Lillian Bilsky Freiman

She should be better recognized because there’s so much commemoration about the First World War and she contributed so much towards the effort to help the soldiers

— Hagit Hadaya, historian[1]

When the Great War broke out, Freiman set up 30 sewing machines in her home and organized Red Cross sewing circles to send blankets and clothing to the soldiers overseas.[1] This sewing circle would become a Disraeli Chapter of the Daughters of the Empire.[5] In addition, she co-founded The Great War Veterans Association, which would become the Royal Canadian Legion.[1] The Association, by 1919, became the largest veterans' organization in Canada. Later, she was the first woman to become an honorary life member of the Royal Canadian Legion.[6]

In 1919, the Vetcraft Shops, which employed returning servicemen to make furniture and toys, was created with Freiman's influence.[6] When John McCrae's poem In Flanders Fields became famous, many campaigns were introduced to have the poppy adopted as a symbol of remembrance and a means of raising funds for veterans. In 1921, Freiman crafted the first Canadian poppies in her living room. In 1923, the Vetcraft Shops took over the poppy making. She was a member of the National Poppy Advisory Committee and chaired Ottawa’s annual poppy campaign nearly every year until her death.[6]

In 1918, she was summoned by the mayor of Ottawa to organize a 1500-volunteer relief effort. The project gained national attention.[6] With media support, she launched a campaign disseminating not only progress reports but also information designed to help prevent the spread of the influenza.[2]

In 1921, she assisted between 146[2] and 151 Jewish war orphans from the Ukraine to emigrate to Canada.[1] Among them was a 12-year-old orphan named Gladys Rozovsky[5] was adopted by Freiman and her husband.[6]

Freiman was the founder of the Canadian Hadassah - a woman's Zionist Organization.[5] She accomplished this by raising money for the Helping Hand Fund of Hadassah, by traveling acrossing Canada, and securing about $200,000 from 120,000 Jews, most of them recent immigrants.[7] She would head the organization for twenty-one years, from 1919-1940.[2][5] By 1925, under her leadership, membership of the Hadassah was at 4,500 women in 68 chapters.[2] Beyond this, she had been involved with leadership roles in the Ottawa Welfare Bureau,[5] the Protestant Infants Home,[7] the Canadian Institute for the Blind, the Red Cross Society, the Amputations Association of Great War Veterans of Canada, the Salvation Army, the Big Sisters’ Association, the YMCA, the Joan of Arc Society.[6] She was also involved with the Girl Guides Association, the Ladies Hebrew Benevolent Association, the Ladies Auxiliary of Adath Jeshurun Congregation and the Ladies Auxiliary of B'nai B'rith.[7]

In 1934, she chaired the United Palestine Appeal.[8]