|
Eva Qamaniq Aariak
Language Commissioner, Nunavut |
Born January
10, 1955. Eva was the 1st Languages Commissioner for Nunavut
serving from 1999 to 2004. After leaving her position as Commissioner she
taught for awhile before owning and operating Malikkaat, a retail store in
Iqualuit selling native arts and crafts. She has also served as coordinator
of the Baffin Divisional Education Council’s Inuktitut language book
publishing program as president of the Baffin Regional Chamber of Commerce
and as chair of the Nunavut Film Development Corporation. Eva was the only
woman elected in the 2008 Nunavut territorial election for the Legislative
Assembly of Nunavut. On November 14, 2008 she was selected as the 2nd
Premier of Nunavut becoming the fifth woman to serve as a premier in Canada.
She did not seek a 2nd term as Premier.
|
Ruth Addison
Civil Servant |
Born 1897. Died January 9, 2005. Ruth graduated from the University of Manitoba and
worked her way from a lower level clerk in the Canadian Civil Service to
being an economist and then executive assistant to the Canadian Minister of
the Department of Defense Production. In 1957 she was appointed as the 1st
woman member of the Civil Service Commission a position she held until
1968.
Source: Jean
Bannerman,
Leading Ladies of Canada (Belleville, Mika Publishing,
1977)(2020) |
Minnie Bell Adney
|
née Sharp. Born January 12, 1865, Woodstock, New Brunswick. Died April 11, 1937. In
1883 she took training in piano and voice in New York City, U.S.A. On
September 12, 1899 she married Edwin Tappan Adney (1868-1950), an artist and
writer. The couple raised one son but the marriage saw long periods of
separation for the family. Minnie used her musical talents to run the
Woodstock School of Music for two decades. She became interested in womens
rights and politics and would become the
1st
woman candidate in a federal election in New Brunswick. She
attempted to run as an independent candidate in a federal by-election in
October 1919
in the riding of
Victoria Carleton. Even though women by this time had the right to vote they had
just recently been allowed to run for political positions and in this
by-election her name did not appear on the ballot because her papers had
been “lost” and she was disqualified as a candidate. In the 1921 general
election she was unable to raise the $200.00 fee required to register her
nomination. Her name finally appeared on the ballot for the 1925 Federal
General Election but she only received 84 votes. Source:
New Brunswick Womens’ History (accessed March 2012)
|
Raynell Andrechuk
Civil Servant |
Born August
14, 1944, Saskatoon Saskatchewan. In 1966 she graduated with her BA from the
University of Saskatchewan and followed this with her Law Degree. She opened
her law practice in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. In 1976 she was appointed judge
with the Saskatchewan Provincial Court. From 1977-1983 she served as
Chancellor of the University of Regina.
In 1985 she became Deputy Minister of Saskatchewan Social
Services. In 1987 she served at High Commissioner to Kenya and Uganda and
Ambassador to Somalia. From 1988 through 1993 she also served as Canada’s
permanent representative to the United Nations Human Rights Commission. In
1990 she was Ambassador to Portugal for Canada. In 1993 she was appointed to
the Senate of Canada. She has also served Canadian youth as president of the
YMCA of Canada, Chirr of Katimovik and Chair of Canadian World Youth. In May
2008
she was awarded the Order of
Prince Yaroslav the Wise medal, for her substantial contribution in the
development of Ukrainian-Canadian relations. In June 2010, she was awarded
the World Federation of Ukrainian Women's Organizations’ Woman of
Distinction Award, for her dedication and commitment to promoting freedom,
democracy and human rights throughout the world. She is also a recipient of
the Taras Shevchenko Medal, the Ukrainian Nation Builders Award, and a
Special Lifetime Achievement Award from the Ukrainian Canadian Professional
& Business Association of Calgary and is the recipient of the Queen
Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth's Golden
Jubilee Medal, the Queen Elizabeth II Centennial Medal, the Y.M.C.A.
Fellowship of Honour, the Vanier Outstanding Young Canadian Award, and the
Regina Y.W.C.A. Women's Award. Senator Andreychuk has also been recognized
as one of the top 100 distinguished graduates in the 100 year history of the
University of Saskatchewan.
Source:
Raynell Andrechuk (Biography) Parliament of Canada. Online (Accessed
September 2014) . |
Virnetta 'V' Anderson
1st Black City Counsellor in Calgary |
née Nelson. Born October 29, 1920, Monticello, Arkansas,
U.S.A. Died February 11, 2006, Calgary, Alberta. Virnetta graduated from A.
M. and N. College in Pine Bluff, Arkansas and the Metropolitan School of
Business, Los Angeles, California, U.S. A. Virnetta moved to Calgary in 1952
with her husband Ezzrett 'Sugarfoot' Anderson (1920-2017) who had just been
drafted to play with the Calgary Stampeders football team. The couple had
three sons. Virnetta was active with the United Church of Canada and served
as a Lay Commissioner to the General Council 1968-1970. She also was a
co-founder and served as president of the Meals on Wheels, on the Board of
Calgary's United Way, a member of the Mount Royal College Ladies' Auxiliary,
the Calgary Tourist and Convention Association.
In 1974 she became Calgary's first elected Black city counsellor.
She was a moving force in the early development of the City's C Train
system. She also worked on the feasibility study for the Calgary Centre for
the Performing Arts. She lost in the 1977 election and worked on the Board
of directors of the Calgary Centre for the Performing Arts. In 1988 she was
named as Paul Harris Fellow by the Calgary Rotary Club. She received the
Canada 125 Commemorative Medal in 1992. The Virnetta Anderson Hall is
located in the city municipal building. (2020) |
Lise Bacon
Member
Legislative Assembly, Quebec & Canadian
Senator |
Born August 25, 1934, Valleyfield, Quebec. She studied
humanities at College Marie-de-L'Incarnation and Academie Saint-Louis-de-GomInzague
in Trois-Rivières and the sociology, political science and psychology at
Institut Albert-Thomas in Chicoutimi, Quebec. She began her career as a
department manager at Prudential Insurance Company from 1951-1971 and was a
Canadian Citizenship Court Judge from 1977-1979.. She was an executive
member of the Association des femmes libérales Louis Saint-Laurent, the
Fédération des femmes libérales du Québec/and the Canadian Liberal Women's
Federation. She was elected to the National Assembly of Quebec in 1973 and
held several cabinet positions including in 1985 being deputy Premier. She
would retire from provincial politics in 1994 and was appointed to the
Senate of Canada serving from September 14 1994 to August 25, 2009. In 2003
she became an Officer of the legion of Honneur in France and the following
year she was made Grand Officer of the National Order of Quebec In 2010 she
became a Member of the Order of Canada. |
Flora Minnie Leone Bagnall
Member Legislative Assembly P.E.I.
|
Born July 20, 1923, Springfield, Prince Edward Island. Died April 30, 2017,
Prince Edward Island. She attended Prince of
Wales College 1971-1973 and went on to the University of Prince Edward
Island obtaining a Diploma in Education. She earned her Bachelor in
Education in 1979. She married Erroll Bagnall and taught elementary school.
She was elected to the legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island (PEI) in
1979 and returned in 1982, 1986 and 1989. She served as Minister of
Education from 1982-1986 and served as interim leader of the Progressive
Conservative Party of PEI from 1987-1988. Leone was a charter member of the
Prince Edward Island Association for Children with Learning Disabilities and
a member of Eastern Star. Additionally, is is a member of the Queen
Elizabeth Hospital Foundation and chair of the Advisory Committee for the
Order of P. E. I. She received the Estelle Bowness Award from the University
of Prince Edward Island for inspirational teaching. In 1992 she received the
Canada 125 medallion and in 1995 she was invested in the Order of Canada. In
2005 into the Order of Prince Edward Island. |
Isabel Bassett |
SEE Writers - Journalists |
Monique Bégin
Member of Parliament |
Born
March 1,1936, Rome, Italy. She was born in Europe while her French-Canadian
father was working overseas. The family escaped to Portugal and back to
Canada at the breakout of World War 11. Monique earned a teacher's
certificate and then went on to study sociology at the Université de
Montreal before living in Paris, France for two years. She began working as
executive secretary to the Royal Commission on the Status of Women once back
in Canada. . She was 1st
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. Leaving politics in 1984 Monique
taught at the University of Ottawa. In 2004 she participated in a play
celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Canadian Women's Press Club
(CWPC). In 2017 she earned the Maclean's magazine lifetime award at
the Parliamentarian of the Year Awards. In 2018 she published a memoir:
Ladies, Upstairs! My Life in Politics and After.
(2020) |
Wanda
Thomas Elaine Bernard
|
SEE - Academics |
Florence Bayard Bird
Senator |
née
Rhein. Born January 13, 1908. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania U.S.A. Died July 18,
1998. Florence graduated Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. and in 1928 married journalist,
John Bird. The couple settled in Montreal, Quebec in 1931. By 1937 the
couple relocated
to Winnipeg, Manitoba, where John worked at the Winnipeg
Tribune.
Florence appeared on CBC Radio and Television as Anne Francis, a political
analyst. A member of the Canadian Senate, under the pen name of 'Anne Francis'
she was also an author. In 1967 she was appointed
Chairperson of the Royal Commission of the Status of Women which produced
its report in 1970. She was appointed to the Canadian Senate March 23, 1978 serving until January 15, 1983. In 1971 she was a
Companion of the Order of Canada. In 1983 she received the Governor
General's Award in Commemoration of the Persons Case. In 1996 the
International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development, Montreal
established the Florence Bird Award to honour women working in
communications who increase public awareness of women's rights. In 1999 the
Status of Women Canada opened the Florence Bird Memorial Library, Ottawa.
(2020) |
Martha Louise Black
Member of Parliament |
née Munger.
Born February 24, 1866, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A. Died October 31, 1957
Whitehorse, Yukon. Martha attended Saint Mary's College in Indiana, U.S.A.
In 1897 she married Will Purdy and the couple had two sons. One of Canada's
more colourful characters she joined the search for gold by hiking
the famed Chilkoot Pass in the Yukon Gold Rush of 1898! Her
husband, Will, decided to go to Hawaii instead of following the gold rush.
She gave birth to her third son alone in a log cabin. She went
back to Chicago but returned to the Klondike in 1900. In order to
survive she raised money to purchase a saw mill and bossed 16 men
on a mining claim. In 1904 she married George Black. She became the First Lady of the Yukon when George Black, was Commissioner
1912-1916. In 1917 Martha became a Fellow with the Royal Geographical
Society for a series of lectures she presented in England. In 1935 she was
elected to the Canadian Parliament taking place of her ill husband. She was
the second woman ever elected to the House of Commons. In 1938 she published
her autobiography;
My Seventy Years. The autobiography was updated to My
Ninety Years which was republished in 1998 as
Martha Black; Her Story
from the Dawson Gold Fields to the Halls of Parliament. She
received the Order of the British Empire in 1946 for her cultural and social
contributions to the Yukon.
In 1986 a
Canadian Coast Guard high-endurance
multi-tasked vessel was given the name
"Martha L. Black" in her honour. In 1997,
Canada Post issued a $0.45 stamp in her
honour. |
Margaret Bloodworth
Civil Servant |
Born 1949, Winnipeg, Manitoba. Margaret graduated from
the University of Winnipeg, Manitoba prior to studying law at the
University of Ottawa, Ontario. She was called to the bar in Ontario
in 1979. She has served as Deputy Minister for the Department of
Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness for Canada, as Deputy
Minister of Transport and Associate Secretary for the Cabinet on the
Privy Council Office. She is a member of the boards of the Hospice
at May Court, the Community Foundation of Ottawa, World University
Service of Canada and the Canadian Ditchley Foundation. In 2011 she
was inducted as a Member of the Order of Canada. She has also been
presented the Public Service of Canada Outstanding Achievement
Award, and the Vanier Medal of the Institute of Public
Administration of Canada. (2019) |
Ethel Dorothy Blondwin-Andrews
Member of Parliament |
Born March
25, 1951, Tulita, Northwest Territories. Ethel attended various schools
including residential school and Grandin College Leadership Program at Fort
Smith. She followed this with a teacher certificate from Arctic College
prior to earning her Bachelor of Education from the University of Alberta in
1974.
She was one of the 1st accredited Aboriginal teachers in the
North, teaching in Tuktoyaktuk, Délįnę, Fort Providence, and Yellowknife,
Northwest Territories. From 1984-1986, she served as a Senior Public Servant
with the Public Service Commission in Ottawa and before returning to the
north to join the Government of the Northwest Territories as Assistant
Deputy Minister for Culture from 1986 to 1988 where she served on the Arctic
Institute of North America for two terms as well as the Assembly of First
Nations Language Committee and worked on the Special Committee on Education
for the Government of the Northwest Territories. In 1988, Ethel was elected
as a Liberal from the District of the Western Arctic to the Canadian
Parliament, the 1st aboriginal woman elected to the House of
Commons. She went on to win the next four federal elections in 1993, 1997,
2000, and 2004. Under Prime Ministers Jean Chretien and Paul Martin she
would be appointed to the Cabinet as Secretary of State, then Minister of
State for Children and Youth. She returned to the North to work as
Chairperson for Sahtu Secretariat Incorporated the organization created by
the Sahtu region’s seven land corporations to ensure the Sahtu land claim
(signed in 1994) is properly implemented.
Sources: Ethel
Blondwin-Andrews. Canadian House of Commons. Online (Accessed 2004) ; Ethel
Blondwin-Andrews, Biography. Sahtu Secretariat INC. Online (Accessed July
2015) |
Grace
Jean Sutherland Boggs |
Born June 11, 1922, Negritos, Peru. Died August 22, 2014, Ottawa, Ontario.
Born while he parents lived and worked in Peru she grew up living in Coburg,
Ontario. She attended Alma College in St Thomas, Ontario, prior to attending
the University of Toronto for her BA. By 1953 she had earned her Master's and PhD
from Radcliff College (sometimes reported as having a PhD from Harvard). She
was one of the early women professors in fine art. She taught at Mount
Holyoke from 1948-1952 and the University of California at Riverside from
1954 through 1962. In 1962 she worked a curator at the Art Gallery of
Toronto. She became the 1st woman appointed to full professorship
at George Washington University in St Louis in 1964. From 1976 through 1976
she served as the 1st woman and 5th directory of the
National Gallery of Canada. It was in the 1960’s that she brought art to
Canadians through informative radio broadcasts. In 1973 she became an
officer in the Order of Canada and in 1992 this was updated to the highest
honor of Companion in the Order of Canada. From 1982 through 1985 she served
as the Cashir and the Chief Executive Officer of the Canada Museums
Construction Corporation that choose the sites, the architects and oversaw
construction of the National Gallery of Canada and the National Museum of
Man (now Canadian Museum of History) During her career she received 14
honorary degrees. From 1991 through 1993 she was senior advisor to the
Andrew Mellon Foundation. An artist in her own right she never felt herself
worthy as an artist. People who purchased her works promised never to show
the works. When she moved into a retirement home she made sure that she had
a view of the National Gallery.
Sources:
Obituary, Toronto Star, September 6, 2014; Diane Peters,
‘Visionary curator Jean Sutherland Boggs formed a legacy’.
The Globe and
Mail, September 18, 2014.
|
Tove Bording |
Born September 28, 1935,
Standard, Alberta. Died July 27, 2014, Victoria, British Columbia. Tove had
a 30 year career in Canada’s Foreign Services working at embassies,
consulates and High Commissions in such places as Copenhagen, Los Angeles,
Singapore, Bonne, Seattle and Trinidad. She retired in 1995. She was a tough
and determined woman who made an impact on our Canadian perceptions of the
Indochinese refugees at a time when Canada was doing very little. It was
Tove who first used the term “boat people”, in a report in which she had to
distinguish them from the “land people” (mainly refugees from Laos and
Cambodia) who came over land and over the Mekong River to Thailand. whenever
she went to a refugee camp, she took photographs and attached them to her
trip reports. Those photos were the first images we at HQ saw of the camps
in Malaysia and Thailand, and they were always rushed up the chain of
command to the minister. Her reporting itself was amazingly descriptive. In
one case, she reported arriving at a camp that seemed to be close to the
mainland but was cut off by a shallow body of water. She described her
revulsion at the state of the water but said there was nothing for it but to
roll up her pant legs, put her shoes and her briefcase on her head and wade
though the muck to the island so that she could get on with her interviews.
Sadly a search of the holdings at the National Archives of Canada has not
located any copies of her reports.
Source: Malloy, Mike “Tove Bording” in CIHS (Canadian
Immigration Historical Society)
Bulletin Issue #71 October 2014.
;
Obituary.
Calgary Herald, August 14, 2014.
|
Marianne Bossen |
Born October 16, 1918, Willemstad, Curacao, Dutch Antilles. Died March 1,
2008, Winnipeg, Manitoba. After high school in the Netherlands in 1937, she
earned a nursing diploma in nursing World War ll. In the 1940s she worked
as a social worker at Unilever. She immigrated to Canada in 1951 and worked
in Toronto and northern Ontario with the Canadian Red Cross. In 1957 she
earned a BA from the University of Montreal and a MA degree in Economics,
University of Toronto, 1964. She served as assistant professor of economics
at Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, Ontario and at the
University of
Winnipeg, 1966 to 1968. In 1962, she began working for the
Government of Canada in various capacities with the Civil Service
Commission, the Department of Industry, and with the Department of Manpower
and Immigration as a research economist. She was a consultant for the Royal
Commission on the Status of Women, 1967 to 1969. In 1972 she established a
private practice as a consulting economist on manpower and social policy. In
1977, she was a recipient of the YWCA Woman of the Year Awards in the
Business Category. In 1982 she began years of advisory service with the city
and the province to develop transportation services for those with physical
disabilities. In 1994 she was recognized by Winnipeg Transit for her
contribution to the Task Force to Review Handi-Transit Issues. She served on
the Manitoba Human Rights Commission, the YWCA and YWCA Boards, the
Manitoba Board of the Canadian Paraplegic Association, and the Provincial
Council of the Manitoba League of the Physically Handicapped. During her
retirement, she lived in White Rock, BC for three years before returning to
Winnipeg.
Sources: Obituary,
Winnipeg Free Press,
8 March 2008;
Memorable Manitobans. Online (Accessed December 2011)
|
Andrée P. Boucher |
Born January 31, 1937, Sainte-Foy, Quebec. Died August 24,
2007, Quebec City, Quebec. Andrée graduated from the Université Laval. She
was a teacher for many years prior to entering politics. In 1968 she was a
critic of the mayor of Sainte-Foy and became an active force of the Action
Sainte-Foy municipal party. She was elected mayor of Sainte-Foy in 1985, an
office she retained until 2002 when Sainte-Foy merged with Quebec City.
From1995 through 1999 she was vice president of the Union des Municipalités
du Québec. While she ran for mayor of Quebec City in 2001 she was not
successful. She worked for a short time as a radio host and in
2005 she once again ran for the
position of mayor of Quebec City
and despite not having any campaign signs she won becoming
the 1st woman mayor in the city's long history.
She planned multiple projects including the 400th anniversary of the
founding of the city by Samuel d Champlain (1567-1635) in 1608. She
was survived by her husband Marc Boucher. (2020) |
Jocelyne Bourgon |
Born September 20, 1950, Papineauville, Quebec. Jocelyne studied biology at
the University of Montreal and went on to earn a degree in management from
the University of Ottawa. She began her career in the public service of
Canada when she was a summer student with the Department of Transport in
1974. She worked in several government departments including Consumer and
Corporate Affairs (Industry), Cabinet Secretary for Federal-Provincial
Relations, President of Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA),
and Transport Canada. As Deputy Minister at Transport she worked to reform
privatization of rail and airports. In 1994
she became Clerk of the Privy Council and Secretary to the
Canadian Cabinet,
the 1st woman to
hold this position. She served as President of the Canadian
Centre for Management Development from 1999 to 2003. In 1999 she received
the Public Service Outstanding Achievement Award. In 2003 she became
President Emeritus of the School for Public Service. In 2001 she was
appointed to the Order of Canada and Ordre de la Pléiade. From 2003 to 2007
she served as ambassador for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD). She is the leader of the New Synthesis Project which
aspires to transform the way people think about the role of government. She
is the author of
A New Synthesis of Public Administration: Serving in the
21st Century. She has served as a member of the board of the
Industrial Alliance Financial Group becoming Chair in 2017 as the 1st
woman to hold this position.
|
Phyllis Marion Boyd |
Born March 26, 1946. She
graduated Glendon College, University Of Toronto with a Bachelor of Arts in
English and History in 1968. In 1975/6 she helped with the York University's
union contract. She went on to work as an executive director of the London
Battered Women's Advocacy Clinic and served two terms with the London Status
of Women Action Group. After several failed attempts to run for the Ontario
Legislature she
was elected to the Ontario Legislative Assembly in 1990 and served to 1999. She held
several cabinet posts including Minister Responsible for Women's Issues and
in February 3, 1993 Attorney-General for the Province of Ontario where she
was responsible for Bill 167, that would have granted benefits to same-sex
couples. The bill failed to pass until five years later. She is the
1st woman and
the 1st 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. In 2000 she was appointed
chair to the Task Force on the Health Effects on Women Abuse. In the summer
of 2004 she was asked by the Premier to investigate the issue the might
allow for Muslim Sharia law to be applied to settling family disputes under
the Arbitration Act. Her report concluded that no changes to the act were
needed.
(2020) |
Claudette Boyer
Member Ontario Provincial Parliament |
Born January
9, 1938, Ottawa, Ontario. Died February 16, 2013, Ottawa, Ontario. She attended the
University of Ottawa earning her BA and then her teacher’s Certificate. She
would teach in area schools for 30 years. She married Jean-Robert Boyer and
the couple raised three children. She was an active member of the
Association des enseignants et des enseignants franco-Ontariens, the Ontario
Teachers’ Federation and the Canadian Teacher’s Federation. In 1982 she was
elected as trustee to the Ottawa Board of Education where she served until
1986. With the establishment of a French Language School Board she joined
the L ‘Association Canadienne-Francaise de l ‘Ontario. In 1990 through 1994
she served as President of the Ottawa –Vanier riding Association for the
Liberal Party of Ontario. She ran unsuccessfully for provincial legislature
in 1994.
In 1999 she was
successful and became Member of Provincial Parliament for Ottawa Vanier.
She was the 1st woman francophone MPP
in the Ontario Legislature. She was appointed by the Premier as
Liberal Critic for Francophone Affairs. In 2001 she was removed from the
Liberal Party and was forced to sit in the legislature as an independent
after she became convicted of meddling in an accident case involving her
husband. She retired from Politics in 2003.
(2020) |
Lois Boyle
Civil
Servant |
Born June 8,
1932, Sherlock, Saskatchewan. Died January 5, 2012. As a ten year old with a
sick father she took care of the house and her younger brother while her
mother and older brother worked. After Business College she married and
settled out of the province but returned with two daughters when the
marriage broke down. She began to work a Canadian Forces Base in Moose Jaw
advancing to the base commander’s secretary. In 1967 she received the
Centennial Medal for recognition of her work. She is credited with naming
the newer flying group in 1971, the Snowbirds, and became the keeper of the
Snowbirds culture and traditions. She had even accompanied her boss to
Ottawa to help fight to maintain this rather expensive “frill” of the
forces. She was there when the Snowbirds became a squadron. She moved to
private industry then the Saskatchewan Water Corporation as executive
assistant but she still remained loyal to her Snowbirds. She was among the
first “Honourary Snowbird” when the group was formed at the 25th
anniversary of the flying group. Uniformed and Honorary Snowbirds formed an
honour guard at her funeral and a line of sever Snowbird Jets, smoke on,
performed a flyby.
Source: Mother of the Snowbirds helped team take flight by Chris Ewing Weisz
Globe and Mail January 17, 2010.
Suggested by June Coxon, Ottawa, Ontario.
|
Charlotte Boyer
Member Ontario Provincial Parliament |
Born January 9, 1938. After her studies at the University of Ottawa she
earned her teaching certificate and taught for many years. She was actively
involved in the Association des enseignantes et des enseignants
franco-Ontariens, as well as both the Ontario Teachers’ Federation and the
Canadian Teacher’s Federation. She has served as president of the Liberal
Party of Canada and the Ontario Liberal party. On
June 3, 1999 she was the
first Franco-Ontarian woman to be elected to Queen’s Park, the Ontario
Provincial Parliament (riding of
Ottawa-Vanier). She served from June to September as a Liberal and from
2001-2003 as an Independent. In 2004 she was awarded the Prix anniversaire
by the Association des enseignantes et des enseignants franco-Ontariens for
her service to the community. In 2006 she was included as one of the 100
personnalites franco-Ontariennes.
Sources: Women in Ottawa;
Mentors and Milestones( accessed June 2011.)
|
Joyce Marguerite Brennan
Member
Municipal Council |
née Parsons. Born September 4, 1929. Died
August 30, 2011, Smith Falls, Ontario. Joyce married Lou Brennan and the
couple had one son. In 1977 she was the 1st woman elected to the town
Council of Smith
Falls, Ontario.. She continued to be elected and served on
council for 17 years. She was also a founding member of the Smith Falls
Heritage House Museum and the Rideau Canal Museum.
Sources:
Obituaries,
The Ottawa
Citizen September 2011. ; Blair and Son Funeral Home, Smith Falls
Ontario.
Suggestion submitted by June Coxon, Ottawa.
|
Edythe M. Brown
Municipal Mayor |
In 1936
she earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Home Economics,
University of Manitoba,
Winnipeg. She then worked for the Extension Service of the Manitoba
Department of Agriculture and was active working with community youth in
local 4H groups. She also taught school on permit at Lac du Bonnet, Manitoba
and Kenora, Northern Ontario. She served as
Mayor of Lac du Bonnet
from 1953 to 1957 and was said to be Manitoba’s 1st female Mayor.
After the completion of her term, and the death of her husband Frank in
1959, she attended the University of Manitoba, served as Don of the Women’s
Residence, and received a teaching certificate. She then returned to Lac du
Bonnet as a High school teacher.
Sources: Memorable
Manitobans. Profile by Gordon Goldsborough. Online (accessed December 2011)
|
Rosemary Brown
Member of British Columbia provincial
Parliament |
née Wedderburn. Born
1930, Kingston, Jamaica. Died April 26, 2003, Vancouver, British Columbia. .
She believed in justice for all and worked tirelessly to ease violence and
poverty in Canada and internationally. On August 30,1972 she became the 1st Canadian Black women to be
elected to public office when she was elected to the British Columbia
Legislature. In 1975 she was the 1st 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! After retiring from
Politics in 1988 she became a professor of women's studies at Simon Fraser
University in British Columbia. In 1989 she wrote her autobiography:
Being Brown: a Very Public Life. In 1993 she was appointed Chief
Commissioner of the Ontario Human Rights Commission. In 1995 she was
inducted into the Order of British Columbia. Dr Brown became an officer in
the Order of Canada in 1996. She also served on the Order of Canada Advisory
Committee from 1999-2003. June 17, 2005 a park in her former provincial
riding of Vancouver-Burrard was dedicated and named in her honour.
February 2, 2009 Canada Post issued a commemorative stamp honouring
Rosemary. There is a
biography for youth to read by Lynette Roy,
Brown Girl in the Ring: Rosemary
Brown [Toronto: Sister Vision, 1992] |
Helen Lawrence Buckley
Civil Servant |
née Aikenhead. Born February 3, 1923, Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Died March 23, 2009, Ottawa, Ontario.
She earned her Bachelor
degree.
from the University of Manitoba. Helen married Ken Buckley and later Bill
Morrow and raised three children. She began working for the federal
government as an economist in the 1940's and worked with various departments
including, Statistics Canada, Manpower and Immigration and Finance. She had
a profound interest in aboriginal culture and economics and was author of:
From Wooden Ploughs to Welfare: Why Indian Policy Failed the Prairie
Provinces.
(2020)
|
Alexandra Bugailiskis |
Born January 9, 1956, Hamilton, Ontario. After earning her BA at Carleton
University, Ottawa, Alexandra earned her Master’s Degree at the Norman
Paterson School of International Affairs, Ottawa. She became a Foreign
Service Officer and in 1990 she was the 1st person to receive the
Canadian Foreign Service Officer of the Year Award. In 2001 she organized
the summit of the Americas for which in 2002 she received the Minister of
Foreign Affairs Merit Award. That same year she became Executive Director of
the International Policy Framework Task Force at the Privy Council Office.
From 2003-07 she served as Ambassador to Cuba followed by working with the
Executive Co-ordinator of the Americas Strategy as Deputy Minister for
Latin America and the Caribbean. In 2010 she served as Clerk of the Privy
Council and in 2011 she was chief negotiator for the Canadian-European Union
strategic Partnership Agreement. In September 2014 Alexandra concluded
negotiations and signing of the Strategic Partnership Agreement with the
European Union.
|
Evelyn Jane Tanner Burns |
Born May 1890, County Donegal, Ireland. Died February 15, 1961
Rosser, Manitoba. Evelyn emigrated to Canada in 1906 with her husband James
Burns, and took up farming south of Carberry, Manitoba. The couple had one
daughter in 1907. In 1911, she divorced her husband and moved to Rosser,
where she became employed as Assistant Secretary-Treasurer in the office of
the Rural Municipality of Rosser. In 1926, when Secretary-Treasurer Walter
Beachell passed away, she took his job, becoming one of the first female
municipal officers in the province. She died at her desk, having worked for
the municipality for a total of 48 years. A member of the Rosser Anglican
Church, she was known to be always ready to give a helping hand when needed. |
Beverly 'Bev' Ann Busson
Senator |
SEE - Miscellaneous |
Pearl Calahasen |
Born December 5, 1952, Grouard, Alberta. She earned her Bachelor of
Education from the University of Alberta and went on in studies for her Masters in Education
from the University of Oregon. U.S.A. she worked to
develop Cree language for elementary and adult education. She was
the 1st woman to teach at a minimum security prison in Alberta.
