Nellie McLung and I....

...have something in common: we seem to be non-persons. Found this out when I attempted to apply for an Alberta driver's licence this morning. Armed with a passport and several pieces of mail addressed to me at my new address, I was blithely dismissed because I was not recognized in Alberta, according to the ID I had presented. B was breezed through, but I had to leave empty-handed. Man, was I more than annoyed.

Here I was, a retired executive, having worked all my life, paid lots of taxes and made sure I was never dependent on a man, only to find out that because my name was not on a utility bill and our bank statement was electronic, I was not recognized. I could not produce the type of "official" mail with my name and address on it that the Alberta Ministry of Transport insists upon. This all came about because B -- in "hunter/gatherer" mode -- had done all the running around and sorting out of our various household accounts; naturally, everything ended up in his name and his alone. So I slithered meekly out of the registry office in a quiet rage. I was actually talking to myself all the way to the car. It was very depressing to see my husband chatting at another wicket, getting everything he needed because his name was on the documents, while I was basically a nobody.

This put me in mind of the "Famous Five" -- those brave women in the early 1900s who fought as suffragettes: Emily Murphy, Irene Parlby, Louise McKinney, Henrietta Edwards and Nellie. They asked the question that was supposed to fix it all: "Does the word 'Persons' in the British North America Act include women?"

A hundred years later, as I was shown the door, that question still felt unanswered.