Emily Murphy (1868-1933) is a noted Canadian for her role as one of the Famous Five in establishing women as persons in the eyes of the law. By winning the Persons' Case, women were allowed to hold office. She has also been recognized under the names Emily Ferguson, Janey Canuck, and Mrs. Arthur Murphy. Murphy vocally supported eugenic practices in the form of selective breeding and state sexual sterilization, which she believed would solve social problems including alcoholism, drug abuse, and crime, which were all linked to mental deficiencies. Murphy's support of eugenics intensified in the 1930s, as she believed population control was a means of achieving world peace. Partially as a result of her strong campaigning, the Sexual Sterilization Act of 1928 was passed in Alberta, Canada.

Murphy became the first female magistrate in the British Empire in 1916 for the newly-created Women's Court in Edmonton. Her early court rulings were regularly challenged, not due to her lack of formal legal training, but on the grounds that she was not legally a person and therefore had no right to occupy the office of magistrate. Responding to the significant legal barrier for women represented by the language of the British North America Act, Murphy led Alberta's “Famous Five” – alongside Henrietta Edwards, Louise McKinney, Irene Parlby, and Nellie McClung – in an attempt to gain legal recognition of women as persons. Despite the corresponding 1928 case which further determined that “women are not 'qualified persons' within the meaning of section 24 of the BNA Act, 1867, and therefore are not eligible for appointment by the Governor General to the Senate of Canada,” (Supreme Court of Canada, 1928, Section 24) victory for the Famous Five came in the success of the Persons Case of 18 October 1929. Heralded as the greatest of her many lifetime achievements, the Persons Case memorialized Murphy and the Famous Five as “truly great Canadians”.

Aligned with commonly held beliefs that civilization would decline without stricter social controls, women involved in the eugenics movement argued that reform could only happen through co-operative state action, rather than be driven by individual interests. In addition to being a prominent political figure in equal rights legislation, Murphy was also a vital contributor to programs which sought to improve the human race through the forced sterilization of those deemed unfit. Though Murphy believed that insanity should not be treated as a crime, as magistrate she was frequently exposed to what she believed were the social problems arising out of insanity (drunkenness, criminality, pauperism, prostitution, and illegitimacy). She was a staunch advocate for state-sanctioned sterilization, and was one of the key proponents in arousing favourable public opinion. She feared that the general public which was “in complete ignorance of this menace,” and constantly reinforced the necessity of sterilization by providing examples from court cases she had witnessed. Campaigning primarily for the sterilization of young, so-called feeble-minded girls, with the support of her suffragist partner MLA Nellie McClung, Murphy's actions were critical to gain the support required for the passage of the Sexual Sterilization Act in 1928.

In 1932, Murphy published an article titled "Overpopulation and Birth Control." In this article, Murphy argues that the world was overpopulated, and the root of world problems, including war, could be traced back to overpopulation. For Murphy, eugenics was a means of containing overpopulation, and therefore a means for peace.

-Sheila Gibbons

• Emily Ferguson Murphy Fonds. (1903 - 1960). City of Edmonton Archives (MS-2), Edmonton, Canada.

• Foster, M. (2004). 100 Canadian Heroines: Famous and Forgotten Faces. Toronto: Dundurn Press.

• Mander, C. (1985). Emily Murphy: Rebel. First Female Magistrate in the British Empire. Toronto: Simon & Pierre.

• Millar, N. (1999). The Famous Five: Emily Murphy and the Case of the Missing Persons. Cochrane, AB: The Western Heritage Centre.