Editing Elizabeth Rowley (section)

== Early life and activism ==
Born in British Columbia in 1949, Rowley attended the [[University of Alberta]] in [[Edmonton]], and was active with the [[Young Communist League of Canada]]. She joined the Communist Party in 1967. As a young activist, Rowley campaigned against the [[War Measures Act]] during the [[October Crisis]] in 1970. She was the Party’s youngest candidate in the [[1972 Canadian federal election|1972 federal election]], campaigning on issues such as women's reproductive rights, as abortion was then illegal in Canada, as well as calling for an end to the Vietnam War and [[Canada and the Vietnam War|Canada's participation]].  After travelling across the country and spending a short time in Quebec, she moved to southern Ontario and worked as a typesetter apprentice and secretary in Windsor, where she became a local party organizer.

In 1975, she became Ontario Provincial organizer and moved to [[Hamilton, Ontario|Hamilton]], where she was involved in local labour and social issues. While campaigning to ban the [[Ku Klux Klan in Canada|Ku Klux Klan]], Rowley’s apartment was destroyed by arson and, the following year, her car was fire bombed.{{Citation needed|date=May 2025}}

In 1978, Rowley stood for a seat on the Hamilton Board of Control in the last election to that body before it was dissolved prior to the city's 1980 election. Early in the campaign, Rowley was formally asked by the city's Streets and Sanitation Department to remove her election signs from public property, as their placement violated a local bylaw <ref>"Remove signs, hopeful told," ''Hamilton Spectator'', Tuesday, November 7, 1978, pp. 7.</ref> During her campaign, she advocated for lower property taxes for homeowners, the construction of affordable housing, and a 20-cent bus fare. She told the ''[[The Hamilton Spectator|Hamilton Spectator]]'' that she was opposed to amalgamation, a proposed expansion to the [[John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport|Hamilton Airport]], the [[Upper Ottawa Street (Hamilton, Ontario)|Upper Ottawa Street]] dump, and cutbacks to cultural funding.<ref>"Eight seek election to board of control: Rowley," ''Hamilton Spectator'', Friday, November 18, 1976, pp. 25.</ref> On election night, Rowley finished 6th out of 8 candidates with 13,320 votes.<ref>"Who won in your ward" ''Hamilton Spectator'', Tuesday, November 14, 1978, pp. 9</ref>