The Nellie McClung Foundation was created in order to acknowledge and raise awareness of the contributions of Nellie McClung and her “famous” friends, who assisted in advancing the cause of women in this province and country, and who created opportunities for all citizens for generations to come. Nellie’s work had previously been recognized through memorials in Ottawa and in Calgary, until the unveiling of the Nellie MCClung Foundation Monument, not within the province where the seeds of her ideas and their work took root.

The idea for the project began in 2002-2003 with MLA Myrna Driedger, then critic for the Status of Women, who was charged with looking at various women’s issues in the province of Manitoba. She identified Nellie McClung as a significant and yet largely unrecognized contributor to the life of women in this province, and in speaking with grassroots women’s organizations and individuals, believed it was time to find some way to honour her contributions.

Dreidger, along with Opposition Leader Stuart Murray and MLA Frank Pitura, drafted a Private Member’s Bill for the Manitoba Legislature to create a foundation that would erect a monument for Nellie McClung at the Legislature, serving to educate the public about her achievements. Support for this Bill was concurrently received from the Manitou-Pembina Cultural and Heritage Committee. Their focus was primarily on Nellie McClung, who had married and taught school in Manitou.

The Private Member’s Bill received unanimous approval on its first reading, and it passed on December 4th, 2003. Following this, the Nellie McClung Foundation was officially constituted on September 15, 2006.