Her desire to improve education and social policy have led her to
political positions such as Alberta Human Rights Commissioner, Member
of the World Congress on Education, the Métis Nation of Alberta and
Alberta Minister Without Portfolio, Responsible for Children's Services.
Her political achievements have earned her the privilege of being
addressed as the Honourable Pearl Calhasen. She was elected to the
Alberta Legislative Assembly in 1989 and served until 2015.She was the 1st
Métis woman elected to Public office in Alberta. She held positions of
Minister without Portfolio in charge of Children's Services, Associate
Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and
Northern Development. She sponsored the First Nations Sacred Ceremonial
Objects Repratriation Act in 200 which allowed for the repatriation of First
Nations artifacts. The bill passed with full opposition support. (Updated
July 2017) |
Catherine Callbeck |
Born July 26, 1939, Central Bedeque, Prince
Edward Island. Catherine earned her bachelor of Commerce degree from Mount
Allison University, New Brunswick. She went on to earn her Bachelor of
Education from Dalhousie and worked as a business teacher in New Brunswick
and Ontario prior to returning home to PEI to work in the family retail
business. In 1974 she was elected to the provincial legislature and held
various cabinet positions including Minister of Health and Social Service
and Minister Responsible for Disabled Persons. She then worked 10 years in
the family business before being elected in 1988 as a Liberal to the House
of Commons in Ottawa. In January 1993 she ran for the leadership of the
Prince Edward Island Liberal Party and became Premier on January 25, 1993
becoming the 1st woman elected as a provincial Premier and the 2nd woman to
be premier of a province in Canada. She resigned in October 1996. She was
appointed to the Senate of Canada in September 1999 serving until the
mandatory retirement age July 25, 2014. She is a Member of the Order of
Canada. |
Iona Victoria Campagnolo
Lieutenant Governor, British Columbia |
née Hardy.
Born
October 18, 1932, Galiano Island, British Columbia. 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. In 1973 she was made a Member of the Order of Canada and promoted
to the level of Officer in 2008. She was 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. In 1977 she was the recipient of the Queen
Elizabeth ll Silver Jubilee Medal. She returned to politics as the
1st woman
President of the Liberal Party of Canada from 1982 to 1986. In 1992 she
received the 125th Anniversary of Confederation of Canada Medal. As a private
citizen she retained her interest in politics and can be seen and heard
making political comment on major current topics. In 1992 she was elected as
the founding Chancellor of the University of Northern British Columbia. In
1998 she was inducted into the Order of British Columbia retiring in 1998.
In 2001 she became the 1st woman to be appointed as Lieutenant Governor of
British Columbia.
In 2002 she received the Queen Elizabeth Golden Jubilee
Medal In 2003 the Chief Herald of Canada granted her armorial bearings.
In 2012 she received the Queen Elizabeth ll Diamond Jubilee Medal. |
Avril
'Kim' Phaedra Campbell
Prime Minister of Canada |
Born
March 10, 1947, Port Alberni, British Columbia.
Known as “Kim” since a teen, she attended the University of British Columbia
and went on to earn a PhD at the London School of Economics, London England.
Entering politics as a member of the Vancouver School Board from 1980-4. She
moved to the British Columbia Provincial Legislature, 1986-88 and was
elected to the Canadian House of Commons in 1988. In 1989 she was appointed
Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development. The 1st woman to serve
as Minister of Justice, February 1990, by
January 1993, she also became the
1st woman Minister of Defense of a NATO country. In
June 1993 she became
the 1st woman elected leader of the Progressive Conservative Party and the
1st woman Prime Minister of Canada.
She resigned after election defeat in,
November 1993. Appointed Consul General to Los Angeles, California from
1996-2000, she was also chair, 1999 – 2003, for the Council of Women World
Leaders. Working with a group of national leaders to strengthen democracy in
the world, she was founder and acting President of the Club de Madrid, and
was appointed Secretary General in 2004. A lecturer of public policy at
Harvard, she currently describes herself as a teacher and recovering
politician.
Sources:
Canadian Encyclopedia
Online (accessed 2004);
Canadian Who's Who. |
Ella Jean Canfield
|
née Garnet. Born October 4, 1918, Westmorland, Prince Edward Island. Died
December 31, 2000, Prince Edward Island. She attended school High School in
in Cambridge, Massachusetts while her family lived there. She later attended
Union Commercial College in Charlottetown, P.E.I. and the Lincoln School of
Nursing in Los Angeles, California, U.S.A. On June 30 1939 she married
Parker Ellsworth Canfield. The couple had one daughter.
She
was chair of the management committee of the Crapaud Exhibition, a member of
the Home and School Association, and secretary-treasurer of the Englewood
School Board. Canfield was an organizer of the Community Schools, served as
president and treasurer of the Crapaud Women's Institute, and was a
secretary of the St. John's Anglican Church Women's Organization.
Jean was an active member of the PEI Zonta Club, The Canadian Club, and the
Chamber of Commerce of Crapaud and Victoria.
She ran in 1966 for provincial election but was not successful. She was
first elected to the Prince Edward Island Legislative Assembly in the
May 11, 1970
provincial election as Assemblyman for First Queens becoming the 1st
female member of the PEI Legislative Assembly
and the 1st woman to serve on Executive Council.
In 1972 she served as Chairwoman of the Provincial Advisory Committee on
the Status of Women in the Province of Prince Edward Island, 1972 to 1973.
She was appointed as Minister without Portfolio and Minister Responsible for
P.E.I. Housing Authority from October 10, 1972 to May 2, 1974. In 1977 she
was a recipient of the Queen’s Jubilee Medal. She served in the legislature
until 1979. Source: Ella Jean Canfield, Prince Edward Island Legislative Documents
Online. Accessed March 2016.
|
Eleanor Caplan |
Born May 20, 1944. In 1963 she married Mayer Wilfred Caplan and the
couple have four children. After her studies a Centennial Community College,
Toronto, Eleanor worked in real estate heading Eleanor Caplan and Associate
from 1973-78. In 1978 she began a professional career in Politics becoming
an alderman in the City of North York (now part of Toronto). In 1985 she
left municipal politics to enter the provincial legislature as a Member
representing a Toronto riding. While serving at the provincial level she
held several cabinet appointments. From 1997 through 2003 she was elected to
the federal parliament becoming parliamentary secretary to the minister of
Health then being appointed Minister of Citizenship and Immigration from 199
through 2002 and then Minister of National Revenue. She is the first Jewish
woman to have served as a member in cabinets at a provincial and federal
level. In 2005 she completed a review of Ontario Home Care Procurement
Policy known as the Caplan Report. Since 2007 she has taught at the Canada
School of Public Service and is strategy coach for Leonard Domino &
Associates. She has also served on numerous boards of directors and
completed a project fo the World Health Organization (WHO) She is Chief
Executive Officer of Canada Strategies Inc.
Source: Brown, Michael,
Eleanor Caplan”
Jewish women: a Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia.
March 1, 2009 Jewish Women’s Archive Accessed August 2011.
|
Sharon Carstairs |
Born April 26, 1942, Halifax, Nova Scotia. She holds a B.A. in
political science and History from Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia and a
M.A. in teaching from Smith College, Massachusetts. She also attended
Georgetown University and the University of Calgary. She served as President
of the Alberta Liberal Party from 1975 through 1977 while serving at the
same time on the national executive of the Liberal Party of Canada. She was first elected to
the Manitoba Provincial Legislature in 1986 and was re-elected in 1988 and
1990. She was elected leader of Official Opposition in Manitoba from 1988 to
1990 and was appointed the Senate September 15, 1994. In 1997 she was
appointed Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate in 1997 becoming
Leader of the Government in the Senate from January 2001 to December 2003.
She also served as Minister with Special Responsibility for Palliative Care
in the Liberal government of Prime Minister Jean Chrètien. April 2006
through December 2009 she served as chairperson of the Special Committee on
Aging which issued a report that helped get Palliative care added to the
core curriculum in Canadian medical schools She retied from the
Senate in October 2011. She has
accomplished her successful career with the support of her husband and two
children. She is a member of the Order of Canada. |
Thérèse Casgrain |
née Forget. Born July 10, 1896, Montreal, Quebec. Died November 2, 1981.
She married Pierre-Francois Casgrain and the couple had four
children. 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 founded the Provincial Franchise Committee in 1921. 1928 through
1942 she was the leader of the League for Women's Rights. In the
1930's she was host of the popular radio program
Fémina. She continued a career in politics becoming the
1st Canadian woman
to lead a provincial political party. She was the leader of the Quebec CCF Party from 1951-1957.
She ran for a seat in the House of commons in Ottawa in 1952, 1953,
1957 and1958. She ran for a seat for the New Democratic Party in
1962 and 1963 in the federal general elections. In 1967 she was
inducted as an Officer of the Order of Canada and was promoted to
Companion in the Order in 1974. In 1969 she was elected
president of the Consumer's Association of Canada in Quebec. In 1970 she was appointed to the Senate
of Canada. In 1982 The Liberal Party established the
Thérèse Casgrain Volunteer Award but the Conservative
government discontinued the award only to have it reinstated in 2001
by the Liberal Party. In 2012 it was replaced as the Prime
Minister's Volunteer Award by the Conservatives.. In 2016 the
Liberal government renamed the award as the Thérèse Casgrain
Lifetime Volunteer Achievement Award. In 1985 Canada Post issued a
stamp in her honour. From 2004 to 2012 her image appeared on the
reverse of the $50.00 banknote along with the Famous Five making her
the first individual woman to appear on Canadian currency. In
2012 a statue of her, Idola Saint-Jean (1880-1945), Marie-Claire
Kirkland (1924-2016).
She is considered a leading woman of 20th century
Canada. |
Jean Casselman-Wadds |
Born September 16, 1920, Newton Robinson, Ontario. Died November 25, 2011,
Prescott, Ontario. She Married Azra Casselman who represented the electoral
district of Grenville-Dundas, Ontario from 1925-1958. Jean was elected in
1958 and served in her husband’s riding in the House of Commons for ten
years. She was the third woman to be elected to the Canadian Parliament. Her
father was also a Member of Parliament, Earle Rowe and the became the only
father daughter ever to sit in the same session of the Canadian Parliament.
She was the first woman appointed to serve as Parliamentary Secretary. In
1961 she was the first woman appointed by the Canadian Government as a
delegate to the United Nations. In 1979 she was the first woman to be
appointed as Canadian High Commissioner to Great Britain. Prime Minister
Pierre Trudeau would credit her as one of the three key women along with
Queen Elizabeth and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, responsible
for the repatriation of the Canadian Constitution. In 1982 she received the
Order of Canada. She was a strong supported of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet and
the St Lawrence Shakespearian Festival. Suggested Reading: Prescott
1810-2010.
Sources: Obituary.
Ottawa Citizen December 3, 2011. Suggestion submitted by June Coxon, Ottawa.
|
Bardish Chagger |
Born April 6, 1980, Waterloo, Ontario. The Chagger family
immigrated from Punjab, India to Waterloo, Ontario in the 1970's. At 13 she
was a volunteer in the 1993 federal election for the local candidate in
Waterloo. She attended the University of Waterloo and became an executive
assistant the Waterloo Liberal member of parliament from 1993 to 2008. With
her employer defeated in the 2008 election she became a director of special
events for the Kitchener-Waterloo Multicultural Centre. In 2013 she was
elected to the House of Commons in Ottawa. November 4, 2015 she became
Minister of Small Business and Tourism.
August 19,
2016 she was sworn is a Leader of the Government in the House of Commons,
the 1st woman to hold this position. She is an active volunteer
with Interfaith Grand River, the Heart and Stroke Foundation, and the
Waterloo Rotary Club. Rotary Club. Bardish is the recipient of the Pink
Attitude Evolution’s “Woman of the Year” award and the Waterloo Region
Record’s “40 under 40” award. |
Thelma J. Chalifoux
Métis activist &
Senator |
née Villeneuve. Born February 8, 1929,
Calgary, Alberta. Died September 22, 2017, St Albert,
Alberta. Thelma studied at the Lethbridge Community College in Alberta and
did her post graduate studies at the Southern Alberta Institute of
Technology and the Chicago School of Interior Design in Illinois, U.S.A. She
worked as a teacher and community organizer and was active in both local and
national Métis communities. Thelma was a co-founder of the Slave Lake
Friendship Centre. She was the winner of the National Aboriginal Achievement
Award in 1995. She was the mother of seven children and grandmother to 30
grandchildren and 15 great grandchildren! She was
appointed to the Senate of Canada in November 26, 1997, becoming the 1st
indigenous person to sit in the Canadian Senate. She served
in the Senate until February 8, 2004. After retiring from the senate she
relocated to Alberta where she founded the Michif Cultural and Resource
Institute, later called the Michif Cultural Connections, in St. Albert,
Alberta to preserve, protect and promote the rich Métis culture in northern
Alberta. In 2018 the new Thelma Chalifoux School opened in Larkspur,
Alberta. (2020) |
Andrée Champagne
MP |
Born
July 17, 1939, Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec. 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.
(2020) |
Solange Chaput-Rollan |
Born
May 14, 1919, Montreal, Quebec. Died November
1, 2001, Sainte-Marguerite-du-Lac, Masson, Quebec. Solange attended the
Convent d'Outremont for her early education and then attended the Sorbonne
and the Institut Catholic de Paris in France. In 1941 she married André
Rolland.
She began her working Career as a journalist for
the CBC. In 1975 she was inducted as an Officer in the Order of Canada.
Solange served as a member of the Canadian Task Force on Canadian Unity
which was established in 1977 by the federal government in response to the
election of a sovereignty-oriented Quebec government. Its purpose was to
gather opinions about the problems of unity in the country, to publicize
efforts being made to solve those problems and to advise the
government on how to strengthen national unity. In 1979 she ran in a
by-election. and was elected to the National Assembly of Quebec. She was not
re-elected in 1981. . In 1985 she was inducted as an Officer in the National
Order of Quebec. In 1988 she was appointed to the Canadian Senate where she
served until retiring in 1994. A she served on the Federal Task Force on
Canadian Unity. Between 1963 and 1996 she wrote 13 books. |
Ione Christensen |
née Cameron.
Born October 10, 1933. Her family
relocated to Whitehorse in 1949. After graduating from High School in
the Yukon she earned a business administration degree from the college of
San Mateo in California., U.S.A. She returned home and worked for the government of
the Yukon Territories. After taking a short time to care for her pre-school
children she returned to serve as Justice of the Peace, a Juvenile Court
Judge and chair for the City of Whitehorse Planning Board as well as two
terms as Mayor of Whitehorse and was director with the Federation of
Canadian Municipalities before becoming Commissioner of the Yukon in 1979.
After her term as Commissioner she continued to work for her beloved Yukon
and what was best for its economy. She received the Order of Canada in 1994
and was appointed to the Senate of Canada in 1999.
|
Olivia Chow |
née Sze. Born March 24, 1957, Hong Kong. The family immigrated to Canada in
the 1970’s. After learning English as a teen she attended the Ontario
College of Art and earned a B.A. at the University of Guelph in 1979. In the
1980’s while working at grass roots level for the New Democratic Party she
was smitten with politics. She persuaded relentlessly the need for adequate
and reliable child care for families where both parents worked. In 1985 she
was elected as a school trustee. She worked with the Canadian Auto workers’
Union to develop a national Children’s Agenda to promote early childhood
development and care services. In 1991 she became an elected Toronto City
Councilor. In 1998 she was Toronto’s firs children and Youth Advocate which
created a Toronto Youth Cabinet to give young people a voice. In 1999 she
was City Police Commissioner. She also supported the Toronto Cycling
Committee, the Toronto Public Library Board, the Woman’s Abuse Council ,
the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Toronto Transit Commission by being a
member of committees and boards. . In 2006 she was elected as Member of
Parliament to Ottawa from Toronto’s Trinity Spedina Ward. She was re-elected
in 2008 and in 2011. In 2010 she was voted the best MP by Now Magazine and
voted seven times best Toronto councilor. She has received the Consumer
Choice Award as Woman of the Year . in 1988 she married Jack Layton, Leader
of the Canadian New Democratic Party. The couple have two children. |
Adrienne Louise Clarkson
Governor General |
née Poy. Born February 10 1939, Hong Kong.
Adrienne and her family immigrated to Canada in 1941 settling in Ottawa,
Ontario. In 1960 she graduated from the University of Toronto (UofT) winning
the Governor General's Medal in English. She continued her education at the
UofT earning a Master's degree prior to studying at the Sorbonne in Paris,
France. A television personality with the Canadian Broadcast Corporation
(CBC), she is also a journalist, a novelist, a public servant, and
publisher. She even had her own television show Adrienne Clarkson
Presents. In 1963 she married Stephen Clarkson, a professor at the UofT.
The couple had three daughters. In 1975 she worked with the TV program
The Fifth Estate where she won an several ACTRA Awards. In 1981 she
promoted Ontario culture in France and throughout Europe. In
1999 she married John Ralston
Saul and appointed 26th Governor General of Canada,
the 1st immigrant to hold this position. She served in this
position until fall 2005. In the summer of 2005 she was inducted as an
honorary member of the Kainai Chieftainshp, near Standoff, Alberta. She was
also adopted into the Blood Tribe with the name Grandmother of Many Nations.
September 14, 2005 the Clarkson Cup for women's hockey in Canada was
established. She is an officer in the Order of Canada.
On October 3, 2005, Clarkson was sworn into the
Queen's Privy Council for Canada.
She is the Colonel in Chief of Princess Patricia's Canadian Light infantry
and the founder of the Institute for Canadian Citizenship. In 2006 she
published Heart Matters the first part of her autobiography. There is an
Adrienne Clarkson Elementary School in Ottawa and another in Richmond Hill,
Ontario. (2020) |
Erminie Cohen
Senator |
SEE - Humanitarians
|
Anne Cools
Senator |
Born August 12, 1943, Barbados. In 1957 she immigrated to Canada and settled
with her family in Montreal. In the 1960’s she attended McGill University to
earn her BA. In 1969 she was involved in a ten day sit in at George Williams
University (Now Concordia University) and served a four month imprisonment as a
result. In 1974 she relocated to Toronto where she founded the 1st
shelter for abused women. In the late 1970’s and early 1980’s she ran
unsuccessfully as a Liberal candidate for a seat in the House of Commons.
January 13, 1984 she was appointed by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau to the
Senate of Canada. She was the 1st Black woman in North America to
hold a Senate seat. She was always strong minded and did not always agree on
party lines and was not afraid to speak her mind. In 2004 she “crossed the
floor’ and joined the Progressive Conservative party. ON June 25, 2007 she
was removed from the Progressive Conservative Caucus for speaking out
against Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the PC budget proposal. She became
an independent in the senate. |
Joan Cook
Senator |
Born October 6,1934. A business woman who served as Vice President
of a family-owned automobile dealership and a member of the management team with
C J O N Radio and TV, and with Robert Simpson Eastern Ltd. of Halifax, she was appointed
to the Senate of Canada March 6, 1998. |
Sheila Maureen
Copps
Member of Parliament |
Born
November 27, 1952, Hamilton, Ontario. Sheila followed her father Victor
Copps, a longtime Mayor of Hamilton, by choosing the profession of
politics. Graduating from the University of Western Ontario in London
with a degree in French and English she has been a consistent supporter
of bilingualism in Canada. She studied for advanced degrees at McMaster
University in Hamilton, Ontario and the University of Rouen in France.
Her 1st jobs were as a newspaper journalist in Hamilton and
Ottawa. In 1981 she was elected to the Ontario Provincial legislature
and in 1984 she successfully ran as a member of Parliament (Liberal) for
the federal Government. She penned her autobiography entitled
Nobody’s Baby in 1986.
She was the 1st
sitting member of Canadian Parliament to give birth in 1987
and made headlines by bringing her baby to
work with her. On
November 4, 1993
she became the 1st woman Deputy Prime Minister.
In
1996 she changed cabinet positions to Canadian Heritage. She had
promised during the election to resign if the Liberals failed to
eliminate the controversial Goods and Service Tax (GST) and kept her
word resigning in May 1996 when Prime Minister Paul Martin said the tax
would remain. She was re-elected on June 17, 1997 and was once again
Minister of Canadian Heritage and Deputy Prime Minister. She was
defeated in the March 6, 2004 election and on May14, 2004 she retired
from elected politics in conflict with leader Paul Martin. After leaving
politics her public appearances were on stage in Kingston Ontario in a
dinner theatre production of the play,
Steel Magnolias. In
October 2004 she published her second autobiography Worth Fighting For
which caused more controversy with Liberal Leader Paul Martin. She
returned to her 1st career writing columns for the
National Post and the
Toronto Sun which she ceased in
December 2007. Sheila also became a broadcaster with a radio talk show
and later on a series for History Television. On March 23 2006 a gala
tribute to her was held by the Liberals to help heal the controversial
wounds. After losing her run for the president of the Liberal Party of
Canada in 2012 Sheila announced her full retirement from politics. She
was appointed to the Order of Canada on December 30, 2012.
|
Dorothy Corrigan
Member of Municipal Council |
née Hennessey. Born July 26, 1913,
Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. She
attended the Prince of Wales College and then earned her Register Nurse from
the School of Nursing at the Charlottetown School of Nursing in 1937. She
married dentist, Dr. Ernest Corrigan and the couple had a son and daughter.
She 1st ran for civic election in 1958 and ran a second time to be
successful. She served as councilor and then as the first woman Mayor of
Charlottetown from 1968 through 1971. During her tenure the City Hall became
more open to its citizens. After 11 years in elected office she took a
position in Public Relations. She continued her public duty through serving
on numerous and various committees as well as three years on the Canada
Council and president of the Charlottetown Chamber of Commerce. She became a
member of the Order of Canada in 1978.
Source: Outstanding women of Prince Edward Island Compiled by the Zonta Club
of Charlottetown, 1981.
|
Coleen Leora Coupples
Ambassador |
Born Port Arthur (now Thunder Bay) Ontario. Coleen attended Lakehead University
in Thunder Bay, Ontario. In 1971 she worked as the Manpower Student
Placement Director at Ryerson Polytechnical Institute (Ryerson University).
She was successful in writing the Foreign Service Officer exam with the
Canadian government in June 1972 she was posted to Paris, France and the
following year she was in London, England. Prior to being post as Consul to
Los Angeles she married an American businessman. From 1981 through 1984 her
ability in Spanish served her well as she was posted to Buenos Aires,
Argentina. 1985-1987 she served in Sri Lanka and 1987 she was serving as
Ambassador to Burundi, Rwanda and Zaire.
Source: Margaret K. Weirs,
Envoys Extraordinary: Women of the Canadian
Foreign Service (Dundurn Press, 1995)
(2020) |
Nellie J. Cournoyea
MPP, Northwest Territories |
Born March 4, 1940, Aklavik, Northwest Territories. Nellie grew
up traveling and hunting in the traditional manner of her
people. She married a Canadian Forces officer and the couple
were posted in Halifax and Ottawa prior to heading back to the
Northwest Territories with their two children. Shortly after the
couple divorced. In the 1960’s she worked as an announcer for
the CBC radio. In 1969 she co-founded with Agnes Semmler, 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
served on various cabinet positions prior to becoming the 1st
native woman to lead a provincial territorial government in
Canada. She served as
Premier of the Northwest Territories from November 14, 1991 to
November 2, 1995. Nellie was awarded the Woman of the Year for
NWT in 1982 and in 1986 she received the Wallace Goose Award.
She was recognized with the National Aboriginal Achievement
Award in 1994. In 2004 she received the Energy Person of the
Year from the Energy Council of Canada. In
2008 the Governor General of Canada awarded Nellie Cournoyea the
Northern Medal in recognition for her significant contributions
to the evolution and reaffirmation of the Canadian North as part
of our national identity. She also
became an Officer in the Order of Canada and was admitted to the
Aboriginal Business Hall of Fame. In 2016 she was inducted into
the Order of the Northwest Territories. She volunteers as
Director of the Ingamo Hall Friendship Center in Inuvik and is a
founding member of the Northern Games Society. She is also a
volunteer in Inuvialuit historical and cultural activities. Sources: The
Canadian Encyclopedia Online Accessed 2006); Nellie J.
Cournoyea, Collections Canada. National Library of Canada,
(Accessed 2006). (2020) |
Dorothea Crittenden
MPP, Ontario |
Born
April 30, 1915, Blythe, Ontario. When her father lost
his job in the Great Depression this strong young woman baby sat for 25
cents an hour to help out with family finances. As a first profession she
was a teacher in Northern Ontario. She continued to support her parents and
safe enough money from her teaching salary to attend the University of
Toronto. In 1937 she entered the provincial public service. During World War
ll, like other women of her generation, she found opportunity for
advancement. She was Ontario's chief negotiator in the deliberations to
create the Canadian Assistance Plan, a federal provincial shared cost
program guaranteeing all Canadians equal access to social assistance.
She
would become the first woman appointed Deputy Minister in Ontario when
appointed to the position with the Ontario Ministry of Community and Social
Services in 1974. In 1978
she became the first woman to be chair of Ontario's Human Rights Commission. Carol Goar,
writing for the Toronto
Star says she is a leader who is largely
forgotten because she was "too early to be a feminist and too crusty to be a
beloved icon."
|
Eileen Elizabeth Dailly |
née Gilmore.
Born February 15, 1926, Vancouver, British Columbia. At the age of 18 her
political choices became evident when she joined the Cooperative
Commonwealth Federation (CCF) association. After high school she attended
Normal School (Teacher’s college) in Vancouver and taught at elementary
school. In 1951 she married James Dailly. In 1955 she gave up her classroom
to stay at home with her son. The following year she was elected as a
trustee of the Burnaby School Board. In 1969 she was elected to the
Provincial Parliament as a C.C.F. Member from Burnaby North. Re-elected
again in 1972 she found herself appointed as minister of Education and she
also became the 1st woman to be named as British Columbia’s
Deputy Premier. As Minister of Education she is perhaps best remembered for
her February 14, 1973 amendment to the School Act which abolished corporal
punishment in BC public Schools. It was an event unprecedented in Canada and
very controversial. However it has never been re-instated. She also
introduced improved access to education for aboriginal children, introduced
mandatory kindergarten across the province and eliminated grade twelve
graduation examinations. The end of high school exams would be reinstated
ten years later by the in power Social Credit government. She continued to
represent North Burnaby after the C.C.F. party was no longer in power
retiring in 1986. From 1988-1991 she provided a seniors program on Cable TV.
Source: Yvette Drews,
Eileen Dailly
https://www2.vlu.ca/homeroom/content/topics/people/dailly
(Accessed July 2015)
|
Gertrude
'True' Davidson
|
Born April 19, 1901, Hudson, Quebec. Died September 18, !978, East York (Toronto)
Ontario. True graduated from the University of Toronto and like so many
women of the era of limited professions she attended the Regina Normal
School and became a teacher in the prairie provinces. In 1923 she returned
to university to earn her Master degree and taught in Toronto. She went on
to write children’s books and wrote for the
Globe and Mail and
various Canadian Magazines. Living in East york, near Toronto, she served 10
years on the East York school board from 1947-1957.She became an elected
alderman serving ten years becoming reeve and then mayor. When East york
merged with Leaside she was elected mayor retiring in 1972. Originally a
member of the Commonwealth Cooperative Federation political party it was
with the Liberal party that she ran unsuccessfully for provincial parliament
in 1971. In 1973 she was inducted as a Member of the Order of Canada. After
politics she took on a weekly column with the
Toronto Sun newspaper.
She also authored several books including a brief history of East York. In
1977 she was presented with the Queen’s Jubilee Medal. After her death the
True Davidson Collection of Literature was established after she had
enrolled as a PhD student at the institution. In 1997 the East York council
names its meeting place the True Davidson Chamber , along with a housing
development, a city park and the local Meals-on-Wheels program.
|
Libby Davies |
Born February 27 1953, Aldershot, United Kingdom. In 1968 Libby immigrated to
Canada with her family she settled in Vancouver, British Columbia. Libby
dropped out of university to help her life partner Bruce Eriksen ( -1997)
found the Downtown Eastside Residents Association (DERA) an influential
low-income housing advocacy group. She was elected to the Vancouver City
Council in 1982 and served until 1993. From 1994 through 1997 she worked for
the Hospital employees union supporting her son. In 1997 she was elected to
the Provincial Parliament and served until 2015. She
served as
House Leader
for the
New Democratic Party
(NDP) from 2003 to 2011, and the
Deputy Leader
of the national party from 2007 until 2015. In 2001, Davies became the first
female Canadian Member of Parliament to reveal that she was in a same-sex
relationship. In December 2007 she received the Justice Gerald Le Dain Award
for achievement in the field of law for her work on the International Drug
Policy Reform. In December 2016 she was named a Member of the Order of
Canada. |
Mary Dawson |
SEE - Lawyers |
Natahalie Des Rosiers
MPP, Ontario |
Born 1959, Montreal, Quebec. Nathalie studied law at the University of
Montreal and earned her Master’s of Law at Harvard University, Cambridge,
Massachusetts, U.S.A. She 1st practiced law in London, Ontario
where she was also a professor of law at the University of Western Ontario.
