Mary Ellen Spear Smith (October 11, 1863 – May 3, 1933) was a politician in British Columbia, Canada. She was the first female Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, and both the first female cabinet minister and the first female Acting Speaker and the first woman cabinet minister in the British Empire.
Early life
Smith was born Mary Ellen Spear in Tavistock, Devon, England. Her mother was Mary Spear and father, Richard Spear, was a copper miner. She became a school teacher before marrying Ralph Smith, a widower, coal miner and unionist, in 1883. The couple had five children together, one daughter and four sons. She moved with him to British Columbia in the early 1891 shortly after their marriage, settling first in Nanaimo and then moving to Vancouver in 1911. She founded the "Laurier Liberal Club", and was an active Methodist.
She was re-elected as a Liberal candidate in the 1920 and 1924 general elections. She also worked to pass the Mothers' Pension Act in 1924, later renamed the Mothers' Allowances Act in 1937. This act provided divorced, deserted or widowed wives with guaranteed monthly income to raise children under the age of sixteen.
She joined the cabinet of Premier John Oliver in 1921 as minister without portfolio,
On February 22, 1928 she served as Acting Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, the first woman to hold the position of Speaker in the British Empire. In Nanaimo the street Mary Ellen Drive, located between Dover Bay Road and the Island Highway, is named in her honour.