Muriel Duckworth
Encyclopedia
Muriel Helen Duckworth née Ball, CM
, ONS
(October 31, 1908 – August 22, 2009) was a Canadian pacifist
, feminist
and social and community activist. She was a practising Quaker
, a religious denomination committed to non-violence. Duckworth maintained that war with its systematic violence against women and children is a major obstacle to social justice. She argued that money spent on armaments perpetuates poverty while reinforcing the power of privileged elites. She believed that "war is stupid" and she steadfastly refused to accept popular distinctions between "good" and "bad" wars.
Duckworth was a founding member of the Nova Scotia Voice of Women, a provincial branch of the national peace organization called the Voice of Women (VOW). From 1967 to 1971, she served as president of VOW leading protests against the Canadian government's quiet support for the U.S.-led War in Vietnam
.
Duckworth was the first woman in Halifax to run for a seat in the Nova Scotia legislature
. She also led community organizing efforts seeking improvements in education, housing, social assistance and municipal planning. In her later years, Duckworth performed with the Halifax chapter of the Raging Grannies
, a group that composes and sings satirical ballads promoting social justice.
Duckworth received many honours and awards including the 1981 Governor General's Award in Commemoration of the Persons Case and the Order of Canada
in 1983. In 1991, she received the Pearson Medal of Peace
. She was also granted 10 honorary university degrees.
, a village in the Eastern Townships
about 130 km east of Montreal
. She was one of five children born to Anna Westover and Ezra Ball. Their farm was on the scenic shores of Lake Memphremagog
and Muriel spent her first years enjoying the natural beauty around her. She was so deeply affected by the landscape that she returned nearly every summer for the rest of her life to the cottage her aunt and uncle built in 1913.
Although the family farm was suitable for raising livestock such as chickens and cattle, the land was not very fertile. Muriel's mother supplemented the family income by taking in summer boarders, while her father sold lightning rods. Muriel attended a local one-room country school until she was seven, then transferred to a larger school in the town of Magog
where she boarded during the week with two siblings and an aunt. In 1917, when she was nine, her father sold the farm and bought a grocery and feed store in Magog. He also sold wood and oil. The next year, her mother opened a tea room and boarding home that catered to summer visitors who came by steamship and rail. As they grew older, Muriel and her two sisters helped their mother with cleaning, cooking, making beds and waiting on tables. Serving the public in the tea room helped Muriel cope with her chronic shyness.
church and the Woman's Christian Temperance Union
had a powerful influence on Muriel. Anna Ball had a boarding house, a block from the train station. She fed hungry men and gave shelter to homeless young women who came to Magog on the trains and raised funds to establish a home for the elderly and started a community lending library. Duckworth was also an admirer of Nellie McClung
and Agnes Macphail
, two political activists who championed women's rights. Many decades later, Muriel told an interviewer that her mother's example helped lead her into social activism. Her mother cared passionately about what she did, Muriel said. She believed she could have a positive effect and did.
. Her aunt, Abbie Ball, taught there and offered to pay Muriel's fees. The College provided instruction in languages, history, mathematics and piano but little science. The 15-year-old Muriel was too shy to participate in drama even though her aunt was the school's drama coach. She also suffered from homesickness. Once a month, guest speakers, usually from the United Church of Canada
addressed the student assembly. Muriel especially remembered James Endicott
, then a missionary in China, who went on to become a prominent church leader and a lifelong acquaintance.
with the help of a small college bursary and money from her Aunt Abbie. She was enrolled in the university's Bachelor of Arts
program and in her graduating year, took the education courses required to qualify for a high school teaching diploma. To practice teaching in front of a classroom full of children as well as her fellow education students was especially difficult for her, but Muriel hid her fear so well that the supervising professor praised her apparent lack of nervousness. She also tried to overcome her shyness by entering a public speaking contest and volunteering to take minutes at student meetings.
