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The Honourable Ellen Louks Fairclough

Elizabeth Bradford Holbrook

Elizabeth Holbrook was born in Hamilton, Ontario, in 1913. She began her art studies in 1929 at the Hamilton Technical Institute and graduated from the Ontario College of Art in 1935. She continued her studies at the Royal College of Art in London, England, and became a sculptor of medals and portraits. Her works are found in institution and government collections, as well as in museums and galleries. The Fairclough bust is one of her well-known works, as is a bust of John Diefenbaker, also part of Parliament’s collection. Other important works by Holbrook include a bust of Sir Winston Churchill in St. John’s, Newfoundland, and a bust of playwright George Bernard Shaw in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. Holbrook was made a Member of the Order of Canada in 1997. She died in Hamilton in 2009.

The Honourable Ellen Louks Fairclough

Ellen Fairclough was born in Hamilton, Ontario, in 1905. An accountant-turned-politician, she ran as a Progressive Conservative candidate and was first elected to the House of Commons in a by election in 1950. In 1957, she became Canada’s first woman federal cabinet minister, serving as Secretary of State in John Diefenbaker’s minority government. When Diefenbaker won a majority in 1958, he appointed Fairclough Minister of Citizenship and Immigration. Fairclough served as Postmaster General following the 1962 general election but was defeated in the next election, held in 1963. She was given the title “Right Honourable” by Queen Elizabeth II in 1992 and made a Companion of the Order of Canada in 1995. She died in Hamilton in 2004.