Thank you, Speaker. I rise in the House today disappointed I never met or got to know Marietta Roberts.

I spoke with former Premier David Peterson about his colleague Marietta, and he had this to say: “Marietta lit up every room she entered with her big personality”—and if he said it once, he said it four times. “She was a great MPP, lawyer and judge, and across every party line, everyone enjoyed her company.”

Paying tribute to a former member of this esteemed Legislature is both an honour and an important task, as we must always remember those who fulfilled their public duty to serve constituents, the province and our country.

Marietta Roberts was not only the first woman to be elected as the member of provincial Parliament for Elgin county, but started school—get this—at the incredible age of two. And I confirmed the story just a few minutes ago. Why, might you ask? Her mother was a teacher, and she didn’t want her daughter staying at home on the farm learning “bad words,” so she brought her two-year-old into class. She graduated quite early, and you will hear a little bit more as I go along.

Obviously, her education path became a defining journey in her youth. Ms. Roberts attended the University of Western Ontario, majoring in history, and graduated at the tender age of 20. After a brief teaching career, she was accepted into law school at Dalhousie, with her main interest being family law and civil law.

Born and raised a farm girl, Marietta never lost her love for the land and for animals. Music and performance art also played an important role in her life, as did travel, both domestically and trips abroad.

While practising law in St. Thomas, Marietta got the political bug, becoming very involved in the local Liberal Party. From 1972 to 1978, she served on the Yarmouth school board and subsequently was elected chair of the Elgin county public school board. She ran federally in 1974 and provincially 1975, and while not successful in these two political endeavours, she remained active working as a lawyer and on her family farm.

During the late 1970s and early 1980s, Ms. Roberts helped form the Elgin Women’s Law Association that served as a network for women lawyers in Elgin and Middlesex counties. From 1987 to 1990, Marietta Roberts served as the MPP for Elgin. At Queen’s Park, Ms. Roberts served as the first woman to be elected to the Chair of the Committee of the Whole House and elected chair of caucus for the Liberal provincial government. During her time in Toronto, she was also vice-chair of the constitutional committee that worked diligently on the Meech Lake Accord.

Current MP from Elgin-Middlesex-London, Karen Vecchio, told me, “The relationship between the Roberts and Martyn families”—Karen’s maiden name is Martyn—“runs generations deep.” In fact, their farms back on to one another. “Marietta had numerous friends and treated all with respect and fairness,” a consistent theme that I’m hearing as I learn more about this wonderful lady.

After politics in 1991, Ms. Roberts became the first woman from Elgin county appointed as an Ontario Court of Justice judge, and was later appointed Associate Chief Justice for Ontario.

According to Steve Peters, former Liberal MPP for Elgin–Middlesex–London, a minister and former Speaker of this Legislature, “The Liberals were in the wilderness in Elgin for 42 years. When Marietta won in 1987, the campaign team was so excited”—how about this—“they held an old style ‘torch light’ parade with burning brooms that began on Talbot Street in St. Thomas to celebrate.” I’ll admit I would like to have been there to see that.

Mr. Peters continued with her deep appreciation of history. She and a local group, including Steve Peters, worked to secure and preserve the historic Thomas Talbot estate, even convincing then Premier Peterson of the merits.

One evening, he said “I was driving with her to a meeting on the property and Marietta was driving, and she was known to have a bit of a heavy foot.” And I confirmed this with Minister Clark, that ministers today—but back then, MPPs—had the bumblebee sticker on their licence plates signifying that you were a public servant. She got pulled over. The officer approached, paused and noticed the bumblebee sticker on the licence plates, and then came to the window and said, “Slow down, ma’am.” She replied, “Yes, sir. Thank you, sir”—no ticket. As Steve says, “I can imagine the smiles on our faces still as we drove down the road. We know we got away with one.”

In conclusion, Speaker, I understand her family and friends, many of whom are up in the gallery today, are gathered here in the Legislature and are at home watching this tribute and later this evening a celebration of life for a life well lived will be also conducted.

I wish I had known Marietta Roberts because I believe, had I known her, we would have become fast friends.

Speaker, if you seek it, you will find unanimous consent to allow members to make statements in remembrance of the late Ms. Marietta L.D. Roberts, with five minutes allotted to His Majesty’s government, five minutes allotted to His Majesty’s loyal opposition and five minutes allotted to the independent members as a group.

It’s an honour to rise today on behalf of the official opposition to pay tribute to Marietta Roberts, a trailblazer with a very big heart.

I want to begin by welcoming her family and friends to the Legislature: her nieces and nephews, Emily Glover, Elena Roberts, Laurie Little, Adam Glover, Mike Harder and Scott Jesney; her great nieces and nephews Hayden Harder, Matthew Jesney and Victoria Jesney; her friend Darcelle Hall; and Lauren Scully, representing the Ontario Court of Justice, the Office of the Chief Justice, and the justice of the peace bench.

I’d also like to acknowledge the family and friends who are watching us from St. Thomas today.

Family and friends were very important to Marietta. She loved spending time with you, so thank you for all the time that you sacrificed with your loved one while Marietta was engaged in the long and honourable career of public service.

