An Evening With the Fae(mous) Five

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Katherine Jameson Digby
Katherine Jameson Digby

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an evening with the fae(mous) five - famous five ottawa awards gives a man a women's award
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A Special Report for Gender Dissent by Katherine Jameson Digby

A photograph taken at an indoor awards event on a stage, with a wooden lectern reading "Carleton University" in the foreground on the left, where a woman with short grey hair and glasses stands at a microphone wearing a maroon blazer. Beside her, a woman (Catherine McKenna) with short blonde hair in a white long-sleeve top clasps hands with a man (Zachary "Fae" Johnstone) who has long, wavy dark red hair and wears a black dress. He is several inches taller than McKenna. To their right stand a man in a dark suit and a woman with short reddish hair and glasses wearing a dark blazer with a name badge, both smiling and clapping. In the foreground, partially visible, a person wearing a maroon-and-black plaid outfit and a black hijab crouches or bends near the stage. An older woman with white hair sits at a table on the far right. Behind the group are three pink and black vertical banners reading "famou5, OTTAWA," "5 FEMMES, 1 DÉCISION HIS[TORIQUE]," and "5 WOMEN, 1 HISTORIC DECISION" with black-and-white photos of women. A seated audience is visible in the foreground, out of focus.
Fae Johnstone is presented with his Famous 5 Award. Left to right: Rosemary Thompson (Awards Jury Chair), Catherine McKenna (Former Liberal MP), Fae Johnstone (award recipient), Yasir Naqvi (Liberal MP – Ottawa Centre), Beatrice Keleher Raffoul (Chair of the Famous 5 Foundation Ottawa Group), Dr. Diana Beresford-Kroeger (award recipient)
Photo: Gender Dissent

OTTAWA, Canada — October 21, 2025 —  Trans-identified influencer Fae Johnstone, best known for usurping roles and titles formerly reserved for Canadian women, became the first male recipient of the annual Ottawa Famous 5 Award. Special reporter Katherine Jameson Digby was on the scene and provides some history and some highlights from the “celebration.”

But first — Who were the Famous Five? 

Prior to 1929, Canada’s constitution said that only “qualified persons”—meaning men only—could be appointed to the Senate.

Five courageous and idealistic Canadian women challenged these antiquated laws and conventions by insisting that women be officially recognized as persons in the fullest legal sense of the word. Known as the “Famous Five,” they set a stirring example of leadership that altered all Commonwealth nations’ laws, and, with it, the course of history.

The efforts of Canada’s Famous Five caused the Privy Council of Great Britain to define the word ‘persons’ as always meaning both women and men. Other countries adopted this definition as well. Thus, 96 years ago, Canadian women were eligible to be appointed to the Senate of Canada.

A promotional graphic on a white background. In the top left, small text reads "FONDATION" above the wordmark "famou5" and "FOUNDATION" below it, with the "5" stylized in purple. In the top right, a hot-pink speech-bubble-shaped box contains bold white text reading "WOMEN ARE PERSONS!" followed by italicized text "October 18, 1929." Below, in large bold black and pink lettering, it reads "5 WOMEN" (with "5" in pink) and "1 HISTORIC DECISION" (with "1" in pink). Along the bottom are five black-and-white archival portrait photographs of women dressed in early 20th-century clothing, captioned beneath: "Judge Emily Murphy, Henrietta Muir Edwards 'Otter Woman', Hon. Irene Parlby, Louise McKinney, MLA, Nellie McClung, MLA."
Source: Famous Five Foundation Website

The Famous 5 Foundation was established on October 18, 1996—the 67th anniversary of the ‘Persons’ Case—and registered as a not-for-profit charitable corporation in 1997. The Foundation’s mission is to empower women and girls to courageously lead change that contributes to a society without boundaries for women, in the spirit of the Famous Five.

Zachary “Fae” Johnstone was born in 1996, and was an undergraduate at Carleton University when Justin Trudeau was first elected in 2015. By 2017, the Trudeau government had passed Bill C-16, which amended the Canadian Human Rights Act to add gender identity and gender expression to the list of prohibited grounds of discrimination.

