page_title: Elizabeth Smith Shortt
section_title: National Council of Women
hierarchical_section_title: Elizabeth Smith Shortt / Career / National Council of Women
caption_attribution_description: English: Elizabeth Smith Shortt and husband Adam Shortt standing on the front steps of a home.
context_page_description: Elizabeth Smith Shortt was one of the first three women to earn a medical degree in Canada. She was one of the women medical students expelled from Queen's University, Ontario following a hostile backlash from male staff and students at the presence of women in the medical school. Shortt went on to complete her studies at a newly established women's college and practised medicine in Hamilton, Ontario. She was a long-serving and active member of the National Council of Women of Canada and spearheaded a number of public health and women's welfare initiatives.
context_section_description: Shortt was a highly active member of the National Council of Women of Canada, as well as the local and provincial councils. Throughout her time of being a member of these councils she worked, wrote and spoke about issues dealing with housing, inspection of markets, fly control, PXS pasteurization of milk, care of mentally deficient, child welfare, and mother’s pension.
  In 1911, she became the first Convener of the Public Health and Mental Hygiene Committee of the National Council of Women, which worked to combat mental health disorders. She was also Convener of the Committee on Immigration of the National Council of Women, which was active in organizing a hostel for female immigrants in Ottawa.
  In 1913, after a year's study, Shortt wrote a report on behalf of the National Council of Women about the necessity of establishing mothers' allowances. This report petitioned for welfare to be given to mothers in need, ranging from widows to mothers whose husbands were unable to provide, provided there were at least two or more children in the family that were 16 years old or younger, and requiring that those between 14–16 years old were in school (with the exception of qualifying children above 16 if they are also incapacitated). This petition went on to become an official act passed through legislation and became known as the Mothers' Allowance Act.
  Shortt also drew attention to issues surrounding the stigma of tuberculosis in the 1900s, calling it a social issue. She mentioned the topics of alcoholism, the meat and dairy supply, hereditary causes, immigration, industrial conditions and the necessity of good conditions for mothers in relation to the epidemic and how it was being handled by the public and governments. Shortt suggested that movements needed to be made in these areas in order to prevent the spread of tuberculosis and help those who already had it, rather than stigmatizing the disease. Her pamphlet The Social Aspects of Tuberculosis aided in the eventual founding of the Canadian Tuberculosis Society.
  Shortt wrote a memorandum outlining the outbreaks of milk borne typhoid and the regulations that were put in place, in Ottawa and elsewhere, as a result. This memorandum explains the process of pasteurizing milk to kill unhealthy bacteria to non-certified milk and reports the process of inspectors sampling milk to be tested in a laboratory.
  In 1914, she became the vice president of the Provincial Council of Women. In 1919, Shortt was given Life Patronship in the National Council of Women in recognition of the admiration and esteem of the Ottawa Local Council of Women. She had been the President of this council since 1911.
caption: Elizabeth Smith Shortt and husband Adam Shortt, 1914
exif: {"Image Tag 0x000B": "Windows Photo Editor 10.0.10011.16384", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image Software": "Windows Photo Editor 10.0.10011.16384", "Image DateTime": "2019:09:06 14:04:15", "Image ExifOffset": "2242", "Image Padding": "[]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "96", "Thumbnail YResolution": "96", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "4516", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "6996", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2016:07:27 11:57:40", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2016:07:27 11:57:40", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "34", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "34", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF Padding": "[]"}