(now Western University) She took the role as dean of Civil Law at the
University of Ottawa. From 2001-2008 she served on the Law Commission of
Canada. In 2002 she co-authored the book Representing Victims of Sexual and
Spousal Abuse. From 2009 through 2013 she was general counsel for the
Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA). In 2011/2012 she was named one
of Canada’s most influential lawyers in the professional journal
Canadian
Lawyer. In 2012 she became a Member of the Order of Ontario and
the following year she was inducted into the Order of Canada. November 2016
she ran successfully in an Ontario provincial by-election. She was
re-elected to her seat in the provincial parliament in 2018.
(2020) |
Marion Dewar
Mayor of Ottawa & MP
|
née Bell. Born February 12, 1928, Montreal,,
Quebec. Died
September 15, 2008, Ottawa, Ontario.
Educated as a nurse at the University of Ottawa, she began her working career as a public health nurse.
In the 1970's she turned to municipal politics in Ottawa. She was elected
Mayor of Ottawa for three terms from 1978 through1985. She believed that local action could serve the
global cause and she spearheaded Operation 4000 that welcomed Vietnamese
boat people to settle in Ottawa. She successfully promoted increases
accessibility to child care, services to the elderly and disabled. rights of
minorities and equal opportunities for women. She was co-host for the Women's
Constitutional Conference calling for gender equality provisions in the
Canadian Charter of Rights. In 1985 she was elected president of the federal
New Democratic Party and in 1997 was elected in a federal by-election to
the House of Commons. In 1989 she was executive director of the
Canadian Council on Children and Youth and in 1995 continued serving social
causes when she headed up Oxfam Canada. In May 2002, she was appointed
a Member of the Order of Canada.
(2020) |
Mabel Margaret
DeWare
MPP, New Brunswick |
Born August 9,1926,
Moncton, New Brunswick. Mabel enjoyed competitive curling and in 1963, as
skip, she took her team to the provincial and Canadian championships where
they became the 1st New Brunswick Canadian Ladies Curling Champions. In 1976
she was inducted into the New Brunswick Sport Hall of Fame and in 1987 the
Canadian Curling Hall of Fame as a curler and a builder of the sport. Mabel
was was elected the legislative Assembly of New Brunswick in 1978 and again
in 1982. She served as a Minister of Labour and Manpower from 1978 through
1982, Minister of Community Colleges from 1983 to 1985 and Minister of
Advanced Education from 1985 to 1987. She was appointed to the Canadian
Senate in 1990 retiring when she turned 75. Several members of her family
are active in the Girl Guide movement. She attended the dedication of the
new Canadian Girl Guide Flag in the halls of Parliament Hill on February 22,
2000. (2020) |
Mary Elizabeth 'Mary Beth' Brugger Dolin
MPP, Manitoba |
Born January 25,1936, Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, U.S.A. Died April 9,
1985, Manitoba. She attended Webster
College, St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.A. She was married from 1957-1966, and
remarried 1966. She immigrated to Canada with her husband and family in 1968.
She taught at Island Lake and Hodgson before moving to the Seven Oaks School
Division in 1974 as a junior-high teacher of music and drama. Interested in
what she could accomplish in politics she became involved with the New
Democratic Party and ran successfully for Member of the Legislative Assembly
of Manitoba in 1981. She served as Manitoba Minister of Labour and Manpower
1982-1985, Manitoba Minister of Urban Affairs 1983-1985, and Manitoba
Minister Responsible for the Status of Women, 1982-1985. She was responsible
for initiated pioneering reforms to pension legislation for women and
reforms to labour legislation. After her death from breast cancer her
husband, Marty Dolin, was elected to sit in her former seat in the Manitoba
Legislature where he served to 1988. The Mary Beth Dolin Meritorious Fire
Service Medal was established in her honour in 1988.
Source:
Memorable
Manitobans Online (accessed February 2014) (2020) |
Laverna Katie Dollimore |
Born January 22, 1922, Toronto, Ontario. Died October 24 2011, Brighton,
Ontario. . After High school she attended Western Technical Commercial
School for business studies, graduating in 1938. During World War ll she
enlisted in the Women’s Royal Naval Service (the Wrens) and in 1943 was
posted in Halifax. She returned to Toronto at the end of the war, working
clerical jobs. In 1956 after taking the Public Service exam she joined
External Affairs of Canada and was headed for Cairo, and in two year stints
she moved on to Poland, and a year in Kuala Lampur before returning to
Ottawa. In 1965 she found herself serving in the Belgian Congo, and then
Moscow , just at the height of the Cold War. She was certain that her
apartment was bugged and that her housekeeper was likely KGB! In 1969 she
was off to Laos as part of the Canadian delegation for the International
Commission for supervision and Control to implement the terms of the Geneva
Convention at the end of the Vietnam War. She had an easier posting in
London England before she found herself in Ottawa accepting a posting in
Tehran. On Nov. 4, 1979, Iranian students loyal to the Ayatollah Khomeini
occupied the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, taking 54 American diplomats hostage
and setting in motion the 444-day Iran hostage crisis. Six Americans evaded
capture and went into hiding in the residences of Ambassador Ken Taylor and
John Sheardown, the head of the embassy’s immigration section. On Jan. 28,
1980, with the help of the CIA, the Canadians abetted the escape of the six
U.S. diplomats. The convert Canadian Operation known as the “Canadian
Caper”. The unflappable Laverna remained in Iran as an integral part of the
embassy until the Americans were safely out of the country and the embassy
was closed. The staff, including Laverna received the Order of Canada in
recognition of the “Canadian Caper”. She retired in 1983, settling in
Brighton, Ontario near family.
Source: Remembering Laverna Dollimore a woman ahead of her time by Robert
Wright. Ottawa Citizen November 4, 2011; She got more adventure than
she bargained for in Tehran by Nora Ryell The Globe and Mail,
December 13, 2011. Page R5.
Suggestion submitted by
June Coxon, Ottawa.
|
Suzanne 'Shannie' Duff |
Born St John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador. Shannie earned her Registered
Nursing Diploma from the Royal Victoria Hospital, Montreal, Quebec and earned her
BA from Memorial University, Newfoundland before she became interested in
politics. She Married Frank Duff and the couple have five children.
Elected to the St. John’s City Council, Newfoundland in 1977 she became
deputy Mayor in 1982. She ran and was elected to the provincial parliament
in 1989 with the Progressive Conservative Party while still holding her city
council seat. She exited provincial politics in 1990 to run for the office
of Mayor of St John’s a position she held to 1993. In 1997 she was once
again elected to city council. On March 29, 2003 she was appointed a Member
of the Order of Canada. She was once again acting as Mayor from April
through June 2008. In 2009 she was elected deputy Mayor until she retired
from politics in 2013. She has been praised for being a champion of
architectural heritage and preservation in St John’s. She was the founding
Chair of the Cabot Habitat for Humanity. She also holes the Order of
Newfoundland and Labrador. |
Pat Duncan |
Born April 18, 1960, Edmonton, Alberta. She
studied Political Science at Carleton University in Ottawa. She served as a
special assistant to then Member of Parliament, Erik Nielsen in his home
constituency and she fell in love with the Canadian Northland. She moved to
be Manager of the Whitehorse Chamber of Commerce and also owned a small
business of her own. Married with two children, she was first elected to the
Yukon Legislative Assembly in 1996 and in 1998 she became Yukon Liberal
Party Leader. She was Sworn in as Premier of the Yukon in 2000. She won her
personal riding of Porter Creek South in the 2002 election but the Liberal
Party itself was defeated.
|
Kathleen Mary Margaret
'Kathy' Dunderdale |
née Warren.
February 1952, Burin Newfoundland &
Labrador. She began attending Memorial University of Newfoundland but
dropper out of university to marry Captain Peter Dunderdale (d 2006) in
1972. The couple have two children. Kathy was a member of an action
committee lobbing Fishery Products International to not close the Burin fish
plant. She went on to work as a Social worker with the provincial Department
of Social Services. She was elected to serve on the Burin town council in
1985 and worked with the local school board and the Status of Women. She
served as the 1st woman President of the of the Provincial Federation of
Municipalities. She also served as President of the Progressive Conservative
Provincial Party. After her husband retired from the sea they set up a
consulting company. In 1995 the couple relocated to St John's. She has
helped to found Women in Resource Development Corporation in 1997 to work
getting women involved in trades and technology. In 2003 she was elected to
the provincial House of Assembly and was appointed to cabinet as Minster of
Innovation, Trade and Rural Development and Minister Responsible for the
Rural Secretariat. In 2006 she became Minister of Natural Resources
and the Minister Responsible for the Forestry and Agrifood Industry. In 2008
she was given the added responsibility of being Deputy Premier and
Minister Responsible for the Status of Women. February 1, 2010 for six weeks
she was Acting Premier and on December 3, 2010 she was sworn in a the 1st
woman Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador. She was re-elected in 2011
holding the position until she resigned January 224, 2014. After politics
she worked for the Gathering Place as volunteer coordinator. (2019) |
Shirley Theresa Dysart |
nee Britt
Born February 22, 1928, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A. Died December 14,
2016, St John, New Brunswick. Shirley’s parents were vising a cousin when she
was born and the little family soon returned to Saint John, New Brunswick.
After graduating from high school she attended the New Brunswick Teachers’
College and the University of New Brunswick. As a Beaverbrook Scholar she
was able to study at the University of London in England. She taught at her
local high school and in 1967 she became a member of the local school
board. She married H. Eric Dysart and the couple had one son. In 1974 she
became the woman of the Liberal party to win a seat in the Legislative
Assembly of New Brunswick, a seat she held for 20 years, winning five
consecutive elections. In 1976 she served on the Bi-Centennial Celebration
Committee for the Province of New Brunswick. In 1985 she became the 1st
woman to serve as interim Leader of the Opposition in the provincial
legislature. In 1987 she was appointed Minister of Education, the 1st
woman to hold the position. She introduced a province-wide Universal,
full-day public kindergarten program. She also let community projects in St
John including rebuilding of the Imperial Theatre. She was president of the
Catholic Women’s League Council, President of the University of New
Brunswick Alumni Council and was a active member of the Saint John Family
Services and the Irish-Canadian Cultural Association.
In
1991, Dysart was elected Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, the first
woman to hold the position. She received the 1992 Commemorative Medal for
the 125th Anniversary of Confederation. She retired from politics
in 1995. In 2000 she received a Red Cross Humanitarian Award. 2015 saw her
named a Champion of Public Education by the national educational charity,
The Learning Partnership. In 20014 she became a Member of the Order of
Canada. In 2012 she received the Queen Elizabeth ll Diamond Jubilee Medal. |
Janet Ecker
MPP, Ontario |
Born October 18, 1953, Exeter, Ontario. Janet earned her B.A. in journalism at
the University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario. In 1985 she became
Director of Culminations at the Ontario Treasury. She worked as a Government
Relations Consultant with Public Affairs Management from 1987 to 1991. She
was also Assistant Executive Director of the Ontario Provincial Progressive
Conservative Party from 1985 to 1987. She was Director of Policy for the
College of Physicians
and Surgeons of Ontario from 1991 to 1995. In 1995 she was
elected to the Ontario legislature for the riding of Durham West (just east
of the city of Toronto). On August 16, 1996, she was appointed to cabinet as
Minister of Community and Social Services. Re-elected in 1999 she was again
in the cabinet this time as Minister of Education. She served as Government
House Leader after February 8, 2001. April 15, 2002 she became Minister of
Finance until the party and she herself lost in the September 2003
provincial election. She works for the Tramor Group providing program
management professionals services. She also teaches public administration at
Queen’s University, Kingston Ontario. In 2005 she served as president of the
Toronto Financial Services Alliance. In 2016 she was named to the Order of
Canada in recognition of her leadership in the financial industry. In spring
2017
Postmedia Network Canada Corp., Canada’s largest newspaper company appointed
Janet Ecker, to its board of directors.(2020).
|
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. |
Joyce Fairbairn |
Born November 6, 1939 Lethbridge, Alberta.
She studied for a B.A. in Alberta and took her degree in journalism
from Carleton University in 1961. While at Carleton she
met Michael 'Mike' Gillian (1938-2002) and the pair became soul
mates. The couple had four children. After working as a journalist
in the Parliamentary Press Gallery she became Legislative Assistant
to Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau (1919-2000) for 14 years. She also
served at various positions in the Liberal Party of Canada. 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 1st woman to be named Leader of the Government in the
Senate also serving as a Cabinet Minister with Special Responsibility for Literacy. Sadly
in August 2012 she began indefinite sick leave from the senate due
to the onset of Alzheimer's disease. She officially resigned leaving
the Senate January 18, 2013. In 2015 she was inducted as a Member of
the Order of Canada. (2019) |
Ellen Louks
Fairclough
MP & Cabinet Minister |
née Cook. Born January 28,
1905, Hamilton, Ontario. Died
November
13, 2004, Hamilton, Ontario. At 16 she said she was two years older in order
to land a fulltime job. In 1931 the feisty Ellen married Gordon Fairclough
and the couple had one son. Her first career was as an accountant and she
owned her own firm beginning in 1935. She was elected to Hamilton City
council in 1946. She was an executive member of the Girl Guides of Canada
and an active in the Consumer Association of Canada, the I.O.D.E., the
United Empire Loyalist Association, and the Zonta Club. In 1950 she was
elected in a by-election as a Progressive Conservative to the Canadian House
of Commons in Ottawa. In 1957 she became the 1st
woman to be appointed to the post of a Cabinet Minister in the Canadian
Parliament when she became
Secretary of State under Prime Minister John Diefenbaker.
In 1958 she became Minister of Citizenship and Immigration and
served as Acting Prime Minister for two days in
February becoming the 1st woman to be in this position. In
1962 she served as Postmaster General. Defeated in the 1963 federal election
she worked for the Hamilton Trust and Savings Corporation and also served as
chairperson of Hamilton Hydro. In 1975 she was named 'Woman lf the Year' by
the province of Ontario. In 1979 she was
inducted as an Officer in the Order of Canada and promoted to Companion in
the Order in 1994. In 1989 she was presented
with the Governor General's Persons Award. In 1992 the Queen invested her
with the title "Right Honourable" as a pioneering woman in Canadian
politics. In 1993 she would formally nominate Kim Campbell (1945- ) at the
Progressive Conservative leadership conference. In 1996 she was one of the
first to be appointed to the newly established Order of Ontario. June
21, 2005 Canada Post issued a stamp in her honour. There is an Ellen
Fairclough Building in Hamilton and an Ellen Fairclough Public School in
Markham, Ontario. You can read about her remarkable life in her memoirs
which were published in 1995 under the title Saturday's Child.
(2020) |
Sylvia Olga Fedoruk
Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan |
Born May 5,
1927, Canora,
Saskatchewan. Died September 26, 2012 Saskatchewan. An
excellent academic achiever she established her reputation for achievement
in nuclear medical research early in her career. She was instrumental in the
development of the first cobalt radiation unit which is now in side use as a
chemotherapy treatment for cancer. She was the 1st woman named to
the position of Chancellor at the University of Saskatchewan. and 1st
woman Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan She was also the 1st
woman trustee of the Society of Nuclear Medicine and in 1973 she was the 1st
woman appointed to the Atomic Energy Control Board of Canada. She was
Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan from 1988 to 1994. A balanced achiever
she enjoys sports and is a member of Canada’s Curling Hall of fame. She was
appointed to the Order of Canada in 1986.
Sources:
“Ex-lieutenant-governor a cancer-care pioneer” by Jennifer Graham
The
Globe and Mail September 28, 2012
|
Muriel McQueen Fergusson
Senator |
Born May 26, 1899, Shediac, New Brunswick. 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 |
Janice Filmon |
née
Wainwright. Born 1943 Winnipeg, Manitoba. She graduated the University
of Manitoba with a Bachelor of Science degree in home economics in 1964.
After graduation she worked as a social worker with the Children’s Aid of in
Winnipeg. November 9, 1963 she married Gary Filmon, a future premier of
Manitoba. The couple has four children Janice seems to have always been
active in her community serving as President of the Junior League of
Winnipeg 1980-1981, chair of the Festivals for 1999 Pan American Games,
Chair of the Nellie McClung Foundation, President of the University of
Manitoba Alumni Association, Chairwoman of the Foundations for Health,
inaugural Chair of the Festival of Trees and a board member with the
Manitoba Heart Foundation. In 2002 she received the Queen Elizabeth Golden
Jubilee Medal and in 2005 the University of Manitoba’s Distinguished Alumni
Award and the Peter D. Curry Chancellor’s Award. 1n 2006 she received the
Variety Gold Heart Humanitarian of the Year Award followed with the Order of
Manitoba in 2007. In 2012 she received the Queen Elizabeth ll Diamond
Jubilee Medal and was inducted into the Order of Canada. Janice has
chaired the CancerCare Manitoba Foundation, she is a board member of the
Winnipeg, Airports Authority and the founding chairwoman of Manitoba
A.L.I.V.E. (A Leadership Initiative in Voluntary Efforts), which teaches
selected high school students the skills needed in the voluntary sector.
March 19, 2015 she was appointed Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba. (2019) |
Isobel Finnerty
Senator |
née
Church. Born July 15, 1930, Timmins, Ontario.
Died October 3, 2016, Iroquois Falls, Ontario. When she was 19 she
was appointed to the Timmins Parks and Recreation Commission where
she served as the only woman for 20 years. In the late 1970's she
was the executive director of the the Ontario wing of the Liberal
Party of Canada. In 1976 she married Les Finnerty and the couple
had three children. She blazed a trail for women in the field of political
activism, earning a national and international recognition and respect for her
skills. She made an indelible mark in the field of political organization at the
federal and provincial levels. Her talent and her reputation have seen her invited
to work or train others in every province in Canada. In 1994 she was invited to
Benin, Africa, as an International Trainer of the National Democratic Institute
for International Affairs. She was appointed a member of the Senate of Canada in
1999 serving on no less than ten standing committees. She retired July 15, 2005. |
Maryann Elizabeth Francis |
Born Sydney, Nova Scotia. From 1966 through 1970 Maryann practiced her
profession as a registered x-ray technologist. She then decided to earn her
BA at St. Mary’s University, Halifax, Nova Scotia. In 1972 she became a
Human Rights Officer with the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission. In 1974
she received the Silver Plaque from the NSHRC for outstanding contribution
to her chosen filed. She took time to earn her Masters of Public
Administration from New York University in 1984. From August 1999 through
July 2006 she served as the firs woman permanent director of the Nova Scotia
Human Rights Commission. In 2000 she became the first woman appointed as
Nova Scotia’s Ombudsman. She was the first African Canadian woman to head
the Ontario Woman’s Directorate, a government organization supporting and
celebrating the achievement of women. She served in this position from 1994
through July 1997. In 2006 Maryann Frances was appointed the
Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia.
Source: Office of Nova Scotia Lieutenant-Governor online. Accessed June
2011.
|
Joan Fraser |
Born October 12, 1944. She earned a B.A. in Modern
Languages from McGill University in 1965. She began her career as a cub reporter
with the Gazette in Montreal and joined the Financial Times of Canada in 1967.
In 1978 she returned to The Gazette as editorial page editor and in 1993 became
Editor-in-Chief. She joined the Council of Canadian Unity in 1997/98. She has
won several national newspaper awards for her editorial writing and four National
Newspaper Award Citations of Merit. She is a member of the Senate of Canada. |
Sheila Fraser |
Born
September 16, 1950,
Dundee, Quebec.
Sheila studied for her Bachelor of Commerce at McGill University, Montreal,
Quebec. She worked as a Chartered Accountant with the company of Ernst&
Young and worked her way to the level of partner in 1981. She joined the
Office of the Auditor General of Canada as Deputy General, Audit Operations
in 1999. She was appointed Auditor General of Canada for a ten year term
beginning in 2001.
|
Louise Frechette
Ambassador |
Born
July 16, 1946, Montreal, Quebec. In 1970 she earned her BA from
Université de Montréal. In 1978 she earned an advanced Master’s
Degree from the College of Europe, Bruges, Belgium. In 1971 she
began her career at the Canadian Department of External Affairs. Her
1st posting as a diplomat was in Athens, Greece and in
1978 she joined the Canadian delegation at the United Nations in
Geneva, Switzerland. In 1985 she was a three point Canadian
Ambassador to Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay. The government of
Canada was impressed by her secret mission to Cuba in 1989 that she
was named as the 1st female Canadian ambassador to the
United Nations in 1992. Leaving the diplomatic corps in 1995 she
became assistant Deputy Minister of National Defense, again the 1st
woman to hold such a position. March 2, 1998, she was the 1st
person to be appointed to the position of Deputy Secretary General,
a position she held until March 31, 2006. That same year she was
inducted into the Order of Canada. She is a member of the Global
Leadership Foundation and the International Advisory Board at the
Institute for the Study of International Development at McGill
University, Montreal, Quebec.
Source: Former Deputy-Secretary-General, (accessed September 2010.);
Margaret Weiers,
Envoys Extraordinary: Women of the Canadian
Foreign Service (Toronto: Dundurn, 1995)
|
Myra Ava
Freeman |
née Holtzman. Born May 17, 1949, St. John
New Brunswick. As a youth
she showed her potential leadership skills at school, synagogue, Y.W.C.A and
in Girl Guides. She studied for her BA (1970) and her Bachelor of Education
(1971) at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She began her career
as a teacher with the Halifax District School System. Married to Lawrence ,
the couple have three
children, She still found time to continue as an adult the commitment to
community service she had learned in her youth. The List of boards and
foundations she served with includes the Duke of Edinburgh Awards, the
Atlantic Theatre Foundation, the Kidney Foundation, the Canadian Jewish
Congress and CRB Foundation Gift of Israel Program. Her energies for serving
did not stop there. In 1990 she was Festival Chair for the World Figure
Skating Championships in Halifax and in 1995 she served as Manager of the
Spousal Program for the Halifax G-7 Summit. She was the first woman to be
appointed as Lieutenant Governor of the Province of Nova Scotia.
In 2002 she was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal. In
2003 she became an Honourary Captain in the Maritime Forces and was
considered on of Canada’s most powerful top 100 women by the Women’s
Executive Network. In 2008 she was inducted as a member of the Order of
Canada.
Source:
Canadian Who’s Who (University of Toronto Press) 2006 : Past
Lieutenant Governors of Nova Scotia Online accessed June 2011.
|
Liza Frulla |
Born March 30, 1949, Montreal. Quebec. She worked as a marketer for Labatt's
Breweries meeting with government officials and eventually joined the Quebec
Liberal Party. In the mid 1970’s she worked for public affairs of the
organizing committee for the 1976 Montreal Olympics. She became the 1st
woman reporter accredited to cover professional sport in electronic media.
She was elected a
Liberal
Member of the
National Assembly of
Quebec from 1989 to 1998. In 1998 she hosed her own Radio-Canada
show. She became a
Liberal
Member of the Canadian
Parliament from 2002 to 2006, serving as a member of the Cabinet
of Prime Minister
Paul Martin
as Minister of Canadian Heritage, Minister of Human Resources Development
and Minister responsible for the Status of Women.
On
December 12, 2003 she was made a member of the Queen’s Privy Council for
Canada. In 2016 she was inducted as an Officer of the National Order of
Quebec and the following year she was awarded the Order of Canada. (2017) |
Raymonde Gagné
Senator |
Born January 7, 1957, Manitoba. Raymonde worked as an academic for
over 35 years. She began her career as a high school teacher, became a high
school principal and also served as a consultant in regional and industrial
expansion for the province of New Brunswick. She worked as Director of New
Programs, Director of the Community College and helped the college t to be
recognized as a University. She worked as Continuing Education Division
Chair as well as being a professor of Business Education. She served as
President of the Université de Sainte-Boniface, Winnipeg, Manitoba from
2003-2014. It was during this time that she also served as a member of the
Council of Presidents of Universities of Manitoba. She held the position of
President of the Association des universites.de la francophonie canadienne
from 2005 through 2009. She has received the Prix Riel and in 2012 she
earned the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal. In May 2014 she was awarded
the Order of Manitoba and on September 23, 2015 she was invested into the
Order of Canada. She was named to the Canadian Senate on March 18,
2016.
(2020) |
Hannah
'Annie' Elizabeth Gale
|
née Rolinson.
Born December 29, 1876, West Midlands, England. Died August 7, 1970,
Vancouver, British Columbia. Although she qualified to study at Oxford
University she was able to attend and began working in the family business
instead of going to university. In 1901 Annie, as she was known, married and
engineer, William Gale. In 1912 the young couple along with their two sons
immigrated to Calgary, Alberta. Annie became involved in community life. She
enjoyed sports and was captain of the women’s cricket team. She organized
Canada’s 1st Women’s Ratepayers Association and in
December
10,
1917 she ran successfully for municipal elections supported by the Women’s
Ratepayers. She was one of the 1st women in the British Empire to become
an alderman. In 1918 she was elected by fellow councilors as acting mayor
and became the 1st woman mayor in the British Empire.
In 1921 she
was unsuccessful in her attempt to be elected to the Alberta provincial
legislature. Annie retired from council after three successful terms in
office in 1923. In 1925 she moved to Vancouver for her husband’s health. In
1983 a new school, the Annie Gale Junior High School was opened in Calgary.
In 2016 a municipal boardroom was named in her honour.
Source
Merna Forster, Annie Gale (1876-1970)
Heroines.ca (Accessed May 2015)
; Annie Gale,
Alberta Champions Online (Accessed May 2015) Book:
Judith Lishman,
Alderman
Mrs. Annie Gale (Ottawa, 1985)
Suggestion submitted by Mrs. Frances J. Welwood, Nelson,
British Columbia.
(2020) |
Rosa Galvez |
Born Peru. Rosa earned a Bachelor in Civil Engineering from
the Universidad Nacional de Ingenieria, Lima Peru in 1985. She then
relocated to Montreal where she earned a Master's Degree in Environmental
Engineering in 1988. Rosa earned her doctorate in environmental engineering
at McGill University, Montreal, Quebec. Since graduation she has worked as a
consulting engineer and had been a professor at Laval University, Quebec
since 1994, where she has served as Chair of the Department of Civil and
Water Engineering 2011 through 2016. In 2004 she was acclaimed for her
excellence in teaching and international cooperation by Guanajuato
University in Mexico. In 2008 for the 400th Anniversary of Quebec City
she was was recognized as a notable immigrant and as a woman of science. In
2012-2013 she earned her certificate in Gestion pour functionnaries de
l'haute administration Universitaire from the University of Laval. That same
year she was declared Professionnel de l'année by the Montreal Chambre de
Commerce. She was appointed to the senate of Canada December 6, 2016. Rosa
is a member of the Ordre des ingénieurs
du Québec, the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering and Engineers Without
Boarders. In 2016 she received successful career recognition from Sociedad
Peruana de Ingenieria Sanitaris and the Colegio de Ingenieros del Peru.
In 2018 she earned a Meritorious Service Award for Professional Service from
Engineers Canada. She has also contributed numerous articles in
peer-reviewed journals. (2020) |
Judy Gingell
Aboriginal politician |
Born November 26, 1946, Moose Lake, Yukon. Judy was the
founding Director of the Yukon Native Brotherhood in 1969.In 1980 she was
elected President of the Yukon Development Corporation. For the next
two decades she served on the executive council of the Yukon Indian Women's
Association and was a founding Director of Northern Native Broadcasting.
From 1989 through 1995 she served as the Chair for the Council for Yukon
Indians.
In 1995 she was appointed as the 1st
Aboriginal Commissioner of the Yukon.