By the time Johnstone was finishing his master’s degree in social work at Carleton in 2020, Covid had descended upon the world, and the stage was set for him to go into the TQ+ industry full time. The Zoom world ushered in a golden age for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and the Trudeau government was offering buckets of money to anyone who could keep the 2SLGBTQIA acronym glued together.

And there, boldly entering stage left, was Johnstone, fresh out of grad school with a relentless instinct for self-promotion, ready to put out his bold, square jaw as the face of the new Canadian intersectional feminism.

fae johnstone wisdom2action faery tales million dollar deception
Title image of Gender Dissent story, Faery Tales from February 2023.

The Famous 5 Foundation apologizes for the F5’s “flawed” colonial beliefs

On October 21, 2025, Johnstone received the latest in a long line of distinctions as Canada’s most celebrated male woman. The “Famous 5 Foundation” conferred on Johnstone (and four actual, accomplished women), this annual award for “persons who exemplify the vision, determination, and social impact of Canada’s original Famous Five – the pioneers who secured women’s recognition as ‘persons’ under the law.”

The literature from the event does not make it clear whether Johnstone is a pioneer in the sense of being the first male recipient of the award. In the pamphlet, the honorees are variously referred to as “persons,” “individuals,” “recipients,” and “trailblazers,” but not as “women,” in perhaps an indirect recognition of the fact that the award now includes men.

A photograph of a printed event program page. The heading in pink text reads "FAE JOHNSTONE," followed by a bold black headline: "ADVOCATE FOR GENDER JUSTICE AND 2SLGBTQIA+ EQUALITY." On the left is a photo of a man with long, straight dark reddish hair, a septum piercing, dark lipstick, and dangling earrings, photographed indoors with a partially visible flag behind them. His adam's apple is clearly visible. The body text to the right reads: "Fae Johnstone is a nationally recognized advocate and organizer for gender justice and 2SLGBTQIA+ equality. As Executive Director of Queer Momentum, she has been a powerful force mobilizing communities against hate and regression. Her courage and persistence — in the face of public attacks and opposition — have made her a role model for many. In 2023, she was Grand Marshal of Ottawa Capital Pride and featured on a special Hershey's International Women's Day edition chocolate bar. Johnstone also serves on the boards of YWCA Canada and Oxfam Canada, building bridges between feminist, queer and labour movements. 'She is a role model to many, a trailblazing trans woman and a superstar advocate,' her nomination says." Note: despite Fae being a man who says his pronouns are she/they, the program exclusively uses female pronouns for him.

From the 2025 Ottawa Famous 5 Awards program:
“Her courage and persistence — in the face of public attacks and opposition — have made her a role model for many.”

How the award came to include men will perhaps never be made public. There are some interesting clues, however, on two web sites run by the Famous 5 Foundation. We have both famous5.ca and famous5ottawa.ca. The sites contain much text that is identical. Both include biographies of the five women in question, written in the dispassionate, historical tone that one might expect. However, the famous5.ca site has added information, written in atrocious prose, that immediately jumps out as a recent addition, so out of keeping it is with the tone of the articles.

The biography of Emily Murphy at famous5.ca repeats all of the text given at the famous5ottawa.ca, but then tacks the following paragraph on at the end:

“Emily was a product of the white English Victoria era and whilst being dedicated to making changes to improve life particularly for women, she opposed changes others were bringing. She advocated sterilization as a way to lessen the struggle for survival but then when others advocated it be used to control races, she agreed with this idea.”

Nellie McClung’s biography at famous5.ca has an equally awkward disclaimer added as the final line in her biography:

“Like other progressives, Nellie also supported the idea of sterilization to make life easier and no doubt would be appalled at how it evolved.”

The Irene Parlby biography at both famous5ottawa.ca and famous5.ca informs us that “[Irene Parlby] became the first female cabinet minister in Alberta (and the second in the entire British Empire).” Then the mystery editor at famous5.ca has added that Parlby “was not given a portfolio because of misogyny.”

