trustee, Rowley returned to the Ontario leadership of the Communist Party of Canada. In 2001, she was again re-elected to the Central Executive Committee of the Communist Party of Canada, and also replaced Hassan Husseini as leader of the Ontario Communist Party around the same time. Since then, Rowley has been a regular columnist for the People's Voice, a working class newspaper which describes itself as a socialist press. She has also written numerous articles on public resistance in Canada that have been translated into several languages and published around the world. Rowley has spoken at international conferences and progressive forums in Europe, America and Asia, and has represented the Communist Party of Canada several times at the International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties. She has been outspoken on issues such as the G20 arrests in Toronto, the Rob Ford administration, migrant and immigrant rights in Toronto, for a single, secular school board, for public auto insurance, for peace and anti-racism, proportional representation, and much more. Leader of the Communist Party Rowley was elected Party Leader by the Communist Party of Canada's Central Committee at a meeting in Toronto on January 30–31, 2016. The change of leadership followed the retirement of Miguel Figueroa, who stepped down for health reasons after serving in the office for 23 years. Although not the first woman to serve in the Communist Party of Canada's leadership, she is the first female leader of the Communist Party of Canada. In the spring of 2016 Rowley launched a 15-city tour of Canada, speaking to members and supporters of the Communist Party of Canada about the Party's upcoming 38th Central Convention and the CPC's campaign against the Trans Pacific Partnership. Personal life In 1981 Rowley married a steelworker, in the middle of the 125 day-long Hamilton Stelco strike. She is the mother of two adult children. In her spare time, Rowley enjoys gardening at her home in East York, Toronto. Electoral record References Leaders of the Communist Party of Canada Canadian federal political party presidents Leaders of the Communist Party of Canada (Ontario) Living people Female Canadian political party leaders People from British Columbia Women in Ontario politics 1949 births Ontario school board trustees Canadian socialist feminists University of Alberta alumni Canadian communists