After she retired in 2000 she ran unsuccessfully in the Yukon general
election. In 2008 she was President of Kwanlin Development Corporation. Judy
married Donald Gingell and the couple have two children. In 2009 she became
a Member of the Order of Canada in recognition of her promotion and
advancement of Aboriginal rights. (2019) |
Gertrude Jean Gordon |
Born March 6, 1918, Vancouver, British Columbia. Died
September 5, 2008, Mayo, Yukon. Jean Married Wif Gordon and in 1938 the couple
settled in Dawson where they trapped, raised three bear cubs and caught and
used a wolf in their dog sled team. To allow their daughter to attend school they relocated to Mayo in 1945. Jean
became an active community volunteer serving as secretary and treasurer of
the Mayo Community Club and treasurer of the Community Theatre. Jean also
wrote wrote a weekly column for the
Whitehorse Star newspaper and
held a job working as an insurance agent. September 11, 1967 she is
the 1st woman elected to the Yukon Territorial Council. She serves until
1970. After she left the Council she worked for Canada
Manpower and at the local post office. She founded the 1st Mayo Outreach
Office and was a member of the Yukon Territory Water Board for ten years. Sources for further reading: Hayden, Joyce. -
"Gertrude Jean Gordon". -
Yukon’s women of power. - Whitehorse :
Windwalker Press, 1999. - P. 55-85 |
Judith Guichon |
Born 1947, Montreal, Quebec. In 1972 she moved to British Columbia. She
married Lawrence Guichon who sadly was killed in a motorcycle accident in
2003. The couple owned and operated the Gerard Guichon Ranch in the Nicola
Valley of British Columbia where they raised their four children. She was
involved in her community serving on the local hospital board and Community
Health Council and the Community Health Foundation. She was a 4-H Leader and
started a recycling society in Merritt, British Columbia. She also served as
a director for the Fraser Basin Council of British Columbia as a director of
the Grasslands Conservation Council of British Columbia. Fond of music she
played flute in the Nicola Valley Community Band. Working with the
Provincial Government she served on the Task Force on Species at Risk and
was president of the British Columbia Cattlemen’s Association. She also
worked as part of the Ranching Task Force for the province and the BC
Agri-Food Trade Advisory Council. Judith married a second time to Bruno
Mailloux. In 2012 she was inducted into the Order of British Columbia and
was presented with the Queen Elizabeth ll Diamond Jubilee Medal. On November
2, 2012 she was sworn in as the 29th Lieutenant Governor of
British Columbia. |
Doris Elsie Guyatt |
née
Woolcott. Born April 29, 1929, New Glasgow, Nova Scotia. Died March 14,
2012, Toronto, Ontario. She attended the University of Western Ontario,
London, and the University of Toronto earning a B.A., Master of Social Work
and her PhD. She married Glenn Guyatt and the couple raised 4 children. She
worked for various ministries in the government of Ontario, in research and
policy planning positions. She served in voluntary positions on the boards
of many communities. provincial and national organizations including
President of the Canadian Federation of Business and Professional Women’s
Clubs 1990-1992 and President of the Canadian Intelligence and Security
Association and president of the Toronto Branch of the Ontario Association
of Social Workers. She was a director of the Atlantic Council of Canada and
a member of the Board of Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center. She served for
27 years as Military Aide de Camp to 7 Lieutenant Governors of Ontario.
She received Canada 125 Commemorative Medal and the Canadian Corps of
Commissionaires Long Service Medal. She was awarded the Queen’s Silver
Jubilee Medal, Honorary Colonel of the 25th Toronto Field
Ambulance, the Woman of Distinction Award from the Metro Toronto YWCA and
the Arbor Award from the University of Toronto. She also received a
Vice-regal Commendation, the Lieutenant Governor’s Volunteer Medal and the
Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal.
Source:
Obituary,
Toronto Star March 16, 2012
|
Judy Gingall |
Born November 26, 1946, Moose Lake, Yukon. Judy was a founding director of
the Yukon Native Brotherhood in 1969.. For two decades she served on the
executive council of the Yukon Indian Women’s Association and was a founding
director of the Northern Native Broadcasting of the Yukon. She was elected
president of the Yukon Indian Development Corporation in 1980. From 1989
through 1995 she was the chair of the Council for Yukon Indians.
On June 23, 1995 she was appointed as the 1st aboriginal
Commissioner of the Yukon
a
position she held until September 2000. In 2002 she attempted to gain an
elected position in the Yukon Legislative Assembly but was not successful.
In 2009 she became a Member of the Order of Canada.
|
Barbara Hall |
Born 1946. Barbara attended the University of Victoria, British Columbia but
left without obtaining the last two credits for her degree. She moved to
Nova Scotia to work with the rural Black families with the Company of Young
Canadians. In 1967, back in Ontario whe worked with Toronto youth and
co-founded an alternative school. After this she worked a shot time as a
probation officer in Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.A. Back again in Canada she
studied law at Osgood Hall, York University, Toronto and took the bar in
1980. In 1885 she ran unsuccessfully with the New Democratic Party (NDP) for
the Ontario provincial legislature but did win a seat that year on Toronto
City Council. In 1994 she was elected as the 61st mayor of
Toronto and became the
1st Mayor of Toronto to march in a Pride Parade.
In 1997 she lost in her bid to continue as Mayor of the new mega City of
Toronto. She tried to gain the Mayoral position again in 2003 without
success. In November 2005 she was appointed Chief Commissioner of the
Ontario Human Rights Commission. On March 16, 2015 she was appointed to a
panel to conduct public contributions on the governance of the Toronto
District School Board. |
Ingrid Marianne Hall |
Born
Montreal After completing her Master of Art studies at McGill University in
Montreal, she wrote the Foreign Service exam and joined the federal
Department of External Affairs in 1968. She was posted to New York City and
then to the Canadian Embassy in Washington, D.C. U.S.A. In 1976 she was
married and unlike many Foreign Service women who married she remained at
work. The couple knew that they might find themselves separated with
different postings and accepted this fact. When she became pregnant with
her 1st child she also remained working even though this was not
the norm. During her maternity leave she made double contributions to her
pension fund and paid her own health insurance in order to make sure she
would have a job to return to at the end of her leave. Foreign Service women
did not return to their jobs after a birth but Ingrid chose to after the
birth of both her children. In 1979 she served in the Philippines and then
back to Ottawa where she worked towards obtaining her goal to be in charge
of a post. She had to convince not only the powers at be in Ottawa but also
the government of the place she would be posted. She wanted to serve in
Indonesia and she had to convince this Muslim, military and male dominated
country. From 1989 through 1992 she was Ambassador to Indonesia in Jakarta.
She was the 1st woman from any country to become ambassador to
Indonesia. She set up an informal woman’s network for External Affairs and
reveled in the fact that younger woman in the foreign service were having
wider career opportunities.
She also headed the
Canadian Foreign Service Institute and worked on the domestic side of
government in the Privy Council Office Machinery of Government.
Ingrid took up her
current assignment as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the
Republic of Austria and Permanent Representative of Canada to the United
Nations Organizations in Vienna in October 2001.
She is the Chair of the Board of Governors of
the International Atomic Energy Agency for 2004-2005 is the Ambassador and
Permanent Representative from Canada.
Sources:
Margaret K. Weiers,
Envoys Extraordinary: Women of the Canadian Foreign
Service. (Toronto; Dundurn, 1995); |
Constance Easton Hamilton |
Born 1862, Yorkshire, England. Died
1045, Toronto, Ontario.
Constance migrated to Canada in 1888 with her family. The family settled
in Vancouver where Constance met and married A Canadian Pacific Railroad
manager, Lauchlan Alexander Hamilton (1852-1941). The couple were
transferred first to Winnipeg and then in 1899 to Toronto. She was a staunch
supporter of women’s suffrage and was President of the Equal Rights League
of Toronto. She frequently represented Canadian Suffragists in other
countries. She was an active volunteer with numerous associations including
the Big Sisters and the YWCA. She chaired the Toronto Branch of the
National Refugee Committee and worked with the National Council of Women as
chair of the Agricultural Committee. Once women had the right to vote and
could run for municipal office she became the first woman elected to the
Toronto City Council. She was sworn in on January 12, 1920 with no cameras
to record the event and no mention in the mayor’s inaugural address. She was
re-elected in 1921. After two years in public office she retired to
continue her campaign work for the rights of women, underprivileged people,
including immigrants and refugees to the city. She also served on the board
of
Women’s Century Magazine. In 1979 The Toronto City Council
established an award in her name commemorating the Privy Council Decision of
1929 requiring the federal government to recognize women as “persons”. The
women members of Toronto City Council select the recipient's) of the
Constance E. Hamilton Award.
Source: City
of Toronto online
a (Accessed 2010) ; “Toronto Pioneer mostly
forgotten” by Mark Mahoney,
Toronto Star, March 10, 2007.
|
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 |
Glenna Hansen |
Born 1956,
Aklavik Northwest Territories. In 1990 she was hired as an executive
assistant by David Storr and Sons Contracting Ltd., Inuvik and by 1996 she
was general manager of the firm. Glenna feels strongly about being involved
in her community and has served as Chairperson of Aklavik Education Advisory
Board and the Inuvik Regional Educational Board. In her business community
she was a member of the boards of the Inuvik Community Corporation and
Wester Artic Business Development Services. She served on the Boards of
directors of the Inuvialuit Investment Corporation and the Inuvialuit
Regional Corporation on behalf of her people. She was unsuccessful in her
run for a seat in the Northwest Territories in 1999. In April 1 2000 she was
appointed the 14th Commissioner of the Northwest Territories, the
1st person of Inuvialuit descent to hold the position. She held
this position until 2005. The position is largely ceremonial akin to that
of the lieutenant-governor of a province. She ran again for the legislature
in 2011 but was defeated. |
Inger Hansen |
Born May 11,
1929, Denmark. Died September 28, 2013. She grew up in Denmark during the
German occupation of her country. After WW ll she travelled about Europe and
had her first trip to Canadian 1950. She immigrated to Canada an studied law
at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver. After her 1960 graduation
she remained in British Columbia to practice law. Later she joined the
Canadian Civil Service working in the Department of Justice. She became the
1st Ombudsman for penitentiaries. In 1977 she was the 1st
Canadian Privacy Commissioner working with the Human Rights Commission.
Shortly after she became Canada’s 1st Information Commissioner.
She was appointed to the Ontario Court of Justice in 1991. She was awarded
the Order of Commander of Dannebrog, the highest civil honour from Denmark
in 2000. She had a life long love of learning and in 1996 she earned her
Master’s degree in Public Administration from Queen’s University, Kingston,
Ontario.
Source:
Justice Inger Hansen, Obituary in the
Globe and Mail, October 2,
2013. Suggestion
submitted by June Coxon, Ottawa, Ontario.
|
Grace Armstrong
Hartman |
née Armstrong. Born 1900 Markdale, Ontario. Died May 23, 1998. After
graduating university she attended the Ontario College of Education for her Bachelor
of Education with the purpose of teaching languages at high school. She married
George Hartman in 1938 and the pair settled in Sudbury, Ontario. On top of
her teaching she supported community activities. In 1943 she was president
of the Sudbury Women’s Canadian Club. In 1945 she became the first woman
appointed to the Sudbury School Board. She was also on the Board of the
YWCA, the Library Board, the Sudbury and District Home for the Ages, and the
Sudbury Business and Professional Women’s Club. She was also president of
the Ontario Municipal Association. She first ran for City Council in 1950
and served for 17 years as councilor. She was the first woman to be Deputy
Mayor and October 5, 1966, after the death of the serving mayor, she was
elected by her fellow Councilors as mayor presiding over the City’s Canada
Centennial year. After the death of her Husband in 1960 she remarried in
1969 Arthur Grout. The couple retired to Toronto in the mid 1970’s. In 1975,
International Women’s year she was designated one of Ontario’s 25 Leading
Women. |
Lynda Maureen Haverstock |
née Ham. Born
September 16, 1948, Swift Current, Saskatchewan. She left high school as a
youth and was as an adult when she completed her secondary school education.
She went on to earn a BA, a Bachelor in Education, her Master of Education
degree and a PhD in clinical Psychology. She taught at university in
Saskatchewan and New Brunswick. In 1987 she received the Triple ‘E’ Award of
Excellence for her work in psychology at the University of Saskatchewan. .
She Married Harley Olsen and the couple had 4 children. She established
innovative education programs for disabled students and chronically truant
teens. She wrote numerous articles for journals, and magazines including the
handbook
Fighting the Farm Crisis and he book
Safety and Health in
Agriculture. Interested in politics she became the forefront of the
provincial Liberal becoming the 1st woman in Saskatchewan to lead
a political party. In 1997 she joined the Saskatchewan Party. After retiring
from politics she worked for a short time as a radio host. She was sworn in
the office as the 19th Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan on
February 21, 2000 serving until July31, 2006. In 2007 she was named
President and Chief Executive Officer of Tourism Saskatchewan. Lynda holds
the Order of Canada (2007) and the Saskatchewan Order of Merit. |
Anna Minerva Henderson |
Born 1887,
Saint John, New Brunswick. Died July 21, Saint John, New Brunswick. It was
not common for all girls to graduate from high school let along a Black
girl. After High School, Anna attended Norman School in Halifax to earn her
teaching certificate. She was only allowed to teach in the Black community.
She returned to school to study at business College. She then tried the
Civil Service examinations and placed third over all those writing the exam.
In 1912 she became the 1st Black Canadian appointed the permanent
federal civil Service. She began with working at the Dominion Lands Branch
of the Department of the Interior. In 1938 she was the principal clerk in
the Immigration Branch of the Department of Mines and Resources. She enjoyed
writing poetry in her time off work. She had her verse published in various
Canadian magazines and she also had an occasional column in the Ottawa
Journal called
Citadel which was dedicated to poetry. She retired
from the federal Civil Service in 1945 and returned from Ottawa to Saint
John, New Brunswick where she worked as a stenographer in a law firm and for
awhile worked in Washington D.C. In 1967 she published a chapbook of her
Citadel Columns from the newspaper and this may indeed be the 1st
collection of poems published by an Afro-Canadian woman. She continued her
formal learning after her retirement by taking creative writing courses at
the University of New Brunswick.
Source:
Herstory: The Canadian Women's calendar. 2008
(Saskatoon Women's
Calendar Collective / Coteau Books, 2007) |
Nora
Frances Henderson
|
Born
March 9, 1897, Bicester, England. Died March 23, 1949, Hamilton, Ontario. In
1913 Nora moved with her family to Winona, Ontario. And finally to Hamilton,
Ontario in 1917. Thinking she wanted to try writing as a career in 1918, she
took a portfolio to the Hamilton Herald where she would work as a reporter.
In 1921, she was made Womens Editor and she urged local women to take an
active interest in community political affairs. As a result, for the 1st
time, in 1919, women were appointed to the Hamilton Hospital Board. In 1931,
she became the 1st woman elected to Hamilton's City Council. In 1934 she
became the 1st woman in Canada elected to a city Board of Control. In her
first year as a controller she sponsored a meeting which created Charter of
Municipal Rights. She chaired the Relief Board which acted as a court of
appeal to decisions handed down by relief officials and often handed out
civic relief deficiencies from her own pocket. She was elected to city
council 16 consecutive times. She headed the polls for Board of Control,
becoming Acting Mayor during the mayor's absence. In 1946 she caused
controversy when she crossed picket lines during the Stelco strike. In 1947,
she retired to become Executive Secretary of the Association of Children's
Aid Societies of Ontario. She authored a book, The Citizens of Tomorrow and
a play Pageant of Motherhood. Up to 2006 Hamilton’s hospital was named in
her honour. In 2008 the new Juravinski for $8.00 a week. Hospital created a
Life of Service Display on the main floor for Henderson. She was inducted
into the Hamilton Gallery of Distinction in 1990. In 2016 the Frances
Henderson Secondary High School was opened.
Source: thanks to Hamilton Public Library
for information supplied. February 2016. |
Nancy Hodges |
Born October 28, 1888, London, England. Died December 15, 1969,
British Columbia. Nancy graduated from King's College at the University of
London, England and began her career as a journalist. In 1912 she immigrated
to Canada with her husband Harry Percival Hodges. The couple settled
Kamloops, British Columbia where they edited the
Inland
Sentinel
newspaper. She ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the provincial legislature
in 1937. Running again in1941 she was elected to the Legislative Assembly of
British Columbia. She was re-elected in 1945 and again in 1949 and 1952. She
is said to have been a skilled debater and a stanch supporter of women's
rights.
In 1950 she was elected Speaker of the
Legislature becoming the 1st woman in Canada and in the British Commonwealth
to hold such an office. That year she went on a speaking tour
across North America speaking to California Business and Professional Clubs,
the Canadian Federation of Liberal Women and the Women's Canadian Clubs.
Nancy was appointed to the Canadian
Senate in Ottawa in
1953, the 1st woman from
British Columbia to become a Senator.
She served until her
resignation in 1965.
|
Victoria Henry |
Born 1945. Married and a mother of three children she combined a career and her
love of art. She graduated from the University of Toronto with a degree in
Fine Arts. She went on to earn her Master’s Degree from Carleton University,
Ottawa in Canadian Studies. From 1967 to 1995 she worked in India and
Zambia. Returning to Ottawa in 1975 she opened the Ufundi Gallery that she
operated until 1992. She was a curator and director at the Canadian Museum
of Civilization. Her spare time was used to produce books such as
A Slice
of Life: Betty Davison and through her work at the Museum;
From
Icebergs to Ice Tea. In 1999 she was appointed as Director of the Canada
Council Art Bank, a position she held until retirement in 2015. She has
received the Queen’s Silver Jubilee Medal and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee
Medal.
(2020) |
Simma Holt |
SEE - Writers - Journalists |
Wilma Helen Hunley
MPP, Alberta |
Born September 6, 1920, Acme, Alberta. Died October 22, 2012,
Rocky Mountain House, Alberta. Helen began a career as a telephone
operator. During World War ll she served overseas in the Canadian Army
Corps. Back home she would become the owner and operator of an International
Harvester franchise and an insurance business. From 1960 through 1966 she
served as a town councilor prior to becoming Mayor of Rocky Mountain House.
In 1971 she was elected to the provincial legislature serving as Minister
Without Portfolio from 1971-1973 and as the 1st woman to serve as
Solicitor-General,1973-1975. She also served as Minister of Social Services
and Community Health from 1975 until she retired in 1979. June 1980 she was
appointed chair of the Alberta Mental Health Advisory Council and went on to
serve on the Alberta 75th Anniversary Commission. In the mid 1980's
she was president of the Alberta Progressive Conservative Party. January 22,
1985 she became Lieutenant-Governor of Alberta, the 1st woman to hold this
post. In 1992 she was inducted as an Officer of the Order of Canada.
(2020) |
Mobina Jaffer
Senator |
Born August
20, 1949, Kampala, Uganda. In 1972 she earned a bachelor of law at London
University, London, England. After immigrating to Canada she was called to
the bar in British Columbia where she opened her own practice. She is
married and the couple have two children. She was appointed Queens Counsel
in 1993. She ran unsuccessfully for a position in the Canadian Parliament in
a Vancouver riding in 1993 and also in 1997. 1994 through 1998 she was vice
president of the Liberal Party of Canada. From 1998 to 2003 she was
president of the National Women’s Liberal Commission. She was appointed the
Senate of Canada on June 13, 2001 by Prime Minister Jean Chretien. She is
the 1st Muslim Senator in Canada and the 1st of Asian
descent. From 2002 through 2006 she was Canada’s Special Envoy in Sudan.
2002-2005 she served as Chair on the Canadian Committee on women, peace and
security. 2003 and again in 2004 she was on the list of Canada’s Top 100
most powerful women.
Source:
Canada. Senate of Canada. Mabina Jaffer. Online accessed May 2013. |
Janis Gudrun
Johnson |
Born April 27, 1946, Winnipeg, Manitoba. In 1968 Janis graduated from the
University of Manitoba with a Bachelor of Arts in Political science. She
received the Velia Stern Outstanding Student Award when she graduated. After
university she worked in the office of the Hon. Roberts Stanfield and was a
political organizer in Ontario, western Canada and Newfoundland & Labrador
for the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada. In 1973 she married Frank Moores the Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador. The couple had 1 son. In
1977 her volunteer efforts were recognized with the Queen's Jubilee Medal.
By 1979 she was back in Manitoba where she was a businesswoman as head of
Janis Johnson and Associates a public policy and communications group in
Winnipeg. Om 1981 she was a founding member of the Manitoba Special Olympics
and went on to serve as Director of Special Olympics Canada.
From 1986-1991 she was the 1st woman to be appointed to the C N
Board of Directors and helped establish the 1st onsite child care
facility within a Canadian Crown Corporation. She also served in 1984 as the
1st woman as National Director of the Progressive Conservative
Party of Canada.
She also served and the advisory Board of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, the
Prairie Theatre Exchange of Winnipeg and the Winnipeg Art Gallery. On
September 27, 1990 she was appointed to the Senate of Canada. In 1993 she
received the Canada 125 Medal and in 1995 she received the Business and
Professional Women’s Award. In 1994, the Special Olympics presented her with
its Volunteer Award. In 2000 she was a founding member and chair of the
Gimli Film Festival and the country of Iceland presented her with the Order
of the Falcon for working promoting Canadian-Icelandic relations. In 2003
she received the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal and in 2009 she was the
Outstanding Alumni of the University of Manitoba. In 2012 she was recipient
of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Award. |
Rita Margaret Johnston
Premier, British Columbia |
née Leichert.
Born April 22, 1935, Melville, Saskatchewan. Rita Married George
Johnston in 1951. She was 1st elected to the city council of
Surry, British Columbia in 1970. In 1983 she was elected to the
British Columbia provincial assembly becoming Minister of
Municipal Affairs and Transit in 1986. In 1990 Premier Bill
Vander Zalm appointed her as deputy premier.
In April 2, 1991 she became the
first woman to serve as a provincial premier in Canada
when Bill Vander Zalm resigned and
she became interim leader of the Social Credit Party in British
Columbia. By July 1991 she was formally elected Leader of the
party. Her term in office was short lived when her part did not
win the provincial elections of October 17, 1991. She resigned
as leader of the provincial Social Credit Party on January 11,
1992. Leaving politics she returned to public duties in 2009
when she became an advisor for the British Columbia Conservative
Party.
Sources:
The Encyclopedia of British Columbia. Online Accessed
2015)
|
Anne Jones
Councilor, Hamilton, Ontario |
née
MacPherson. Born Edinburgh, Scotland. Anne married the Rev. Aubrey R. Jones
and the couple settled in Hamilton, Ontario in 1949. She studied and
graduated from the University of Toronto. By 1962, Anne had become an
independent agent for the Canada Life Assurance Company and began 22 years
of political life by topping the polls in her bid for an aldermanic seat in
Ward 1, Hamilton, Ontario. She served on Hamilton's Board of Control and on
July 31st, 1973, she was appointed as the 1st Chairperson of the
Hamilton-Wentworth Region a position she maintained for 12 years. She
stepped down in 1985. Shortly after leaving the Region's top job she became
the Chairman of the Ontario Film Board. She retired after a three year term and
went on to head a major fundraising campaign for Hamilton's YWCA. She is
also a freelance writer. Anne was inducted into the Hamilton Gallery of
Distinction in 1994.(2020) |
Margaret McTavish Konantz |
SEE - Humanitarians |
Mary Elizabeth Kinnear
Senator |
Born April 3, 1898, Wainfleet Township, Ontario. Died December 29, 1991. She
enjoyed playing hockey and sewing her own clothes all her life. Always
active in her community she became an executive member of the Ontario
Hospital Auxiliaries Association in the 1950’s. A liberal in politics she
served as president of the National Federation of Liberal Women from 1959
through 1963. In 1967 she was appointed by Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson
to the Senate of Canada. She served to 1973 when she retired at 75 years of
age.
Source: Obituary,
New York Times, December 28, 1991; Senate of
Canada Biographies Online (accessed July 2014)
|
Huguette Labelle |
née Rochon. Born April 15,
1939, Rockland, Ontario. Hugette graduated from the University of
Ottawa with a Master of Education and a Doctor of Philosophy in Education.
.This nursing teacher was one of the few women of her generation to achieve
senior administrative status with the federal government. She was
appointed to nursing's highest administrative position as Principal Nursing
Officer at Health and Welfare Canada in 1973. 1973 to 1980 she held
various senior management posts with the Department of Indian and Northern
Affairs. From 1985 for five years she was chairperson of the Public Service
Commission of Canada and in
1990 for three years
she was the 1st francophone woman to be a Deputy Minister.
In 1998 she received the Outstanding Achievement Award of the Public
Service of Canada. In 1999 she was awarded the Vanier Medal from the
Institute of Public Administration of Canada. She also served as President
of the Canadian International Development Agency. In 1984 she became
Chancellor at the University of Ottawa serving in that position until 2012.
She would serve as the 1st woman President of
the Canadian Red Cross.
Huguette has
served as President, Vice-President, chairperson or sat on the board of
numerous organizations including; the Ottawa General Hospital, the
Ottawa Health Sciences Centre Inc., the Transportation Association of
Canada, Algonquin College, Ottawa-Carleton United Way, the Management
Consulting Institute and the Canadian Nurses Association, the China Council
for the International Co-operation on
Environment and Development, the World Health Organization\'s Working Group
on Health and Development Policies, vice-president of the Canadian Safety
Council, World Health Organization\'s Expert Committee on Health Manpower
Management Systems, Board of Governors of the International Development
Research Centre, the Export Development Corporation, the International
Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development, Carleton University,
McGill University, the International Aviation Management Training Institute,
the Canadian Comprehensive Auditing Foundation, the Public Policy Forum, the
Collegium of Work and Learning, the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health
and Safety, Collaboration International Health, as well as the Institute for
Public Administration of Canada. She was also a member of the organizing
committee for the Summit for youth employment. Environment and Development,
the World Health Organization\'s Working Group on Health and Development
Policies, vice-president of the Canadian Safety Council, World Health
Organization\'s Expert Committee on Health Manpower Management Systems,
Board of Governors of the International Development Research Centre, the
Export Development Corporation, the International Centre for Human Rights
and Democratic Development, Carleton University, McGill University, the
International Aviation Management Training Institute, the Canadian
Comprehensive Auditing Foundation, the Public Policy Forum, the Collegium of
Work and Learning, the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety,
Collaboration International Health, as well as the Institute for Public
Administration of Canada. She was also a member of the organizing committee
for the Summit for youth employment. In 2001 Hugette became an officer
of the Order de la Pleiade and a Member of the Order of Canada. In 2007 she
was one of 15 Trailblazers and Trendsetters by the Woman's Exchange
Network.
On January 19, 2016, she was
appointed to Chair the Independent Advisory Board for Senate Appointments,
to advise the Prime Minister on Senate appointments. (2019) |
Marie-Claire Kirkland-Casgrain
|
née Kirkland. Born September 8, 1924, Palmer, Massachusetts, U.S.A. Died
March 24, 2016, Montreal, Quebec. After
attending McGill University and, graduating in 1947, she studies law. In
1952 she became a lawyer and practiced law in Montreal. In the early 1960s
she was an advisor to the Young Liberals in the Jacques-Cartier riding, she
was also President of the Mariana B. Jodoin Club's Constitution Committee
and the Fédération des femmes libérales du Québec. She was also the founding
member of the Association des femmes avocates de la province de Québec. As
if were not enough she was also and contributing writer for
Châtelaine
magazine. She married P. Casgrain and the couple had 3 children before they
divorced. She was 1st elected to the Quebec Legislature as member for the
Jacques-Cartier riding during the December 14, 1961 by-election, and later
for the Marguerite-Bourgeois riding. On December 5, 1962 she became the 1st
woman appointed to the Quebec provincial cabinet when she was appointed the
Quebec Cabinet as minister without portfolio. On November 25, 1964 she was
appointed Minister of Transportation and Communications. From May 12, 1970
to February 15, 1972 she served as Minister of Tourism, Game and Fishing and
as Minister of Cultural Affairs from February 2, 1972 to February 14, 1973.
She was the only female member of the Quebec provincial government from
1961-1973 and She was also the 1st woman ever appointed as interim Premier
of a provincial government during the absence of its representative in 1972.
She played an outstanding role in the defense of women's issues and the
adoption of several laws: in 1964, the renowned Bill 16 on the legal status
of married women; in 1969, the bill governing matrimonial regimes and
establishing
sociétées d'acquêts, and in 1973, the bill establishing
the Conseil du statut de la femme. In February 14, 1973 she was appointed as
a provincial court judge and president of the Minimum Wage Commission. On
June 26, 1985 she became a Chevalier de l’ordre national du Québec. She
withdrew from politics and worked as a judge in Montreal until she retired
in 1991. In 1992 she was inducted into the Order of Canada. Her work for the
advancement of women’s issues was recognized in 1993 when she was presented
with the Governor’s General Commemorative Award for the Persons Case. She
is also a Grande dame de l’ordre de Saint-Jean-de-Jérusalem.
In 2012, a statue was erected near
the
Quebec
National Assembly
to honour Marie Claire Kirkland-Casgrain as well as
Idola Saint-Jean
(1880-1945),
Marie Gérin-Lajoie
(1867-1945), and
Thérèse Casgrain
(1896-1981). These women were all political pioneers who fought for women’s
rights and for improvements in women’s social
and economic conditions to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Kirkland
being made the first female Cabinet minister in Quebec. |
Gisèle Lalonde
Mayor, Vanier, Ontario |
née Deschamps.
Born June 28, 1933, Eastview (now
Vanier), Ontario. Gisèle was a bright student who had skipped ahead three
grades to be in grade eight. She earned her teaching certificate from the
University of Ottawa and taught in the city from 1951-1973. She married
Gilles Lalande. In 1965 she became the 1st woman to be a school board
trustee in the area. In 1977, after having served as executive director of
the Ottawa-based Centre franco-ontarien de ressources pédagogiques, a
francophone teachers’ resource centre Lalonde founded she ran provincially
for the Progressive Conservatives in Ottawa-East. She did not win that
election but she did earn the respect of the Progressive Conservative Party
in the province and she served as an advisor on the subject of francophone
education for the Ontario Ministry of Education and chaired a council to
advise the Provincial premier. In 1985 she was elected mayor of the city of
Vanier. In 1988, she founded and was the first president of l'Association
française des municipalités de l'Ontario. She served as a leader in the five
year effort to stop the closing of the Montfort Hospital, the only
Francophone hospital in the Ottawa. Gisèle was also a staunch supporter of
the local Scout district of Ottawa. In 2003 she was made a Member of the
Order of Canada and in 2006 she was inducted into the Order of Ontario.