(SCM) at McGill was a life-changing experience. "Looking back over the years," she told her biographer, "I've felt always that the experience of the SCM was the most important thing that happened to me, probably the most important aspect of my college life, more important than any of the courses that I took." The SCM conducted small study groups in which students were encouraged to discuss their beliefs freely and come to their own conclusions about how to interpret the Gospel
s. For Muriel, such discussions were unsettling and painful, yet also exciting. "I had always before treated the Gospel as though its authors had set down day by day events in the life of Jesus as they happened," she said. "To face the implication that nothing was written down until after Jesus died was itself a shock. But this question of free and open discussion, that everything needed to be challenged, to be questioned, to be talked about, that was completely opposite to the authoritarian approach in the church." The SCM study groups fostered independent thinking. "This was the beginning of my adult search for truth," Muriel told her biographer, "and my sense that all things must be open to me."
where he had been a volunteer working with boys in Vancouver. To finance his studies, he became a student minister and discovered his talents as a preacher. He decided to continue studying theology after earning his MA degree
from McGill. In 1928, Muriel and Duckworth were engaged to be married. In the fall, he began two years of studies at the Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York
(UTS). Muriel graduated from McGill in May 1929 and a month later the Duckworths were married at an informal wedding in Montreal. They began their married life in New York where Duckworth was completing his final year at UTS.
Muriel Duckworth enrolled as a full-time student at Union Theological Seminary in 1929. She was also registered as a part-time UTS field student and worked with poor teenage girls at a community church in Hell's Kitchen
on New York's West Side. Duckworth met these 16-and-17-year-old working-class girls twice a week in a recreation group and in a Sunday School class. She also visited their homes gaining first-hand knowledge of the conditions experienced by working-class immigrants who lived in cramped, windowless flats beside "booming and clattering" elevated trains. In her academic studies, Duckworth learned about the Social Gospel
movement which strove to improve people's lives through social services and adult education at a time when the Great Depression
was just beginning. Her teachers at UTS included Harry Ward, a socialist
who campaigned for civil and political rights and the noted theologian Reinhold Niebuhr
. "The Social Gospel and pacifism were linked in my mind," Duckworth said adding that she remembered hearing about Eugene V. Debs
"a labour hero who had gone to prison for opposition to the First World War
and who ran for president of the U.S. while he was in jail."
, named after Eleanor Roosevelt
, was born in 1935 followed by John in 1938. The family moved to Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1947 where Jack Duckworth served as general secretary of the YMCA, while Muriel worked in adult education. From 1948 until 1962, Muriel was a part-time parent education adviser for the Nova Scotia Department of Education. Jack Duckworth died, age 76, in May 1975 when Muriel was 66.
. It also condemned the Canadian government's tacit support for the war and its policy of quietly encouraging the sale of Canadian-made weapons to the U.S. military. In 1969 and 1971, Duckworth helped organize two highly publicized visits to Canada by Vietnamese women directly affected by the war.
Duckworth was also active in community organizing, electoral politics and the advancement of women's issues. In 1971, she helped establish the Movement for Citizens' Voice and Action (MOVE), a coalition of community groups in Halifax, Nova Scotia working for a wide range of goals including improvements in education, housing, social assistance and municipal planning. Duckworth became the first woman in Halifax to run for a seat in the Nova Scotia Legislature
when she campaigned as a New Democratic Party candidate during the provincial elections of 1974 and 1978. In 1976, she became a founding member of the Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women (CRIAW), an organization set up to sponsor the dissemination of research on issues affecting women. She served as president of CRIAW in 1979–80. Later, she played a leading role in organizing a five-day Women's International Peace Conference held in Halifax in June 1985.
