There was so much life in Simma Holt that it’s hard to believe she’s gone. The journalist, author, and former member of the House of Commons died in Vancouver on Jan. 23. She was 92.
Holt was elected to the House of Commons in 1974—the first Jewish woman elected to Parliament. She was also the first female journalist to be inducted into the News Hall of Fame. That was in 1996, the same year she was made a Member of the Order of Canada for her “lifetime commitment to assisting those suffering from injustice, persecution, and poverty.”
She worked at the Vancouver Sun for 30 years and made a name for herself as an intrepid reporter at a time when there were few women working in the profession. She also wrote for the Toronto Sun, Ottawa Sun, Vancouver Business, Reader’s Digest, Maclean’s, and other publications, and was a talk show host and frequent guest on radio and television.
