Charnel Anderson

For the past four years, Chatelaine has celebrated the incredible Canadian women and gender-diverse people who are working to make the world a better place with our annual Doris Anderson Awards. The only qualification for our recipients is that they display the same tenacity and fearlessness as our awards’ namesake, our formidable former editor-in-chief Doris Anderson. This year, all of our talented and inspiring recipients are over 50.

In 1957, Doris Anderson took the helm of Chatelaine, promising readers “something serious to think about.” At a time when women’s media was often reduced to instructionals on turning your daily chores into an exercise routine and day-by-day plans for ideal housekeeping—real Chatelaine stories that ran before her time—Anderson bucked tradition. She oversaw a progressive Chatelaine that covered everything from abortion rights and male dominance in Parliament to divorce and the wage gap.

The advocate and author has created a national movement that’s more resonant than ever. Charnel Anderson Updated November 30, 2021 In April 2013, Phyllis Webstad shared her orange shirt story for the very first time.