Duckworth was the recipient of numerous honours including the 1981 Governor General's Award in Commemoration of the Persons Case and the Order of Canada
in 1983. In 1991, she received the Pearson Medal of Peace
. She was also granted 10 honorary degrees including one from Mount Saint Vincent University
in 1978 and another from Dalhousie University
in 1987. In celebration of her 100th birthday, Oxfam Canada
established the Jack and Muriel Duckworth Fund for Active Global Citizenship in recognition of Duckworth and her late husband's leadership in working for social justice. Duckworth was awarded a posthumous Order of Nova Scotia
on September 2, 2009.
and broke her leg in August 2009 while at her Quebec cottage. She was treated in hospital in Magog, Quebec
where her condition deteriorated. As she received palliative care
, Duckworth reportedly told visitors, "I'm going to leave you now. It's time for me to go. Everything is ready." Then she added: "Be happy with each other. You have each other. Goodbye, I'm going now." Her imminent death drew this comment from her friend, the well-known scholar and peace activist Ursula Franklin
: "I would like her to be remembered as somebody who demonstrated that it's possible to change one's society, to be profoundly critical and still remain a respected member of that society." Muriel Duckworth died on August 22, 2009 aged 100. Her biographer, Marion Douglas Kerans said, "She showed women how to become true leaders in their community, and in the world, without losing any feminine grace."
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...
, ONS
Order of Nova Scotia
The Order of Nova Scotia is a civilian honour for merit in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. Instituted on 2 August 2001, when Lieutenant Governor Myra Freeman granted Royal Assent to the Order of Nova Scotia Act, the order is administered by the Governor-in-Council and is intended to honour...
(October 31, 1908 – August 22, 2009) was a Canadian pacifist
Pacifism
Pacifism is the opposition to war and violence. The term "pacifism" was coined by the French peace campaignerÉmile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress inGlasgow in 1901.- Definition :...
, feminist
Feminism
Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...
and social and community activist. She was a practising Quaker
Religious Society of Friends
The Religious Society of Friends, or Friends Church, is a Christian movement which stresses the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. Members are known as Friends, or popularly as Quakers. It is made of independent organisations, which have split from one another due to doctrinal differences...
, a religious denomination committed to non-violence. Duckworth maintained that war with its systematic violence against women and children is a major obstacle to social justice. She argued that money spent on armaments perpetuates poverty while reinforcing the power of privileged elites. She believed that "war is stupid" and she steadfastly refused to accept popular distinctions between "good" and "bad" wars.
Duckworth was a founding member of the Nova Scotia Voice of Women, a provincial branch of the national peace organization called the Voice of Women (VOW). From 1967 to 1971, she served as president of VOW leading protests against the Canadian government's quiet support for the U.S.-led War in Vietnam
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
.
Duckworth was the first woman in Halifax to run for a seat in the Nova Scotia legislature
Nova Scotia House of Assembly
The Nova Scotia Legislature, consisting of Her Majesty The Queen represented by the Lieutenant Governor and the House of Assembly, is the legislative branch of the provincial government of Nova Scotia, Canada...
. She also led community organizing efforts seeking improvements in education, housing, social assistance and municipal planning. In her later years, Duckworth performed with the Halifax chapter of the Raging Grannies
Raging Grannies
The Raging Grannies are activist organizations in many cities and towns in Canada, the United States, and in other countries. They are social justice activists, all women old enough to be grandmothers, who dress up in clothes that mock stereotypes of older women, and sing songs at protests...
, a group that composes and sings satirical ballads promoting social justice.
Duckworth received many honours and awards including the 1981 Governor General's Award in Commemoration of the Persons Case and the Order of Canada
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...
in 1983. In 1991, she received the Pearson Medal of Peace
Pearson Medal of Peace
The Pearson Medal of Peace is an award given out annually by the United Nations Association in Canada to recognize an individual Canadian's "contribution to international service". Nominations are made by any Canadian for any Canadian, excluding self-nominations. The award is named in honour of...
. She was also granted 10 honorary university degrees.
