An ongoing traveling exhibition across Canada, 2024-2025
An ongoing traveling exhibition across Canada, 2024-2025
Margaret Jean Gee
1927 – 1995
Overcoming Roadblocks to Justice, a Pilot, a Lawyer
THE FIRST FEMALE CHINESE CANADIAN LAWYER TO OPEN HER OWN PRACTICE AND FIRST CHINESE CANADIAN FEMALE TO SERVE AS A PILOT OFFICER.
Margaret Jean Gee was one of the first Chinese Canadian women to pass the bar and become a lawyer. Born in 1927, three years after the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed, Gee grew up in an era when Chinese Canadians were denied many civil liberties, including who can practice law. Despite these barriers, Gee’s ambitions were not damp- ened. She enrolled in University of British Columbia’s law school three years after the Law Society of BC lifted the restrictions against females of Chinese heritage joining the profession. She graduated in 1953, and the following year, she was called to the bar. In 1955, she opened her own private practice in Vancouver. She became the first Chinese-Canadian lawyer to open her own practice.
Gee shares her journey among other women of colour who were pioneers in this field, including Violet King Henry who became the first Black female lawyer in 1954, and Marion Ironquil Meadmore who became the first Indigenous female lawyer in Canada in 1977. She was also one of the first Chinese Canadian female Pilot Officers in the Royal Canadian Air Force Reserves.
I will never forget the words of Mr. Justice Farris when I was called to the bar. He told us that though we had certain privileges we also have obligations … I am a Canadian and I hope to play my part in preserving the democracy through our great courts of law.