(2020) |
Francine Lalande
MP |
Born August
24, 1940. Died January 17, 2014, Montreal, Quebec. In 1985 she was appointed
as a non-elected Minister of the Status of Women by René Levesque however,
she resigned within 6 months when she did not win a seat in elections. She
became a member of the Bloc Quebecois and served as a Member of Parliament in Ottawa in
1993, 1997, 2000, 2004, 2006 and again in 2008 for ridings in Montreal. In
June 2005 she introduced to the Canadian parliament a bill proposing
legalization of assisted suicide. This private members bill was defeated but
it did open up wide debate on the topic. She would introduce the bill again
in June 2008 and in May 2009 and suffered defeat both times. She died from
cancer just months prior to the Quebec provincial legislature passed a bill
on this subject.
Source: Stephanie Marin, Francine Lalande, former Bloc MP dies of cancer at
73.
Huffington Post January 17, 2014.
(2020) |
Diane Lamarre
MPP, Quebec |
Diane earned her Bachelor
Degree in pharmacology from the
Université de Montréal and went on to earn her Master's in 2003. In 2001 she
taught at the Université de Montréal. Diane served as the president of the
Ordre des pharmaciens du Québec. In 2014 Diane was elected to the National
Assembly of Quebec. Diane is a Member of the Order of Canada. |
Judy Verlyn LaMarsh
MP & Cabinet Minister |
Born December
20, 1924, Chatham, Ontario. Died October 27, 1980. Like many women of her
generation Judy attended Normal School to train as a teacher. Instead of
teaching she joined the Canadian Women’s Army Corps and served from
1943-1946. After her military service Judy attended the University of
Toronto for her B.A. and then attended Osgoode Hall and was called to the
bar as a lawyer in 1950. As a politician she was elected to the House of
Commons in Ottawa in a by-election in the fall of 1960. In 1963 she became
the second woman to be appointed to a Cabinet position in the Canadian
government. This colourful, flamboyant woman, as Minister of Health and
Welfare, introduced the Canada Pension Plan and supervised the drafting of
what became Canada’s Medicare system. She became the 1st official
in the western world government to oppose tobacco smoking publicly. As
Secretary of State for Canada she presided over the 1967 Centennial Year
celebrations for Canada with great flair. She also established the Royal
Commission on the Status of Women. She left politics after Canada’s
Centennial Year using her time in retirement to author 3 books including her
autobiography,
Memoirs of a Bird in a Gilded Cage in 1969. She became
a broadcaster and hosted own weekday radio program on CBC Radio. She
returned to work as a lawyer and in 1974 defended the Brunswick Four in a
prominent LGBT Case. In April 1975 she headed the Ontario Royal Commission
on Violence in the Communications Industry. Ill with pancreatic cancer she
was inducted into the Order of Canada from her hospital bed on July 22,
1980. The Government of Canada Building in Chatham, Ontario is known as the
Judy LaMarsh Building.
Sources:
Judy LaMarsh, Making Medicare: the history of health care in Canada
1914-2007,
www.historymuseum.ca
(Accessed 2007); Canadian Encyclopedia Online (Accessed 2004)
(2020) |
Catherine Beaulieu Bouvier Lamoureaux |
née Beaulieu. Born 1836, Salt River Region, North West Territories. Died 1918
Fort Providence, Northwest Territories. Catherine was baptized in the Roman
Catholic Church at Portage la Loche, Saskatchewan. Between 1848 and 1852 she
attended the Grey Nuns’ school in St. Boniface, Red River. At 16 in 1852 she
married Joseph Bouvier (d1877) and the couple had 5 children. She was known
for driving her dog team 150 miles along her own trail to old Fort Rae to
visit family members and deliver mail. The Mackenzie Highway now follows her
travel route. She also snowshoes out in spring to gather birch sap to make
her Birch syrup. In 1879 she married Jean-Baptiste Lamoureaux (d 1918) While
they lived in Fort Providence, Northwest Territories she help established
the Sacred Heart Hospital and worked with the Grey Nuns to establish a
school. She was a strong believer of preserving her Métis culture and
language. She was known as Kukum Baie which meant grandmother of us all, one
who gives and sustains life.
In 2011 the Canadian Sites and Monuments Board declared her a Historical
Person, the 1st Métis woman of the Northwest Territories to
receive this distinction.
|
Marie-Marthe Aldéa Landry
MPP, New Brunswick |
née Lanteigne.
Born December 27, 1945, Sainte-Cécile,
New Brunswick.
Aldéa earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from the
Université de Moncton and her law degree from the University of New
Brunswick, Fredericton. She graduated from the Directors Education
Program offered by the ICD Corporate Governance College and the Rotman's
School of Business, as well as of the Governance Essentials for Directors of
Non-Profit Organizations and of the Financial Literacy Program for Directors
and Executives. She began her career as legal counsel with the New Brunswick
Department of Justice and from 1977 for ten years she worked in
private practice. In 1987 she was appointed Queen's Council. From 1987-1991 as a Member of the Legislative Assembly she served as President of the
Executive Council while serving as Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs.
She also served as Deputy Premier from 1987-1991. In 1993, Landry became
President of Landal Inc. She is vice-president of Diversis Inc.,
specializing in immigration and diversity, a co-owner of Boutique ProWeb, a
specialist in e-commerce and e-marketing, and a partner/investor in several
start-ups. Aldéa is a former chair of the Atlantic Provinces Economic
Council and was a member of the Board of Directors of the Bank of Canada
from 1995 to 2005 and of the Security Intelligence Review Committee from
2005 to 2008. In 2003, she was chosen by Progress Magazine as one of 20
Atlantic Canadians who represent the spirit of progress in Atlantic Canada.
She sits on the Boards of several corporations, national and community level
organizations including Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre and the
Canadian University of Dubai and has served as Chancellor of Université
Sainte-Anne of Nova-Scotia. In 2005 she was appointed to the Privy Council
of Canada and the following year she was made a Member of the Order of
Canada. In 2009 she earned the Muriel Fergusson Award from the Greater
Moncton Chamber of Commerce. In 2012 she received the Queen Elizabeth
ll Diamond Jubilee Medal. In 2009 and in 2010, she was named Top 100:
Canada's Most Powerful Women by the Women's Executive Network. She is the
first recipient of the Brunswick Muriel Corkery-Ryan Women Lawyers Forum
Leadership award. In 2013, she was inducted in the New Brunswick Business
Hall of Fame and was awarded the Order of Moncton in 2014.
(2020) |
Thérèse Lavoie-Roux
MPP, Quebec |
née
Lavoie. Born March 12, 1928,
Rivière-du-Loup,
Quebec.
Died January 31, 2009. She went to school and studied to be a social worker
and therapist at the University of Montreal where in 1951 she earned her
doctorate. In 1961 she married Lucien Roux and the couple had four children.
In 1976 she was elected to the Quebec provincial National Assembly and was
re-elected serving until 1989. She was a member of the provincial cabinet as
Minister of Health and Social Services, Minister of Health and Welfare,
Minister Responsible for Family Policies and Minister for the Office for the
Handicapped. In 1990 she was appointed to the Canadian Senate retiring in
2001.
(2020)
|
Louise Marguerite Renaude Lapointe |
Born January 3, 1912, Disraeli, Quebec. Died May 11, 2002. She
studied music, literature, languages and sociology all preparing her to
become a world class journalist. She was one of the early women to embrace
her profession working in the 1940’s and 1950’s at
Le Soleil in
Quebec City. In 1959 she became one of the first women reporters at
LaPresse in Montreal to have her name on mayor bylines not necessarily
appearing on the Women’s Pages. From her interviews she wrote a book:
L’histoire bouleversante de Monseigneur Charbonneau (Editions du jour,
1962) which was so popular it was the basis for a well accepted play. She
was also a correspondent for
Time and
Life magazines as well
as the CBC International Service. In 1965 she was Canadian Journalist of the
year. In 1971 Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau appointed her to the
Senate of Canada. She worked on Senate reform, old age security,
bilingualism and the United Nations. Renaude became the frist Franco
Canadian Woman to be speaker of the Senate in 1974 and only the second woman
in the history of the Senate. She retired from the Senate in 1979. In 1989
she was appointed to the Order of Canada.
Sources: Canada. Senate. Debates of the Senate.
The Late Renaude Lapointe.
Tuesday May 28, 2002. ; Women in Ottawa; Mentors and Milestones. Online
Accessed August 2011. |
Viola Léger
Senator |
Born June 29, 1929/1930, Fitchburg, Massachusetts, U.S.A. Viola studied for
her BA and then her Bachelor in Education at the Université
de Moncton, New Brunswick. It was during her university studies that she met
her life partner, playwright Antonine Maillet. Her 1st career was
as a teacher. When she was in her late 30’s she studied at Boston
University, Massachusetts, U.S.A. graduating in theater arts and then she
studied in Paris, France. In 1971 she performed in La Sagouine, a one person
show that she brought to life in both French and English. In 1976 she was
awarded the Prix Littéraire de La Press. In 1978 she was named Chevalier de
L’Ordre de la Pleaide and won a Dora Mavor Moore Award. In 1987 she earned
the Medaille du Conseil de la Vie Française en Amérique. October 23, 1989,
she was inducted as an officer of the Order of Canada. In 1991 she became a
Chevalier de l’Ordre française des Arts et des Lettres. Again in 2001 the
role garnered her a Masque Award. In 2001 she was also appointed to the
Senate of Canada. In 2007 she was inducted into the Order of New Brunswick.
In 2013 she earned the Governor General’s Award in the Performing Arts for
lifetime achievement.
|
Anne Leahy
Ambassador |
Born 1952,
Quebec City, Quebec. Anne earned her B.A. at Queen’s University, Kingston,
Ontario and her M.A. at the University of Toronto. She entered the civil
service of Canada to become a career diplomat. In 1974-1976 she worked with
the European Economic Community in Brussels, Belgium. In 1980 she was posted
to the Canadian Embassy in Moscow, USSR. In 1982 she was back in Europe
working at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)
in Paris, France. In 1989 she was appointed Canada’s Ambassador in the
Cameroon Central African Republic. From there she would go to Chad, Poland,
Russia, Armenia, Uzbekistan and Belarus. In 1999 she was back in Canada
where she was Diplomat in Residence at York University, Toronto. In 2000 to
2002 she worked as Federal Government Coordinator for World Youth Day In
Toronto. It was the largest youth event ever held in Canada. From 2008
through 2012 she was Canada’s Ambassador to the Holy Sea better known as the
Vatican. Returning home she began teaching at McGill University. |
Oryssia J. Lennie |
Oryssia received her BA at the University of Alberta in 1969. Oryssia worked
in the Alberta provincial government for 26 years serving as Deputy
Minister of Federal and Intergovernmental Affairs from 1990 to 1997.
November 1, 1997 she was appointed as Deputy Minister for Western Economic
Diversification Canada. That same years she was the YWCA Woman of
Distinction in Edmonton, Alberta. Oryssia has received the Peter
Lougheed Award for Leadership and in 2002 she received the Lieutenant
Governor of Alberta's Gold Medal Award for Excellence in Public
Administration. She has also served on the Board of Directors of the Canada
West Foundation which explores public policy issues of interest to Western
Canadians. She retired in 2009 and continued working as a volunteer in her
community and public policy organizations. In 2015 she received the Alumni
of Honour Award from the University of Alberta. In December of 2016 she was
appointed as a Member of the Order of Canada. In 2017 she was appointed to
the Board of Directors of Ukrainian Canadian Foundation of Taras Shevchenko.
(2020)
|
Sarah Leo
Inuit politician |
After having served as Town Manager for the Town Council of
Nain for a year in 2006 Sarah was elected AngajukKak (mayor) of the
Nain Inuit Community Government in Newfoundland and Labrador. She also
served on VO North Coast Combined Councils of Labrador. . In 2010 for two
years Sara worked as the Executive Director of the OKalakatiget Society.
Sarah was elected as President of Nunatsiavut in 2012 and served in that
position through 2016 an autonomous Inuit region of Newfoundland and
Labrador. In 2016 she worked for 9 months as Aboriginal Affairs
Superintendent at Vale mining. In 2017 she became Vice President Corporate
Development of the Nunatsiavut Group of Companies. |
Sophia Ming Ren Leung
MP |
Born July 25, 1933,
Wuxi, China. Sophia is a business consultant and a medical social worker in
Vancouver hospitals. She has also taught at the Univeristy of British
Columbia. An active volunteer she has served as a Board member for 20 arts,
business and community organizations. She became a Member of the Order
of Canada in 1994. In 1997 she became the 1st
Chinese woman elected to the House of Commons in Ottawa representing
Vancouver-Kingsway, British Columbia.
(2020) |
Marianne Linnell |
Born 1914, Calgary, Alberta. Died June 6, 1990, Vancouver, British
Columbia. A Vancouver alderman, first elected in 1961. She served as the
chair of numerous committees Which were concerned with everything from the
Queen Elizabeth Theatre to city sewers. In 1963 she served as the Chair of
British Columbia Aviation Council. She served five terms to 1974. She was
the only woman member of Canada's 1967 Centennial Commission. She worked as
Director and columnist for the Vancouver Sun's Edith Adams' Cottage, an
extremely popular column. She ran unsuccessfully as a Progressive
Conservative candidate for the provincial legislative Assemble in 1972 but
became the PC spokesperson for small business, municipal affairs and the
lowly but voting housewife.
Source:
The
Vancouver Hall of Fame online (Accessed November 2012)
|
Rose-Marie Losier-Cool |
Born June 18, 1937 Tracadie, New
Brunswick. A teacher by profession, she taught for 20 years at Ecole
secondaire Nepisiguit in Bathurst, New Brunswick.
She was elected the
1st woman president of the
Association des
enseignantes et enseignants francophones du Nouveau-Brunswick in 1983
and has sat on the board of
directors of the
Canadian Teachers' Federation.
She was Teacher of the Year in New Brunswick in 1993. She entered into
politics by serving on several provincial and federal committees including
the New Brunswick Advisory Council on the Status of Women. She was
appointed to the Senate of Canada March 21, 1995 retiring June 18, 2012.
In January 2004 she served as
Government Whip, the 1st woman to hold this position. |
Daurene Lewis |
Born 1943
Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia. Died January 26, 2013, Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Daurene was proud of her maritime black history roots which reached back to
USA revolutionary slaves escaping to Nova Scotia. Her family strongly
believed in education for their children. Daurene studied Nursing at
Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia. She worked for a short time in
Toronto before returning home to care for her ill mother. Her mother was an
accomplished weaver and Daurene learned from her making weaving her
avocation and opening her own artistic studio. In 1979 she realized that in
order to advocate needed change she must get involved and she became the 1st
Black woman to run for Annapolis Town Council. In 1982 she was appointed
town mayor.
And became the 1st Black
woman in Canada to become a mayor in 1984.
She did not want her
ethnicity to be her legacy and worked hard to move the town ahead. After her
term as mayor in
1988 she became the 1st
Black woman in Nova Scotia to run in a provincial
election.
She
was not successful in her bid for the provincial assembly and left politics.
She worked in education of the arts and became principal of the two Nova
Scotia Community College campuses. Helping to open a new campus in
Dartmouth. She earned a masters degree in Business Administration at St.
Mary’s University in Halifax and served as executive director of Mount St
Vincent University Centre for Women in Business. In 2002 she was recognized
for her works with the Order of Canada. She would serve on the Premier’s
Council on the Economy, chair the Africville Heritage Trust where she was
instrumental in building a replica of Halifax’s Africville Church.
Source: “She
was Canada’s 1st Black female Mayor”. by Allison Lawlor,
The Globe and
Mail, February 12, 2013
Suggestion submitted by June Coxon, Ottawa, Ontario |
Julie Loranger |
Born 1937, Montreal, Quebec. She attended the Université de Paris, France
for her BA and then went on to earn a degree in civil law at McGill
University, Montreal. Her MA was earned in international law at the Institut
des hautes etudes internationals, Paris. For her PhD she studied at the
University of Navarra, Spain. She was called to the Bar in Quebec in 1960.
In 1965 she was working for the Quebec Department of Education. Relocating
to Ottawa in 1970 she worked in the Constitutional Review Section of the
Privy Council of Canada. By 1972 she was working at External Affairs but
while she would have liked a position in the Foreign Services, it would have
meant a substantial cut in pay. She worked in the United States Relations
Division dealing with boundary waters where she earned the nickname ‘Miss
Bridges’. She also worked with the International Joint Commission
Canada/U.S.A. In 1976 she was the 1st Co-ordinator for the Status
of Women while also dealing with the United Nations during the UN Decade of
the Woman. In 1978 she was Canadian Consul General in Strasbourg, Germany.
Reassigned in 1985 she returned Ottawa as Director of UN Social and
Humanitarian Affairs Division. In 1986 she polished her Spanish language
skills and served as Ambassador to Spain and in 1992 she was Ambassador to
Cuba.
Source: Margaret K. Weirs,
Envoys Extraordinary: Women of the Canadian
Foreign Service (Dundurn Press, 1995)
|
Margarette
Rae Luckock |
née Morrison.
Born October 15, 1893 Arthur, Ontario. . Died January 24, 1972. In 1914 she
married tool-and-die maker Richard Luckock and the couple settled in
Toronto. A seamstress by profession she found it difficult to find work
during the Depression Years. It was also during this time that her young
daughter died of scarlet fever. Rae became a lifelong proponent of social
programs to help the poor. In 1932 she joined the newly formed Co-operative
Commonwealth Federation (C.C.F. forerunner of the New Democratic Party NDP)
On December 6, 1943 she and Agnes Macphail (1880-1954) became the 1st
women to be elected to the Ontario Provincial Legislature. Both women were
defeated in the election of 1945. In 1942-43 she served as president of the
Housewives and Consumers Association and was an organizer of the HCA 1948
March of a Million Names that petitioned the Canadian Government to lower
prices of consumer goods. The federal government did take some action
against milling and baking companies who had artificially fixed the price of
bread. In 1950 the HCA and other groups formed the Canadian Congress of
Women (CCW) with Rae as the founding President. She visited Communist China
and asked Russian women to visit Canada to talk to the CCW which meant she
would be denied entrance in the U.S. The last years of her life were spent
fighting Parkinson’s Disease.
Source:
Margarette Rae Morrison Luckock. Collections Canada. National Library
of Canada (accessed 2005);
Rae Luckock, MPP.
Legislative Assembly of Ontario |
Elizabeth Pauline MacCallum
|
Born Jun 30,
1895, Marash, Turkey. Died June 12, 1985. Elizabeth’s parents were Canadian
Presbyterian missionaries serving in Turkey. The family returned to Canada
when Elizabeth was a teenager. After high school she attended Normal School
(Teacher’s College) in Calgary and from 1915-1917 she worked teaching at
prairie schools before enrolling at Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario.
By 1919 she had earned her Master’s Degree. She attend Columbia University
in New York City, New York, U.S.A. From 1925 through 1931 she worked at New
York’s Foreign Policy Association researching and writing reports and
monographs on the Middle East. In 1931 she retreated to a 2 acre market
garden in Uxbridge, Ontario to recharge her batteries and to give herself
some relief for the intensity of concentration requiring the wearing of
hearing aids. In 1935 she wrote the book
Rivalries in Ethiopia and
also gave radio talks on the subject of the Middle
East. By 1936 she was back in Ottawa working for the League of Nations and
later at the Canadian Legion’s Educational Department. In 1942 she began her
career at External Affairs Department, still focusing on the Middle East,
her work was given the highest considerations. She proposed a division of
Palestine into 2 states – one Jewish, one Arab which was sent up to Prime
Minister William Lion Mackenzie King. It was in 1947 that the United Nations
General Assembly adopted the partitioning of Palestine and 6 months later
the State of Israel was formed. In 1947 the Canadian government ban against
women serving as foreign officers was lifted and Elizabeth became the
foreign officer of
the
unofficial
Middle East Division.
In 1954 -1956 Elizabeth became
the 1st woman to go abroad as a head of a posting at the New
Canadian Legation
in
Beirut, Lebanon where she had the title of Madame Le Chargé and where she
was the 1st woman to head a diplomatic mission in Lebanon.
Her
deafness bothered her to the extent that in 1956 she returned to Ottawa to
head the new Official Middle East Division. She officially retired for
health reasons in 1958 but returned, upon request, until June 30, 1960.
Even then she occasionally worked through to 1977. At 82 she was a volunteer
at the Ottawa Civic Hospital working with the hearing impaired. In 1967 she
received the Medal of Service of the Order of Canada and later she became an
Officer of the Order of Canada. Sadly she never got around to writing her
memoirs.
Source: Margaret Weiers,
Envoys Extraordinary: Women of the Canadian
Foreign Service (Toronto: Dundurn, 1995) |
Flora Isabel MacDonald |
Born June 3,
1926, Sydney,
Nova Scotia. Died July 26, 2015, Ottawa, Ontario. After having
worked several years behind the scenes of the Progressive Conservative Party
she was elected Member of Parliament for Kingston and the islands in
1972. In 1977 the National Film Board of Canada produced a documentary
showing her bid for the progressive Conservative run for leadership of the
party in 1976. On June 4, 1979 she was sworn in as a member of the Queen's
Privy Council of Canada.
In the
Joe Clark Government 1979-1980 she became the 1st woman to hold a major cabinet post as
Secretary of State for External Affairs. The
Iran hostage crisis was a major issue
during MacDonald's term. Six American diplomats had escaped the seizure of
the American embassy by radical Iranian students and had sought refuge in
the Canadian embassy in
Tehran. MacDonald authorized the issuance
of false passports and money to the six as part of a plan to rescue the
escapees that had the Americans pose as Canadians and leave the country with
Canadian staff when the embassy was closed on January 28, 1980, although she
was not able to discuss her role publicly.[3][9]
The successful operation became known as the
Canadian Caper, and it was later dramatized
in the
Academy Award-winning film
Argo. She would later serve in the
Mulroney Cabinet as Minister of Employment and Immigration. In 1992 she was
inducted as an Officer into the Order of Canada and in 1998 she
was promoted to Companion of the Order. In 1995 she received the Order of
Ontario. In 2000 she received the Pearson Medal of Peace. 2002 saw her
awarded the Queen Elizabeth Golden Jubilee Medal. In 2004 she was
awarded the Padma Shri civilian award from the Government of India. In
2007 she was made a member of the Order of Nova Scotia. After retiring
from the political forum she worked to help the people of Afghanistan to
help themselves by providing simple training in the sues of solar energy that
the people provided for themselves. In October 2010 she received the Canada
World Peace Award from the World Federalist Movement-Canada. In 2012 she
received the Queen Elizabeth ll Diamond Jubilee Medal. She received a
Lifetime Achievement Award from
Maclean's Magazine. The prominent 400
boat harbour in front of the Kingston Ontario City Hall is named in
her honour. During her career she received 19 honourary degrees from various
universities in Canada and the United States |
Mary Elizabeth Macdonald |
Born in North Cobalt,
Ontario, April 30, 1918. Died June 5, 2006, Ottawa, Ontario. Mary was a
graduate of Ottawa University with a BA in political sciences in 1938 and a
MA in 1948. She began work with the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company but
soon signed up to serve with the Canadian Red Cross overseas between 1942 -
1945. After the war she joined the Canadian Government Department of
External Affairs and followed future Prime Minister Lester Bowles Pearson
(1897-1972)
into politics serving as his executive assistant. Although she did not leave
Ottawa often she did accompany Mr. and Mrs Pearson when he was presented
with his Nobel Peace Prize. She was highly respected by her colleagues and
other Members of Parliament. She continued working with Liberal Prime
Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau as his administrative assistant until her
retirement in 1979. Mary was awarded the Order of Canada in 1980. In her
retirement, Mary was involved with the Salvation Army, the Bronson Home, the
Women's Canadian Club and the Zonta Club among others. She also worked with
the Pierre Elliot Trudeau Foundation in its early days.
Source: Jean Bannerman,
Leading Ladies of Canada (Belleville, Mika
Publishing, 1977); Obituary, The Ottawa Citizen June 6, 2008.
|
Mary
Margaret MacDonald |
Born November
17, 1910, Halifax,
Nova Scotia. Died February 3, 1968. She studied at
Halifax Academy and Halifax Business College. She attempted a teaching
career but chose to be a secretary. In 1941 she married John MacDonald and
they had a family of three children. Mr. MacDonald died in 1961 while
serving as a Member of Parliament. Margaret ran in the By-election May 29,
1961 and filled her husband’s seat in the Progressive Conservative Party of
Canada. She was the first woman to win a seat in the House of Commons for
the Progressive Conservatives. She was re-elected in 1962 but failed to
retain her seat in the April 8, election 1963. Sadly she was killed in an
automobile accident.
Source:
Outstanding women of Prince Edward Island Compiled by the Zonta Club of
Charlottetown, 1981. |
Grace Winona MacInnis
MP |
née
Woodsworth.
Born
July 25, 1905 Winnipeg, Manitoba. Died July 10,1991 Sechelt,
British Columbia. Grace was born into a political household as
the daughter of J. S. Woodsworth, founder of the CCF party (now NDP) of Canada.
She graduated from the University of Manitoba and attended the Sorbonne in
France. Her 1st career was that of a teacher but she soon became an
assistant to her father in 1931.
She followed her home training by entering politics and being a known
social activist. In 1932 she married politician, Angus MacInnis
(1884-1964). She served as a member of the legislative Assembly of
British Columbia from 1941 to 1945 and as a Member of Parliament in
Ottawa from
1965
to 1974
the 1st woman from British Columbia
and the 1st wife of a former
Canadian Member of Parliament, to be elected on her own right
to be elected to the House of
Commons and the 1st wife of a former Canadian Member of parliament.
In 1974 she became an Officer in the Order of Canada.
In 1990 she was inducted into the Order of British Columbia. There is a
Grace MacInnis Retirement home in Burnaby , B.C. and a Grace MacInnis Co-op
housing in Vancouver , B.C.
(2020) |
Jean Ethel MacLachlan |
Born 1875 Nova Scotia. Died 1963 Vancouver, British Columbia. She worked as
a school teacher in Nova Scotia for 15 years before moving to Saskatchewan.
In her new home in 1909 she was a social worker , an inspector of foster
homes and by 1916 was the superintendent of neglected children.
In 1917 she was appointed Juvenile Court Judge
for Saskatchewan, the first person, male or female to hold this position.
She was also appointed a Justice of the Peace, the first woman in Canada to
hold such a position. She would hear over 5,000 cases with only
13 appeals and in that only 6 reversals. During her tenure she travelled,
much of the time by horse and buggy, 25,000 miles annually . She enjoyed
playing golf, tennis and badminton. She would donate a cup for the Girls’
uner-18 tournament at the Lakeshore Tennis Club in Regina. She worked with
her United Church, the women’s Canadian Club, the Regina Orchestral Society,
the Saskatchewan Social Service Council and the Canadian Association of
Child Protection Agencies. Regina commemorated her achievements by naming
MacLachlan Crescent in her honour.
Source: City of Regina. Heritage & History Online. (Accessed January 2012.
|
Agnes Campbell Macphail
MPP, Ontario
|
Born March
24, 1890 Preston Township, Grey County, Ontario. Died February
13, 1954 Toronto, Ontario. Like many young women of her era she
attended Normal School (Teacher’s College) after high school.
She taught in numerous schools in Ontario and Alberta.
She was the 1st and only woman elected to the
Canadian parliament in 1921 when women finally had the right to
vote.
A pacifist she was a
member of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom
and in 1929 she became
the 1st
woman nominated to the
Canadian delegation to the League of
Nations (forerunner to the United Nations).
As the 1st woman to inspect Kingston Penitentiary,
it
left her a lifelong advocate for better conditions of
women in prison. In 1935 the Royal Commission to Investigate the
Penal System in Canada and the 1939 Penitentiary Bill with 88
recommendations for change were no doubt influenced by her
efforts. She became a founding member of the C.C.F.,
Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (forerunner of the National
Democratic Party). Losing her federal seat in the 1940 election,
she toured giving lectures and wrote for the Toronto
Globe
and Mail newspaper before turning her attention to
provincial politics.
In 1943 she
was one of two women elected to the Ontario Legislative Assembly
where she continued to
support farmers, industrial workers, prison inmates and women’s
rights.
In
1951 she saw the passage of the 1st equal pay
legislation in the province.
She was also the founder of
the Elizabeth Fry Society of Canada which even today works to
give help to women in need. She died just prior to have been
offered a seat in the Canadian Senate.
Sources:
The Canadian
Encyclopedia
Online Accessed
2001);
Agnes Macphail website Online (accessed 2003)
|
Marion Adams Macpherson |
Born
May 16, 1924,
Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.
Died 1998. After her studies
at the University of Saskatchewan and the University of Toronto she joined
the federal Department of External Affairs. She would work in Washington,
D.C., Ottawa and New York to begin her career. She went on as Counselor to
the Canadian Permanent Mission to the United Nations 1963-1968, High
Commissioner to Sri Lanka ( 1973-1976), Ambassador to Denmark ( 1979-1983) ,
Deputy Commandant of the National Defense College from 1983-1985 and High
Commissioner to Zambia from 1985-1987. |
Helen Maksagak
Inuk politician |
Born April 15, 1931, Bernard Harbour (Nalahugiuq) Nunavut.
