Agnes Macphail

Suffragette and politician, Canada's first woman MP, born in Grey Co, Ontario, SE Canada. A schoolteacher, she became involved with the women's suffrage movement, and was elected MP for the United Farmers of Ontario (1921–40). She was a leader of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation of Canada, and represented Canada in the Assembly of the League of Nations.

Agnes Campbell Macphail (March 24, 1890 — February 13, 1954) was the first woman to be elected to the Canadian House of Commons, and one of the first two women elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.

Macphail was born to Dougald McPhail and Henrietta Campbell in Proton Township in Grey County, Ontario, on March 24, 1890. She rediscovered her familial roots and the traditionally spelling of "Macphail" (with no capital 'P' as in MacPhail). While working in Sharon, Macphail became active politically, joining the United Farmers of Ontario (UFO) and its women's organization, the United Farm Women of Ontario.

Macphail was elected to the House of Commons as a member of the Progressive Party of Canada for the Grey Southeast riding in the 1921 federal election.

In 1935, Macphail was again elected, this time as a UFO-Labour MP for the Grey Bruce riding. Macphail's concern for women in the criminal justice system led her, in 1939, to found the Elizabeth Fry Society of Canada, named after British reformer Elizabeth Fry.

As a radical member of the Progressive Party, Macphail joined the socialist Ginger Group, faction of the Progressive Party that later led to the formation of the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF). However, she left the CCF in 1934 when the United Farmers of Ontario pulled out due to fears of Communist influence in the Ontario CCF. With the death of United Reform MP for Saskatoon City, Walter George Brown, a few days after the election, MacPhail was recruited by the United Reform Movement to run in the by-election to fill the seat, but was defeated by 700 votes. Following a family tragedy in her home town, Macphail moved to the Toronto suburb of East York, Ontario and rejoined the Ontario CCF in 1942 becoming its farm organizer.

In the 1943 provincial election, Macphail was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as a member of the Ontario CCF representing the suburban Toronto riding of York East. Macphail was responsible for Ontario's first equal pay legislation, passed in 1951, but was unable to continue her efforts when she was defeated in elections later that year. At that time, Macphail was barely able to support herself through journalism, public speaking and organizing for the Ontario CCF.

Macphail never married.

A prestigious public speaking contest is held in her name annually in East York, Toronto, Ontario. There is also an apartment building in Windsor, Ontario named after her ("Anges Macphail Manor" at 860 Mercer Street). In a contest run by former Ontario MPP Marilyn Churley, Agnes Macphail was voted as the Greatest Ontario Woman. On June 24, 2006, a cairn commemorating Agnes Macphail's life was unveiled in the community of Hopeville, in Southgate Township, Grey County Ontario. Signs, at the boundaries of the Grey Southeast riding that Miss Macphail represented from 1921 to 1940, have been placed on Grey County road signs, reminding travellers of the woman who was Canada's first woman MP and the people and area she represented.

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Celebrating Women's Achievements - Agnes Campbell Macphail Federal Political Experience The Heritage Foundation History Minute film about Macphail's efforts at penal reform