Roberta MacAdams

Lt. Roberta Catherine Price née MacAdams (July 21, 1880 - December 16, 1959) was a provincial level politician and war time nurse from Alberta, Canada. Though mistakenly referred to as a nursing sister, MacAdams was actually the only dietitian ever to be accepted by the Canadian Army Medical Corps.

Born and raised in Sarnia, Ontario, she was a 1911 graduate of the Macdonald Institute for Domestic Science, located on the campus of the Ontario Agricultural College in Guelph. Her enlistment papers listed her as a "nursing sister" because she would be trained and quartered with nurses.^[1] In 1916 she was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Canadian Army Medical Corps.^[2]

Political career

An active member of the Conservative Party in her native Sarnia, MacAdams was the second woman elected to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, as a non-partisan, after Louise McKinney. She was chosen as an at-large member elected by overseas voters who were active soldiers in First World War. She was elected a close second in the Soldiers' and Nurses vote behind Captain Robert Pearson. Although the vote was part of the 1917 provincial general election that elected McKinney, the completion of the overseas voting and count took place at a later date than the in-province vote, making her the second woman member of the legislative assembly.

MacAdams became the first woman in the British empire to introduce a piece of legislation for debate.^[1]

References

External links

• Alberta Legislature Speakers Comment: Historical Moments, Roberta McAdams
• Roberta McAdams notice of election Alberta Gazette October 1917
• Alberta Legislature Membership Listing
• Nurses Were Paid Splendid Tribute / Men of Alberta's Plains and Foothills Choose Miss Roberta MacAdams as Representing Best in Womanhood / Vancouver Daily Sun, 24 December 1917