Both websites have a heading entitled “About Us.”  The famous5.ca site has a subsection under “About Us,” entitled “F5 Flawed Beliefs.” Under this, we get more of the bizarre, pedantic writing that stands out so jarringly in the biographies.

A screenshot of a webpage section with a black-and-white archival photograph across the top showing a row of women in early 20th-century coats, hats, and dresses standing together outdoors, with white bold text overlaid reading "Flawed Beliefs." Below the photo, on a white background, the body text reads: "The Famous 5 did not know what we know now. We regret the statements and actions of the F5 which were racist and elitist and believe that if the F5 were alive today, they would apologize for such matters and work towards greater equality and diversity."

“The Famous 5 did not know what we know now, and as a result, like most Canadians more than 100 years ago, the F5 were white Christians.

“Of course, we, the Famous 5 Foundation, wish the F5 did not hold certain ideologies and beliefs. Today, we have accumulated and have access to either direct or indirect knowledge and experiences of the world, but in the early 1900s, most people’s knowledge and experiences came from within a small sphere.

“We regret the statements and actions of the F5 which were racist and elitist and believe that if the F5 were alive today, they would apologize for such matters and work towards greater equality and diversity.

Perhaps it’s time for us to ask ourselves — What am I doing and saying today which won’t withstand the test of time?”

The near-identical web sites, one with these cringey, patronizing apologies on behalf of women who lived one hundred years ago, and one without, suggests that there might be some disagreement among the Famous 5 Foundation about how to appropriately atone for the dreaded, historical “lack of diversity” in their organization.

Is this how we arrived at the “inclusion” of a male recipient for an F5 award in 2025?

Whatever the case, on October 21, 2025, at 5:15 PM, I found myself in the lobby of Carleton University’s Richcraft Hall, eager to find more about the Famous Five and the pioneering young man who was about to be honoured in their name.

I confess I was unconfident that we could count on the mainstream press to cover this historic event. I took it upon myself to take notes in the hope of publishing my account through Gender Dissent, the women-led website exposing the money and the influence behind the gender industry in Canada.

I also suspected that Johnstone’s many followers on social media would appreciate hearing how he comported himself on this celebratory occasion.

The ceremony

Johnstone arrived at 5:15 at the front of the building, for an event scheduled from 5:30 to 7:30. He wore a stunning black lace dress that left little to the imagination. I had pictured him always travelling with an entourage of gangly incels in dresses and tiny non-binary girls in surgical masks, and was somewhat surprised to see him arrive alone. Johnstone braced himself with a cigarette and then strode upstairs to the reception area. At this time, there were nothing but early-bird old women to talk to in the Richcraft atrium, so he promptly redescended at 5:20 for a second smoke.

The evening began in earnest at 5:30 with a half-hour reception with cocktails and hors d’oeuvres. Johnstone did have a short line-up of mostly younger women waiting for their chance to speak to Canada’s most revered spokesman on all things woman. The room was smaller than I had expected, with chairs set up for 120 people, and the room not quite full.

A photograph taken on an event stage with three pink and black "famou5, OTTAWA" banners visible in the background, one reading "5 WOMEN, 1 HISTORIC DECISION, What they began, we continue" with black-and-white photos of women. On stage, a row of people stands and sits behind a black-draped table with white name placards. Standing in back, from left to right: a woman with white hair partially obscured mid-motion, a woman with long blonde hair in a white top, an older woman in a dark cardigan, a woman with curly reddish-brown hair in a beige blazer, and a man in a dark suit. Seated at the table, from left to right: an older woman with grey hair in a light cardigan (nameplate partially reads "Dr. Indu Gambhir" or similar), a woman with dark hair pulled back wearing a purple top and black cardigan, an older woman with grey hair in a black top, and a man (Zachary "Fae" Johnstone) with long, wavy dark red hair wearing a black outfit, smiling with hand resting on the table. A seated audience is visible in the foreground, out of focus.
Four of the five honorees (seated) of the 2025 Famous 5 Awards
Photo: Gender Dissent

Among the dignitaries present, Johnstone seemed mostly interested in Catherine McKenna, his former Member of Parliament in Ottawa Centre during his university years, and during the early days of the Trudeau government, when intersectionality was at its peak—a time when an ambitious young man could dream of tax-payer-funded travel across the country telling women how to accommodate men in their bathrooms.

