{{Short description|Canadian politician}} {{other people|Margaret Mitchell}} {{More citations needed|date=March 2017}} {{Use Canadian English|date=September 2021}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2021}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = | name = Margaret Mitchell | honorific_suffix = | image = Margaret Mitchell.jpg | image_size = | constituency_MP = Vancouver East | parliament = Canadian | predecessor = Art Lee | successor = Anna Terrana | term_start = 1979 | term_end = 1993 | birth_name = Margaret Anne Learoyd | birth_date = {{birth date|1925|07|17}} | birth_place = Brockville, Ontario, Canada | death_date = {{death date and age|2017|03|08|1925|07|17}} | death_place = Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada | spouse = | party = New Democratic Party | alma_mater = McMaster University | portfolio = Deputy Whip of the NDP (1989–1990) }}
'''Margaret Anne Mitchell''' {{post-nominals|country=CAN|OBC}} (née '''Learoyd'''; July 17, 1925 – March 8, 2017) was a Canadian social activist and the New Democratic Party (NDP) Member of Parliament (MP) for Vancouver East from 1979 until 1993. A social worker by profession, she was first elected to the House of Commons of Canada in the 1979 federal election. In 1980, she voted against a pay raise for MPs, and subsequently donated her additional pay to charity establishing the '''Margaret Mitchell Fund for Women'''.
In Parliament, Mitchell was one of the first politicians to raise the issue of violence against women. She is best remembered for one incident in which male MPs laughed when she demanded that the government take action to stop domestic violence.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Judge acquits husband of rape. Why?|last=DiManno|first=R.|date=October 23, 2017|newspaper=Toronto Star}}</ref> Recalling the incident two decades later, she said, "I was shocked and furious about that... that was my one claim to fame, and people still come up to me and talk to me about that."{{citation needed|date=March 2017}}
Mitchell graduated from McMaster University with a sociology degree in 1947. From 1952 to 1955, she worked as a social worker for the International Red Cross in Japan, Korea, Australia and Austria. She moved to Vancouver in the 1960s where she worked for the Neighborhood Services Association until 1974. In Parliament, she was variously the NDP's Critic for Immigration, Housing, Status of Women, Health and Welfare and for Multiculturalism and Citizenship. In the 1980s, she attended the United Nations "Decade of Women Conference" in Nairobi.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://alumni.mcmaster.ca/s/1439/17/interior.aspx?pgid=1666|title=Mitchell, Margaret Anne (Learoyd)|work=McMaster Alumni Community |publisher=McMaster University|accessdate=7 August 2025}}</ref> In 1984, she was the first MP to raise the issue of the Chinese head tax in the House of Commons.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.sen.parl.gc.ca/vpoy/English/Special_Interests/speeches/Speech%20-%20Natl_Congress_CC_130903.htm|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20030929182900/http://www.sen.parl.gc.ca/vpoy/English/Special_Interests/speeches/Speech%20-%20Natl_Congress_CC_130903.htm|archive-date = 29 September 2003|title = Chinese Head Tax Issue : 12th AGM of the National Congress of Chinese Canadians |last=Poy |first=Vivienne |author-link=Vivienne Poy |date=13 September 2003}}</ref> In the 1993 Canadian federal election, Mitchell lost her seat to Liberal Anna Terrana.
In 2000, Mitchell was recognized as a Member of the Order of British Columbia.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/governments/celebrating-british-columbia/honours-and-awards/order-of-bc/members/m-o#MargaretMitchell |title=Margaret Mitchell |work=Members of the Order of British Columbia |accessdate=7 August 2025}}</ref> Mitchell was a known descendant{{Citation needed|date=May 2010}} of former Canadian Prime Minister Sir John Thompson who died in office in 1894 while visiting Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle. She died on March 8, 2017, aged 91.<ref>{{cite news|last=Stoffman |first=Judy |date=2017-03-22 |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/mp-margaret-mitchell-famously-called-wife-abuse-no-laughing-matter/article34392492/|title=MP Margaret Mitchell famously called wife abuse 'no laughing matter'|accessdate=7 January 2019|newspaper=The Globe and Mail}}</ref><ref>{{cite press release|url=https://www.ndp.ca/news/ndp-statement-loss-margaret-mitchell |title=NDP statement on the loss of Margaret Mitchell |publisher=New Democratic Party |date=2017-03-09}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *{{Canadian Parliament links|ID=8982|2=Margaret Mitchell}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mitchell, Margaret}} Category:1925 births Category:2017 deaths Category:Activists from Vancouver Category:Canadian activists Category:Canadian socialists Category:Canadian feminists Category:Canadian socialist feminists Category:Women members of the House of Commons of Canada Category:McMaster University alumni Category:New Democratic Party MPs Category:Members of the House of Commons of Canada from British Columbia Category:Members of the Order of British Columbia Category:People from Brockville Category:Politicians from Vancouver Category:Women in British Columbia politics Category:Canadian women activists Category:20th-century members of the House of Commons of Canada Category:20th-century Canadian women politicians