It’s been 100 years since Agnes Macphail was elected to the Canadian House of Commons. During her political career she championed the rights of farmers, miners, immigrants, prisoners, and women. Let’s learn a little more about her!
- Agnes Macphail was born in Grey County in 1890 and attended Owen Sound Collegiate School. (Here’s my quiz on other famous people from the Owen Sound area… How many can you recognize?)
2. In the first federal election in which women had the right to vote (1921), Macphail was the only woman elected to Parliament.
3. After a riot in the Kingston Penitentiary in 1923 Macphail toured the institution and then became a tireless advocate for prison reform.
4. In 1929 Macphail became the first woman to serve on Canada’s delegation to the League of Nations.
5. Macphail was a founding member of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, a forerunner of the New Democratic Party.
6. Macphail was a pacifist who argued against military spending and the glorification of war; however she voted in favour of Canada’s involvement in WWII because Hitler had to be opposed.
7. Macphail founded the Toronto branch of the Elizabeth Fry Society, which supports women and girls in conflict with the law.
8. Because of her beliefs and efforts, Macphail was accused of both communism and treason.
9. Macphail lost her seat in the House of Commons in 1940, but served on the Ontario Legislature from 1943 to 1945 and 1948 to 1951, where she helped pass Ontario’s first equal pay legislation in 1951.
10. Agnes Macphail died in 1954, not long before she would have been offered an appointment to the Senate.
To conclude, here is a Heritage Minute on Agnes Macphail and prison reform.