Catherine McKenna had a book to promote, Run Like a Girl, in which she chronicled her start as a competitive swimmer in Hamilton with Olympic dreams, to her eventual election to Parliament in 2016. It would be interesting to get McKenna’s thoughts on the effects of
Bill C-16 on female sport in Canada, as leagues are now compelled by the bill—passed by her government—to include males in the female category, and to allow unfettered male access to female change rooms.

Other members of parliament present were Yasir Naqvi, current member for Ottawa Centre (and one of the very few men present), and Linda Lapointe, Chair of the Government Women’s Caucus, and MP for Rivière-des-Milles-Iles.

A photograph of a woman (Linda Lapointe) with curly reddish-brown hair standing at a wooden lectern reading "Carleton University," speaking into a microphone. She wears a light grey blazer over a cream-colored top and a name badge clipped to her lapel, and appears to be reading from notes on the lectern. Behind her are three vertical pink and black banners reading "famou5, OTTAWA," "5 FEMMES, 1 DÉCISION HISTORIQUE, Ce qu'elles ont commencé, nous le continuons" with black-and-white photos of women, and a partial banner with the "famou5" logo. A seated audience member with white hair is visible in the foreground, out of focus.
Linda Lapointe, Liberal MP and Chair of the Government Women’s Caucus, congratulates the “persons” being honoured at this event—an event inspired by five historic Canadian female leaders who secured recognition for women as “persons” under the law.
Photo: Gender Dissent

Also present were Sheila Copps, MP for Hamilton 1984-2004, Rosemary Thompson, the 2025 Jury Chair and emcee, Beatrice Keleher Raffoul, chair of the Famous 5 Foundation Ottawa Group, and Anne Bowker, Dean in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Carleton University.

Ms. Keleher Raffoul mentioned in her remarks that Carleton is planning to remain a partner of the Famous 5 Foundation up until the centenary of the “Person’s Case” in 2029. There will be lots of opportunity for further discussions between Carleton and the Famous 5 Foundation as to what “inclusion” means for future awards.

Following the conferring of the awards, each candidate was invited to speak about the work that had led to this distinction.

The Youth Honoree, Sara Awada, was not able to speak as she had to leave early to write an exam.

Johnstone was first to speak, and to his credit, kept his remarks short, speaking mostly about the difficulties of buying groceries while wearing his trademark lipstick.

Fae Johnstone delivers his acceptance speech at the Ottawa Famous Five Awards ceremony, October 21, 2025.

@1:50: “I refuse to live in a world where the next generation of women (and queer and trans people) are less safe and more scared than the generation that I grew up in.”
Video: Gender Dissent

Honoree Dr. Indu Gambhir, spoke about her lifetime of work as a women’s health advocate. During her time working for Doctors Without Borders, she noticed that she had to set up separate meeting spaces for village women to come and talk about their health, since they were often reluctant to speak when men were present and attempting to speak on their behalf.

Honoree Jocelyn Formsma talked about her advocacy for Indigenous youth. She highlighted how she had benefitted from leadership opportunities created especially for women, by women.

Honoree Dr. Diana Beresford-Kroeger spoke of her lifetime of work dedicated to scientific discovery, conservation and public education as a botanist, medical biochemist and author.

By the time Dr. Beresford-Kroeger was given the chance to speak, Johnstone was seemingly running low on patience, and spent the whole of the doctor’s speech reading his phone.

Some questions

With the benefit of hindsight, a few aspects of this rarified evening struck me as curious for their absence.