Died January 22, 2009 Cambridge Bay, Victoria Island, Nunavut. Helen married
John Sr in 1950 and the couple settled in Cambridge Bay in 1961 to raise a
family of six surviving children. Her home was often a refuge for victims of
domestic violence. In the was employed by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
and managed an outreach centre. She was appointed as Deputy Commissioner of
the Northwest Territories in 1992. Helen served as the Commissioner of the
Northwest Territories from January 16, 1995 until March 26, 1999 as the 1st
Inuk to hold this office. She worked to establish the new Territory of
Nunavut. She was also the 1st Commissioner of Nunavut from April 1,
1999 until April 1, 2000. In 2003 she was appointed as a Member of the Order
of Canada. She was Assistant Commissioner of Nunavut from November 2005
until her death in 2009. She also served as a member of the Qulliit
(Nunavut) Status of Women Council and as an Elder for the Aboriginal Healing
Foundation. Helen Maksagak Drive in Iqaluit is named in her memory. (2019) |
Judy Marsales
|
Born Winnipeg, Manitoba. As a pre-teen she borrowed a paper piano keyboard
from the Public Library to teach herself music. Judy moved to Hamilton,
Ontario in 1972. She began a career in real estate in 1974 and has been
president of her own real estate company since January 1988. In 1991 she
became the 1st woman president of the Metropolitan Hamilton Real Estate
Board. In 1996 she was elected president of the Hamilton and District
Chamber of Commerce. In 2001 she was the 1st Hamiltonian
recipient of the Chamber of Commerce Athena Award which recognizes
excellence, community service and active assistance to women in developing
their leadership skills Marsales was elected as a Member of the Provincial
Parliament (MPP) for Hamilton West from 2003 to 2007, when the riding was
dissolved. She supports countless community projects including being an
advisor for the Dundas Valley Museum and being a board member of An
Instrument For Every Child. She also hosts and sponsors her own radio show
and sings in a choir and at several annual fundraisers. Judy was inducted
into the Hamilton Gallery of Distinction in 2011 |
Yonah Martin |
Born April 11, 1965 Seoul, Korea. Yonah immigrated to Canada with
her family in 1972. In 1986 she had earned her B.A. at the University of
British Columbia followed the next year with her Masters in Education. She
proudly worked over twenty years as an educator. In 1990 she married Doug
Martin and the couple have one daughter. In 2003 she co-founded a non-profit
organization Korean Canadian C3, a community organization of volunteers who
embrace cultural diversity and bridge Korean Canadian communities by
providing cultural education and volunteer resources. She has also served on
numerous boards and committees including: the Multicultural Advisory Council
of British Columbia and the Canadian Paralympics Foundation. As an educator
she is interested in mentoring youth and is actively involved with the
Executive Mentorship Program of the Sauder School of Business at the
University of British Columbia. In 12004 she received the Spirit of
Community Award for Cultural Harmony and in 2009 she received the Order of
Civil Merit Moran Medal from the Republic of Korea. She is the fire Korean
Canadian Parliamentarian, appointed to the Senate by Prime Minister Stephen
Harper.
Sources: C3Society.corg (accessed December 2011) ; Senate of Canada online
(accessed December 2011)
|
Elizabeth Evans May
MP |
Born June 9, 1954 Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.A. She relocated
to Margaree Harbour Cape Breton, Nova Scotia in 1972. The family operated a
gift shop and restaurant on a landlocked schooner. She dropped out of St
Francis Xavier University, Nova Scotia in 1974 returning hope to manage the
family business while she took correspondence courses and graduation with
her Bachelor degree. She attended and graduated law school at Dalhousie
University, Halifax, Nova Scotia and worked as an associate in a Halifax law
firm. In 1985 she relocated to Ottawa, Ontario to work with the Public
Interest Advocacy Center. She founded the Canadian Environmental Defence
Fund to fund groups and individuals in environmental causes. An Anglican she
thought of becoming a priest and studied theology at Saint Paul University,
Ottawa. A committed advocate for social justice, for the environment and for
human rights she has been active in the environmental movement since 1970.
She was active against aerial spraying in Nova Scotia which brought
into the media spotlight. She was the 1st volunteer Executive Director of
Cultural Survival Canada 1989-1992 and worked for the Algonquin of Barriere
Lake from 1991-92. In 1985 she was recognized with the International
Conservation Award from Friends of Nature. In 1986 she became a Senior
Policy Advisor to the federal Environment Minister and was
instrumental in creating several national parks, In 1988 she resigned being
against the Ministers policies. She taught at Queen's University School of
Policy Studies and at Dalhousie University. She has written since 1982 eight
books mainly on environmental issues. In 1992 she received the Commemorative
Medal for the 125th Anniversary of Confederation of Canada. In 1998 the
Elizabeth May Chair in Women's Health and the Environment was established at
Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia. In 2014 she authored Who We Are:
Reflections on My Life and Canada. In 1989 she became Executive Director of
the Sierra Club of Canada but resigned in 2006 to run for the leadership of
the Green Party of Canada. In 2002 she was awarded the Harkin Award from the
Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society for her lifetime achievement in
promoting the protection of Canada's wilderness. She was elected
leader of the Green Party in August 2006. In 2005 she was inducted as
an Officer in the Order of Canada. She earned the United Nations Global 500
Award. In November 2010 Newsweek magazine named her 'One of the world's most
influential women.
In 2011 she became the 1st Green
Party candidate to be elected to the House of Commons. In 2012
she put forth a Private members bill, Bill c-442 to address Lyme disease.
The bill was passed unanimously by both houses of parliament and the 1st
Green Party legislation enacted in Canadian history. In 2012 she was voted
by her House colleagues as Parliamentarian of the Year and in 2013 she was
voted Hardest Working Member of Parliament. In 2014 she was voted Best
Orator in the House of Commons. While she maintained her seat she gave up
leadership of the Green parth in 2020. |
Kathryn Elizabeth McCallion
|
Born 1945,
Toronto, Ontario. Died June 1, 2014, Ottawa, Ontario. Kathryn earned her
B.A. from the university and was excited to work for the Ontario Government
at the Canadian centennial Expo ’67. In 1972 she was working for the
Canadian department of Trade and Commerce as a trade commissioner posted to
the Canadian Embassy 1st in Mexico and in 1975 to Boston,
Massacheutts, U.S.A. The diplomatic corps was an ‘old boys club’ and women
had to work hard for success. In 1980 she was the President of the
Professional Association of the Foreign Service Organization. By 1987 she
had worked to earn the position as High Commissioner to Jamaica. Back in
Ottawa by 1991 she was Director General of the Western Europe Division of
the Department of Foreign Affairs. She retired from the Government of Canada
in 2009.
Sources:
Margaret K. Weirs, Envoys Extraordinary: Women of the Canadian Foreign
Service. Dundurn Press, 1995. ; Obituary, Ottawa Citizen, June, 2014. |
Kathryn Agnes McCloskey |
Born 1883,
Chesterville, Ontario. Died 1975. After high school she attended the Ottawa
Normal School (Teacher’s College) but decided that teaching was not for her.
In 1909, she wrote the Civil Service exam from the Government of Canada even
though she knew that only men were ever allowed into foreign service jobs.
On December 27, 1909 she arrived at the Department of Foreign Affairs as a
‘typewriter’. She had managed to pass the simple typing test even though she
had never taken any typing classes. She was soon signing memos with K. A.
McCloskey purposely making the signature ambiguous as to her being a woman.
She drafted letters for the Department head, Joseph Pope to sign, was in
charge of supplies for the department as well as for the passport office.
The Prime Minister’s office as well as offices in Paris, London and
Washington. On April 1, 1921 she was appointed departmental accountant with
a raise in pay. In 1931 she became the departmental Chief Accountant and had
the reputation of being a penny pincher even keeping track of the number of
pencils used. In 1937 she was a member of the Canadian delegation to the
imperial Conference in London, England. World War ll saw enormous growth in
the Foreign Affairs department and Agnes was posted to work in Washington
D.C., U.S.A. until her retirement.
Source:
Margaret Weiers, Envoys Extraordinary: Women of the Canadian Foreign
Service (Toronto: Dundurn, 1995) |
Nellie
Letitia McClung |
née Mooney. Born October 20, 1873 Chatsworth, Ontario. Died
September 1, 1951. At 16 she attended Normal School (Teacher’s
college) in Winnipeg, Manitoba. While teaching, she was
introduced to the Women’s Christian Temperance Union by her
future Mother-in-law. Marrying Wes McClung, 1896 they raised
five children. As an accomplished writer, she joined the
Canadian Women’s Press Club. In 1912, a founding member of the
Political Equity League, she helped female wage earners. She
imitated Manitoba Provincial Premier Roblin in the 1914 “Women’s
Parliament” mocking the idea of giving votes to men! She was the
only woman delegate at the Canadian War Conference of 1918 and
was a Methodist delegate to the world ecumenical Congress of
1921, where she advocated women as clergy. She represented her
ideas as a member of Alberta’s legislature 1921-1925 and in 1927
she was one of the “Famous Five”, who forced the courts to
recognize women as “Persons” in 1929.
The 1st woman to be appointed to the
Board of Directors, Canadian Broadcasting Network,
1936 she was also a Canadian representative to the League of
Nations, 1938. A popular author, she wrote newspaper and
magazine articles, columns, short stories and published 16 books
and 2 autobiographies. |
Elaine Jean McCoy |
Born March 7, 1946, Brandon, Manitoba. Died December 29,
2020, Ottawa, Ontario. Elaine graduated from the University of Alberta and
had a career in law. She was elected as a Member of the Legislative Assembly
of Alberta in 1986 and in the next eight years she held three cabinate
positions, Consumer Affairs, Women's Issues and Labour and Human Rights. She
was appointed to the Canadian Senate as a representative from Alberta by
Prime Minister Paul Martin on March 24, 1995. She was a founding member and
the first leader of the Independent Senators Group. In 2019 she joined the
Canadian Senators Group which was the largest caucus in the Canadian Senate.
Source: Obituary. online(accessed 2020) |
Lynn McDonald |
Born July 5, 1940. She ran 1st in Onatario provincial
elections and then ran for a federal by-election for the New Democratic
Party. She was a champion of women's equity in Parliament and was the 1st
Member of Parliament to be addressed by Ms. She was just a loud in her
anti-tobacco support proposing a bill to ban tobacco advertising and
sponsorships and strengthen health warnings on cigarette packages and
proposed to restrict smoking in federally regulated workplaces as well as on
planes, trains and boats. The bill received royal assent on June 28, 1988.
She lost her seat as an MP in the 1988 federal election. She began writing
books and scholarly articles such as
The Early Origins of the Social
Sciences in 1993,
Women Founders of the Social Sciences,
and
Women Theorists on Society and Politics. She has been active on
environmental issues, initially with the Campaign for Nuclear Phase-out, and
lately as co-founder of JustEarth: A Coalition for Environmental Justice,
which works on climate change; she is a member of the Board of Directors of
Climate Action Network Canada. In 2015 she was appointed as a Member of the
Order of Canada. She is a co-founder of the Nightingale Society and is the
Director of the
Collected Works of Florence Nightingale a 16 volume
edition of Nightingale's books, articles, and pamphlets.(2019) |
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. |
Barbara
Jean McDougall |
née Leamen.
Born November 12, 1937 Toronto, Ontario. After graduating from the University
of Toronto with her BA in 1963 she became an investment manager. She expanded her
career to include being a business journalist in print and TV
broadcasting.
In 1984 her interest in politics led to her being elected to the Federal
Parliament. Barbara served as Minister of State for Finance and
Minister of State for Privatization, a portfolio which was expanded
to include women's issues and regulatory affairs. In 1988 she
was appointed Minister of Employment and Immigration and in 1991 she
moved to become Minister of Secretary of State for External Affairs. In 1993 she
returned to private business. In 1999 she was the Chief
Executive Officer and President of the Canadian Institute of International
Affairs. In 2000 she was inducted as an Officer in the Order of Canada. |
Pamela Ann McDougall |
Born May 9,
1925, Ottawa, Ontario. Died October 4, 2015 She earned a Bachelor of Science at Mount Allison
University, and did post graduate studies at the University of Toronto
for her Master’s in 1946. She began to work as a clerk at the federal
Department of External Affairs in the Consular Division. By 1952 she had
written the Foreign Service exam and became a Foreign Service Officer
working 1st at the United Nations in New York City, U.S.A. and
then she was off to Germany serving there from 1953-57 before returning to
Ottawa where she worked on the International Supervisory Commission for
Vietnam. Her job included extensive traveling before being assigned in
1961-1963 to Delhi, India as 1st secretary and later counselor.
Once again back in Ottawa she served as Deputy Head of the Far Eastern
Division before she was posted to Warsaw, Poland where she was the second
Canadian woman to become an Ambassador in January 1968. In 1979 she was
appointed as Deputy Minister for Health and Welfare Canada, the 1st
Foreign Service Officer to be promoted to this level. On August 27,1980 the
Prime Minister named her Commissioner of the Royal Commission on Conditions
in the Foreign Service mandated to inquire into changes in the conditions of
foreign service and to report on steps that the government might take to
accommodate them in the context of its approach to the legal, administrative
and operational frameworks of the foreign service. She retired from the
Government of Canada in 1981. In retirement she served as a member of the
Board of Governors at Carleton University, Ottawa and was a Trustee of the
Royal Ottawa Hospital for 5 years. In 1987 she married Lieutenant Colonel
Paul Mayer.
Source:
Margaret Weiers, Envoys Extraordinary: Women of the Canadian Foreign
Service (Toronto: Dundurn, 1995) (2018) |
Pauline Emily McGibbon
Lieutenant Governor of Ontario |
née Mills.
Born October 20, 1910 Sarnia, Ontario. Died December 14, 2001
Toronto, Ontario. Pauline graduated from the University of
Toronto in 1933. In 1935 she married her high school sweetheart
Donald Walker McGibbon and the couple settled in Sarnia,
Ontario. A long time volunteer for various charities and groups
she served as president of the Imperial Order of the Daughters
of the Empire from 1963-1965. Pauline was also the
1st woman chancellor at
the University of Toronto and at the same time
1st woman Governor of
Upper Canada College 1971-1974.
She was appointed
Lieutenant Governor of the Province
of Ontario from 1974-1980,
the 1st woman in the British Empire to obtain such a position.
She was also
the 1st woman President of the Canadian Conference of the Arts
in 1972 and 1st woman Director of 4 major Canadian
companies: George Weston, IBM, Imasco and Mercedes Benz.
Pauline was inducted into the
Order of Canada in 1967 and promoted to Companion of the Order
of Canada in 1980.
Sources: The Canadian
Encyclopedia Online (Accessed 1999). In 1988 she was inducted
into the Order of Ontario. On October 5, 2006 the Ontario
Heritage Trust and Sarnia Kiwanis Foundation unveiled a
provincial plaque commemorating Pauline in Sarnia, Ontario.
Sources: The Canadian Encyclopedia Online (accessed
1999): The Ontario Trust Foundation (accessed 2006);
The Hon. Pauline M. McGibbon , Collections Canada. National
Library of Canada (accessed 2009)
|
Pearl McGonigal |
Born June 10, 1929 Melville, Saskatchewan. After school she worked in the
banking sector. She was elected to the city council of St. James-Assiniboia
in 1969 just two years prior to amalgamation with the City of Winnipeg. She
would serve on the Grater City of Winnipeg city council from 1971 through
1981, and held the position as Deputy Mayor from 1979 to 1981. She
became the 19th Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba on October 23,
1981, the 1st woman to hold this position.
She was inducted into the Order of Canada in 1984 and the Order of Canada in
2000. She loves to cook and has written a regular column on cooking in
Winnipeg’s daily and community newspapers. During the 2000’s she served as
Chairperson of the Canadian Forces Liaison Council in Manitoba, which
lobbies public bodies and private businesses to grant time off to military
reservists for training.
|
Marjorie McKenzie |
Born 1895,
North Bay, Ontario. Died November 1957. After high schools Marjorie attended
Normal School (teacher’s College) and began teaching in Northern Ontario.
While she was still teaching she took external courses from Queen’s
University , Kingston, Ontario. In 1919 she became a full time university
student supplementing her income by being a tutor. She took a job as a
clerk typist and did some writing for the Kingston Whig Standard while she
worked on her Master’s Degree. In 1923 she was hired by O.D. Skelton
(1878-1941) then Dean of Arts at Queen’s and when he moved to Ottawa to work
at External Affairs in 1924 she also began working at the department working
with Skelton until his death and then with his successors. On October 1
1947, since the ban on women not working in the Foreign Service had been
lifter she was promoted to being a Foreign Service Officer. She had actually
written the Foreign Service exam in 1930 and had tied for 1st in
the results but as a woman she could not be hired as a Foreign Service
Officer. All through her work years she worked at a much higher level than
her position attested to on paper. In 1926, 1928 and again in 1937 she
accompanied Prime Minister William Lion Mackenzie King to the Imperial
Conferences as part of the Canadian Delegation. She kept working files,
summarized British documents, prepared memorandum for signatures for males
in higher positions than herself. In 1943 and again in 1943 she aced as
host for the Quebec Wartime Conferences with U.S. President Roosevelt and
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. In 1954 she became the 1st
woman in External Affairs department to be appointed as a division head of
Historical Research and Reports Division.
Source:
Margaret Weiers, Envoys Extraordinary: Women of the Canadian Foreign
Service (Toronto: Dundurn, 1995) |
Audrey McLaughlin |
née Brown. Born November 7, 1936 Dutton, Ontario. Audrey became
the 1st woman in her family to earn a BA graduating
from the University of Western Ontario. She earned her degree by
correspondence from a mink farm that she and her husband ran
north of London. The Couple have 2 children. She taught at a
private college in Ghana, West Africa from 1964 through 1967
returning home to attend graduate studies in Social work at the
University of Toronto. After graduating with her MA she worked
for the Metropolitan Toronto Children’s Aid Society. She
divorced in 1972 and remained in the work force and by 1975 she
was the executive director of the Canadian Mental Health
Association. Moving to Whitehorse in 1979 she worked as a
business consultant and supervisor of social services. She ran
and won a by election in 1987 and became the 1st New
Democratic Party MP elected in the Yukon. She was the 1st
woman chair of the Parliamentary caucus of any federal party in
Canada in 1988. On
December 2, 1989
she was chosen leader of the NDP, becoming
the 1st woman in Canadian history to lead a federal political
party.
The 1993 federal election saw a reduction of
support for the NDP and the following year she stepped down as
party leader but remained in parliament to represent the people
of the Yukon until 1997. In 1992 she published her
autobiography, A woman’s Place. In 1996 she was elected
president of Socialist International Women,
an organization which promotes activities amongst various
women's socialist and labour party organizations. Her efforts
toward social justice saw her inducted into the Order of Canada
in 2004.
Sources: The Canadian Encyclopedia Online (Accessed
2005); Audrey McLaughlin, Political Heros Online,
(Accessed 2009)
|
Fannie/Fanny Knowling McNeil |
née Knowling.
Born March 14, 1869, St
John's, Newfoundland. Died February 23, 1928, St. John's, Newfoundland.
Fanny's affluent family were able to send her to England for some of her
education and it was during her time there that she began her interest in
art. Back home on the island she would organize art exhibits that was the
foundation of the Newfoundland Society of Art where she served as 1st
president. On July 5, 1899 she married Hector McNeil and the couple
had a son who died as an infant and two daughters. Fannie became interested
in child welfare and health services and became involved in the Ladies'
Reading Room and Current Events Club that had been formed in 1909. The topic
of women's suffrage was often in hot debate at the club. The Women's
Franchise League or the Women's Suffrage League as it was sometimes known
helped launch a campaign to
secure votes for women.
Fannie was League secretary. She had the support of her husband Hector even
though he was threatened with job loss from the railway company where he
worked. The vote was granted to women of Newfoundland over 25 years of age
along with the right to run as candidates in general elections on March 9,
1925. The first opportunity for white women to stand for election came in the
St John’s municipal contest of December 1925. The 1st women to run in
elections were Fannie McNeil and May Kennedy, who ran for the newly formed
Women’s Party, and Julia Salter Earle(1878-1945),
a labour candidate. All three
were defeated. The 1st general election in which women could vote would take
place in 1928. Source DCB (2019) |
Mary McNulty |
Born 1895,
Ottawa, Ontario. Died May 2, 1972. At 16, she and a friend founded the Equal
Franchise Association, working to achieve the vote for women. Mary went on
to study Law and was the 1st woman on the debating team at
Osgoode Hall Law School. She was called to the Bar in Ontario in 1918. She
became the 1st woman to practice law in the city of Ottawa. She
was however disillusioned when she did not receive worthwhile cases and she
opened the Cloverleaf Dress ship and went on to be a retail buyer of
clothing for a large Department store. The second woman lawyer in Ottawa
arrived only in 1950. She married Albert Alphonse Fix in 1931. After her
husband’s death in 1945 Mary began to show an interest in politics. She was
an alderman in the Township of Toronto and in 1953 served as Deputy Reeve,
then acting Reeve and from 1955 through 1958 she served as Mayor. In 1959
she became Warden of Peel County only to return to run successfully as Reeve
in 1961. A park named in her honour was established in what is now
Mississauga. Mary was also a founding member of the Toronto Township
Historical Society, now Mississauga Heritage Foundation.
Source:
Diversifying the bar; Law Society of Upper Canada online (accessed
January 2013) |
Dorothy Annabelle Stratton McPhedran |
Born June 14, 1921, Underwood, Ontario. Died January 2012. In 1942 she
graduated with and honours B.A. in history from Victoria College, University
of Toronto. She married and had a son but divorced in 1952 after suffering
abuse. Overcoming stigma of divorce Dorothy taught in Kincardin before
becoming head of the History Department of Northern and St. Clair Colleges.
In 1964 she was promoted as the 1st woman to be
Inspector of schools for the Ontario Ministry of Education.
In
1974 she married Bruce ”Alex” McPhedran and she completed course work for
her PhD in Education at the University of Ottawa. In 1975 she became the
first woman appointed special Assistant and Women’s Advisor for the Deputy
Minister of Education. She had a love of travel and traveled to numerous
countries around the world. Including going behind the Iron Curtain to
Russia. She was a long time volunteer with Meals on Wheels, delivering meals
to those who needed them well into her 80’s. Source: Obituary Globe and Mail January 2, 2012.
Suggestion submitted by
June Coxon, Ottawa Ontario.
|
Louise Crummy McKinney |
Born September 22, 1868 Frankville, Ontario. Died July 10, 1931
Claresholm, Alberta. Like many young women of her era Louise
attended Normal School (Teacher’s College) in Ottawa. She taught
for 7 years in Ontario and then in North Dakota, U.S.A. In 1895
she married James McKinney. By 1903 the couple and their son
settled in Claresholm, Alberta. She had joined the Women’s
Christian Temperance Union (W.C.T.U.) while in the U.S. and
founded a local chapter when she arrived in Claresholm. She
played a prominent role at the local, provincial and national
levels of the W.C.T.U. for the next 20 years. In 1931 she became
acting national president and vice-president at the
international level. She was also active in the Imperial Order
of the Daughters of the Empire (I.O.D.E.).
She was the first women to be sworn
into the Alberta Legislative Assembly. Louise and Roberta Adams
(1880-1959) were the 1st women elected to a legislature in the
British Empire and on June 7, 1917 Louise was sworn in before
Roberta to became the 1st woman to take her seat in
the legislature. She fought for laws to aid
immigrants, widows, and separated women. Active in her
Methodist Church she was the only woman from Western Canada and
1 of only 4 across Canada to sign the Basis of Union of the
United Church of Canada in 1925. She was the 2nd 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”. In 1939 she was recognized as a Person
of National Historic Significance by the Canadian government. In
2009 the Senate of Canada voted to name the Famous Five as
Canada’s 1st honorary senators.
A plaque commemorating this in found at the Post Office, Highway
4 south at the Canada-United States border, Claresholm, Alberta
and there is an Alberta Post Secondary Scholarship offered in
her honour.
Sources: Louise Crummy McKinney, Collections Canada, Library and
Archives Canada Online (Accessed for update 2010); The life of
Louise McKinney, St Thomas University. Online Accessed 2010)
|
Blanche Margaret Meagher |
Born January
27 1911, Halifax Nova Scotia. Died February 25, 1999, Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Margaret attended Normal School (Teacher’s College) and taught school from
1932 through 1942. She took the Foreign Service exam and became a pioneer
Foreign Service Officer with the federal department of External Affairs. She
served in Mexico and London England.
October 22,
1958 she was the 1st woman appointed as a Canadian Ambassador and
served in Israel. While serving as Ambassador to Austria in Vienna
she became the 1st woman to chair a Board of Governors of the
International Atomic Energy Agency. From 1969 through 1973 she served as
ambassador to Sweden.
In Kenya
she became the 1st
female Canadian High Commissioner and the 1st Canadian diplomat
to live in Nairobi. 1973-4 she was the 1st woman from
External Affairs to serve as Foreign Service Visitor at Dalhousie
University, Halifax. In 1974 she received the Order of Canada. From
1984-1989 she was a trustee for the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design.
She was a true pioneer in the Canadian Foreign Service and a valuable mentor
for those who followed in the profession.
Sources: Margaret K. Weiers, Envoys Extraordinary: Women of the Canadian
Foreign Service. (Toronto; Dundurn, 1995); Blanche Margaret Meagher,
Canadian Encyclopedia online (Accessed July 2015) |
Melanie Mark |
Born 1976,
Mount Pleasant, British Columbia. Melanie is Nisqu’a Gitxson Cree and
Ojibway by heritage. Her family was abandoned by her father and Melanie and
her family knew true hardship growing up. However Melanie learned that she
had to do something to move forward with her live. She studied at Simon
Fraser University in British Columbia. She is the mother of two daughters.
She has been a facilitator and served as president of the Urban Native Youth
Association in Vancouver. She has also been a coordinator with the National
Aboriginal Youth and Save the Children Canada in Vancouver. She is
co-founder of Vancouver’s’ Aboriginal Policing Community Centre. In
February2, 2016 she ran in a provincial by-election and became the 1st
First Nations woman to be elected to the Legislature of British Columbia.
|
Margaret Mitchell |
née
Learoyd. Born July 17, 1925 Brockville, Ontario. Margaret earned her B.A. in
1947 from McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario. From 1952 through 1955 she
worked and toured for the Red Cross in Post war Japan and Korea before she
took time off work and went hiking in the Australian outback. She met her
husband in Australia and in the 1960’s the couple settled in Vancouver,
British Columbia. She worked for Neighbourhood Services Association until
1974. She had an interest in politics which she felt was in her blood since
she was a descendant of former Canadian Prime Minister Sir John Thompson (d
1894) she was elected as the New Democratic Party Member of Parliament for
Vancouver East in 1979. While in parliament she voted against a pay raise
for Members of Parliament and when the bill passed she donated her raise in
pay to the Margaret Mitchell Foundation for Women. In 1980 she brought up in
the House of Commons that 1 in 10 husbands regularly beat their husbands.
These comments were met with uproarious laughter from the House but opened
the issue of violence against women. In
1984 she was
the 1st MP to bring forth the issue of the Chinese Head Tax.
In 2000 she became a Member of the Order of British Columbia. In 2008 she
published her autobiography No Laughing Matter: Adventure, activism and
Politics.
|
Rita Laroque
Morel |
Born
1911, Ottawa, Ontario. . Died Ottawa, July 2011. A Franco-Ontarian she
became a valuable translator using her two languages interchangeably. She
attended the University of Ottawa and earned a degree in general arts and
was one of only two women in her class. She worked as a civil servant for
the government of Canada as well as the Turkish Embassy . In her late 1920’s
she married Paul Morel and the couple had one daughter. Her bilingual
translation abilities garnered her a job at the House of Commons were she
became chief of interpretation, this suited her political junkie
personality. She also travelled working wherever her skills were required
including working for the Colombo Plan in Pakistan. Rita also worked with
former Ottawa mayor Marion Dewar to help refugees from Vietnam in the Ottawa
Project to take in 4000 refugees. After she retired she worked as a
freelance translator well into her 80’s.
Source; A
feminist before Steinem of Friedan by Louisa Taylor The Ottawa Citizen
November 6, 2011.
Submitted by June Coxon, Ottawa. |
Emma Patterson Morrison |
Born Prince Edward Island. Emma served as a Lieutenant in the
army during World War ll. She married and had two children before she became
divorced. She had begun to stdy law at university but found she preferred
accounting and became a Chartered Accountant. A second marriage found her
settling in Moncton, New Brunswick where she operated her own accounting
business. The couple had an interest in Norwegian Elkhounds and Emma became
a qualified Canadian Elkhound judge. With the offer from the Government of
New Brunswick the family relocated to Fredericton, New Brunswick where Emma
became the first woman to be Deputy Auditor for a Canadian province. She
would also hold the office of president of the Institute of Chartered
Accountants in both P. E. I. and New Brunswick.
