In the late nineteenth century, women’s organisations in the Prairie Provinces began petitioning for equal rights at the municipal level. Though their role was initially limited, Catherine Cleverdon argues in The Woman Suffrage Movement in Canada that their voices were vital to attaining municipal votes for women across Canada. The general Canadian response to this success in 1887 was apathy, except in Manitoba where the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) continued petitioning for political franchise and eventually secured the support of local men and the legislature. Suffrage organisations in Alberta and Saskatchewan rose in the early 1900s, endorsed at the outset by men and politicians. In all three provinces, the suffrage movements’ success depended on the strength of the organisations, backing from local men, and sympathy from members of the legislature. Opposition was effectively silenced by overwhelming popular support.