Known for her fearless redress of the Chinese-Canadian head tax, a Vancouver woman was awarded yesterday afternoon for her lifelong fight for women’s justice.
“I am really honoured to receive the Rosemary Brown Award,” Margaret Mitchell said at The University Women’s Club of Vancouver at Hycroft. “But I know I am not only receiving this award for myself, but for all the women out there who have overcame many hardships and difficulties to work for a better world.”
Born in Ontario, Mitchell, 83, served as a social worker for the International Red Cross in Japan and Korea during the Korean War, and then for Hungarian refugees in Vienna after the Hungarian Revolution in 1956.
She was repeatedly elected MP for Vancouver East between 1978 and 1988, and is known for bringing the issue of violence against women to the House of Commons.
“In the 70s, when women’s issues were laughed at, (Mitchell) never hesitated to take up the issues to parliament, to the public and to the media,” said friend Gene Errington.