Early life and education
Muriel Helena Ball was born in 1908 on her parents' farm in Austin, QuebecAustin, Quebec
Austin is a municipality on the western shore of Lake Memphremagog, part of the Memphrémagog Regional County Municipality in the Eastern Townships region of Quebec, Canada. Home to known Canadien Celebrities and historical figures such as inventor 'Reginald Fessenden' and actor Jason Westover.'-...
, a village in the Eastern Townships
Eastern Townships
The Eastern Townships is a tourist region and a former administrative region in south-eastern Quebec, lying between the former seigneuries south of the Saint Lawrence River and the United States border. Its northern boundary roughly followed Logan's Line, the geologic boundary between the flat,...
about 130 km east of Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
. She was one of five children born to Anna Westover and Ezra Ball. Their farm was on the scenic shores of Lake Memphremagog
Lake Memphremagog
Lake Memphremagog is a fresh water glacial lake located between Newport, Vermont, United States and Magog, Quebec, Canada. The lake is long with 73 percent of the lake's surface area in Quebec, where it drains into the Magog River. However, three-quarters of its watershed, , is in Vermont. The...
and Muriel spent her first years enjoying the natural beauty around her. She was so deeply affected by the landscape that she returned nearly every summer for the rest of her life to the cottage her aunt and uncle built in 1913.
Although the family farm was suitable for raising livestock such as chickens and cattle, the land was not very fertile. Muriel's mother supplemented the family income by taking in summer boarders, while her father sold lightning rods. Muriel attended a local one-room country school until she was seven, then transferred to a larger school in the town of Magog
Magog, Quebec
Magog is a city in southeastern Quebec, Canada, about east of Montreal at the confluence of Lake Memphremagog--after which the city was named—with the Rivière aux Cerises and the Magog River...
where she boarded during the week with two siblings and an aunt. In 1917, when she was nine, her father sold the farm and bought a grocery and feed store in Magog. He also sold wood and oil. The next year, her mother opened a tea room and boarding home that catered to summer visitors who came by steamship and rail. As they grew older, Muriel and her two sisters helped their mother with cleaning, cooking, making beds and waiting on tables. Serving the public in the tea room helped Muriel cope with her chronic shyness.
Anna Ball as role model
Her mother's career as a successful businesswoman and her dedication to community service in the MethodistMethodism
Methodism is a movement of Protestant Christianity represented by a number of denominations and organizations, claiming a total of approximately seventy million adherents worldwide. The movement traces its roots to John Wesley's evangelistic revival movement within Anglicanism. His younger brother...
church and the Woman's Christian Temperance Union
Woman's Christian Temperance Union
The Woman's Christian Temperance Union was the first mass organization among women devoted to social reform with a program that "linked the religious and the secular through concerted and far-reaching reform strategies based on applied Christianity." Originally organized on December 23, 1873, in...
had a powerful influence on Muriel. Anna Ball had a boarding house, a block from the train station. She fed hungry men and gave shelter to homeless young women who came to Magog on the trains and raised funds to establish a home for the elderly and started a community lending library. Duckworth was also an admirer of Nellie McClung
Nellie McClung
Nellie McClung, born Nellie Letitia Mooney , was a Canadian feminist, politician, and social activist. She was a part of the social and moral reform movements prevalent in Western Canada in the early 1900s...
and Agnes Macphail
Agnes Macphail
Agnes Campbell Macphail was the first woman to be elected to the Canadian House of Commons, and one of the first two women elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario...
, two political activists who championed women's rights. Many decades later, Muriel told an interviewer that her mother's example helped lead her into social activism. Her mother cared passionately about what she did, Muriel said. She believed she could have a positive effect and did.
Ontario Ladies College
After finishing high school which ended at Grade 11, Muriel attended the Ontario Ladies College, a Methodist girls' school in Whitby, OntarioWhitby, Ontario
Whitby is a town in Durham Region. Whitby is located in Southern Ontario east of Toronto on the north shore of Lake Ontario, and is home to the headquarters of Durham Region...
