Simma Holt
| Simma Holt | |
|---|---|
| Member of the Canadian Parliament for Vancouver Kingsway |
|
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In office 1974–1979 |
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| Preceded by | Grace MacInnis |
| Succeeded by | Ian Waddell |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Simma Milner March 27, 1922 Vegreville, Alberta |
| Died | January 23, 2015 (aged 92) Burnaby, British Columbia |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Political party | Liberal |
| Spouse(s) | Leon Holt (died: 1985) |
| Residence | Burnaby, British Columbia |
| Alma mater | University of Manitoba |
| Occupation | journalist |
Simma Holt, CM (née Milner, March 27, 1922 – January 23, 2015) was a Canadian journalist, author, and the first Jewish woman elected to the Canadian House of Commons.
Born in Vegreville, Alberta as Simma Milner, the sixth of eight children, she received a Bachelor of Arts degree, with majors in English and Psychology, in 1944 from the University of Manitoba. That same year she began a 30-year career at The Vancouver Sun newspaper as a reporter, feature writer, and columnist.
Her interest in journalism began as a child when the sole operator of the Vegriville Observer would welcome her observing his production of the paper. Partly due to male students at the University of Manitoba participating in the Second World War, Holt became the first female managing editor of the student newspaper The Manitoban and university correspondent for the Winnipeg Free Press. On D-Day, her first day using the machine, Holt mistakenly clogged up the teletype machine at the Canadian Press in Calgary.
A few months later, she started her career at The Vancouver Sun. At the start of Holt's journalism career, women were rarely employed as professional journalists. She gained reputation as a tough reporter by working in traditionally-male beats such as crime and waterfront reporting. Holt's style was seen as tough advocacy or crusading investigative journalism in potentially-controversial topics such as prostitution. Sexism incidents included coworkers handing her nude photos of women and being told by her editor she would be fired if she again snuck into the male-only Terminal Club to cover a story.
During a 1970 strike by Sun employees, Holt was a labour negotiator and vice-president of the Newspaper Guild and actively worked for the Vancouver Express. . In 1996, Holt was also inducted into the Canadian News Hall of Fame — the first female journalist in B.C. to receive the distinction.
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