About Agnes Macphail
Agnes Campbell Macphail (March 24, 1890 – February 13, 1954) was a Canadian politician and the first woman elected to Canada's House of Commons. She served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1921 to 1940; from 1943 to 1945 and again from 1948 to 1951, she served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, representing the Toronto riding of York East. Active throughout her life in progressive politics, Macphail worked for multiple parties, most prominently the Progressive Party, the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation and the United Farmers of Ontario. She promoted her ideas through column-writing, activist organizing, and legislation. == Background == Agnes Macphail was born to Dougald McPhail and Henrietta Campbell in Proton Township, Grey County, Ontario. Although her surname was spelled "McPhail" at birth, she discovered during a later trip to Scotland that her family's surname had been spelled as "Macphail" and changed her name to reflect this. She was raised in the Methodist Church, but converted to the Reorganized Latter Day Saint church as a teenager. This was the church of her missionary uncle. In later years she joined the United Church of Canada, which had absorbed the Methodist church of her youth. Macphail attended Owen Sound Collegiate and Vocational Institute for one year.
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