Who Was Agnes Macphail?

Agnes Macphail was born on March 24, 1890 in rural Ontario. She was a teacher in Ontario and Alberta for eleven years before becoming the first woman elected to the House of Commons.

Agnes was elected in 1921, the same year that women in Canada got the right to vote. While she fought for women’s rights, she also focused on groups such as immigrants, miners, prisoners, and farmers.

Macphail faced countless challenges throughout her career in politics. Many people were outraged that there was a woman in federal politics. When Agnes started focusing on imbalances in workers wage, she was accused of communism, and while criticizing militarism and imperialism, she was accused of treason. Some people even claimed that her “womanly sympathy” would interfere with her judgement.

One of her best known accomplishments was her role in reforming Canadian prisons. In 1923, there was a large riot in Kingston Penitentiary which led Agnes Macphail to take a closer look at the conditions in the prison. When she saw the conditions the inmates were living in, she began to fight for change. It took over a decade, but a bill was eventually passed which included changes that allowed inmates more time outside, more time for exercise, and mandatory education for illiterate inmates. The bill contained 88 total changes to the Canadian penal system.

Macphail lost her seat in the House of Commons in 1940 but was elected three years later into the Ontario legislature. She continued to work in politics until 1954, when she passed away before being offered an appointment to the Senate.

-Grace Tunski, The Victoria Voice School Newspaper