Johnstone claims that Ottawa has been his home for eighteen years, until he announced this past summer that he was moving. This means he’s been in Ottawa since age eleven. After all that time, did he not have any friends or family that wanted to spend sixty dollars for a ticket to watch him win a Famous 5 award?

Secondly, Johnstone is a double-alumnus of Carleton University, having received both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in the School of Social Work. Why then did no one, including him, mention this at the ceremony? A post-event search of the copious Fae-related information online shows that he does not often identify himself as a Carleton alumnus. Has Johnstone had a falling-out with Carleton?

And finally, where was the 2SLGBTQIA+ “community” that we hear so much about? Is it possible some of them are still annoyed at Johnstone placing himself in the centre of the “Queers for Palestine” demonstration that brought the 2025 Capital Pride Parade to a halt less than an hour after it had begun?

Fae Johnstone, front and centre in the Queers for Palestine blockade of the 2025 Ottawa Pride parade.

Johnstone’s social media on the run-up to Pride show involvement with neither Capital Pride nor Queers for Palestine, but in his inimitable way, he managed to get himself photographed in the centre of the barrage that stopped the parade, for reasons perhaps best explained in his follow-up opinion piece in the Ottawa Citizen on September 3.

As I left Richcraft Hall on October 21, I discovered that someone had left flyers in the women’s bathroom, commemorating Johnstone’s tweet of July 12, 2021, in which he famously called for Women and Gender Equity Canada to “vilify” women who don’t want men in their spaces. Someone must have thought that this should have had a bearing on his candidacy for the Famous 5 award.

A photograph of a printed document taped to a dark grey wall or door, below a small light fixture and beside a document holder labeled "NOTE" with a blue arrow pointing down to the page. Highlighted yellow text at the top of the page reads: "X POST BY FAE JOHNSTONE – 2025 RECIPIENT OF THE OTTAWA FAMOUS 5 AWARD." Below are three printed social media posts, each attributed to "Fae Johnstone, MSW @FaeJ..." and dated "12 Jul. 21." The first reads: "TERFs have been trying to cause problems over Women and Gender Equality Canada (WAGE) being trans-inclusive. Now would be a great opportunity for elected officials (and ministers ••) to denounce TERF rhetoric for the hate-fuelled speech it is," with engagement icons showing "1" reply, "18" reposts, and "71" likes. The second reads: "Literally just shut them down! Unequivocally affirm that trans women are women, that ideologies saying otherwise are based in transphobia, and that WAGE is fully and deeply committed to trans inclusive feminism," with "2" replies, "3" reposts, and "17" likes. The third reads: "I actually do want a political environment in which TERFs are so vilified they don't dare speak their views publicly, let alone act on them. Shut. Them. Down."
A flyer with the most famous [and useful] of Johnstone’s social media posts, taped to the door inside a women’s washroom cubicle at Richcraft Hall.
Photo: Gender Dissent

Johnstone did enact a mini twitter tantrum at 10 PM that night, once the flyers were brought to his attention. But the tantrum seemed half-hearted, as if he can no longer tap the depths of misogyny that characterized his early years in the TQ+ movement.

Which brings me to my final thought — has even Fae Johnstone had enough of “gender”? The man who has done more than anyone in Canada, or perhaps the world, to secure a place for men in women’s spaces, seems to be growing weary of the whole enterprise.

As his plane left the tarmac to take him back to his new home in Halifax, Johnstone sent out a last tweet, where he neglected to cast himself in his chosen gender, but summed up the general feeling nicely, “Je suis fatigué mes amis.”

Amen Fae!

We too, are fatiguées, and are looking forward to the imminent demise of gender.