September 1, 1977 the government of British Columbia appointed her Auditor
General making her the first provincial Auditor General of a province in
Canada. She would serve in this position until October 31,
1986. (2020) |
Aideen Nicholson |
Born April
29, 1927, Dublin, Ireland. She studied Trinity College, Dublin and then at
the London School of Economics. When she came to Canada she worked at the
Hospital for Sick Kids, Toronto as a social worker and also taught at both
the University of Toronto and George Brown College, Toronto. She took a
position at the Ontario Department of Corrections. She also became a
founding member of the Ontario Commission on the Status of Women. In 1974
she was the successful Liberal candidate as Member of Parliament in the
riding of Trinity, Toronto. She would be re-elected in three succeeding
elections. In 1988 she lost her seat in parliament to Conservative candidate
Barbara McDougall. After leaving parliament she was appointed to the
Canadian Immigration Review Board. In 2003 she was the recipient of the
Distinguished Service Award from the Former Parliamentarians Association.
Source: Jean
Bannerman, Leading Ladies of Canada (Belleville, Mika Publishing,
1977); |
Dorise Winifred Nielsen |
née Webber. Born July 30, 1902, London, England. Died
December 9, 1980, Beijing, China. After school Dorise earned her teacher's
certificate and then taught for three years in London. In 1927 she came to
Canada with the help of the Fellowship of the Maple Leaf, an Anglican
organization that sent British teachers to the Prairies. Almost as soon as
she arrived in Saskatchewan she married Peter Nielsen. Both became members
of the Co-Operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF), a social-democratic
socialist political party. The couple had four children, three of whom
survived infancy. Their marriage had begun to falter when Dorise ran and won
election to the Canadian Hose of Commons in Ottawa representing North
Battleford, Saskatchewan. She was the third woman elected to the Canadian
Parliament. Until 1943 she had kept secret that she was a member of the
Communist Party of Canada, making her the first Member of that party to
elected to the House of Commons, serving during World War ll. She became the
spokeswoman for the Communist Pary which had been banned in Canada in June
1940. She became elected to the national executive committee of the
Labour-Progressive Party in 1943. This party was a legal front for the
banned Communist Party. She lost her seat in Parliament in the 1945
election. She and her children relocated to Toronto where she would
work as an organizer for the Labour-Progressive Party. She also penned a
weekly column, Women's Place is Everywhere, in the newspaper, Canadian
Tribune. She helped to fond the Congress of Canadian Women and
attended the Women's International Democratic Federation Peace Congress in
Budapest, Hungary, in 1948. In 1949 she helped to found the Canadian Peace
Congress. That same year she became executive secretary of the
Canadian-Soviet Friendship Association. In 1953 she was unsuccessful in her
bid to represent Brantford, Ontario in Parliament. By 1955 she had returned
to London, England with her partner Constant Godefroy, for a year. Back in
Canada she worked at a job with Maclean-Hunter Publishing. In 1957 she and
her partner moved to the People's Republic of China where she worked as a
teacher of English. In 1962 she became a Chinese citizen. Some of her papers
are retained at the Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa. Author Faith
Johnston published A Great Restlessness: The life and Politics of Dorise
Nielsen in 2006.(2020) |
Audrey O'Brien |
Audrey began working in Ottawa as a term employee in the public Service
working as administrative assistant for a government program called
Opportunities for Youth. In the House of Commons as a committee clerk she
worked with committees and task forces. She was a staunch non-partisan
and the Members of parliament often sought her out for advice as she worked
her way up the ranks. In 2005 she became the 1st woman Clerk of the
House of Commons in Ottawa. The Clerk is the chief executive of the
administration of the House of Commons and is the right hand adviser to the
Speaker of the House. She oversaw 1,500 employees and was responsible
for everything from IT to security on Parliament Hill. She also served
for a decade as the secretary to the Commonwealth of Speakers. Retiring in
2015 a motion was passes naming her Clerk Emeritus and an Officer of the
House of Commons which gives her a seat at the Clerk Table forever. That
year she became a Member of the Order of Canada.
(2020) |
Bev Oda
MP |
Born Thunder Bay, Ontario July 7, 1944. After earning her BA
from the University of Toronto she began her working career as a teacher but
soon switched to broadcasting. She worked with TV Ontario, City TV and the
Global Television Network and retired in 1999 from the position of VP with
CTV and Baton Broadcasting. She also served on the Canadian Radio and
Television Commission. In November 2003 she was inducted into the Canadian
Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame. Her retirement was short
lived as she ran successfully to become a member of Parliament in the Ontario
riding of Durham in 2004 and became Canada's first Japanese - Canadian MP. |
Doris Geraldine Ogilivie |
Born February
14, 1919, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Died April 9, 2012, Fredericton Junction,
New Brunswick. Doris earned her bachelors in Secretarial Sciences. In 1942
she married Robert Ogilvie, a dentist. The couple had four daughters. When
her last daughter started school Doris resumed her own education and earned
a Bachelor in Civil Law at the University of New Brunswick in 1960. She held
office as a deputy judge in juvenile and provincial courts by 1965. In 1967
she served on the Royal Commission for the Status of Women. Always respected
for her work with juveniles she was appointed Chairperson for the
International Year of the Child in 1979.
Source: Lives
Lived, Globe and Mail, May 30, 2012 : Inmemorium.ca (accessed
November 2012. Suggestion
from June Coxon, Ottawa, Ontario |
Ratna Omidvar
Senator |
SEE - Social Activists |
Mary Irene Parlby
Member of the Provincial Provincial Parliament and one of the 'Famous
Five' |
née Marryat. Born January 9, 1868 London, England. Died July
12, 1965, Red Deer, Alberta. Irene immigrated to Canada in 1896. In 1913 she
helped found the 1st women's local of the United Farmers of Alberta. serving
as president from 1916 through 1919.
In 1921
she was elected to a seat in the Alberta provincial legislature a
position she led for 14 years. and
was the 1st
woman appointed to the Alberta Cabinet
and only the 2nd in
Canada. She was one of the 'Famous Five' who put focus on the
'Persons Case' in 1929. which lead to women being legally declared
'persons' which in turn allowed them to be appointed to the Senate of
Canada. She was a strong advocate for the eugenics movement in the
province which included the sexual sterilization of the mentally infirm.
She was a Canadian delegate to the League of Nations in 1930. In 1966
she was recognized as a Person of National Historic Significance by the
Canadian government with an historic plaque in Alix, Alberta. The 'Persons
Case' has been recognized as a National Historic Event. In October
2009, the Canadian Senate voted to name all of the 'Famous Five' as the 1st
honorary senators.
Edmonton, Alberta boasts of a mural in her
honour.
|
Kim Pate
Senator |
See - Social Activist |
Julie Payette
|
SEE - Scientists and Engineers - Astronauts |
Lise Payette |
Born
August 29, 1931, Montreal, Quebec. In the 1960's she hosted a popular Radio
Canada morning program "Place aux Femmes". She turned politician and joined
the "Parti Quebecois". in 1976 she was elected to the Quebec Provincial
legislature where she was appointed provincial Minister of Consumer
Affairs. She was not reelected in the 1980 election and her political
career ended. |
Elizabeth Magdalena 'Lena' Pederson
|
Born 1940,
Greenland. Lena moved to the Canadian North West Territories in 1959. She
lived in Coppermine, Pangnirtung and Rae before settling for 4 years in Cape
Dorset working for the West Baffin Eskimo Cooperative which was founded in
the late 1950’s to sell works of art. She returned to Coppermine where she
worked for CBC Radio.
In 1970, the Northwest Territories' centennial year, she became the first
woman and the first Inuit woman to be elected to the Northwest Territories
Council on December 21. She represented the Central Arctic District until
her term of office ended on March 10, 1975 |
Gladys Muriel Porter |
Born August 4,1893, Sydney, Nova Scotia. Died April 30, 1967, Kentville, Nova
Scotia. She became an active member of several social service organizations
and supporter of several charitable causes, taking on a leading role as
executive member of many of them at the community, county and provincial
level. Much of her work was with hospitals and health care organizations.
She was active in her United Baptist church and a founding member and first
president of the local chapter of the Business and Professional Women's Club
and served also as provincial president. In 1946 she was inducted into the
Order of the British Empire in honour of her contribution to the civilian
defense and war effort in both World Wars. In 1943 she became a town
councilor
in Kentville and in 1946 won the election for mayor, making her the 1st
woman in the Maritimes to do so.
She was re-elected mayor for a total of 11 years resigning only after
winning a seat in Kings North for the Progressive Conservative party in the
provincial legislature in the election of
1960.
She was the 1st woman to be elected to the Nova Scotia
Legislative Assembly.
She
served as a representative in the legislature until her death in 1967. |
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. |
Katharine Ross Queen |
SEE - Social Activists |
Marion Loretta Reid |
Born January
2, 1929, North Rustico, Prince Edward Island. She attended Prince of Wales
College in P.E.I> and earned a 1st class teacher’s license when
she was only 17. On Jun 29, 1949 she married Lee P. Reid and the couple had
8 children. She taught for 21 years while bringing up her family. In 1979
she was elected to the P.E.I. legislature and was appointed Deputy Speaker.
Winning re- election in
1982 she became the 1st
woman speaker of the P E I Provincial Legislature. From
1990
through 1995 she served as
the 24th Lieutenant Governor of the province of Prince Edward Island the 1st woman to
hold this position. She was active
in her community service as well as in politics. She served on various
boards including the Board of Governors of the PEI Teacher’s Federation and
the Board for the Status of Women. She was an active member or the Sterling
Women’s Institute, The Catholic Women’s League and a charter member of the
Queen Elizabeth Hospital Foundation as well as the Zonta Club. In 1994 the
Prince Edward Island Girl Guides of Canada created an award in her honour. In 1996 she
was inducted into the Order of Prince Edward Island and was inducted as a
Member of the Order of Canada. (2019) |
Shirley Render |
née Hurst. Born April 1, 1943, Winnipeg, Manitoba. Shirley
attended the University of Manitoba earning her Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree
in 1964 and her Master of Arts in 1984. She worked as a social worker and
high school teacher and has lectured i Psychology at the University of
Manitoba. She has also worked as a magazine editor. Shirley married Douglas
E. Render. Shirley is a member of the Royal Canadian Air Force
Association and is the author of two books on aviation history. She is a
member of the International Association of Women's Pilots and the Women and
History Association and she has served as President of the Western Canadian
Aviation Museum. In 1990 she was elected as a Progressive Conservative in
the Manitoba legislature and was re-elected in 1995. In 1992 she received
the 125th Anniversary of Canada Confederation Medal. She was appointed to
the Cabinet February 5, 1999 as Minister of Consumer and Corporate Affairs.
In 2001 she received a Governor General of Canada 125 Award. She did not win
her election in 2003. She is a member of the Community Partnership Executive
at CBC Manitoba and has lectured at Asper School of Business and Red River
College. She has also served as executive director of the Western Canada
Aviation Museum. (2018)
|
Margaret Isabel
Rideout |
née Saunders. Born June 16, 1923, Bridgewater, Nova Scotia. Died May 12,
2010, Moncton, New Brunswick. Margaret married Sherwood Rideout and the
couple had three sons.
In 1964,
following the death of her Liberal MP husband,
Margaret became a member Canadian parliament (MP) after successfully
winning a by-election in the riding of Westmorland (now Moncton).
She was the 1st N.B. woman elected in a federal
election. Reelected in 1965, Margaret sat as an MP until her electoral
defeat in 1968. During her time in office, she rose to be Parliamentary
Secretary for the Minister of National Health and Welfare. When she returned
to Moncton, she was appointed a judge of the Federal Citizenship Court, and
would become Chief Judge. She served on the Board of Governors of Acadia
University, the Board of the Atlantic Baptist Senior Citizens Home, the
Salvation Army, the Canadian Bible Society, The Business and Professional
Women’s Association and was an active member of the Board of the Moncton
Hospital. She was a recipient of the Muriel McQueen Fergusson Award.
.
Source: New Brunswick Advisory Council on the Status of Women, Celebrating
Achievers; Behind Every Successful Woman Are All the Women Who Came Before
Her., September 2002. Online (accessed January 2016) (2020) |
Brenda Mary Robertson |
Born May 23, 1929, Sussex, New Brunswick. Brenda was a home economist and
businesswoman with an interest in politics.
In 1967, Brenda became the1rst woman elected to the
Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick.
She was re-elected in 1970, 1974, 1978 and 1982. In 1970, this home
economist from Riverview became the 1st woman appointed to the New Brunswick
Cabinet. She served 1st as Minister of Youth, and later as Minister of
Social Welfare, Minister of Social Services, Minister of Health, and
Minister of Social Program Reform. She remained a Progressive Conservative
MLA until her appointment to the Canadian Senate on December 21, 1984.She
retired on May 23, 2004 with almost 20 years of federal service. That
same year she was made a Member of the Order of New Brunswick. In 2008 she
was induced into the Order of Canada.
Source:
New Brunswick Advisory Council on the
Status of Women, Celebrating Achievers; Behind Every Successful Woman Are
All the Women Who Came Before Her., September 2002. Online (accessed January
2016)
|
Lucienne Robillard |
Born June 16, 1945 Montreal, Quebec. Lucienne was elected as
a member of the National Assembly of Quebec for Chambly and served from
September 25, 1989 though September 12, 1994. She served as provincial
Minister of of Cultural Affairs, Minister of Education and then as Minister
of Health and Social Services. Lucienne was elected in a by election a
member of the Canadian parliament for Westmount-Ville Marie (Montreal) and
sat in the house of commons from February 13, 1995 through January 25, 2008.
While in Ottawa she served as Minister of Labour and Minister responsible
for the federal campaign in the 1995 Quebec referendum. In 1996 she was
Minister of Citizenship and Immigration and in 1999 she was appointed
President of the Treasury Board. In 2003 she became Minister of Industry and
Minister of the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of
Quebec. In 2004 she became Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs and
President of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada. In 2005 she Minister of
Human Resources and Skills Development. February 1, 2006 she was named
deputy leader of the Liberal Party in the House of Commons. She
resigned her seat on January 25, 2008. In 2010 she was elected President of
the Liberal Party of Canada in Quebec. Lucienne holds the Order of Canada.
(2019) |
Gerry Rogers
LBTQ Activist |
Born 1956,CornerBrook, Newfoundland and Labrador. With her father being in
the military the family moved several times to Montreal, Toronto, Winnnipeg
and Germany. By 1979 they had settled in St John's and Gerry attended
Memorial Universi of Newfoundland obtaining a Bachelor of Arts. Working at
the St. John's Women's Centre she helped establish the first transition
house for battered women. By 1982 she was in Montreal making documentary
films at the famous Studio D of the National Film Board. Ten years later she
was back in St. John's where she founded Augusta Productions directing
international award winning productions. Gerry is openly lesbian and her
partner is social worker and businessperson Peg Norman. In 2001 her film
My Left Breast earned a Gemini Award, Best Canadian Film or Video at the
Inside Out Film and Video Festival. . Known as a builder of the LGBT culture
her portrait is part of the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Activists National
Portrait Collection. With a shortage of marriage commissions in 2005 she
became a commissioner in order to perform same-sex marriages. In 2011 she
was elected to the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly representing
the New Democratic Party (NDP). On April 8, 2018 she was elected leader of
the Provincial NDP, the first LGBT leader of the party.
Gerry stepped down as NDP leader in the spring of 2019.
(2020) |
Edith MacTavish Rogers |
Born April 26, 1876, Norway House, Rupert’s Land (Now Manitoba). Died April
19, 1947, Colborne, Ontario. Edith was a Métis born into a family of Hudson
Bay Company Officers, Edith spent her youth living in Montreal. She attended
Sacred Heart School of Montreal and the Trafalgar School for Girls. Moving
back to her home in Manitoba she married businessman Rupert Rogers on June
1, 1898. The couple have 4 children. During World War l she played a
leadership role in
Winnipeg’s efforts on behalf of soldiers’ families with needs. She continued
her efforts at the end of the war helping families of returning soldiers. In
1920 she was the 1st woman elected to the Manitoba Provincial
Legislature. She was a member of the Liberal Party and elected to her seat
in the legislature 3 times before she retired in 1932. She was an advocate
for reforming the Child Welfare
Act of Manitoba making it easier for women to access financial support to
care for their children. She was also the 1st female member of
the Board of the Winnipeg General Hospital. Edith moved to Colborne, Ontario
in 1942. |
Tilly Jean Rolston |
Born February. 23, 1887, Vancouver British Columbia. Died October 12, 1953,
Vancouver, British Columbia. She attended the University of British Columbia
when it was connected to McGill University, Montreal. She left teaching to
marry Frederick James Rolston in 1909 and raised a family of three children.
Tilly worked closely with many
associations and clubs including being a director of the Vancouver-based
Pacific National Exhibition, an Honorary President of the Women's Canadian
Club, president of the Oratorio Society, Quota Club, and the Travel Women's
Club. She was also the founding chairman of the Theatre Under the Stars,
board member of the YWCA auxiliary and of the Vancouver Symphony Society.
While a homemaker she continued her interest in politics and actually
entered politics as an elected Progressive Conservative Member of the
Legislative Assembly of British Columbia in1941. In 1951 she sat as an
Independent for the remainder of the session. She became a supporter of
W.A.C. Bennett and in the 1952 B.C. election in Vancouver-Port Grey, she was
elected as a Social Credit candidate and named education minister. She was
the second woman in British Columbia to be appointed to the cabinet and the
first woman in all of Canada to hold a specific portfolio. She was a staunch
advocate education for every child.
|
June Rowlands |
née Pendock.
Born May 14,1925, Saint-Laurent, Quebec. Died December 21, 2017, Toronto,
Ontario. Her family relocated to Toronto when she was young. June
graduated from the University of Toronto and worked with Bell Canada. June married
Harry Rowlands (1922-1989) whom she later divorced. They raised five children.
In the 1970's she served with the Association of Women Electors and National
Council on Welfare. In 1976 she was elected
the Toronto City Council. In 1978 she was again elected becoming a senior
alderman and she had the added duty of sitting on the Metro Council. She
tried running for the Liberal Party in the 1984 federal election but was not
successful. In 1988 she declined to run in the 1988 Toronto municipal
election accepting instead an appointment as the 1st women chair
of the Police Commission.
In 1991 she was elected as the 1st woman Mayor of Toronto
defeating Jack Layton (1950-2011) by a margin of two to one votes. She had
one term when she was defeated in the 1994 Toronto Municipal elections by
Barbara Hall (1946- ). In 2004 Davisville Park in Toronto was renamed in
her honour in recognition of her dedication to the city. An Historic plaque
was installed in the park: ‘June Rowland… Dedicated Leader and Woman of
Firsts’.
(2020) |
Claudette Roy |
Born St. Paul, Alberta. Claudette was a teacher and school
administrator who supported Francophone projects in her home province.
Claudette served as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Canadian Museum
of History Corporation from 1995 thought 2007. She was a founding member of
La Cite francophone, a community business centre in Edmonton and also
a founding member of Edmonton's Chante music festival. For her promotion of
francophone rights and community support she is a Member of the Order of
Canada and in 2002 she was presented with the Queen Elizabeth ll Jubilee
Medal and the Alberta Centennial Medal. In 2008 she was unsuccessful in her
bid to earne a seat in the federal house of commons.
(2019) |
Jocelyne Roy-Vienneau |
Born 1956, Newcastle, New Brunswick. Jocelyne was one of the 1st
women to graduate from the Université of Moncton in Engineering. She went on
to earn her Master’s degree in Public Administration from her university and
then her provincial teaching certificate. She began her career as a Project
Engineer at the Esso Imperial Oil Limited, Montreal. She was the 1st
woman Vice President of the Université de Moncton and the 1st
woman to direct a francophone community college in New Brunswick. Jocelyne
married Ronald Vienneau and the couple has two children. She served as
Assistant Deputy Minister, Post-Secondary Education, for the province of New
Brunswick. In 2003 she was Alumni of the Year at the Université de Moncton’s
Engineering Faculty. In
August 2014 she was appointed as the 1st Acadian women to be
Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick.
In
2015 she received the Paul Harris Fellow from the Shediac Rotary Club
[2017] |
Beverly Salmon
Black politician,
Councillor, Toronto |
Beverly studied nursing in 1950 at Wellesley Hospital and
completed her studies at the University of Toronto in 1954. She began
working in Detroit, Michigan, U.S.A. where she heard civil rights leader
Martin Luther King speak. That same year she married Dr. Douglas Salmon and
the couple had four children in Toronto. In 1975 she was in the forefront of
her community as a founding member of the Toronto Urban Alliance on Race
Relations (UARR). She would serve on the UARR Board of Directors. She became
the Ontario Human Rights Commissions 1st Black female commissioner. In 1976
she ran for a Councillor position in North York but was not successful.
Determined Beverly went on to be elected and serve 1st as a Councillor for
the City North York and later
she was
Metro Toronto's 1st female Black city Councillor from 1985 -1997.
From 1989 to 1994 she served on the Toronto Transit Commission Board being
Vice Chair from 1991-1994. In 1995 she earned the Excellence in Politics
Award from the African Canadian Achievement Awards. In 1999 she was on the
honour roll of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities. In 2012 she was
presented with the Queen Elizabeth ll Diamond Jubilee Medal. She was In 2016
she was inducted into the Order of Ontario and the following year she was
inducted into the Order of Canada. (2019) |
Jeanne Mathilde Sauvé
Governor General |
née Benoit. Born April 26, 1922, Howell, Saskatchewan. Died January 26,
1993, Montreal, Quebec. The Benoit family moved to Ottawa when Jeanne was
just a toddler. She attended the University of Ottawa earning her tuition by
working as a government translator. While working in Montreal Jeanne met
Maurice Sauvé. The two were married on September 24, 1948. The couple would
have one son. The young newly weds headed first to London England and then
to Paris where Jeanne worked at the Youth Secretariat of UNESCO. In 1951 she
attended university at the Sorbonne earning a degree in French Civilization.
In 1952, while living in St Hyacinthe, Quebec Jeanne helped found the
Institute of Political Research and began working as a broadcast journalist
for the CBC. She earned a position in the male bastion of political
journalism and from 1956-1963 she hosted her own television show,
Opinions. In 1972 she ran for a seat in the House of Commons and became
the 1st Quebec woman in a federal cabinet with the position of
Minister of State for Science and Technology. She would later serve in
cabinet positions in the environment and Communications. On April 14, 1980
she was appointed as 1st woman to be Speaker to the House of
Commons. When television camera first came to record proceedings of the
house, Sauvé was asked to put some blue colouring in her dazzling white hair
which was too bright for television filming. Her time as Speaker was known
for its cuts in expenses and for starting the 1st daycare for
Parliament Hill. On May 14, 1984 Jeanne Sauvé was sworn in as the 23rd
Governor General of Canada since confederation. She was the 1st
woman to receive this position. She served in this position until 1993
fostering youth peace programs, creating the Governor General’s Award for
Safety in the workplace and supporting nationalism. Upon retirement she
established the Sauvé Foundation where she worked until her death. The
Jeanne Sauvé Trophy is presented in World Cup Women’s Field Hockey. In 1994
Canada Post issued a postage stamp in her honour. |
Martha Scarrow
Political volunteer |
née Nagel. Born November 12, 1912. Died February
14,1971,
Sarnia, Ontario. Raised on the family homestead near Mossbank, Saskatchewan. He
father died at a young age leaving her mother to raise seven children. The young
family experienced many hardships in the 1920’s and 1930’s. attended Normal
School (teacher’s college) in Regina in 1930 and was introduced to the C.C.F.
(Commonwealth Co-operative Party). She married Edgar Scarrow (1912-1985) in
1936 and continued to teach in Saskatchewan. In 1938 the couple moved to
Kirkland Lake, Ontario where they were both active in the political and
labour movements. Martha always active in her local C.C.F. riding
association, was elected delegate to the Regina congress. In 1943 they moved the
family, now with two children, to Sarnia, Ontario. In 1948 she was the first woman to
run as a C.C.F candidate in West Lambton. The family enjoyed the honour and
privilege of sharing their home with Tommy Douglas, David Lewis, Ken Dryden,
and other prominent C.C.F. activists over the years. Martha spent many years
teaching leather craft at Hope School in Sarnia, where she was recognized
for her long time dedication to the students.
Source: emails from Shirley Scarrow.
(2020) |
Sandelle D. Scrimshaw |
Born Hamilton, Ontario. Sandelle spent a year at the Universite de Besancon,
France, before attending the University of Western Ontario in London,
Ontario to earn her BA in 1973. She worked as administrative trainer. In
1974 through 1979 she worked with the National Museums on the Discovery
Train and took courses in political science at Carleton University in
Ottawa. In 1979
she worked for the Canada International Development Agency. By 1984 she was
posted to Abidjan, Ivory Coast. In 1987 she was the 1st woman to
serve as Canada’s High Commissioner to Ghana and was also accredited as
ambassador to Togo, Benin and Liberia. In 1990 she was back in Ottawa and
the following year she became a single parent. From 1997 through 2000 she
served as Director General of the African Bureau of the Department of
Foreign Affairs. From 2003 to 2006 she was Commissioner to South Africa,
Mauritius, Namibia, Lesotho and Swaziland.
Source: Wiers, Margaret K Envoys
Extraordinary Women of the Canadian Foreign
Service. Dundurn Press, 1995. (2020) |
Sarah Ramsland Scythes
MPP, Saskatchewan |
née McEwen. Born July 19,1882 Minnesota, U.S.A. Died Regina, Saskatchewan
April 4, 1964. In 1906 she married Magnus Ramsland. The couple settled in
Saskatchewan and raised a family of three children. When her husband died of
the Spanish flu in
1918,
family convinced
her to run for his vacant seat in a Saskatchewan by-election.
She became the first woman elected to the
Saskatchewan legislature. The law had been changed only in 1917 which
allowed women to run. She would serve a Pelly area member of the legislative
Assembly until 1925. She was a staunch defender of her constituents’ need
and was the first MLA to suggest marking sites of historical interest in the
province. Upon leaving politics Sarah she became a librarian establishing
Saskatchewan’s traveling library program. After marrying William George
Franklin Scythes in 1942 she turned her energies into community activities
and volunteer work.
Source: City of Regina. Heritage & History Online. (Accessed January 2012.;
Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan online (Accessed January 2012) |
Glenda Simms
|
Born Jamaica, 1939. Glenda was a teacher in her home of Jamaica but was
encouraged by a Canadian teach working in Jamaica Glenda accepted a teaching
position in Northern Alberta at the Fort Chipewyan reserve in 1966. Her
students had never seen a black person before and Glenda had never seen
aboriginal children. It did not take long for her to accept the warm and
openness of the community. In 1967 she was joined by her husband in Canada
and in 1968 her 3 children arrived. Glenda earned her Master’s degree in
1976 at the University of Alberta, Edmonton in Educational Psychology and
her PhD in 1985 taught at various universities.
From 1977 to
1980 she taught Native Education in the Faculty of Education at the
University of Lethbridge, Alberta; she was Head of the Native Education
Department at the Saskatchewan Indian Federated College, University of
Regina, from 1980 to 1985 and she served as the Supervisor of Inter-cultural
Education, Race and Ethnic Relations for the Regina Public School Board from
1985 to 1987, Head of the Native Education program at the Nipissing
University, North Bay, Ontario 1987-1989. Her volunteer commitments have
seen her in the role as President of the Congress of Black Women in Canada,
Vice-president of Match International, being a member of the Native
Curriculum Review Committee, treasurer of the Institute of Public
Administrators of Canada in Regina. She is a founding member and Director
of the National Organization of Immigrant and Visible Minority Women of
Canada and a member of the Board of Directors of the Ontario Housing
Corporation.
She became President of the Canadian Advisory Council on the Status of women
in January 1990, the 1st Black woman to be appointed to this
level of the federal government in Canada.
In
1988 she was amongst the first group of Canadians to receive the Citizenship
Citation, awarded by the Secretary of State for outstanding contribution to
Canadian society. In 1988 she also received an Award of Excellence from the
Canadian Association of Principals and in 1989 an Appreciation Award from
the Organizers of the Junior Black Achievement Awards. She has been the
recipient of the 1990 National Award from the Canadian Council for
Multicultural and Intercultural Education. In 1991 she was one of the first
two people inducted into the North Bay Human Rights Hall of Fame, In 1992
she was awarded the Inter-Amicus Human Rights Award by McGill University for
her contribution to the rights of Aboriginal peoples, women and racial
minorities; and in 1993 the Ryerson Fellowship Award by Ryerson Polytechnic
University and the Distinguished Alumna Award by the University of Alberta.
Also in 1993 she was made an Honorary Member of the Federation of Medical
Women of Canada. In 2009 she launched St. Elizabeth Women (SEW) Ltd. A
social action organization aimed at empowering women to deal with economic
and social
stress
in Jamaica.
|
Elizabeth Joan Smith
MPP, Ontario |
Born January 5, 1928. Died February 9, 2016, St. Lucia. Joan graduated from the University of Toronto with a Bachelor of Arts. She
was a founding member of Mme. Vanier Children's Services and Diocesan
Catholic Services in London, Ontario. She also served on the Board of
Governors at the University of Western Ontario, London. She married Don
Smith and the couple raised seven children. In 1976 she ran and was elected
to London City Council where she served for nine years. In 1985 she ran and
was elected to the Ontario legislature in 1985 and was re-elected in 1987
when she was appointed as Solicitor General. She resigned on June 6, 1989
amidst controversy. While she would run in two additional elections she was
not successful in re-election. (2020) |
Mary Ellen Smith |
née
Spear. Born October 11, 1863, Tavistock,
United
Kingdom. Died
May 3, 1933. Mary Ellen taught school before she married Ralph Smith
(1858-1917).
