Agnes Campbell Macphail.  Born Preston Township., Grey County, Ontario March 24, 1890. Died February 13, 1954. She was the only woman elected to the Canadian parliament in 1921 when women first had the right to vote for parliament. She was the first woman to sit in the House of Commons as a Member of the Canadian Parliament. She was also the first woman to be appointed as a member of the Canadian delegation to the League of Nations (forerunner to the United Nations.) The first woman to inspect Kingston Penitentiary, which left her with a life long advocate for better conditions of women in prison. Losing her federal seat in the 1940 election, Agnes turned her attention to provincial politics and in 1943 she was one of two women first elected to the Ontario Legislative Assemble. She was the founder of the Elizabeth Fry Society of Canada which even today works to give help to women in need.

Lady Helena E. Squires (née Strong) Born Little Bay Islands, Newfoundland 1879. The strong twin sisters were educated at a boarding school in St John’s  and later at Mount Allison University. You would think that being the wife of the Premier of the Province and mother of seven children would have been enough work for anyone. However Lady Squires was a social activist who worked to found a teachers college and a maternity hospital. She was the first woman elected to the Newfoundland House of Assembly. When Newfoundland entered Confederation in 1949 she was elected the first president of the provincial Liberal Association.

Blanche Margaret Meagher.  Born Halifax, Nova Scotia January 27, 1911.  Died February 25, 1999. This diplomat was one of 4 pioneering women in the administration of the Canadian federal government where she worked at the Department of External Affairs. She served in Mexico and London and then in 1958 she was the first woman to become appointed as an ambassador for Canada. She served as Canadian ambassador to Israel, Austria Sweden.

Emily Murphy. Born Cookstown, Ontario 1868. Died March 14,1933. Emily was journalist who would write about the adventures of the famous "Janey Canuck" character. She became the first woman in the British Empire to become a Magistrate when she was appointed a police magistrate for Edmonton, Alberta in 1916. She would go on to also be provincial magistrate for Alberta. A supporter of some 20 volunteer organizations she was the first national president of the Federated Women’s Institutes of Canada.  She is also a member of the Famous Five who would be part of the Persons Case in 1929 which would have women declared "persons" in the eye of the law. If you watch the "Historical Moments" which appear on Canadian TV be sure to watch for her story.

Nellie Letitia McClung. (née Mooney) Born Chatsworth, Ontario October 20, 1873.  Died September 1, 1951. This author, first published in 1908, and it became a national best seller. A busy mother of 4 children she became interested in women’s rights.  She was and effective speaker and was elected Member of Parliament from Alberta. She worked on the Person’s Case, was a Canadian delegate to the League of Nations (now the United Nations), and was the first woman board member of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

Louise Crummy McKinney.  Born Frankville, Ontario September 22,1868. Died July 10, 1931.  She was one of the first women to be elected to the Alberta Legislative Assembly and later the federal Parliament. She was an organizer of local, provincial, national and international vice-president of the Women’s Christian temperance Union.  She fought for laws to aid immigrants, widows, and separated women.  She was the second woman to sign the famous “Persons” act which lead to women in Canada being able to be considered “persons” She is one of the group now called “The Famous Five”

Mary Ellen Smith.  (née Spear). Born Tavistock, England October 11, 1863.  Died May 3, 1933. After the death of her political husband in 1917  she ran in the by-election for his seat and in 1921 became the first woman elected to the British Columbia provincial legislature and the first woman Cabinet Minister in the entire British Empire. She resigned from Cabinet in 1922 but remained as MPP until 1928.

Barbara Hanley. Died January 26, 1959. On January 6, 1936, with a margin of 13 votes, Mrs. Hanley became the first woman to be elected to the position of Mayor of a town in Canada.  The town of Webwood, Ontario is located some 50 miles west of Sudbury. Mrs. Hanley would fight to ensure proper homes for the aged. Did she do a good job? She was elected to eight consecutive terms as mayor. The voters must have felt that she was a good mayor.

Thésèse Casgrain. (née Forget). Born Montreal, Quebec July 10, 1896. Died November 2, 1981. She is remembered for her campaign for women’s right to vote (suffrage) in the province of Québec before WW II. (Quebec, the last province to grant women the vote, passing legislation only in 1940.) She continued a career in politics becoming the first Canadian woman to lead a provincial political party. She was the leader of the Quebec CCF Party from 1951-1957. In 1970 she was appointed to the Senate of Canada. She is considered a leading woman of 20^th century Canada.

