generals’ Medal. She was granted an M.A. from Radcliffe College followed by a year at Oxford on an I.O.D.E. Scholarship. Returning to Montreal she was one of the first women admitted to the Faculty of Law at McGill receiving her B.C.L. in 1923 as well as the gold medal for the top student in her class. Since Quebec law did not permit women to practice law in the Province, Miss Monk went to Nova Scotia, where she was admitted to the Bar in 1934. It was not until 1942 that the Quebec law was changed, and Miss Monk and a colleague became the first women to practice law in Quebec. She became a Q.C. in 1955. All her adult life she played an active role in women rights, pressing for changes in discriminatory laws, both Federal and Provincial and serving as legal counsel to The League for Women Rights. In 1940 she became one of the first women to win a seat on the Montreal Municipal Council. She was as well a founding member of the University Women Club. During her long and distinguished career Miss Monk was the recipient of many awards including the McGill Graduates’ Society Award of Merit in 1968, an honorary L.L.D. from McGill in 1978 and the “Persons Medal” award from the Governor General in 1980 in commemoration of the struggle for women's rights. Elizabeth Monk died in 1980.