Emily Murphy

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Murphy began to work on a plan to ask for clarification of how women were regarded in the BNA act and how they were to become Senators. Gowan who was a politician that founded a local branch of the Orange Order in 1830 and two uncles who were a Supreme Court justice and a Senator respectively. Using extensive anecdotes and "expert" opinion the Black Candle depicts an alarming picture of drug abuse in Canada detailing Murphy’s understanding of the use and effects of opium cocaine and pharmaceuticals as well as a "new menace" "marihuana.

She is best known for her contributions to Canadian feminism specifically to the question of whether women were "persons" under Canadian law. The Supreme Court of Canada ruled that they were not. However upon appeal to the Judicial Committee of the British Privy Council the court of last resort for Canada at that time the women won their case.