Rt. Hon. Ellen Louks Fairclough. Born Hamilton, Ontario January 28, 1905. Died November 13, 2004. Her first career was as an accountant. She owned her own firm when she was elected to Hamilton City council in 1946. In 1950 she was elected to the House of Commons in Ottawa. She was the first woman to be appointed to the post of a Cabinet Minister in the Canadian Parliament in 1957. In 1989 she was presented with the Persons Award. In 1992 the Queen invested her with the title "Right Honourable". She was made a Companion in the Order of Canada in 1995. You can read about her remarkable life in her memoirs which were published in 1995 under the title Saturday's Child. She currently lives in a retirement community in Hamilton.

Nora Frances Henderson. Born Hampstead,  England 1913. Died 1949. In 1919 she began her journalist career at the Hamilton Herald newspaper and became Women's editor in 1921. She always encouraged women to take their place within the community and soon women were appointed to the Hamilton Hospital Board as well as appointments to other organizations. In 1934 Nora became the first woman in Canada elected to a city Board of Control She would be elected 16 consecutive times to this position. In 1947 she retired to become Executive Secretary of the Association of Children’s Aid Societies of Ontario.

Charlotte Whitton. Born Renfrew, Ontario March 8, 1896. Died January 25, 1975. This social worker, politician, and feminist was a colourful, energetic, outspoken, flamboyant individual.  In the 1920’s she was a relentless crusader for professional standards of juvenile immigrants and neglected children. She was the spark that ignited the Canadian Council on Child Welfare.  She was in demand across North America as a lecturer on social programs. When she became mayor of Ottawa in 1951 she was the first woman in Canada to be a mayor of a major metropolitan area. In November 1950 , Whitton entered Ottawa City politics when she won a seat on what was then called the board of control. When the elected mayor died the next year she succeeded him. She was elected mayor in 1952, 1954, 1960 and 1964 and later served as an alderman until 1972. 

Elizabeth Pauline MacCallum.  Born June 20, 1895.  She joined the Department of External Affairs in 1942 and was an advisor in 1945 and the founding of the United Nations.  In 1954 she was chargé d’affairs in Beirut, the first woman to head a Canadian foreign mission.  Upon retirement she began to write on the Middle East.

Louise-Marguerite-Renaude Lapointe. Born Disraeli, Quebec January 3, 1912.  Her early studies in Music and foreign languages were useful to the journalist who first newspaper post saw her responsible for music criticism and women’s issues. She would be the first Canadian woman to become an editorial writer in 1965 which was marked with her being named “journalist of the year” In November 1971 she was appointed to the Senate of Canada where she would be the first French Canadian Woman to hold the position of Speaker of the Senate.

Daurene Lewis. In 1984 she was the first black mayor in Nova Scotia and the first black woman to be a mayor in North America. Moving to provincial level politics in 1984 she was the first black woman in her province to run in a provincial election.

Jean Edmonds. Born 1921. After her studies at the University of Manitoba, Jean would spend the first twenty years of her career as a journalist for the Financial Post newspaper. In 1964 she joined the federal government public service. In 1966 she became the first woman executive in the federal government as an executive director with the Department of Manpower and Immigration. She would go on to the level of assistant Deputy Minister with the Department of Regional Economic Development. In 1988 she became chairperson of the Task Force on Barriers to Women in the Public Service and would publish the ground breaking report called Beneath the Veneer. The current Citizenship and Immigration Canada is headquartered in the Jean Edmonds Towers.

Monique Bégin. Born Rome, Italy March 1, 1936. She was first woman from Québec to be elected to the House of Commons in Ottawa in 1972. She distinguished herself as the executive secretary-general of the Royal Commission on the Status of Women. During her political Career she would serve as Minister of National Revenue, then as Minister of National Health and Welfare. She was responsible for increases in old-age supplements for needy senior citizens and the child tax credit and a new health law which strengthened the health insurance system. 

Jeanne Mathilde Sauvé . (née Benoit) Born Prud'homme, Saskatchewan April 26, 1922. Died January 26, 1993. A journalist turned politician she became the first woman appointed as Speaker of the House of Commons in Ottawa and the first woman to be appointed Governor General of Canada. Did you know that her hair was so brilliantly white that she had to put a light blue colour in it to tone it down for the Commons TV cameras?

Bertha Wilson. (née Wernham).  Born Kirkaldy, Scotland September 18, 1923.  She and her husband immigrated to Canada in 1957. She was appointed to the Ontario Court of Appeal in 1975 where she became known for her “imaginative and humane decisions”. (Canadian Encyclopedia) She was the first woman appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada.

