Maria M. Grant

Maria Grant (born Maria Heathfield Pollard, 1854–1937) was a pioneering Canadian women's rights activist in British Columbia, recognized as the first woman in Canada elected to political office when she became a school board trustee in Victoria in 1895[1][2][4]. She co-founded the Victoria Local Council of Women in 1894, led the Political Equality League, and tirelessly advocated for women's suffrage through petitions, lobbying, and public disruption, including possibly being the first Canadian woman to vote in 1875[1][4]. A mother of nine, she also championed children's welfare and temperance via the Women's Christian Temperance Union and Children's Aid Society[2][4].