Edith Rogers (Manitoba politician)

Edith Rogers (April 26, 1876—April 19, 1947) was a politician in Manitoba, Canada. She served in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1920 to 1932, as a member of the Manitoba Liberal Party. She was the first woman ever elected to the legislature.

Rogers, who was born Edith MacTavish, had strong family connections to Manitoba's past. Her maternal great-grandfather, Alexander Christie, served as Governor of Assiniboia on two occasions, and supervised the construction of Fort Garry. His son, William J. Christie, worked for the Hudson's Bay Company in Manitoba from 1843 to 1873, and was named Inspecting Chief Factor in 1868. Rogers herself was born in the tiny outpost of Norway House, six hundred kilometres north of Winnipeg, the daughter of Donald MacTavish, a chief factor for the Hudson's Bay Company. At age two, she moved with her family to Rupert House, on the shore of James Bay.

She was educated in Montreal. After graduation, she moved to Winnipeg and, in 1898, married the businessman Robert Arthur Rogers. She became prominent as a philanthropist in the 1910s, and particularly after the outbreak of World War I in 1914. Rogers worked for the Patriotic Fund, which distributed money to the families of soldiers fighting overseas, and became known for devoting several hours to personal consultations with family members. She also worked with the Salvation Army, the Red Cross, the Land Settlement Board and other groups.

In 1916, Manitoba's Liberal government of Tobias Norris passed a law extending voting rights to women. In 1920, Rogers was asked to become a "star candidate" for the Liberal Party in the Winnipeg constituency, which elected ten members by a single transferable ballot. She accepted, contested the 1920 provincial election, finished eighth on the first count, and was declared elected for the ninth position on the thirty-seventh count.

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