Wilson becomes the first woman appointed to the Senate of Canada. 1936 – Barbara Hanley becomes Canada's first woman mayor. 1950 - Nancy Hodges of BC becomes the first woman in the Commonwealth elected speaker of a legislature 1951 – Charlotte Whitton becomes Canada's first woman mayor of a major city. Thérèse Casgrain, the first woman to lead a provincial political party in Canada, becomes leader of the Quebec CCF. 1958 – Ellen Fairclough becomes Canada's first federal female cabinet minister, and also serves as Acting Prime Minister for two days during John Diefenbaker's absence from the country. 1967 – Mary Walker-Sawka becomes the first woman to be nominated as a candidate for the leadership of a federal political party. 1972 – Muriel McQueen Fergusson becomes the first female Speaker of the Senate of Canada. 1974 – Pauline McGibbon becomes Canada's first female Lieutenant Governor of a province. 1974 - Dorothea Crittenden becomes Canada's first female Deputy Minister, Ministry of Community & Social Services, Province of Ontario 1978 – Hilda Watson leads the Yukon Progressive Conservative Party into the 1978 Yukon election, the territory's first-ever partisan legislative election. Although the party wins the election, Watson fails to win her own seat and thus does not become government leader. 1979 – Flora MacDonald becomes Canada's first female Secretary of State for External Affairs. 1980 – Jeanne Sauvé becomes the first female Speaker of the House of Commons. Alexa McDonough becomes leader of the Nova Scotia New Democratic Party, making her the first woman to lead a political party in a Canadian legislature. 1982 – Bertha Wilson becomes the first female Puisne justice of the Supreme Court of Canada. 1984 – Jeanne Sauvé becomes Canada's first female Governor General. 1988 – Kathryn Cholette (Green) becomes the first woman ever to lead a federal political party in Canada. 1989 – Audrey McLaughlin (NDP) becomes the first woman to lead a political party with representation in the House of Commons. 1991 – Rita Johnston wins the leadership of the British Columbia Social Credit Party, becoming Canada's first female premier. She is followed later the same year by Nellie Cournoyea in the Northwest Territories. 1993 – Kim Campbell becomes Canada's first female Prime Minister. Joyce Fairbairn becomes Canada's first female Leader of the Government in the Senate. Catherine Callbeck becomes Premier of Prince Edward Island in January by winning the leadership of the governing party;