{{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = | name = Catherine Seppala | honorific_suffix = | image = Catherine Seppala (cropped).jpg | caption = Seppala in 1956 | order = Mayor of Fort William, Ontario | term_start = 1959 | term_end = 1960 (September) | predecessor = Hubert Badanai | successor = John Oliver Booth | birth_date = 1907 | birth_place = Fort William, Ontario | death_date = {{death date and age|1975|07|04|1907}} | death_place = Thunder Bay, Ontario | spouse = | relations = | children = | alma_mater = | occupation = | profession = | signature = | website = | footnotes = }}

'''Catherine Seppala''' (1907 &ndash; July 4, 1975) was a politician in Ontario, Canada. She served as mayor of Fort William from 1959 to 1960, the first and only female mayor of the city before it became part of Thunder Bay.<ref name=mayor/>

She was born in Fort William. She served on Fort William city council from 1953 to 1958. During her time as mayor, the Neebing River Conservation project was initiated and the Westmount Hospital was built.<ref name=mayor/> Also during Seppala's term as mayor, she pressured a local bookseller to remove ''Lady Chatterley's Lover'' from his shelves (and more than 700 copies of the books were burned).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://thewalrus.ca/what-thunder-bay-burned/ |title=What Thunder Bay Burned |work=The Walrus |date=January–February 2010 |last=Mount |first=Nick}}</ref>

In January 1956, as chairman of the city carnival committee, Seppala banned bathing suits from the Fort William carnival queen contest in favour of skating skirts and sweaters.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1454&dat=19560108&id=8l5gAAAAIBAJ&sjid=4XENAAAAIBAJ&pg=2128,1187903 |title=Ban Bathing Suits |newspaper=Star News |date=January 8, 1956 |page=2}}</ref>

Seppala was involved in a number of local volunteer organizations, including the Red Cross.<ref name=mayor/>

She resigned due to illness in September 1961. She died in Thunder Bay in 1975.<ref name=mayor>{{cite web |url=http://www.thunderbay.ca/City_Government/Your_Council/Past_Councils/Fort_William_City_Councils_1950_-_1959/Mayor_Catherine_Seppala.htm |title=Mayor Catherine Seppala |work=Fort William City Councils 1950 - 1959 |publisher=City of Thunder Bay |access-date=2014-09-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140912225102/http://www.thunderbay.ca/City_Government/Your_Council/Past_Councils/Fort_William_City_Councils_1950_-_1959/Mayor_Catherine_Seppala.htm |archive-date=2014-09-12 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

== References == {{reflist}}

{{Mayors of Thunder Bay}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Seppala, Catherine}} Category:1907 births Category:1975 deaths Category:Mayors of Fort William, Ontario Category:Women mayors of places in Ontario Category:20th-century Canadian women politicians Category:20th-century mayors of places in Ontario

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