1928 - Annual Convention

              F O U R T E E N T H A N N U A L C O N V E N T I ON 29
persons" within the meaning of the word as used in that section of the
B r i t i s h North America A c t . The Court states that the Act, being passed
i n 1867, the various provisions must bear today the same construction which
the Courts would have given them when they were first enacted. At that
time women were under a legal incapacity to hold public office, and so it
could not have been the intention of the framers of the Act to include
women i n the t e rm " persons" when r e f e r r i n g to the members of the Senate.
So that august body must still struggle along without the assistance women
might be able to give it i n its deliberations.
Y o u r committee's outline also suggested a thorough study of the Domestic
Relations A c t , which came into force in A l b e r t a last July. This A c t deals
w i t h many situations arising out of the home life of our people. It provides
f o r the separation of a husband and wife who find living together no
longer bearable, for the union of husband and wife who have been separated,
for the protection and guardianship of children, and other problems relating
to the family. A very careful study of this Act by the women of our
organization is very much to be desired.
There is the A l b e r t a Women's Bureau A c t , of which mention has already
been made at this convention. By this measure a bureau is established, the
aims and objects of which are to co- ordinate the activities of women and
women's organizations i n A l b e r t a , to collect and tabulate information r e l a t i ng
to women's work and kindred matters. The benefit to be derived f r om the
statute will depend entirely upon the administration of it.
The Intestate Succession Act, which comes into force in July, sets out
the manner in which property of anyone intestate is to descend. If a
married man dies without a w i l l , his wife receives all the property i f there
are no children, one- half i f there is one child, and one- third i f there is more
than one child, the balance of the property going to the children.
The Legitimation A c t provides that i f the parents of any child born out
of wedlock intermarry, such child shall be deemed to be legitimate from the
time of birth.
F o r the purpose of the Sexual S t e r i l i z a t i o n A c t , a board has been created
whose duty it is to examine, at the direction of the medical superintendent
of a mental hospital, any inmate whom it is proposed to discharge from that
hospital. If on examination the board is unanimously of the opinion that
the patient might be safely discharged i f the danger of procreation by trans­mission
of the disability to progeny is eliminated, i t may direct the necessary
surgical operation for sexual s t e r i l i z a t i on to be performed after the required
consents have been obtained.
F o r some years we have listened to long discussions respecting the return
by the Dominion Government to A l b e r t a of her natural resources, which were
retained by the Dominion when A l b e r t a became a province. The matter
has reached the point where, i n the not very far distant future, Alberta will
i n all probability be in control of her own natural resources. The Natural
Resources Research A c t , passed by the Provincial Legislature this last spring
provides f o r the raising of a sum of money each year for the next five years
for the purpose of organizing, directing and supervising any form of re­search
into the natural resources of the province, w i t h a view to developing
these resources, including the institution and completion of a survey of the
province for the purpose of acquiring information as to its agricultural,
lumbering and mining potentialities.
Our legislature did not see fit to pass the necessary legislation and b r i e"
the Federal Old Age Pension A c t into force i n this province. Some of the
other provinces are already receiving the benefit of this statute, but perhaps
we should take it as a compliment to the industry of the Alberta people
that the Government did not consider we had need for such provision for
our old age.
D u r i n g the year I have been asked on many occasions to explain why
there are no Canadians. My answer, of course, has always been " there are
Canadians." There does seem to be considerable perplexity over this subject,
and some people are quite indignant about what they suppose to be an insult
to Canadian nationhood. The misunderstanding arises out of the confusion
of the ideas racial origin and nationality. Racial origin refers to the race
f r om which one's forefathers have sprung and is required to be noted i n the
census and v i t a l statistics returns for the purpose of ascertaining from what
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