O-8109.1

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medal

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Companion of the Order of Canada

The Honourable Ellen Louks Fairclough

Ellen Fairclough was born in Hamilton, Ontario, in 1905. An accountant-turned-politician, she ran as a Progressive Conservative candidate and was first elected to the House of Commons in a by election in 1950. In 1957, she became Canada’s first woman federal cabinet minister, serving as Secretary of State in John Diefenbaker’s minority government. When Diefenbaker won a majority in 1958, he appointed Fairclough Minister of Citizenship and Immigration. Fairclough served as Postmaster General following the 1962 general election but was defeated in the next election, held in 1963. She was given the title “Right Honourable” by Queen Elizabeth II in 1992 and made a Companion of the Order of Canada in 1995. She died in Hamilton in 2004.