Pauline Emily McGibbon.  (née Mills). Born  Sarnia, Ontario October 20, 1910. Died December 14, 2001. A long time volunteer for various charities and groups including being president of the Imperial order of the Daughters of the Empire, she was also chancellor at the University of Toronto.  She was appointed Lieutenant Governor of the Province of Ontario (1974-1980) and became the first Canadian woman to obtain such a position. She was also the first woman to fill the following wide-ranging positions:  Chancellor of the University of Toronto, President of the Canadian Conference of the Arts, and Director of four major Canadian companies: George Weston, IBM, Imasco and Mercedes Benz.

Muriel McQueen Fergusson. Born Shediac, New Brunswick May 26,1899. Died April 11, 1997.  After her Husbands death she took over his law practice. She worked to have women recognized as possible appointees to government positions. She was one of the early women senators and is credited with pushing the government o revise the Criminal Code so women could sit on juries in criminal cases. Women could now plead rape charges with women on the jury! She was the first woman to be appointed as Speaker in the Senate. Her home province is home to a Family Violence Research Centre named in her honour.

Nellie J. Cournoyea.  Born Aklavik, Northwest Territories March 4, 1940.  Nellie grew up traveling and hunting in the traditional manner of her people. In the 1960’s she worked as an announcer for the CBC radio. She co-founded a political association to help the people of Inuvialuit which gave her an active role in the 1984 land claim. In 1979 she was elected to the Legislature of the Northwest Territories and became the first native woman to lead a provincial territorial government in Canada.

Iona Campagnolo.  Born Galiano Island, British Columbia October 18, 1932.  She began her working career as a broadcaster in her native British Columbia in 1965. She became very involved in her community, being head of the local school board, and alderman and finally elected as a Member of Parliament for Skeena from 1974 to 1979. In 1976 she came to the national spotlight when she became Minister of Fitness and Amateur Sport. She returned to politics as the first woman President of the Liberal Party of Canada from 1982 to 1986.  Now a private citizen she retains her interest in politics and can be seen and heard making political comment on major current topics. 

Rosemary Brown Born Kingston, Jamaica  1930. Died April 26, 2003.  She believed in justice for all and worked tirelessly to ease violence and poverty in Canada and internationally. In 1972 she became the first Canadian Black women to be elected to public office when she was elected to the British Columbia Legislature. In 1975 she was the first woman to run for the head of a Canadian political party. On the last ballot she was second to Ed Broadbent of the New Democratic Party. She served as President of MATCH International, an international organization that supports women in the third world. She was a founding mother of the Canadian Women’s Foundation. Among her many awards are 15 honorary degrees from universities! Dr Brown was an officer in the Order of Canada. In 1989 she wrote her autobiography. There is a biography for youth to read by Lynette Roy,   Brown girl in the ring: Rosemary Brown [Toronto: Sister Vision, 1992]

Vivienne Poy. Born May 15, 1941. A fashion designer, entrepreneur and author, Vivienne is the first Canadian of Chinese descent to be appointed to the Senate of Canada. She was educated in her native Hong Kong and England and holds a B.A. from McGill University in Montreal.  She also holds a M.A. in history from the University of Toronto where she is pursuing a Ph.D. in History. Among her extensive community endeavors she is Governor of McGill University, Honorary Patron of the Chinese Cultural Center of Greater Toronto. She has received an International Women's Day Award in 1996 and the Arbor Award for Outstanding Volunteer Service to the University of Toronto in 1997.

Alexa McDonough. Born Ottawa, Ontario August 11, 1944. Alexa studied at Dalhousie University and the Maritime School of Social work.  In 1980 she became the first woman to lead a recognized political part in Canada. As a social worker she had chosen politics as her avenue to improve her community by leading the Nova Scotia New Democratic Party (NDP) . In 1995 she was elected as leader of the national NDP. She stepped down from her leadership position in January 2003 but retained her seat in the House of Commons to continue to serve her constituents.

Audrey McLaughlin.  Born Dutton, Ontario November 7, 1936.   In 1989 she was elected leader of the New Democratic Party. She was the first woman in Canadian history to lead a federal political party. After moving to the Yukon, she worked on various projects such as improving child welfare legislation, research on land claims and aboriginal self-government.

Sheila Maureen Copps.  Born Hamilton, Ontario November 27, 1952. Sheila followed her father by choosing the profession of politics. She was the first sitting member of Canadian Parliament to give birth (1987), and the first woman Deputy Prime Minister.

