Bill 211 explained in plain English
Persons Day Act, 2024
Ontario legislature bill summary, status, timeline, sponsor, votes, and official sources.
At a glance
Official Legislative Assembly of Ontario snapshot for 43rd Parliament, 1st Session. Representative vote breakdowns appear when the Assembly publishes an Ayes and Nays page for the bill.
Our plain-language take, written for civic education.
Source: By PoliticalData.ca
Bill 211 makes October 18 of each year "Persons Day" in Ontario to commemorate the 1929 Persons Case that established women's equality under the Constitution.
Bill 211 is a short law that makes October 18 of each year "Persons Day" in Ontario. This date marks the anniversary of the October 18, 1929 Persons Case decision, when Canada's highest court at that time ruled that women are "persons" under the Constitution. This decision allowed women to be appointed to the Senate of Canada and opened the door to women's greater participation in public life. The law came into force on December 19, 2024, the day it received Royal Assent. The purpose of designating this day is to honour the contributions of the Famous Five (Emily Murphy, Louise McKinney, Henrietta Muir Edwards, Irene Parlby, and Nellie McClung) and to inspire future generations, particularly girls, women, and gender-diverse people, to become leaders and nation builders.
- Proclaims October 18 of each year as Persons Day in Ontario
- Commemorates the October 18, 1929 decision of the Persons Case, when Canada's highest court ruled that women are persons under the Constitution
- Honours the Famous Five (Emily Murphy, Louise McKinney, Henrietta Muir Edwards, Irene Parlby, and Nellie McClung) who challenged the definition of 'persons' in the Constitution
- Aims to inspire girls, women, and gender-diverse people to become leaders and nation builders in their communities and country
- All residents of Ontario
- Girls, women, and gender-diverse people in Ontario (as the bill aims to inspire these groups)
- Anyone participating in or attending Persons Day observances or commemorations
- October 18 is proclaimed as Persons Day in Ontario each year (Section 1)
- The law recognizes the historical significance of the 1929 Persons Case and the contributions of the Famous Five
- October 18 is proclaimed as Persons Day in each year (Section 1)
- The Act came into force on December 19, 2024, the day it received Royal Assent (Section 2)
- The bill does not specify what observances, events, or activities will occur on Persons Day or how the province will mark the occasion
- The bill does not create any specific obligations or requirements for individuals, organizations, or government agencies on Persons Day
- The bill is a proclamation rather than a substantive law that creates new powers, duties, or restrictions
October 18 is now officially recognized and proclaimed as Persons Day in Ontario each year
Source: Section 1
Generated using AI from official bill text. Not legal advice. It is written by PoliticalData.ca for civic education, automatically checked and spot-reviewed before publishing.
Official textProcess Snapshot
Vote Summary
This bill does not have a published recorded division in the current official sources, so representative-by-representative vote counts are not shown.
No published representative vote breakdown
The current official sources do not publish a recorded division breakdown for this bill, so there is no representative-by-representative table to show.
Official sources
Status, sponsor, votes, and timeline on this page are drawn from these official legislative sources and public records. Each summary above is attributed to its own source.
How this data is sourced