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The first women elected in Canada

par Maurice Y. Michaud (il/lui)

We Can Do It!
© Photo 1943 J. Howard Miller — Public domain

Whenever we think about how women got the right to vote more than a century ago, we then almost immediately start thinking about the pioneers — those who got elected immediately after they could be: Agnes Macphail federally in 1921, Mary Ellen Smith in British Columbia in 1918, Louise McKinney and Roberta McAdams in Alberta in 1917, and so on.

But as this table demonstrates, doing so renders us blind to the extent to which women were in fact absent from the political realm from the time they could run for office to the time when one was in fact elected.

Women’s right to vote and to be a candidate, and years before a first woman was elected
Right ↓	CA	← Federal Provinces + Territories ↓
Vote	1918
Candidate	1919
Years ✓ (Fed.)	2 (1921)
	BC	AB	SK	MB	ON
Vote	1917	1916	1916	1916	1917
Candidate	1917	1916	1916	1916	1919
Years ✓ (Fed.)	46 (1965)	22 (1941)	21 (1940)	44 (1963)	2 (1921)
Years ✓ (Prov.)	1 (1918)	1 (1916)	3 (1919)	4 (1920)	24 (1943)
	QC	NB	NS	PE	NL
Vote	1940	1919	1918	1922	1925
Candidate	1940	1934	1918	1922	1925
Years ✓ (Fed.)	53 (1972)	45 (1964)	55 (1974)	42 (1961)	44 (1993)*
Years ✓ (Prov.)	21 (1961)	33 (1967)	42 (1960)	48 (1970)	5 (1930)
	YT	NT	NU	Exclusions (men or women) ↳ Asians until 1948 ↳ Inuit until 1951 ↳ First Nations until 1960 * From 1949 (Confederation) † From 1949 (first election) ‡ From 1962 (first election)
Vote	1919	1951	1999
Candidate	1919	1951	1999
Years ✓ (Fed.)	16 (1935)	13 (1962)†	0 (1962)‡
Years ✓ (Terr.)	48 (1967)	19 (1970)	0 (1999)

Not to take anything away from the pioneers, however, here they are.

Canada

1921 Federally
Agnes Macphail (1890–1954)		Election Date 6 December 1921 Age at election 31 years 8 months Riding Grey Southeast [ON] Party Progressive Party
1965 British Columbia
Grace MacInnis (1905–1991)		Election Date 8 November 1965 Age at election 60 years 3 months Riding Vancouver Kingsway Party New Democratic Party of Canada
1941 Alberta
Cora Taylor Casselman (1888–1954)		Election Date 2 June 1941 Age at election 52 years 7 months Riding Edmonton East (by-election) Party Liberal Party of Canada
1940 Saskatchewan
Dorise Nielsen (1902–1980)		Election Date 26 March 1940 Age at election 37 years 7 months Riding North Battleford (by-election) Party Communist Party of Canada
1963 Manitoba
Margaret Konantz (1899–1967)		Election Date 8 April 1963 Age at election 63 years 11 months Riding Winnipeg South Party Liberal Party of Canada
1921 Ontario
Agnes Macphail (1890–1954)		Election Date 6 December 1921 Age at election 31 years 8 months Riding Grey Southeast Party Progressive Party
1972 Québec
Monique Bégin (1936–2023)		Election Date 30 October 1972 Age at election 36 years 7 months Riding Saint-Michel Party Liberal Party of Canada
Albanie Morin (1921–1976)		Election Date 30 October 1972 Age at election 51 years 6 months Riding Louis-Hébert Party Liberal Party of Canada
Jeanne Sauvé (1922–1993)		Election Date 30 October 1972 Age at election 50 years 6 months Riding Ahuntsic Party Liberal Party of Canada
1964 New Brunswick
Margaret Rideout (1923–2010)		Election Date 9 November 1964 Age at election 41 years 4 months Riding Westmorland (by-election) Party Liberal Party of Canada
1974 Nova Scotia
Coline Campbell (1940– )		Election Date 8 July 1974 Age at election 33 years 9 months Riding South Western Nova Party Liberal Party of Canada
1961 Prince Edward Island
Margaret Macdonald (1910–1968)		Election Date 29 May 1961 Age at election 50 years 6 months Riding King’s (by-election) Party Progressive Conservative Party of Canada
1993 Newfoundland and Labrador
Bonnie Hickey (1955– )		Election Date 25 October 1993 Age at election 38 years 7 months Riding St. John’s East Party Liberal Party of Canada
Jean Payne (1939–2020)		Election Date 25 October 1993 Age at election 54 years 5 months Riding St. John’s West Party Liberal Party of Canada
1935 Yukon
Martha Black (1866–1957)		Election Date 14 October 1935 Age at election 63 years 4 months Riding Yukon Party Independent Conservative
1962 Northwest Territories
Isabel Hardie (1916–2006)		Election Date 18 June 1962 Age at election 46 years 4 months Riding Northwest Territories Party Liberal Party of Canada
1997 Nunavut
Nancy Karetak-Lindell (1957– )		Election Date 2 June 1997 Age at election 39 years 5 months Riding Nunavut Party Liberal Party of Canada