Phyllis Marion Boyd. Born March 26, 1946. She was elected to the Ontario Legislative Assembly in 1990. She has held several cabinet posts including Minister responsible for Women's Issues and Attorney-General for the Province of Ontario.  She is the first woman and the first non lawyer to have been Ontario's Attorney General.  She has been honoured many times for her work on behalf of battered women, an area in which she still serves with great zeal. 

Andrée Champagne. Born Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec July 17, 1939. An accomplished pianist and actor on radio and television she also worked hard for her profession and established the first Canadian retirement home for artists, Le Chez Nous des Artistes.  She began a career in politics in 1984. Elected to the House of Commons in Ottawa, she was immediately appointed to Cabinet in the position of Minister of State for Youth. In 1990 she became the first woman to be appointed as Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons. She has now retired from active politics and returned to private life.

Rita Margaret Johnston. (née Leichert). Born Melville, Saskatchewan April 22, 1935. She was first elected to the Surry, British Columbia, city council in 1970. In 1983 she was elected to the British Columbia provincial assembly becoming Minister of Municipal Affairs and Transit in 1986. In 1991 she became the first woman to serve as a provincial premier in Canada. 

Ethel Blodwin-Andrews. Born March 25, 1951. She was the first Native woman elected to the Canadian Parliament and to become a member of Cabinet.

Avril Kim Campbell. Born Port Alberni, British Columbia March 10, 1947. She studied in British Columbia and at the London School of Economics. She taught at University of British Columbia and the Vancouver Community College and then worked for Premier Bill Bennett's office in Victoria, British Columbia. She left the Social Credit Party and joined the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada and won a seat in the federal House of Commons in 1988. She served as Minister of Indian Affairs, then became the first woman to serve as Minister of Justice and later she was the first woman to be Minister of Defense. In 1993 when she was the first woman elected as leader of the PC Party she became the first woman Prime Minister of Canada.

Joyce Fairbairn. Born Lethbridge, Alberta November 6, 1939.  She studied for a B.A. in Alberta and took her degree in journalism from Carleton University in 1961.  After working as  a journalist in the Parliamentary Press Gallery she became Legislative Assistant to Prime Minister Trudeau for 14 years. She was appointed to the Senate of Canada in 1984. She is very proud to have been inducted into the Kainai Chieftainship of the Blood Nation and given the name of Morning Bird Woman. In 1993 she was appointed to the Privy Council of Canada and was the first woman to be named Leader of the Government in the Senate and Minister with Special Responsibility for Literacy. 

Lise Thibault. Born Saint-Roch-de-l’Achigan, Quebec April 2, 1939. As a young mother. Lise became involved in Local school committees. She would found Les Femmes d’aujourd’hui and was a teacher in adult education. She remained committed to community, cultural, political and social activities when she was a TV host for social and family oriented programming. She sat on various provincial government committees, was Director of the Quebec Bureau for the Handicapped, and worked with the Canadian Red Cross. In 1977 she became the first woman ever to hold the office of Lieutenant Governor of Quebec. 

Beverly McLachlin. Born Pincher Creek, Alberta September 7, 1943. She practiced law in Edmonton, Alberta and in British Columbia before she took up a teaching position in law at the University of British Columbia. In 1981 she was appointed to the Supreme Court of British Columbia and by 1988 was the Chief Justice in British Columbia. Prime Minister Brian Mulroney appointed her to the Supreme Court of Canada in 1989. On January 7, 2000 she was the first woman to become Chief Justice of Canada.

Michaelle Jean Born September 6 1957 Port au Prince, Haiti.  She emigrated with her family in 1968 to live in Canada’s Province of Quebec. After she completed her Masters of Arts at the University of Montreal she took up teaching. She also worked for the betterment in the lives of women and children in crisis by contributing to the establishment of safe shelters. Taking some time off work,  she studied language arts in Italy. She is fluent in five languages, French, English, Spanish, Italian and Creole. Returning to Canada she began an energetic broadcast journalism career with Radio-Canada and earned the right to have her won show. Her journalistic efforts were put to use to create an awareness in human rights. Her efforts  gained her awards and recognition from the Human Rights League of Canada, Amnesty International , Canada and awards such as the Prix Mirelle-Lanctot, the Galaxi Award and being made a Citizen of Hounour by Montreal. She is married and has a daughter, Marie Eden. She was invested as Canada’s 27^th and first Afro-Caribbean Governor General in September 2005.