Dorise Nielsen

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Dorise Winifred Nielsen (July 30, 1902 - December 9, 1980) was a Canadian politician and teacher.

She was the first member of the Communist Party of Canada to be elected to the Canadian House of Commons and the third woman. She won a seat in the 1940 federal election representing North Battleford, Saskatchewan, on the "United Progressive" label, beating the Liberal candidate in a two-way race.

She ran for re-election in the 1945 election for the Labour Progressive Party (the name the Communist Party used between 1941 and 1959), but came in third behind the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation and Liberal candidates with 13% of the vote .

She ran again in the 1953 election, this time in Brantford, Ontario, but came in last place with 216 votes.

In 1957 Nielsen left Canada for the People's Republic of China, where she lived until her death, working most of that time as an editor for the Foreign Languages Press in Beijing.

For further information, see the Saskatchewan Encyclopedia (online) and a biography of Nielsen by Faith Johnston, A Great Restlessness: The Life and Politics of Dorise Nielsen, which will be published by the University of Manitoba Press in October 2006.