18 Facts About Cairine Wilson

Cairine Reay Mackay Wilson was Canada's first woman to become senator.

Cairine Wilson served as a Senator for Ontario from 1930 until her death.

Cairine Wilson was born into a family of Scottish-Canadians that were very wealthy and influential.

Cairine Wilson was a student at Trafalgar School for Girls.

Cairine Wilson was introduced to her future husband by Laurier's wife, Zoe, at a 1905 state ball.

In 1918, Wilson and her family moved to Ottawa, where Cairine performed extensive volunteer work.

Cairine Wilson 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.

Cairine Wilson 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; this was just four months after the Persons Case judgment was handed down by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.

In 1949, at the request of King's successor Louis St Laurent, Cairine Wilson became Canada's first female delegate to the United Nations General Assembly.

Cairine Wilson was the chairman of the Canadian National Committee on Refugees and the first woman to chair Senate Standing Committee.

Cairine Wilson was given the Cross of the Knight of the Legion of Honor by France in 1950 for her work with child refugees.

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

Cairine Wilson was recognized for her continuous dedication to advocacy-related work.

Cairine Wilson served as the Chairman of the Canadian-American Women's Committee, President of the Princess Alice Foundation for the Training of Youth Leaders, Vice-President of the Victorian Order of Nurses, Honorary President of the Ottawa Young Women's Christian Association and the Save the Children Fund.

In 1930, Cairine Wilson established the National Organization of Young Liberals, with the support of her friends and family.

Cairine Wilson would send groups of youth across Canada on a periodical basis, in hopes of providing them with a better understanding of politics.

Cairine Wilson died suddenly of a heart attack at the age of 77 on Saturday, March 3,1962.

Cairine Wilson spent three weeks at the Civic hospital in Ottawa with complications that were emerging from her hip fractures that she suffered from a year before her death.