May 11, 1958 - Ellen Fairclough - a podcast by Stephen Hammond

Canada’s first woman federal cabinet minister completes her first portfolio.Ellen Fairclough was born in Hamilton, Ontario on January 28, 1905. As an adult she ran her own accountancy business for 22 years, held prominent positions on charitable boards and sat as a city councillor. In 1950, she ventured into federal politics by winning a by-election for the federal seat of Hamilton West. As a Progressive Conservative, she sat on the Opposition benches until John Diefenbaker became prime minister in 1957. Diefenbaker had pledged to put a woman into cabinet, but he considered Fairclough an “enemy” as she had supported another candidate for the leadership of the party years earlier. Still, in keeping with his promise, he offered Fairclough the junior cabinet post of secretary of state. She almost turned him down. However, at the insistence of a friend, she took the post on June 21, 1957, becoming the first woman in federal politics to sit at the cabinet table. Being the hard worker with political smarts she was, it didn’t take her long to get promoted to a full cabinet position. After completing her term as secretary of state on May 11, 1958, she became minister of citizenship and immigration. During her four years in that ministry, Fairclough introduced changes to Canada’s immigration policy that stopped favouring white people – although it would be five years before the government stopped favouring immigrants coming from Europe and the Americas. During her last term in Diefenbaker’s government, Fairclough served as the postmaster general. She was defeated in the general election of 1963. Fairclough received many honours for her career, including the title Companion of the Order of Canada in 1995. She died on November 13, 2004, just shy of her 100th birthday.

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