Cairine Wilson

The Honourable Cairine Reay Mackay Wilson
Canadian Senator from Ontario
In office February 15, 1930 – March 3, 1962
Personal details
Born	February 4, 1885(1885-02-04) Montreal, Quebec
Died	March 3, 1962(1962-03-03) (aged 77) Ottawa, Ontario
Political party	Liberal
Spouse(s)	Norman Wilson
Relations	Jane Mackay, mother, Robert Mackay, father

Cairine Reay Mackay Wilson (February 4, 1885 – March 3, 1962) was Canada's first female senator.

Early life

Born Cairine Reay Mackay in Montreal, she was the daughter of Jane Mackay and Robert Mackay, a Liberal Senator and personal friend of Sir Wilfrid Laurier. She attended Elmwood School and was "head girl" in her graduating year. In 1909, she married Norman Wilson, the Liberal Member of Parliament for Russell and they moved to Cumberland, Ontario to begin a family. In 1918, the Wilsons moved to Ottawa, where Cairine performed extensive volunteer work. She helped found the Twentieth Century Liberal Association and the National Federation of Liberal Women of Canada, of which she was President from 1938 to 1948.

Senator

Rt. Hon. W.L. Mackenzie King unveiled plaque to the Valiant 5 in the Person's Case

She was appointed the first female senator of the country at the age of 45 in February 1930 by the government of Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King, just four months after the Persons Case judgment was handed down by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. Previously, women had not been allowed to serve in the Senate as lower courts had ruled they were not full "persons" under the law.

As president of the League of Nations Society of Canada in 1938, Senator Wilson spoke out against the Munich Agreement's appeasement of Hitler. During the Second World War, the government of William Lyon Mackenzie King was resistant to permitting Jewish refugees from Germany to settle in Canada, but she was able to arrange the acceptance of 100 orphans.

Delegate to UN

In 1949, at the request of King's successor Louis St. Laurent, she became Canada's first female delegate to the United Nations General Assembly. She was the chairman of the Canadian National Committee on Refugees and the first woman to chair Senate Standing Committee (Immigration and Labour). She was given the Cross of the Knight of the Legion of Honour by France in 1950 for her work with child refugees.

Deputy Speaker of the Senate

Wilson again made parliamentary history in 1955 when she became the first woman Deputy Speaker of the Canadian Senate.

Family and later life

Her husband Norman, who had been in failing health for some time, died on July 14, 1956; they were the parents of eight children.

Cairine Wilson died suddenly of heart attack on Saturday, March 3, 1962.

References

• Capital lives : 32 profiles of leading Ottawa personalities, Valerie Knowles (2005) ISBN 0-9739071-1-8

External links

• Cairine Wilson - Parliament of Canada biography

Persondata
Name	Wilson, Cairine
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	February 4, 1885
Place of birth	Montreal, Quebec
Date of death	March 3, 1962
Place of death	Ottawa, Ontario