Table 2.3: Table of Firsts Representing Women’s Diversity2 (Chronological)
Year	Name	Achievement
1972	Rosemary Brown	First Black woman elected to any Canadian legislature--BC, NDP 1972
1979 1991	Nellie Cournoyea	First Aboriginal woman elected to NWT legislature First Aboriginal First Minister, 1991-95 First Aboriginal woman elected to a Canadian legislature First Aboriginal government leader in Canada
1986	Pearl Calahasen	First Aboriginal woman elected to AB legislature--PC
1988	Ethel Blondin Andrew	First Aboriginal woman elected to the House of Commons--Lib, NWT
1990	Zanana Akande	First Black woman cabinet minister--ON NDP
1993	Hedy Fry	First black woman elected to the federal Parliament and appointed to the federal Cabinet.
1996	Ida Chong	One of the first two women of Asian heritage elected to a Canadian legislature--BC, Lib
1996 2001	Jenny Kwan	One of the first two women of Asian heritage elected to a Canadian legislature--BC, NDP First woman of Asian heritage in cabinet
1997	Nancy Karelak-Lindell	First Inuit woman elected to the House of Commons--Lib, Nunavut
1998 1999	Yvonne Atwell	First black woman elected to the Nova Scotia Legislature.
1999	Sandy Lee	First Korean-Canadian woman elected to a legislature--NWT
2003	Joan Beatty	First Aboriginal woman cabinet minister--NDP.
2Additions and corrections will be made as we continue to identify “firsts” for women’s diversity. Thanks to Dr. Louise Carbert (Dalhousie University) and Mr. Alex E.H. Ng, LL.B (British Columbia) for corrections.