Marietta Roberts was born and raised on a family farm in Yarmouth township, Elgin county, but while she helped out on the family farm as a child, there was a different path ahead for Marietta. She attended the University of Western Ontario and the Ontario teachers’ college, teaching at Alma College for three years before turning her attention to law and politics in 1971.

It’s easy now to forget just how unusual these career choices were in 1971 and just how different things were for women in this field.

In 1971, fewer than 10 women had ever been elected to the Ontario Legislature. The first female cabinet minister wouldn’t be named until 1972, and in 1972, only 5% of all lawyers practising in Ontario were women. Forty per cent of Toronto law firms that year freely admitted they were prejudiced towards women applying for articling positions.

But Marietta didn’t just enter a difficult field for women; she blazed trails everywhere she turned, serving as the acting crown attorney for Elgin county, as one of the founding members of the Ontario child representation office and as chair of the Elgin County Board of Education.

She ran in two elections: the federal election of 1974 and the provincial election of 1975. Two defeats didn’t hold Marietta back. She went on to make history as the first woman ever elected to represent Elgin county in the Ontario Legislature, defeating the dean of the Legislature in 1987.

Marietta didn’t stop there either. She became the first-ever woman elected to be the Deputy Chair of the Committee of the Whole House in Ontario. She was also chair of the Liberal caucus. In her parliamentary work she was recognized by former Premier David Peterson as “wonderful at everything.” She was magnetic. She had the biggest heart and huge energy that just enveloped everybody. You just wanted to love her because she exuded so much love.

When the 1990 election brought electoral defeat, Marietta was once more undeterred in her pursuit of public service. She was named a judge in 1991. Once again, Speaker, it’s hard for us to remember what it was like, but Ontario had only had around 30 women appointed as provincial judges by 1990. Once again, Marietta excelled in the role, bringing her big heart and compassion to the halls of justice. Andy Rady, president of the London Criminal Lawyers’ Association noted that “she was enormously fair and she really cared about the people in front of her.” Her leadership skills also came to the fore once again as Marietta served as Associate Chief Justice and coordinator of justices of the peace.

But let me conclude by sharing a little known bit of Marietta Roberts’s history, Speaker. During her term in office as an MPP, she presented an award to a little girl who was growing up on a family farm in Elgin county. That little girl had never met a politician before, but thanks to Marietta Roberts, she grew up thinking of women in politics and public service as normal. And 33 years later, that little girl went on to get elected, and here I stand, because of the work of Marietta Roberts and the trail-blazing women like her who came before me.

Thank you, Marietta, for blazing those trails, for a lifetime of dedicated public service, for putting your energy and intellect and big heart into the service of your community and your province. May we who come behind you live up to your example.

It’s certainly an honour to speak on behalf of the Ontario Liberal caucus to pay tribute to Ms. Marietta Roberts this evening, the former Liberal MPP for Elgin and former Ontario court justice appointee.

Ms. Roberts was born in Yarmouth township, near Sparta, on January 9, 1943. She was raised on the Roberts family farm. She later received a BA from Western, a teaching certificate from the Ontario College of Education and a law degree from Dalhousie University. Ms. Roberts started her career as a teacher at Alma College, but steered by her Elgin county roots, she was able to use her intellect and innate kindness to effect change throughout her community and right across Ontario. Following her time as a teacher, she practised law in Elgin county with the firm of Gloin, Hall and Associates, including a stint as acting county crown attorney and as a founding member of the Ontario Child Representation Program.

Now, she lost her first two elections, one with the federal Liberals and one with Ontario Liberals, but she didn’t give up. She chose to run again in 1987. Her election victory in 1987 was monumental as residents of Elgin county put faith in Ms. Roberts, electing her to victory and washing away nearly 42 years of Tory blue in the riding of Elgin. More impressively, though, her victory also made her the first woman ever elected to Queen’s Park for the riding of Elgin.

Throughout her time at Queen’s Park, she served fiercely in Premier David Peterson’s government, serving as caucus chair and later as deputy government whip. She brought compassion to the halls of Queen’s Park, a trait that’s too often overlooked in this place and in this profession, Madam Speaker. I think that former Premier David Peterson put it perfectly when he said, “She had the biggest heart and huge energy that just enveloped everybody.” Peterson also said, “Everybody loved her. Her political adversaries liked her. Her friends liked her. She was a joy to be around.”

Following her defeat in the 1990 election, she was appointed to the Ontario Court of Justice in 1991 by the NDP government. She became an Associate Chief Justice and the coordinator of the justices of the peace from 1995 to 2001.

Ms. Roberts cared deeply about her community, and in her spare time was a philanthropist and great supporter of local museums. In reading the background that we were given, Madam Speaker, you knew immediately that she cared about her community, because in her spare time, which there must not have been much of, she was the director of the Elgin Conservation Foundation, the Talbot Estate Foundation and secretary of the East Elgin branch of the Canadian Cancer Society.

I’d like to thank the members of the family that are with us here today: Emily, Elena, Laurie, Adam, Mike, Scott, Hayden, Matthew, Victoria; family friend Darcelle Hall; and Lauren Scully from the Ontario Court of Justice. I’ve been told that other members of the family are watching live on television in St. Thomas and in areas right across the province. So to her entire family, to all of her friends, on behalf of Ontario Liberals, I’d like to thank you for sharing Marietta with us, and thank you for everything that she did for her community and for the province of Ontario.

Applause.