Life and career
Jewett was born in St. Catharines, Ontario, where she attended elementary and secondary school. She was the daughter of Mrs. F.C. Jewett, a descendant of Northumberland, Ontario. In 1944, she received a BA in politics and philosophy. In the following year, she received an MA from Queen's University. She obtained a Ph.D in political science at Radcliffe College, Harvard University in 1949. She continued her studies at the London School of Economics and Oxford University.
Jewett went on to lecture at Wellesley College, Queen's University and Carleton University. At Carleton University, she was the chairman of the department of political science from 1960 to 1961 and served as Director of the Institute of Canadian Studies from 1967 to 1972.
In 1961, Jewett became a resident of Brighton, Ontario, in the constituency of Northumberland. In the 1962 federal election, she ran as a Liberal candidate in the riding of Northumberland. She lost by 758 votes to the Progressive Conservative candidate, Harry Bradley. In the 1963 election, she defeated Harry Bradley by 505 votes. However, in the 1965 election, she lost to a different Progressive Conservative candidate, George Hees, by 563 votes.
After Liberal Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau invoked the War Measures Act during the October Crisis, Jewett quit the Liberal Party and joined the New Democratic Party. She ran as an NDP candidate in the 1972 election in the riding of Ottawa West, but came in third, losing to the Progressive Conservative candidate, Peter Reilly.
In May 1974, Jewett moved to British Columbia as president of Simon Fraser University.[1] She was the first woman president of a Canadian co-educational university.[1]
Honored with FAO CERES Medal in 1976.
In the 1979 election, she was elected in the riding of New Westminster—Coquitlam as the NDP candidate. She was also re-elected in the 1980 and 1984 elections.
In 1991, she was made an Officer of the Order of Canada, and in 1992, she was appointed to the Privy Council.
Jewett was Chancellor of Carleton University from 1990 until her death from cancer in 1992.
