About the CFUW Montreal South Shore Club

Our Story

In the days when a woman wore a dress, hat and gloves, and had no first name in public (she was known as Mrs. John Smith), it was rare for her to graduate from university. As soon as she married, she quit work to become a housewife. In 1957, sixteen college educated housewives from 11 different universities raised their heads above the diaper pails to form the University Women’s Club of St. Lambert. When the Club received its charter in October 1957 from the parent organization, the Canadian Federation of University Women (CFUW), it boasted 50 members from universities across Canada, the USA and Europe.

Founding members were: Jessie Bishop, Mary Cyr, Maureen Fuller, Joyce Jones, Martha Laurier, Ruth Ann Lewis, Betty McLaren (the first President), Beth Mercer, Gerrie Symons, Eleanor Wallace and Joyce Waymann. One of the founders - Mary Cyr - was an active member until her death at 101 years of age in February 2018.

To better identify the member’s various geographical regions, the name was changed in 1960 to become the Montreal South Shore University Women’s Club, locally known as the SSUWC and then again changed to CFUW Montreal South Shore in 2021.

Since its inception, the club has been committed to pursuing knowledge, promoting education and improving the status of women and human rights - values that are actively supported to this day through involvement in the community, support of public education, initiatives regarding the environment and efforts to raise the social, economic and political status of women and girls.

Past successes of the Club include initiation of French Immersion in St. Lambert in 1964, organizing Counselling Teas in high schools, preparing briefs on pension and education reforms, organizing a conference on education reforms (the White Paper), vigorously campaigning for Champlain College, aiding Vietnamese boat people, preparing briefs on the display of pornography and on management of Canadian water.