Firsts for Women in Government

 Agnes Macphail, First Canadian Woman Member of Parliament

Kelsey Studio / Library and Archives Canada / C-006908

It's hard to believe that it wasn't until 1918 that Canadian women first had the same voting rights as men in federal elections. A year later women gained the right to run for election to the House of Commons and the election of 1921 was the first federal election that included female candidates. Here are more historical firsts for Canadian women in government.

Agnes Macphail was the first Canadian woman to be a member of parliament. She was a strong activist for penal reform and founded the Elizabeth Fry Society of Canada, a group working with and for women in the justice system. Cairine Wilson was the first woman appointed to the Canadian Senate, just months after the Persons Case gave women the right to sit in the Senate. It wasn't until 1953 that another woman was appointed to the Senate in Canada As Minister of Citizenship and Immigration in the Diefenbaker government, Ellen Fairclough was responsible for introducing measures which went a long way towards the elimination of racial discrimination in Canadian immigration policy. Bertha Wilson, the first woman justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, supported the broad application of the Canadian Charter of Rights. She is probably best known as the author of the Supreme Court decision overturning Criminal Code of Canada restrictions on abortion in 1988. Jeanne Sauvé was not only Canada's first Canadian woman Governor General, she was also one of the three first women members of parliament to be elected from Quebec, the first woman federal cabinet minister from Quebec, and the first woman Speaker of the House of Commons. Audrey McLaughlin went to the Yukon looking for adventure. She became a member of parliament for the Yukon, and was then elected leader of the federal New Democratic Party. Most of Rita Johnston's political career was as a municipal councillor in Surrey, British Columbia, but her foray into provincial politics landed her several cabinet minister posts and a short stint as Premier of British Columbia. A neurology researcher, Roberta Bondar was one of the six original Canadian astronauts selected in 1984 to train at NASA. Eight years later she became the first Canadian woman and the second Canadian astronaut to go into space. Although popular at the start of her brief tenure as Prime Minister, Kim Campbell led the Progressive Conservative Party to the greatest defeat in Canadian political history. Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin, the first woman to head the Supreme Court of Canada, has tried to improve public understanding of the role of the Supreme Court and the judiciary in Canada.

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