The couple immigrated to Canada and settled in British Columbia in 1891.
Ralph became a politician and served in both the Legislature in British
Columbia and the federal parliament in Ottawa. Mary Ellen was a member of
the Suffrage League of Canada, the Women's Canadian Club where she served as
president, the Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire (IODE)
and the Canadian Red Cross. After the death
of her husband she ran in the
January 1918 by-election for his seat and became the 1st
woman elected to the British Columbia provincial legislature and the 1st
woman Cabinet Minister in the entire British Empire. After World
War l she raised money for war veterans and helped to establish factories to
employ blind children. She was elected again in 1920 and 1924. During her
time in the provincial legislature she introduced a law establishing a
minimum wage for women and girls, and helped enact laws establishing
juvenile courts, allowing women to sit as judges, creating social welfare
support for deserted wives, passing laws protecting women in the workplace
and establishing a pension for mothers. She also reflected her era by
accepting the ideas justification of legislation to protect the
Anglo-Canadian race.
She would serve as acting
speaker of the Legislative Assembly in February 1928 becoming the 1st woman
to hold the position of a Speaker in the British Empire.
In 1929 she went to Geneva, Switzerland as Canada's delegate to the
International Labour Organization.
Sources: Cathy
Converse,
Mainstays: Women Who Shaped BC,1998.
|
Monique Smith |
Born North
Bay, Ontario. She earned her B.A. at the University of Toronto and then
attended Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario for her law degree. She also
attended the Rotman School of Management at Queen’s University. She worked
as a lawyer prior to entering politics. From 2003 through 2011 she
represented the riding of Nipissing in Northern Ontario in the Ontario
Provincial legislature. On October 30, 2007 she was appointed Minister of
Revenue. September 18, 2008 she changed portfolios to become Minister of
Tourism and on February 4, 2009 she was also appointed Government House
Leader. In January 2010 she was appointed Minister of Intergovernmental
Affairs. She did not run in the election of 2011. In 2013 she was chose as
leader of the transition team to bring in the new Kathleen Wynn Liberal
government of Ontario.
Source:
Ontario Legislature Online. Accessed June 2013.
|
Mira Spivak |
née
Steele. Born July 12, 1934 Rivine, Ukraine (at that time Poland) She earned
her BA from the University of Manitoba. She would marry Manitoba politician
Sidney Spivak (1928-2002) and the couple would have 3 children. Prime
Minister Brian Mulroney appointed her to the Senate of Canada November 17,
1986 representing Manitoba. February 3, 2004 she decided to sit in the
Senate as an Independent rather than become a member of the new Conservative
Party. By 2006 she was a supporter of the Green Party. She retired from the
Senate at the mandatory retirement date of 75 years of age July 12, 2009. |
Anna Ethel Sprott |
Born 1879(?) Norwood, Ontario. Died October 9, 1961, Vancouver British
Columbia. She studied at the University of Toronto. Married she quickly
found herself a widow and moved to Vancouver in 1911. Seeking practical
training she attended Sprott-Shaw Schools of Commerce, Radio and Telegraphy.
In 1918 she married the school’s founder, Robert James Sprott. After his
death in 1943, she became president of the school and went on to become the
founder of West Coast Radio School. She was elected as a Vancouver alderman
in December 1949. She was elected for additional terms serving the city
until 1959. She was the 1st woman elected for three terms making
her the longest serving woman council member in city history. She was also
the 1st woman to serve as acting mayor in September 1953. The
Vancouver Hall of Fame reports that upon retirement she admitted to writing
secret letters on council's behalf to those celebrating 50th and 60th
anniversaries and 90th or 100th birthdays
Source: Vancouver
Hall of Fame online (Accessed November 2012)
|
Lady Helena E. Squires |
née
Strong. Born 1879 Little Bay Islands, Newfoundland. 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.
|
Bette Stephenson |
SEE - Medical Professionals |
Diane Rose Stratus |
Born Saskatoon Saskatchewan December 28, 1932.
A
professional businesswoman, Diane was elected to Canadian Parliament in Joe
Clark Government of May 1979 – February 1980, where she was appointed as
Parliamentary Secretary to Secretary of State, David MacDonald. She was the
first woman of Greek-Canadian heritage elected to the House of Commons and
the one of two women, the other was the Hon. Flora MacDonald, to sit in the
Clark government. In 1992 Diane received the 125th Anniversary of
Confederation of Canada Medal and in 1994 she was recognized with a Lifetime
Women’s Achievement Award by the Toronto Greek Community. In 2009 she was
proud to see her second son, David appointed a judge of the Federal Court of
Appeal.
Source: Canada Parliament. House of Commons.
|
Lady Helena Emiline Squires |
née Strong. Born 1879,
Little Bay Islands, Newfoundland.
Died 1959, Toronto, Ontario. 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, Sir Richard
Anderson Squires, 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 1st woman elected to the
Newfoundland House of Assembly in 1930.
When Newfoundland entered Confederation
in 1949 she was elected the 1st president of the
provincial Liberal
Association where she served for nine years.
(2020) |
Gladys Grace May Strum |
Born Saskatchewan February 4, 1906. Died British Columbia August
15, 2005A mother and a farmers wife she understood issues facing rural
Saskatchewan. When her husband became ill her interest in Politics reached
fulfillment. At 16 she was teaching a rural one room schoolhouse. She would
later not only attend teachers college but she would , as a mature student,
earn her B.A. and B. Ed. At the University of Saskatchewan. While teaching
she met and married Warner Strum on November 16, 1929. The had one daughter.
At one time she travelled to New Zealand to see if it would provide a better
living condition for her ill husband. The family remained in Saskatchewan.
Gladys ran unsuccessfully to be a member of the provincial parliament in
1938 and 1944.. She did however go on to become the first woman president of
the co-operative Commonwealth Federation C.C.F. party making her the first
Canadian woman to be president of a political party in Canada. In 1945 she
was elected Member of Parliament in Ottawa for Qu'Appelle, Saskatchewan,
where she sat in the House of Commons with 244 male members. She was the
first woman of the CCF. elected to the Canadian Parliament. She was defeated
in the 1949 election and returned to teach in Saskatchewan. In 1952 the
family moved to British Columbia in the hops of easing Warner’s health. In
1953 she ran for parliament but6 was again defeated. The family returned to
Saskatchewan and Gladys became principal of a school in Uranium City. By
1960 she was an elected member of Provincial Parliament where she would vote
on the famous Saskatchewan medical Act in 1962. She and her husband returned
once again to British Columbia to be near their daughter and grandchildren
in retirement. |
Grace
Jean Sutherland Boggs |
SEE under Boggs |
Anna Mariana Terana |
Born March 31, 1937 Torino, Italy. Anna immigrated to Canada in
1966 and settled on the Canadian west coast. She worked as an administrator
of the British Columbia Police Commission prior to becoming interested to
serve as a politician. From 1993 through 1997 she served as a member of the
Canadian parliament representing Vancouver. She has worked as a community
member of the National Parole Board and a full time member of the
Immigration and Refugee Board. She was the first woman president of the
Italian Cultural Society. In all she has served on over 40 boards,
committees and commissions including: The United Way; Big Brother and Big
sister; the Vancouver Centennial Commission; the Vancouver multicultural
Society. She has served as editor of an Italian Canadian monthly newspaper
and has worked as a broadcaster on Italian television. In 1988 she received
the Order of Italy. In 1992 she received the 125 Anniversary of
Confederation Medal. She has been the Italian Canadian of the Year and in
2000 she received the National Canadian Italian Award. In 2007 she was
awarded the Italian Cultural Centre Society’s Immigrant of the Year. |
Lise Thibault |
Born
April 2, 1939, Saint-Roch-de-l’Achigan, Quebec. 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. |
Manitok Catherine Thompson
|
Born 1955, Coral Harbour, Northwest Territories. Manitok graduated from the
Teacher Education Program in Fort Smith in 1977 and went on to teach in
schools in Coral Harbour, Repulse Bay and Yellowknife until 1983. She
remained in the education field for the next 12 years, holding the positions
of Coordinator of Interpreter Services with the Stanton Yellowknife
Hospital, Language Consultant, Inuktitut Programs Specialist and high school
teacher. Manitok was also an active community volunteer, organizing the
inaugural Keewatin Arts and Crafts Festival, music festivals, Rankin Inlet’s
Hamlet Days and was a member of the Concerned Citizens against Drug and
Alcohol Abuse. She also was a volunteer pastor for a small church in Repulse
Bay. In recognition for her civic involvement she received the Volunteer
Award for the Hamlet of Rankin Inlet. In 1994, she entered politics at the
municipal level as a Counselor for Rankin Inlet and was appointed to the
Nunavut Social Development Committee. She was 1st elected to the Northwest
Territories' Legislature for the riding of Aivilik in a by-election on May
8, 1995, and re-elected in October of the same year. While holding the
cabinet portfolios of Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs and
Minister responsible for the Women's Directorate she was a member of the
Standing Committee on Finance, the Standing Committee on Agencies, Boards
and Commissions and the Special Committee on Housing. On February 15, 1999,
the 1st election for the new territory, she won a seat in the
Nunavut Legislature for the Rankin Inlet South/Whale Cove riding. Manitok
served as Nunavut’s 1st woman cabinet minister as Minister
responsible for Public Works and Services and Minister responsible for the
Nunavut Housing Corporation. In 2001 she was named minister of Community
Government and Transportation and Minister responsible for Sport Nunavut. .
Retiring from territorial politics in 2004 she ran as an independent
candidate in the federal Canadian election in 2004 where she finished in 2nd
place. Manitok now works as an official with the territorial Nunavut
government. She is married to Tom Thompson and the couple have two children.
|
Joyce Trimmer |
Born London, England November 10, 1927. Died May 17, 2008. She and
her pilot husband, Douglas moved to Canada in 1954 and lived on Toronto
Island in Ontario. Many of their crated processions were destroyed when
Hurricane Hazel became a welcoming event to their new country. Later they
would move to the greener areas of Scarborough Township on the eastern edge
of Toronto. Joyce worked originally as a secretary at a secondary school and
after working for her Your University degree part time she became a teacher
of typing and business at the school. She also was an ardent supporter of
green spaces . Friends urged her to run for politics and in 1974 she became
a local Scarborough controller. In 1988 she became Scarborough’s first woman
mayor. A devoted and ardent worker for her home town, she retired in 1994
leaving a green space legacy in the Rouge River Valley. She travelled and
enjoyed genealogy embracing computers for her hobby. She had conquered
breast cancer in her 40’s and remained cancer free for 35 years! In 2007
doctor’s discovered a brain tumor and her health declined rapidly.
Source: Obituary,
Toronto Star…(accessed August 2008) |
Nycole Trumel |
Union leader and Member of Parliament SEE
- Social Activists. |
Phyllis Gregory Ross Turner |
née Gregory.
Born 1903, Rossland, British Columbia. Died April 18, 1988. She studied at
the University of British Columbia and at Bryn Mawr in the U.S.A. She
married Leonard Turner and the couple had three children. She became a widow
in 1929. In 1934 she worked for the Dominion Tariff Board and worked her way
to the position of Chief Economist. During World War ll she worked on the
Wartimes Prices and Trade Board and became oils and Fats Administrator which
was the most senior position in the federal public service to be held by a
woman up to that time. Her wartime services were recognized with appointment
of the Order of the British Empire. In 1945 she married Frank Ross, and
industrialist and later Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia form
1955-1960. In 1961 Phyllis became the 1st woman to hold the
position of Chancellor of the University of British Columbia. In 1966 she
was inducted into the Order of Canada. It is easy to see, which such and
introduction to political life how her son, John Napier Turner could have
found his interest in Politics. He would serve as the 17th Prime
Minister of Canada.
Source:
The Collins Dictionary of Canadian History 1867 to present
by
David Bercuson and J. L. Granastein. (Collins, 1988) : Obituary. University
of British Columbia. Online. (Accessed February 2014)
|
Mabel Margaret Van Camp |
Born 1920, Blackstock, Ontario. Died April 19, 2012, Toronto, Ontario. She
finished high school at 16 and was the first person from Blackstock to
attend university. After graduating from the University of Toronto she
studied at Osgoode Law school and was called to the bar in 1947. Women were
not well accepted in the profession and it took her awhile to find a firm
that would hire her. Soon she was leading the firm when the boss was off
sick. The firm became Beaudoin, Pepper and Van Camp. In 1965 she was
appointed to the Queen’s Bench. In 1971 she was appointed as the first woman
to the Ontario Supreme Court by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. A proper
title was finally accepted when she became Madam Justice. She was also the 1st
woman member of the Royal Canadian Military Institute. A true pioneer and
mentor for women in the profession. Her charities included the I.O.D.E, the
YWCA for which she was President in Toronto in the 1960’s. In 2003 she was
awarded the Order of Ontario.
Source; ”I am the
damn judge” by William Illsey Atkinson.
The Globe and Mail. August 9,
2012. Suggestion submitted by
June Coxon, Ottawa. |
Helena Walker |
née Masters. Born 1867, Wolfeville, Nova Scotia. Died 1963, Regina,
Saskatchewan. She earned her masters degree from the Nova Scotia,
University, Halifax and in 1912 moved to the Saskatchewan to teach school.
She attended Regina Normal School (Teachers college) in 1914. In 1920 she
married Ashley Walker. The couple would have two children. Since married
women could not work as teachers she had to find other places to use her
energies. In 1925 she was elected to the Regina Public School Board and
became chair in 1927. In 1932 she became the first woman to not only run but
win the elected position of elected alderman for the City of Regina. She was
always known as Alderman Mrs. Ashley Walker, she never used her own first
name. She served the city in this position for 9 years. She insisted the
city hire women police officers and was president of the Women’s Voluntary
Services for World War ll. She also served in the 1930’s and 1940’s on the
Regina Public Library Board and the welfare services Board. She was
president of the Local Council of Women, the University Women’s Club and the
Women’s Canadian Club. Upon her death the citizens of Regina learned that
her first name was Helena.
Source: City of Regina. Heritage &
History. Online. (Accessed January 2012.) |
Elsie
Eleanor
Wayne
MP |
née
Fairweather. Born April 30 1932, Shediac, New Brunswick. Died August 30,
2016, Saint John, New Brunswick. Elsie married Richard Wayne and the couple
had two sons. In 1977 she won election to the Saint John City Council and in
1983 she became the 1st woman mayor of Saint John. In 1998 she
was successful in running for a seat as a Progressive Conservative member in
the Canadian federal parliament. It was an all-time low for the PC party as
only Elsie and Jean Charest were elected party members. In 1998 she was
appointed PC Party interim Leader until Prime Minister Joe Clark was elected
that year. She served as deputy leader under Clark. She was a “Straight
Shooter’ when it came to speaking her mind. She was flamboyant and had flare
and a great sense of humour even wearing reindeer antlers in the House of
Commons. She stood up for recognition of the war effort of the Merchant
Marines and for other veterans although she did not see why veterans should
have free viagra!. She retired from politics in 2004. Health problems flared
when she had a stroke in 2009. |
Charlotte Elizabeth Whitton
Mayor of Ottawa |
Born March 8, 1896, Renfrew, Ontario.
Died January 25, 1975, Ottawa, Ontario. Charlotte attended Queen’s
University, Kingston, Ontario where she enjoyed playing hockey and earned a
Master’s of Art degree. This sociall worker, politician, and feminist was a
colourful, energetic, outspoken, and 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 .She published two books in 1943, The Dawn
of Ampler Life and A Hundred Years a-Fellin, A history of Logging
. 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, Charlotte entered Ottawa City politics winning a seat on what
was then called the board of control. When the elected mayor died in
office the next year she succeeded him as mayor. She was re-elected mayor in
1952, 1954, 1960, and again 1964. In 1958 she made an unsuccessful attempt
to run for Parliament. Later she served as an Ottawa Alderman until 1972. As
mayor she pioneered communications with the electorate by hosting her own TV
show and her own newspaper column. In 1967, she was one of inaugural person
inducted into the Order of Canada. According to some sources she was opposed
to non British immigration to Canada. She was considered by some as a racist
and anti Semitist but yet was received by various Jewish organizations and
signed papers to nominate the first Jewish Mayor of Ottawa, Lorry Greenberg
(1933-1999). Charlotte never married but lived for 32 years with her
companion, Margaret Grier (d 1947), a friend from her university days. The
Ottawa City Hall hosts a plaque dedicated to her from the Ontario Heritage
Trust. No Bleeding Hears: Charlotte Whitton: A Feminist on the Right
was published in 1987 and in 2010 a second biography was entitled
Charlotte: The Last Suffragette. In 2008 a play, Molly's Veil by
Sharon Bajer dramatized the relationship of Margaret and Charlotte. Her
personal papers are held by the Library and Archives Canada.
(2020) |
Cairine Reay Wilson
Senator |
née Mackay Born February 4, 1885, Montreal, Quebec. Died
March 3, 1962, Ottawa Ontario. A child of an influential
and wealthy family in Montreal, Cairine grew up
bilingual with a keen interest in keeping informed with
life. She often travelled with her father to Ottawa and
admired a family friend, Sir Wilfrid Laurier. In 1909
she married Norman Wilson (1878-1956) and the young
couple moved to Cumberland Township, near Ottawa, to
raise their family of eight children. In 1918 they
retained their Cumberland property but moved to downtown
Ottawa. While her family was at home Cairine was active
in her church and the local Red cross. Once her family
was growing she become more interested in the life in
Ottawa Politics and she became co-president of the
Eastern Ontario Liberal Association.
On February 15, 1930, Prime
Minister William Lion Mackenzie, appointed her as
Canada’s 1st woman in the Senate. She would
prefer to be remembered for her work to serve refugees
and for being outspoken against anti-Semitism in Canada.
She did not pull punches and spoke up for what she
believed. At the beginning of the upheaval in Europe in
World War ll William Lion Mackenzie King was reluctant
to accept Jewish refugees as immigrants to Canada.
Cairine worked to accept 100 orphans into Canada. A
Television Historical Minute telecast shows viewed in
the 1990’s shows Wilson arguing the case for refugees.
She served as chair of the Canadian National Committee
on Refugees 1938-1948, and was Canada’s 1st woman
delegate to the new United Nations in 1949. In 1950 she
was presented with the Knight of the Legion of Honour,
the highest civilian honour from France, for her work on
behalf of child refugees. In 1955 she became the 1st
woman Deputy Speaker in the Canadian Senate. A secondary
School in Orleans, located not far from the Wilson
family farm in Cumberland Township, is named in her
honour. She is buried in Dale Cemetery near her former
farm and her tombstone simply reads “Appointed to the
Senate 1930”
Sources First Person, Valerie Knowles (Toronto, Dundurn
Press, 1988 ;
personal
knowledge. Photo;
The Cairine Wilson Bust was sculpted in
1939 by Felix Wilson and is displayed in the Senate area
of the Canadian Parliament buildings. |
Cornelia Lucinda
Wood
MP |
née Railey. Born April 14, 1892, St Joseph, Missouri,
U.S.A. Died December 26, 1985, Stony Plain, Alberta. Her
family relocated 1st to Oklahoma City and in
1904 to a farm in Stony Plain, Alberta. She attended
high school in Edmonton, Alberta, and then attended
Normal School (teachers college) in Calgary where she
graduated when she was 16 years old. She taught until
she married Russell Edgerton Wood on December 24, 1912.
Cornelia was a charter member of the Stony Plain Women’s
Institute where she served on the executive. In
1931-1935 she was Provincial Supervisor of the Women’s
Institute Girl’s Club. In 1937-1941 she served as
provincial secretary for the organization. She worked
with the Department of Agriculture in the Women’s Bureau
Branch as a demonstrator and lecturer. She was also
politically active campaigning 1st for the
Liberals before converting to the Social Credit Party.
In 1940 she was a successful candidate for Stony Plain
for the Social Credits and held her seat until 1955 and
again from 1958 till 1967. She always wore a new hat for
the start of the new Legislature. (Some of her hats are
preserved in the Alberta Museum Association
Multicultural Heritage Centre) After 1941 she served as
chair of the Social Welfare Subcommittee of the Alberta
Post War Reconstruction Committee. From 1955 through
1960, when she was not in the provincial parliament, she
served as chair of the Alberta division of the Community
Planning Association of Canada. Locally she also served
on the Library Board and the School Board. In 1953-1954
she was the Mayor of Stony Plain.
Sources: Cornelia Woods Fonds, Provincial Archives of
Alberta. Online Accessed July 2015; Kay Sanderson, 200
remarkable Alberta Women. Online Accessed July 2015.
(2020) |
Carolann Wright-Parks |
Born Beechville, Nova Scotia. Carolann attended Dalhousie University,
Halifax, Nova Scotia. In 1988 while living in Ontario she became the 1st
Black woman to run for the mayor of Toronto. She was unsuccessful in her bid
to be mayor. By 1994 she was back in Halifax, Nova Scotia and working as
Director of Community Economic Development and Strategies Engagement. 2017. |
Kathleen O'Day Wynne
Premier of Ontario |
Born May 21, 1953, Toronto, Ontario. Kathleen earned her
Bachelor of Arts degree from Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario and
then earned her Master's Degree from the University of Toronto. She then
attended the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education to earn her teaching
degree. In 1996, she helped found Citizens for Local Democracy, which
opposed the efforts of Ontario's Progressive Conservative government to
amalgamate Metro Toronto. Among the many community endeavors she founded the
Metro Parent Network to support improvements in the public education system.
She married Phil Cowperthwaite and the couple had three children. When she
was 37 she came out as a lesbian living with her partner Jan Rounthwaite.
The pair were married in 2005. In 2000 Kathleen was elected to
the public office as a Toronto District School Board Trustee. In 2003 she
was elected as a Provincial Member of Parliament under a Liberal government
where she served in various cabinet posts.
September 18, 2006 she was appointed Minister of Education becoming the
province's 1st openly lesbian cabinet minister. She served as the
25th Premier of Ontario from
February 11, 2013
to 2018. Kathleen is
the 1st woman
to be Premier of Ontario and the 1st openly LGBT Premier in Canada.
She originally replaced Dalton McGinty as Premier after his resignation and
was elected to the position in 2014. Her premiership was not all smooth
sailing as she attempted to privatize Ontario Hydro and raised the minimum
wage to $14.00 per hour with an increase of another dollar in the next year.
It should be noted that the unemployment rate in Ontario became lower than
the national average in 2015. The Liberals , under Premier Wynne not only
lost the 2018 provincial election but the Liberal Party also lost it's
official party standing. |
Viola Wyse
Aboriginal
Canadian,
Chief of the Snuneymuxu |
Born August 29, 1947 near Campbell River Reserve,
British Columbia. Died August 17, 2009.
In the 1960’s through 1960’s she worked for the Canadian
Department of Indian Affairs. She moved to Vancouver in
1994 where she joined the Snuneymuxu Band Office where
she worked through to 2001. The following year she
served on the Band Council. A strong administrator she
understood politics and she earned funding for new
homes, new water and sewer infrastructure and increased
the standard of living for all her people. In 2006 she
became the first woman Chief of the Snuneymuxu
encouraging other women to come to the forefront. Her
sudden death was a shock but her people moved forward
working with her powerful vision.
Source:
Viola Wyse by Derek Spalding
Daily
News, August 19, 2009.
|
Public Servants
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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. |
Pamela Ann McDougal. |
Born May 9,
1925. A diplomat and public servant she joined the Department of Externals
Affaires in 1949. She served in Germany, Vietnam, India, and Poland. She
headed the Royal Commission on Condition of the Foreign Service in 1981.
|
Blanche Margaret
Meagher |
Born
January 27, 1911,
Halifax, Nova Scotia . 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. |
Audrey Elizabeth O'Brien |
Audrey began her career working the public services of Canada
working for Opportunities for Youth prior working for committees. She was
named a table officer in the administration of the House of Commons under
speaker of the House, John Fraser, who was a knowledgeable mentor. In 2005
Audrey was appointed as the 12th and 1st women to be Clerk of the House of
Commons. This position is a Government-in-Council nomination and functions
as the chief executive of the administration of the House of Commons
providing advice to the Speaker and all Members of the house of Commons on
the interpretation of parliamentary rules, precedents and practices.
Audrey held this position until 2015. In 2015 she was named as a Member of
the Order of Canada. |
Sylvia Ostry |
née
Knelman. Born
June 3, 1927,
Winnipeg, Manitoba . She started her university
studies at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, earning a BA, MA and PhD.
She has studied and worked with many other universities in Canada, U.S.A.
and England. She has had a strong three decade career as a civil servant
holding administrative and political positions in various Canadian
government departments, including being Chief Statistician 1972-1975. She
would be the first woman to hold the rank of Deputy Minister in the
government of Canada February 18, 1976. |
Veena Rowat |
Born India. She moved to Ottawa, Ontario in 1968. She is the firs woman PhD
graduate in electrical engineering and the only woman in her 1973 graduating
class at Queens University, Kingston, Ontario. In 1974 she joined the Canada
Department of Communications (forerunner of Industry Canada) . Her 36 year
public service career has been studded with recognition. She has received
the Public Service Award of Excellence in 2011 for her contribution to
telecommunications and to women in leadership. 1n 2003 she received the
Queen Elizabeth ll Golden Jubilee Award as well as the Excellence in
Leadership Award from Industry Canada. 2004 saw her as Canadian Woman of the
Year in Communications for the Canadian Women In Communications. In 2005 she
was included in too listing of Canada’s most Powerful Women as expressed by
Canada’s Executive Women’s Network. That same year she was Professional
Woman of the Year for the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce. In 2008 she won
the Sara Kirke Award recognizing her as Canada’s leading woman high Tech
Entrepreneur from the Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance. In 2004 she was
the first woman president of the Communications Research Centre which is an
internationally-renowned agency of Industry Canada. She retained this
position until her retirement in June 2011. Always a mentor for women in
the 1990’s she worked with groups concerned with violence against women and
with high school girls sports teams. She is also a volunteer mentor with the
Women’s Executive Network.
Source: Canadian
Women in Technology
|
Mary J. May Simon
Aboriginal Canadian
|
Born
August 21, 1947,
Kangiqsaulujjuaq, Nunivak, Quebec. She was a member of
a family of eight children brought up in Canada’s arctic region. Since her
father was white, she and her siblings, by law, could not attend school
after grade 6 so their became schooled at home by their father. All would
graduate high school. May became an announcer and producer of Inuktitut
radio and television programs for CBC Northern Services. She left the CBC to
become Vice President and later President of the Makivik Corporation which
was established to oversee proper implementation of provided resources for
the Inuit peoples. In 1994 she became Canada’s first ambassador for
Circumpolar Affairs and from 1999 to 2000 she was Ambassador to Denmark, the
first Inuit woman in this type of diplomatic role. In 2005 she received an
honourary degree from Trent University. In 1991 she became a member of the
Order of Canada and in 2005 an officer of the order. In 1992 she received
the Order of Quebec. She also holds the Gold Order of Greenland. In 2011 she
became special advisor to the Labrador Inuit Association. She is also the
founding Chair of the Arctic Children’s and Youth Foundation to ensuring
access to higher education for all who seek it.
Source:
Mary May Simon; Canada’s first Ambassador for Circumpolar Affairs
by Sierra Bacquie. Section15.ca accessed June 2011. ; Order of Canada
website. Accessed June 2011. |
Janice L. Sutton |
Born Ponoka,
Alberta. In grade 9 high school she won the Governor's General Medal. She
attended university for a year but dropped out to work as a secretary in
Edmonton. She saw an advertisement for secretaries needed in the federal
Department of Extern Affairs so she packed her bags and left for Ottawa in
the fall of 1956. She began working at External Affairs in Ottawa and then
was posted to New York City, New York for 4 years before being re-assigned
to Bogota, Columbia. She was still working as a secretary but in the small
offices she completed duties beyond her rank. Back in Ottawa she attended
night classes at the University of Ottawa and passed the administrative
Officers exam at External. She was posted to Saigon, Vietnam in 1968.
Returning to Ottawa she was in charge of the secretaries in the Personnel
Division. When she graduated University in 1974 her position was converted
to that of a Foreign Service Officer. She was the 1st woman to
sit on the Board of the Professional Association of Foreign Service
Officers. In the mid 1970’s she married a fellow Foreign Service Officer,
Franklin Wiebe. She maintained her own name and refused to leave her career
because she was married. The couple found positions together in Jakarta. In
1978 they were back in Ottawa where Janice worked in the Middle East
Division traveling to Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Sryia and Kuwait. She created
the Briefing Book for Prime Minister Trudeau’s trip to Saudi Arabia. In 1982
the couple were assigned to Delhi, India where during her tenure there
Franklin retired. From 1985-1987 in Ottawa she worked with the Canadian
International Development Agency where she often was forced to put cracks in
the glass ceiling to be accepted. She retired to be with her husband and
became a freelance writer. She has sat on the Board for Interval House and
the Lennox Addington Historical Society.
Source: Margaret Weiers,
Envoys Extraordinary: Women of the Canadian
Foreign Service (Toronto: Dundurn, 1995)
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