Mary Ellen Spear Smith (October 11, 1863 – May 3, 1933) was a politician in British Columbia, Canada. She was the first female Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia,[1] and both the first female cabinet minister[2][3] and the first female Acting Speaker[4] and the first woman cabinet minister in the British Empire.[5]
- ^ "Canada 150: Mary Ellen Smith was first woman elected to B.C. legislature". Vancouver Sun, Stephen Hume, March 8, 2017
- ^ Cathy Converse. Mainstays: Women who Shaped BC. TouchWood Editions; 1998. ISBN 978-0-920663-62-2. p. 119–120.
- ^ Sterilized by the State: Eugenics, Race, and the Population Scare in Twentieth-Century North America. Cambridge University Press; 26 August 2013. ISBN 978-1-107-43459-2. p. 99–.
- ^ "Mary Ellen Smith: First Female Member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia" (PDF).
- ^ Messamore, Barbara J. (2024-02-08), "Smith [née Spear], Mary Ellen (1863–1933), suffrage activist, politician in British Columbia, and first female cabinet minister in the British empire", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.90000382467, ISBN 978-0-19-861412-8, retrieved 2024-02-25