The feminist movement transformed Canadian society in the 1960s. Inspired by similar movements happening around the world, Canadian women demanded gender equality, an end to discriminatory employment practices, sexual liberation, authority over their own bodies, and legalization of abortion. 

In response to the rise of this movement, in 1967 the federal Liberal government of Lester B. Pearson appointed the Royal Commission on the Status of Women, chaired by Florence Bird. Two of the 469 briefs submitted to the Commission were from two groups of women from francophone minority communities.

The first was from the Fédération des femmes canadiennes-françaises. Founded in 1914, this organization originally promoted the concerns of women in a patriarchal, socially conservative society that subscribed to the notion that women, once married, should stay at home to look after the children. In 1968, however, the Federation’s brief called for gender equality, “equal pay for equal work under fair and satisfactory conditions,” and maternity leave. On other social issues, the Federation took a softer stance. Regarding abortion, the brief asserted that this issue fell within “medical competence” and was an “eminently feminine” topic. Also, the Federation did not call for the decriminalization of sex work, even though it found it unfair that sex workers should find themselves before the courts while their clients did not.

The other brief came from a group of French-speaking women based in Moncton. Its content was shaped by 241 responses to a questionnaire published in L’Évangéline, the French-language daily in the Maritimes. Among other things, the brief called for gender equality, state-subsidized daycare, “equal pay for equal work,” and maternity leave. Also, these Acadian women called for “family planning” clinics and “women’s programming” to be broadcast or rebroadcast at times convenient to New Brunswick women.