. Her aunt, Abbie Ball, taught there and offered to pay Muriel's fees. The College provided instruction in languages, history, mathematics and piano but little science. The 15-year-old Muriel was too shy to participate in drama even though her aunt was the school's drama coach. She also suffered from homesickness. Once a month, guest speakers, usually from the United Church of Canada
United Church of Canada
The United Church of Canada is a Protestant Christian denomination in Canada. It is the largest Protestant church and, after the Roman Catholic Church, the second-largest Christian church in Canada...
addressed the student assembly. Muriel especially remembered James Endicott
James Endicott (church leader)
James Endicott was a Canadian church leader and missionary. He was born in Devon, England the fourth of eleven children. His father was a farm worker....
, then a missionary in China, who went on to become a prominent church leader and a lifelong acquaintance.
McGill, 1925–1929
Muriel undertook studies at Montreal's McGill UniversityMcGill University
Mohammed Fathy is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university bears the name of James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant from Glasgow, Scotland, whose bequest formed the beginning of the university...
with the help of a small college bursary and money from her Aunt Abbie. She was enrolled in the university's Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
program and in her graduating year, took the education courses required to qualify for a high school teaching diploma. To practice teaching in front of a classroom full of children as well as her fellow education students was especially difficult for her, but Muriel hid her fear so well that the supervising professor praised her apparent lack of nervousness. She also tried to overcome her shyness by entering a public speaking contest and volunteering to take minutes at student meetings.
Student Christian Movement
Muriel's participation in the Student Christian MovementStudent Christian Movement of Canada
The Student Christian Movement of Canada is a youth-led ecumenical network of student collectives based in spirituality, issues of social, economic, and environmental justice, and building autonomous local communities on campuses across the country...
(SCM) at McGill was a life-changing experience. "Looking back over the years," she told her biographer, "I've felt always that the experience of the SCM was the most important thing that happened to me, probably the most important aspect of my college life, more important than any of the courses that I took." The SCM conducted small study groups in which students were encouraged to discuss their beliefs freely and come to their own conclusions about how to interpret the Gospel
Gospel
A gospel is an account, often written, that describes the life of Jesus of Nazareth. In a more general sense the term "gospel" may refer to the good news message of the New Testament. It is primarily used in reference to the four canonical gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John...
s. For Muriel, such discussions were unsettling and painful, yet also exciting. "I had always before treated the Gospel as though its authors had set down day by day events in the life of Jesus as they happened," she said. "To face the implication that nothing was written down until after Jesus died was itself a shock. But this question of free and open discussion, that everything needed to be challenged, to be questioned, to be talked about, that was completely opposite to the authoritarian approach in the church." The SCM study groups fostered independent thinking. "This was the beginning of my adult search for truth," Muriel told her biographer, "and my sense that all things must be open to me."
Graduation and marriage
In 1926, Muriel met Jack Duckworth, a McGill student who was also active in the SCM. She was 18, he was 29. Duckworth was attending university to qualify for a job with the YMCAYMCA
The Young Men's Christian Association is a worldwide organization of more than 45 million members from 125 national federations affiliated through the World Alliance of YMCAs...
where he had been a volunteer working with boys in Vancouver. To finance his studies, he became a student minister and discovered his talents as a preacher. He decided to continue studying theology after earning his MA degree
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
from McGill. In 1928, Muriel and Duckworth were engaged to be married. In the fall, he began two years of studies at the Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York
Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York
Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York is a preeminent independent graduate school of theology, located in Manhattan between Claremont Avenue and Broadway, 120th to 122nd Streets. The seminary was founded in 1836 under the Presbyterian Church, and is affiliated with nearby Columbia...
(UTS). Muriel graduated from McGill in May 1929 and a month later the Duckworths were married at an informal wedding in Montreal. They began their married life in New York where Duckworth was completing his final year at UTS.
