|
Political Affiliation: |
United Farmers of Ontario; Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (C.C.F.) |
|
Legislative Career: |
First elected to the House of Commons in the 1921 general election as member for Grey South East and then Grey Bruce. Served until 1940.
First elected to the Ontario Legislative Assembly in 1943 provincial election for York East. Served from 1943 to 1945 and then 1948-1951. |
After graduating from teacher's college in Stratford, Ontario, Agnes Campbell Macphail accepted several rural teaching positions in southwestern Ontario. She became involved in politics while she was working in Sharon, where she joined the United Farm Women of Ontario and attended meetings of the United Farmers of Ontario (U.F.O.). She wrote a column for the Farmers' Sun and frequently spoke on behalf of U.F.O. political candidates.
Despite resistance to the nomination of a female candidate, Macphail triumphed in the 1921 federal general election to become the first woman ever elected to the House of Commons. Amid opposition and ridicule from fellow Parliamentarians, Macphail took a particular interest in both the representation of her rural constituents and the fight for penal reform. Perhaps best known for the latter, her efforts came to fruition in 1936 when a Royal Commission was established to scrutinize the penal system, subsequently exposing extremely poor prison conditions and reiterating the suggestions for reform which Macphail had fought to implement.
Defeated in the general election of 1940, she began writing a column on agricultural issues for the Globe and Mail. However, she returned to the political arena in the 1943 Ontario election as the C.C.F. candidate for the riding of York East. With Rae Luckock she was one of the two first women to be elected to the Ontario Legislature. New MPPs were usually sworn in by alphabetical order; however, on February 23, 1944, Agnes Macphail was sworn in first, making her the first Ontario woman member, and Rae Luckock was sworn in as the second. After losing her seat in 1945, she was re-elected for a final term in 1948.
Throughout her career, Macphail strived to implement changes in a variety of areas including disarmament, international cooperation, and social reforms. At the time of her death in 1954, she was being considered for an appointment to the Canadian Senate.
Suggested Readings:
A brave and glorious adventure : the letters and speeches of Agnes Macphail. -- Edited by Doris Pennington. -- Toronto : Simon & Pierre, 1989.
Crowley, Terry. -- Agnes Macphail and the politics of equality. -- Toronto : J. Lorimer, 1990.
Crowley, Terry. -- "Agnes Macphail and Canadian working women". -- Labour / Le travail. -- Vol. 28 (Fall 1991). -- P. 129-148.
Macphail, Agnes. -- Agnes Macphail on convict or citizen? : the urgent need for prison reform. -- Toronto : Cooperative Commonwealth Federation, Literature Dept., [194-?].
Pennington, Doris. -- Agnes Macphail, reformer : Canada's first female M.P. -- Toronto : Simon & Pierre, c1989.
Russell, William. -- "Agnes Campbell Macphail (1890-1954)". -- Miscellaneous research papers. -- [Ottawa] : National Historic Parks and Sites Branch, Parks Canada, Dept. of Indian and Northern Affairs, 1977. -- P. 133-150.
|
Copyright. The National Library of Canada.
(Revised: 1997-09-23).
