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June 7, 1917 was a noteworthy day for equal rights in Alberta. The province saw a woman — Louise McKinney — elected to the provincial legislature for the first time on that day. And a second woman, Roberta MacAdams, was elected later that same year.
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As the Famous 5 Foundation notes, Alberta was the third province to grant women the right to vote and the right to seek elected office, but it was the first to hold an election in which women could participate. The result? These two women were elected — by both men and women.
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Suffragist Louise McKinney was elected as an independent candidate in Claresholm. Both the Liberals and Conservatives had tried to court her as a candidate, but she refused as both parties took donations from liquor companies and she was an advocate for alcohol abstinence.
Roberta MacAdams was also elected as a Member of the Legislature at large in this 1917 election. At that time, two at-large members were elected to the province’s legislature to represent nurses and soldiers serving in the war overseas. MacAdams had worked as a dietitian for a military hospital and was a lieutenant in the Canadian Army Medical Corps. Because the election of the at-large members involved an overseas vote count, her victory was declared later in the year.
Here are a few archived Calgary Herald articles about this election of 1917.
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