A close-up photograph of two people seated on a stage in front of a dark curtain, with a pink "famou5" banner partially visible in the background on the left, along with a microphone stand on the right. On the left, an older woman (Dr. Indu Gambhir) with wavy white hair, glasses, and a pearl necklace wears a dark top and looks off to the side. Beside her, a man (Zachary "Fae" Johnstone) with long, wavy dark red hair parted in the middle is smiling broadly with mouth open and nose scruched, wearing a black lace-patterned top. His adam's apple is clearly visible.
Johnstone flashes his infamous grimace as he towers beside his co-honoree, Dr. Indu Gambhir at Ottawa’s Famous 5 Awards.
Photo: Gender Dissent

SOME GENDER DISSENT READER REACTIONS

A number of comments under Gender Dissent’s social media preview of this story provide a taste of the disdain that many Canadians have towards this LARP-er, and of the Famous 5 Foundation’s decision to honour him. Here are just a few, for good measure:

A screenshot of a social media post (X) from a verified account "Maureen" (@MaureenWRC), with a small circular profile photo of a smiling blonde woman. The post reads: "@FaeJohnstone you 'refuse to live in a world where women are less safe'? Your selfish advocacy for men in women's spaces while wearing us like a costume does precisely that to us. We are not the same and you have no business sitting on that panel. You are not who the Famous Five fought for. For shame to you & the organizers for gaslighting women. Thank you to the women there who went in silent protest." The timestamp below reads "10:18 PM · Oct 21, 2025 · 2,743 Views."
A screenshot of a social media post (X) from a verified account "Hosannah Moodie" (@hosannah_moodie), whose name is followed by a small Canadian flag icon, with a circular profile photo of a smiling woman with curly dark hair. The post reads: "Dear Vichy feminists, Fae Johnstone is Canada's most notorious colonizer of women's history. Did you know that he thinks that the Montreal Massacre was all about him, if he had been there, 36 years ago, in a dress? Shame. On. You."
A screenshot of a social media post (X) from an account named "canadian female human" (@WomenAreRealCAN), whose profile icon is a yellow penant that reads "rights for women" over a black stripe in the middle. The post reads: "Reducing women to something a man can be does not help women. If Fae cared, he'd work with men's organizations to address men's treatment of women, and men with makeup on, not advocate for policies that harm women."
A screenshot of a social media post (X) from an account named "Cancelled Gay Canadian" (@scottgeiler). The post reads: "None of those other women think this guy is a woman you can see it in their faces."
A screenshot of a social media post (X) from an account named "Terf of the north" (@terftasticwoman). The post reads: "One of the 'Famous Five' is a man now. Canadian taxpayer dollars were spent so this man can lecture women on what men think and feel about being a man. Yes, that's exactly what women being persons was all about."
A screenshot of a social media post (X) from an account named "Derek Napier" (@armstr52679). The post reads: "I imagine women and girls will feel less safe knowing these fetishists and autogynephiles are coming for their spaces. Whether they like it or not."
A screenshot of a social media post (X) from a verified account "Other Heather dot connectr..." (@thedotconnectr), with three small colored circle icons (purple, green, blue) next to the name. The post reads: "This is an abomination. Men are not women this man who calls himself 'Fae' is a vile misogynist who has said horrible things to and about women who defend our sexual boundaries from dangerous men like him."
A screenshot of a social media post (X) from an account named "JuMI" (@artlifedesigner), whose display name is followed by a row of small icons including a female symbol, hearts, several national flags, a rainbow flag, a cross, and the text "Agent #3161." The post reads: "Fae refuses to acknowledge that women born female have a distinct inability to identify out of our Sex Class should make Fae ineligible to receive this award. Taking away opportunities for biological women in the name of womens suffrage is typically male. Rude 😠 anti woman hate."
A screenshot of a social media post (X) from a verified account "Homosexual Male with Strong Opinions" (@notimeforyou80). The post reads: "I'm trying to figure out how much, if any of that actually had anything to do with women."
A screenshot of a social media post (X) from an account named "Canadian Woman" (@BlondeLava). The post reads: "Did I just listen to a dude talk about women's safety???? And how he knows what it's like to feel unsafe as a women?? JFC this is insane!! No dude, you have no idea what it's like to be a women!"

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Katherine Jameson Digby
Katherine Jameson Digby
Katherine Jameson Digby is an Ottawa-based journalist and advocate for women's sex-based rights and child safeguarding.
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