Union Theological Seminary
While there is a lower class, I am in it While there is a criminal element, I am of it And while there is a soul in prison, I am not free. |
| — Eugene Debs. From a poster that hung on Muriel Duckworth's wall 60 years after she attended UTS. |
Muriel Duckworth enrolled as a full-time student at Union Theological Seminary in 1929. She was also registered as a part-time UTS field student and worked with poor teenage girls at a community church in Hell's Kitchen
Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan
Hell's Kitchen, also known as Clinton and Midtown West, is a neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City between 34th Street and 59th Street, from 8th Avenue to the Hudson River....
on New York's West Side. Duckworth met these 16-and-17-year-old working-class girls twice a week in a recreation group and in a Sunday School class. She also visited their homes gaining first-hand knowledge of the conditions experienced by working-class immigrants who lived in cramped, windowless flats beside "booming and clattering" elevated trains. In her academic studies, Duckworth learned about the Social Gospel
Social Gospel
The Social Gospel movement is a Protestant Christian intellectual movement that was most prominent in the early 20th century United States and Canada...
movement which strove to improve people's lives through social services and adult education at a time when the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
was just beginning. Her teachers at UTS included Harry Ward, a socialist
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
who campaigned for civil and political rights and the noted theologian Reinhold Niebuhr
Reinhold Niebuhr
Karl Paul Reinhold Niebuhr was an American theologian and commentator on public affairs. Starting as a leftist minister in the 1920s indebted to theological liberalism, he shifted to the new Neo-Orthodox theology in the 1930s, explaining how the sin of pride created evil in the world...
. "The Social Gospel and pacifism were linked in my mind," Duckworth said adding that she remembered hearing about Eugene V. Debs
Eugene V. Debs
Eugene Victor Debs was an American union leader, one of the founding members of the International Labor Union and the Industrial Workers of the World , and several times the candidate of the Socialist Party of America for President of the United States...
"a labour hero who had gone to prison for opposition to the First World War
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
and who ran for president of the U.S. while he was in jail."
Family life
Muriel and Jack Duckworth returned to Montreal in 1930 where they began raising a family. Martin was born in 1933; EleanorEleanor Duckworth
Eleanor Ruth Duckworth is a cognitive psychologist, educational theorist and constructivist educator. A former student, colleague, leading translator and interpreter of Jean Piaget as well as renowned Professor of Education at Harvard Graduate School of Education, she is one of the leading...
, named after Eleanor Roosevelt
Eleanor Roosevelt
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt was the First Lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945. She supported the New Deal policies of her husband, distant cousin Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and became an advocate for civil rights. After her husband's death in 1945, Roosevelt continued to be an international...
, was born in 1935 followed by John in 1938. The family moved to Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1947 where Jack Duckworth served as general secretary of the YMCA, while Muriel worked in adult education. From 1948 until 1962, Muriel was a part-time parent education adviser for the Nova Scotia Department of Education. Jack Duckworth died, age 76, in May 1975 when Muriel was 66.
Subsequent activities
Muriel Duckworth's pacifism was reflected in her religious beliefs and her work on behalf of peace organizations. She was a founding member of the Nova Scotia Voice of Women, a provincial branch of the Voice of Women (VOW). She served as the National President of VOW, now called the Canadian Voice of Women for Peace, from 1967 to 1971. During her presidency, VOW protested vigorously against the U.S.-led War in VietnamVietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
. It also condemned the Canadian government's tacit support for the war and its policy of quietly encouraging the sale of Canadian-made weapons to the U.S. military. In 1969 and 1971, Duckworth helped organize two highly publicized visits to Canada by Vietnamese women directly affected by the war.
