Today, we are celebrating Charlotte Edith Anderson Monture – Canada’s first Indigenous nurse.

Charlotte Edith Anderson Monture (often known simply as Edith Monture), Kanyen’kehà:ka (Mohawk) First World War veteran, registered nurse, was born on April 10, 1890 on Six Nations reserve near Brantford, ON, and passed away on April 3, 1996 in Ohsweken, ON.

Edith Monture was the first Indigenous woman to become a registered nurse in Canada and to gain the right to vote in a Canadian federal election. She was also the first Indigenous woman from Canada to serve in the United States military.

In her early twenties, Monture had no luck applying to Ontario nursing schools. Most Canadian nursing programs excluded Indigenous women; the federal Indian Act was a barrier to higher education for Indigenous people. Consequently, Monture looked to the United States, where she was accepted into New York’s New Rochelle Nursing School. She graduated first in her class and became the first Indigenous registered nurse in Canada in 1914.

Until the United States entered the First World War in 1917, Edith Monture worked as a nurse at a private school in New Rochelle, New York. Afterward, she volunteered, at age 27, with the United States Army Nurse Corps, along with 14 other Canadian nurses. She is one of a few Indigenous women who served overseas with this Corps.

Edith Monture became the first female Status Indian and registered band member to gain the right to vote in a Canadian federal election. The Military Service Act (1917) had given wartime nurses the right to vote. However, Indigenous women as a whole could not legally vote federally until 1960.

Edith broke barriers for Indigenous women in the armed forces and with regards to federal voting rights. A street (Edith Monture Avenue) and park (Edith Monture Park) are named after her in Brantford, Ontario.

To learn more on Edith Monture click here.