Kit Coleman

Before social media, likes, and influencers, there was Kit Coleman. She was the first female war correspondent and the first female journalist in Canada.

Born in Ireland in the 19th century, Catherine Ferguson—aka Kit Coleman—immigrated alone to Toronto and worked as a journalist for the women's pages of various newspapers. But Kit had other ambitions. She wanted to write about what mattered: inequality, politics, and the realities of women's lives. She became a star columnist for the Toronto Daily Mail, where she wrote one of the country's first women's columns, Woman's Kingdom. Every week, despite her conservative editors, Kit managed to slip bold opinions and a resolutely committed social vision into the pages of the newspaper.

In 1898, she achieved the impossible: she became Canada's first accredited war correspondent. She covered the Spanish-American War in Cuba at a time when women were not even welcome in newsrooms. Throughout her career, she campaigned for women's access to all areas of journalism and became the first president of the Canadian Woman's Press Club.

Rebellious in her lifestyle, writing, and thinking, Kit was never satisfied with what she was given. She redefined journalism by proving that a woman could not only write, but also inform and confront. Her legacy is a strong, free, and determined voice that continues to inspire entire generations of journalists.