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Very Important Members
One of the most outstanding things about the Toronto BPW Club is the high calibre
of members it has attracted. The tradition of excellence and of service to the club
and to women all over the world lives on and at present we are proud that our membership
includes Margaret Jackson, National President; Liz Neville, Provincial 1st Vice
President; Sheila Haslam, District No. 4 Assistant Director; and Carolyn Hamilton,
Metro Toronto Council Chairman.
The Toronto Club is the only club in Canada to produce six national presidents,
five of whom are still alive. Their names bear repeating: Margaret Hyndman, Maudie
Baylay, Elsie Gregory MacGill, Nazla Dane, Margaret Ashdown and Margaret Jackson.
Toronto is the only club in the world to provide two International presidents, Margaret
Hyndman and Nazla Dane. Two years in our history really stand out.
1956
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Provincial President
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Elsie Gregory MacGill
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National President
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Maudie Baylay
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International President
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Margaret Hyndman
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1962
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Provincial President
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Margaret Ashdown
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National 1st Vice-President
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Nazla Dane
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National President
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Elsie Gregory MacGill
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Then 1967 – the year of Canada's Centenary
and the Centennial Medal. The Toronto Club was delighted that four of our members
received this medal: Margaret Hyndman, Elsie Gregory MacGill, Maudie Baylay and
Isabel Ross.
Maudie Baylay, on behalf of the IFBPWC, made a trip to the Caribbean to help start
BPW Clubs in Jamaica, Barbados, Guyana and Trinidad.
The Club commenced sending letters of congratulation to various women in business
who were appointed to outstanding positions. This was being done by Nazla Dane,
until she passed the responsibility along as more and more women received top-flight
appointments.
Eve Stojanovich, a past president of the Club, was appointed President of the Women's
Section of the United Nations, Association of Canada, Toronto Branch; Chris Fairley,
club member and co-ordinator of The Arts of Management, was the first woman to be
appointed to the National Board of Directors of Junior Achievement of Canada.
The Hon. Pauline McGibbon with life members of the Toronto Club left to right (standing)
Elsie Gregory MacGill, Margaret Ashdown, Margaret Jackson, Janet Follett (seated)
Janet Watson, Nazla Dane, Pauline McGibbon, Marjorie Pewtress, Grace Phillips and
Kay Smith.
The Club took great pleasure in the appointment of their own member Elizabeth Tipping
as assistant inspector of the Bank of Nova Scotia.
In 1974 Nazla Dane finished her term as International President at the Congress
opened by Sra Peron. In the same year Alice Rutledge was awarded the UN Fellowship
and the following year went to the UN as delegate representing the IFBPW. Margaret
Jackson was elected provincial president, and a silk rose in a silver vase was presented
to her by the club at the hospitality night during the conference in Sault Ste Marie
in 1975.
In February 1978, the Hon. Pauline McGibbon, an honorary life member since 1975,
was present when her aide-de-camp, our current president Dr. Doris Guyatt, was pinned.
The Hon. Pauline McGibbon, Lieutenant-Governor of the Province of Ontario from 1974-1980
and Life Member of the Toronto Club.
Others have put hundreds, even thousands, of hours of work into club activities
in very quiet, unassuming ways. Kay Smith has been looking after emblems as chairman
of that ad hoc committee since 1975. The Bulletin has been in existence since 1952
and Janet Follett, having edited it prior to her terms of executive office, took
it over again in 1958 and has edited it continuously ever since. When Ethel Smith
retired after 20 years as club pianist in 1965, Janet Watson took over and has been
performing for the past 20 years with a style noted publicly from the podium by
no less than the Honourable Pauline McGibbon.
What follows is a mere glimpse from the minutes of meetings held over a period of
75 years, and of our connections with noteworthy women of the day. Just check our
roster for more. Our contribution as a club continues.
From the very first meeting, honorary members were appointed including Lady Falconer
whose husband, Sir Robert, was president of the University of Toronto. Because he
considered the club an educational organization he allowed the use of a hall at
the university for many of the monthly lectures and reading circle meetings.
Early in 1931, it was announced with regret that True Davidson had resigned from
her position as a board member of the Toronto BPW Club.
To our delight and pride, in 1936, Margaret Hyndman was granted the coveted honour
in the legal profession of Q.C. – the first Toronto woman to be so honoured,
and the second woman in the British Empire.
In 1949, Miss Hyndman gave a delightful talk on the International Conference she
attended in Finland. She had the great honour of meeting the famous Finnish composer
Sibelius in his own home.
Second woman in the British Empire to be appointed a Q.C., Margaret Hyndman’s
life of service includes National President of CFBPWC as well as International President
in 1956.
In 1951 Mrs. May Robinson, standing for Alderman in Ward VI, was tangibly supported
by a contribution, as was Mrs. Nellie Tennant running in Ward V.
In 1958, Margaret Ashdown represented the Club on a prestigious East-West Cultural
Mission to Japan, sponsored by the United Nations Association of Canada. To raise
funds, over 800 attended gala garden parties at the home of Margaret Hyndman.
In the ’60s Jean Milne
was appointed to the Carter Commission on Taxation. Her name was suggested to Prime
Minister John Diefenbaker by Elsie Gregory MacGill. Elsie asked us to forward her
names of other qualified women to be held in reserve in case further commissioners
were required.
Most Recent Achievers
Dr. Doris E. Guyatt
Dr. Guyatt was born in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia. She attended the University of Western Ontario and the University of Toronto and holds a BA in General Science and a BSW, MSW, and PhD in Social Work
After completing her doctorate, she was employed by the Government of Ontario in a number of research, policy and planning positions for the Ministry of Community and Social Services and the Ministry of Health. At retirement, she was Acting Manager of the Advocacy and Guardianship Unit of the Ministry of Health.
She has served in voluntary positions on the Boards of many community, provincial and national organizations including President of the Canadian Federation of Business and Professional Women’s Clubs, President of the Canadian Intelligence and Security Association and President of the Toronto Branch of the Ontario Association of Social Workers. She is currently a director of the Atlantic Council of Canada, of the Alumni Association of the Faculty of Social Work, of the Canadian Legion branch 165 and a member of the Board of Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre.
Prior to her appointment as Honorary Colonel of the 25 (Toronto) Field Ambulance, Colonel Guyatt served in the Canadian Forces Reserve for seventeen years and for 27 years as a Military Aide de Camp to five Lieutenant Governors of Ontario. She is the recipient of the CD, the Queen’s Silver Jubilee Medal, the Canada 125 Commemorative Medal, and the Canadian Corps of Commissionaires Long Service Medal. She was awarded the Women of Distinction Award by the YWCA of Metro Toronto and the Arbor Award by the University of Toronto. More recently, she received a Vice-Regal Commendation, the Lieutenant Governor’s Volunteer Medal, and the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal.
Dr. Guyatt is married to R. Glenn Guyatt and they have four children and four grandchildren.
Dormer Ellis
1983
Woman of Distinction Award–YWCA of Metropolitan
Toronto
1984
First WOMAN to receive the Ontario Professional Engineers
Citizenship Award
1987
First WOMAN to be made a Fellow of the Engineering
Institute of Canada
1988
The Elsie Gregory McGill Award (BPW Canada)
1991
First WOMAN to be awarded the U. of Toronto Engineering
alumni gold medal
1992
Named a Professor Emeritus of the University of Toronto
2002
Only CANADIAN among pioneers honoured by the International
Congress of Women Engineers and Scientists
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Dormer Ellis
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