Martha Bielish

Martha Palamarek Bielish (October 20, 1915 – May 18, 2010) was a politician, farmer, feminist, and teacher from Alberta, Canada. She served as a member of the Senate of Canada sitting with the Progressive Conservative caucus from 1979 to 1990.

Bielish was born in 1915 in Warspite, Alberta. She served in politics on the municipal level as an elected School Trustee.

Bielish ran for a seat to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta in the 1959 Alberta general election as a provincial Progressive Conservative candidate in the electoral district of Redwater. She was defeated finishing a distant third place in the three way race losing to Social Credit candidate John Dubetz and finishing behind incumbent MLA Alfred Macyk who finished second.

In 1965 she became president of Alberta's Women's Institute.

Bielish was appointed to the Senate of Canada on the advice of Joe Clark on September 27, 1979 and served her full term until mandatory retirement on September 26, 1990. She was the first Ukrainian-Canadian female senator ever appointed.

Bielish died on May 18, 2010.

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