Jean Casselman Wadds

Who was Jean Casselman Wadds?

Jean Casselman Wadds, OC was a Canadian politician, who represented the electoral district of Grenville—Dundas from 1958 to 1968. She sat as a member of the Progressive Conservative Party.

Wadds was born in 1920 in Newton Robinson, Ontario. She was the daughter of William Earl Rowe; Wadds and Rowe are, to date, the only father and daughter to sit as MPs in the same session of Parliament.

In 1946, she married Arza Clair Casselman, who represented Grenville—Dundas in the House of Commons until his death in 1958, and she was elected to the same seat later that year.

Wadds served as parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Health and Welfare in 1962 and 1963. She was the first woman to serve as a parliamentary secretary in the Canadian government.

In 1979, Wadds was appointed Canada's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom. She served in this capacity until 1983. During this time, the Canadian Constitution was patriated. Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau was to say of her:

"I always said it was thanks to three women that we were eventually able to reform our Constitution. The Queen, who was favourable, Margaret Thatcher, who undertook to do everything that our Parliament asked of her, and Jean Wadds, who represented the interests of Canada so well in London."