In June 1904, journalist and feminist Margaret "Miggsy" Graham, Ottawa correspondent of the Halifax Herald, went to see Col. George Ham, publicity agent for the Canadian Pacific Railway, at Montréal’s Windsor Station.
Ham promised that if Graham could find 12 professional women journalists, he would send them to the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis, Missouri.
On their return to Toronto ten days later, the women discussed their professional exclusion from male journalists' gatherings and press clubs.
When Ham died in 1926 after 35 years as publicity agent for CPR, CWPC dedicated a plaque in his honour on the wall of Montreal's Windsor Station.
[2] CWPC grew rapidly and over the years notable members, in addition to the above, included Lucy Maud Montgomery, Emmeline Pankhurst, Emily Murphy, Byrne Hope Sanders, Marshall Saunders, Miriam Green Ellis, Doris Anderson, and Charlotte Whitton.