British Columbia

1918
Mary Ellen Smith (1861–1933)		Election Date 24 January 1918 Age at election 56 years 3 months Riding Vancouver City (by-election) Party Independent

Alberta

1917
Louise McKinney (1868–1931)		Election Date 7 June 1917 Age at election 48 years 8 months Riding Claresholm Party Nonpartisan League
Roberta McAdams (1880–1959)		Election Date 18 September 1917 Age at election 37 years 1 month Riding Province-Wide (Soldiers’ vote) Party Canadian Soldier/Armed Forces

Saskatchewan

1919
Sarah Ramsland (1882–1964)		Election Date 29 July 1919 Age at election 37 years Riding Pelly (by-election) Party Liberal Party of Saskatchewan

Manitoba

1920
Edith Rogers (1876–1947)		Election Date 29 June 1920 Age at election 44 years 2 months Riding Winnipeg Party Liberal Party of Manitoba

Ontario

1943
Rae Luckock (1893–1972)		Election Date 4 August 1943 Age at election 49 years 9 months Riding Bracondale Party Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (ON)
Agnes Macphail (1890–1954)		Election Date 4 August 1943 Age at election 53 years 4 months Riding York East Party Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (ON)

Québec

1961
Marie-Claire Kirkland (1924–2016)		Election Date 14 December 1961 Age at election 37 years 3 months Riding Jacques-Cartier (by-election) Party Quebec Liberal Party

New Brunswick

1967
Brenda Robertson (1929–2020)		Election Date 13 October 1967 Age at election 38 years 4 months Riding Albert Party Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick

Nova Scotia

1960
Gladys Porter (1893–1967)		Election Date 7 June 1960 Age at election 66 years 10 months Riding Kings North Party Nova Scotia Progressive Conservative Party

Prince Edward Island

1970
Jean Canfield (1919–2000)		Election Date 11 May 1970 Age at election 60 years 7 months Riding Queens 1st — Assemblyman Party Liberal Party of Prince Edward Island

Newfoundland and Labrador

1930/1975
Helena Squires (1878–1959)		Election Date 17 May 1930 Age at election 51 years 11 months Riding Lewisporte (by-election) Party Liberal Party of Newfoundland
Hazel McIsaac (1933–2012)		Election Date 16 September 1975 Age at election 42 years 4 months Riding St. George’s Party Liberal Party of Prince Edward Island

Yukon

1967/1970
Jean Gordon (1918–2008)		Election Date 11 September 1967 Age at election 49 years 6 months Riding Mayo Party Independent
Hilda Watson (1922–1987)		Election Date 8 September 1970 Age at election 48 years 7 months Riding Carmacks-Kluane Party Independent

Northwest Territories

1970
Lena Pedersen (1940– )		Election Date 21 December 1970 Age at election 30 years Riding Central Arctic Party Independent

Nunavut

1999
Manitok Thompson (1955– )		Election Date 15 February 1999 Age at election 44 years Riding Rankin Inlet South/Whale Cove Party Independent