Added by you! Lady Aberdeen
Ishbel Maria Gordon—the Marchioness of Aberdeen and Temair—came to Canada in 1893 when her husband, the Earl of Aberdeen, was appointed Governor-General. During her five years here, Lady Aberdeen became known as an energetic social reformer willing to buck the establishment. Born an aristocrat, but a committed democrat, she used her office to unleash women’s social power—a stance that dismayed the autocratic elites of Ottawa, Montreal and Toronto. Shortly after her arrival, Lady Aberdeen became the first president of the National Council of Women of Canada, an organization dedicated to bringing locally generated policy proposals to the attention of government. In 1897, she founded the Victorian Order of Nurses (VON) to commemorate Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee. Originally intended to provide rudimentary medical facilities to remote areas, the VON remains an important agency that today provides home care and other services to a multitude of Canadians.
