Canadian Woman's Christian Temperance Union National Historic Event
TBD, N/A
Group of WCTU meet in Toronto, 1889
(© Toronto Star Photograph Archive, Courtesy of Toronto Public Library | Photo des archives du Toronto Star, gracieuseté de la Toronto Public Library)
Address :
TBD, N/A
Recognition Statute:
Historic Sites and Monuments Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. H-4)
Designation Date:
1997-09-22
Other Name(s):
-
Canadian Woman's Christian Temperance Union
(Designation Name)
Research Report Number:
1997-023
Importance:
Largest non-denominational Canadian women's organization in the late 19th-century
Plaque(s)
Approved Inscription: N/A
Founded in 1874 to oppose alcohol consumption as a cause of societal ills, the WCTU became one of the largest non-denominational women’s organizations in Canada, with roughly 16,000 members by 1914. Letitia Youmans, founder of a local union in Picton, led its early Canadian development and was the first national president (1885–1889). The promise of salvation through a spiritual awakening was at the core of the philanthropic and evangelically-motivated social work of this group, which also fought for a public role for women and was a leading advocate of female suffrage. Membership declined in the 1920s, as prohibition ended.