Ellen Fairclough

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Ellen Fairclough

Ellen Louks Fairclough PC , CC , O.Ont (born January 28, 1905 in Hamilton , Ontario ; † November 13, 2004 there ) was a Canadian politician . She was a member of the Lower House from 1950 to 1963 . As Minister of Post and Immigration, she was a member of John Diefenbaker's progressive-conservative cabinet and was the first woman ever to become a minister in Canada.

biography

Fairclough was a qualified accountant and ran an accounting firm before entering politics. From 1945 to 1950 she was a member of the Hamilton City Council . After she was defeated in the 1949 general election, a year later she succeeded in entering parliament in a by-election in the Hamilton West constituency. She campaigned for gender equality , especially for equal pay for equal work.

After the progressive conservatives won the general election in 1957 , Prime Minister John Diefenbaker named her Secretary of State for Canada. This made her the first woman in the federal government. After ten months, she took over the leadership of the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration. In this function, she introduced a new immigration law that largely managed without the previously common racist discrimination, as did a more liberal refugee policy. On February 19-20, 1958, she was acting Prime Minister when she temporarily represented Diefenbaker. In May 1962 she took over the Ministry of Post.

In the 1963 general election , Fairclough was voted out of office. She then served on the board of directors of the Hamilton Trust and Savings Corporation as well as chairman of the board of directors of the electricity company Hamilton Hydro . After all, she was the treasurer of the charity Zonta International . In 1982 a government building in Hamilton was named after her. In 1995, Fairclough published her memoir under the title Saturday's Child: Memoirs of Canada's First Female Cabinet Minister . In June 2005 the Canadian Post issued a stamp in her honor.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ellen Fairclough ( Memento of the original from October 17, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Canada Post  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.canadapost.ca
personal data
SURNAME Fairclough, Ellen
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Fairclough, Ellen Louks (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian politician
DATE OF BIRTH January 28, 1905
PLACE OF BIRTH Hamilton , Ontario
DATE OF DEATH November 13, 2004
Place of death Hamilton , Ontario