Louise McKinney, born in 1868 to a farming family, was a wife, mother and school teacher who spent much of her life in Clareholm, Alberta.
She was a member of the Women's Christian Temperance Union, an organization that sought to protect women and their children from what they considered to be the destructive influence of drinking alcohol. She organized several chapters of the WCTU and lobbied for Prohibition, which was passed in 1916 and remained in effect till 1923.
McKinney also helped Alberta women to get the vote in 1916 and championed the Dower Act. Before this law, it was possible for a man to sell or mortgage his property without the knowledge or consent of his wife.
In 1917, after running for office as an independent in the first election that included women candidates, she became the first elected official in the British Empire.
In 1925, she was involved in the formation of the United Church, and in 1929, she took part in the Persons Case.
The University of Alberta has a scholarship named in her honour, and the city of Edmonton has dedicated the Louise McKinney Riverside Park to her memory.
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