Duckworth was also active in community organizing, electoral politics and the advancement of women's issues. In 1971, she helped establish the Movement for Citizens' Voice and Action (MOVE), a coalition of community groups in Halifax, Nova Scotia working for a wide range of goals including improvements in education, housing, social assistance and municipal planning. Duckworth became the first woman in Halifax to run for a seat in the Nova Scotia Legislature
Nova Scotia House of Assembly
The Nova Scotia Legislature, consisting of Her Majesty The Queen represented by the Lieutenant Governor and the House of Assembly, is the legislative branch of the provincial government of Nova Scotia, Canada...
when she campaigned as a New Democratic Party candidate during the provincial elections of 1974 and 1978. In 1976, she became a founding member of the Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women (CRIAW), an organization set up to sponsor the dissemination of research on issues affecting women. She served as president of CRIAW in 1979–80. Later, she played a leading role in organizing a five-day Women's International Peace Conference held in Halifax in June 1985.
Duckworth was the recipient of numerous honours including the 1981 Governor General's Award in Commemoration of the Persons Case and the Order of Canada
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...
in 1983. In 1991, she received the Pearson Medal of Peace
Pearson Medal of Peace
The Pearson Medal of Peace is an award given out annually by the United Nations Association in Canada to recognize an individual Canadian's "contribution to international service". Nominations are made by any Canadian for any Canadian, excluding self-nominations. The award is named in honour of...
. She was also granted 10 honorary degrees including one from Mount Saint Vincent University
Mount Saint Vincent University
Mount Saint Vincent University is a university located in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. It was established in 1873 and is locally referred to as The Mount.-History:...
in 1978 and another from Dalhousie University
Dalhousie University
Dalhousie University is a public research university located in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The university comprises eleven faculties including Schulich School of Law and Dalhousie University Faculty of Medicine. It also includes the faculties of architecture, planning and engineering located at...
in 1987. In celebration of her 100th birthday, Oxfam Canada
Oxfam Canada
Oxfam Canada, founded in 1963, is an international development agency based in Canada, and is a registered charity . It has offices throughout Canada and works with partner organizations in Africa, Asia and the Americas...
established the Jack and Muriel Duckworth Fund for Active Global Citizenship in recognition of Duckworth and her late husband's leadership in working for social justice. Duckworth was awarded a posthumous Order of Nova Scotia
Order of Nova Scotia
The Order of Nova Scotia is a civilian honour for merit in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. Instituted on 2 August 2001, when Lieutenant Governor Myra Freeman granted Royal Assent to the Order of Nova Scotia Act, the order is administered by the Governor-in-Council and is intended to honour...
on September 2, 2009.
Death and legacy
Duckworth fellFalling (accident)
Falling is a major cause of personal injury, especially for the elderly. Builders, electricians, miners, and painters represent worker categories representing high rates of fall injuries. The WHO estimate that 392,000 people die in falls every year...
and broke her leg in August 2009 while at her Quebec cottage. She was treated in hospital in Magog, Quebec
Magog, Quebec
Magog is a city in southeastern Quebec, Canada, about east of Montreal at the confluence of Lake Memphremagog--after which the city was named—with the Rivière aux Cerises and the Magog River...
where her condition deteriorated. As she received palliative care
Palliative care
Palliative care is a specialized area of healthcare that focuses on relieving and preventing the suffering of patients...
, Duckworth reportedly told visitors, "I'm going to leave you now. It's time for me to go. Everything is ready." Then she added: "Be happy with each other. You have each other. Goodbye, I'm going now." Her imminent death drew this comment from her friend, the well-known scholar and peace activist Ursula Franklin
Ursula Franklin
Ursula Martius Franklin, , is a Canadian metallurgist, research physicist, author and educator who has taught at the University of Toronto for more than 40 years...
: "I would like her to be remembered as somebody who demonstrated that it's possible to change one's society, to be profoundly critical and still remain a respected member of that society." Muriel Duckworth died on August 22, 2009 aged 100. Her biographer, Marion Douglas Kerans said, "She showed women how to become true leaders in their community, and in the world, without losing any feminine grace."