(1903-26 Dec. 1993), social worker, author. (Edith Ferguson) Parents: Gordon Ferguson and his wife Catherine Anna Bella Cameron. (see Mrs Catherine A. B. C. Ferguson). Born at Dunvegan, GC. She graduated from Queen’s University (B.A. 1931; Glengarry News 8 May 1931), having begun her Queen’s studies as a correspondence student, and also studied at the Ontario College of Education, the Toronto School of Social Work, and Columbia University (M.A. in adult education). She stated in a letter of 1979 that “My whole working experience seems to consist of a series of short term jobs.” The following is a somewhat condensed record of her employment history: primary school teacher; personnel worker in a munitions plant in Scarbrough in WWII; employee of the YMCA War Services in Canada and Scotland (one of her duties in Scotland. was instructing war brides in the Canadian way of life–GN 21 Sept. 1945, from Toronto Telegram); with UNRRA in Germany in 1946 and 1947 as a welfare officer in displaced person camps; employee of Ontario Farm Radio Forum; worker in Germany in 1951 with prospective immigrants to Canada; social worker in Windsor in 1950s; social worker in Toronto from 1960.

     Edith Ferguson was much involved in the problems of settling immigrants in Toronto. She was the author of: Newcomers in Transition (International Institute of Metropolitan Toronto, 1964); Newcomers and New Learning (International Institute of Metropolitan Toronto, 1966; this title also found as Newcomers and Learning); Immigrant Integration (Ontario Economic Council, 1970); Ontario and You, revised under title Newcomers’ Guide to Services in Ontario (Ontario Department of Provincial Secretary and Citizenship, 1972, revised 1975); Immigrants in Canada (Faculty of Education, University of Toronto, for use in schools. Revised 1974, 1978).

     She published two articles on displaced persons (a major issue of the time) in Saturday Night (8 Nov. & 13 Dec. 1947) after her return from Germany in 1947. While associated with Farm Forum she also wrote for the farm press. At a more personal level, her essay “Recreation” recalling the entertainments and pleasures of her childhood home was published in Manor Chatter 1992-1993, and is a useful contribution to social history.

     During International Women’s Year (1975) she was one of 25 women given the Outstanding Woman Award by the Province of Ontario. She became a member of the Order of Canada, 1976, and was invested by Governor General Jules Leger. She maintained an interest in Gaelic throughout life but did not speak it. When an undergraduate, she was the co-winner of a Gaelic prize at Queen’s. She was a member of the Ottawa Gaelic Society and the Toronto Gaelic Society, and wrote in 1979: “When I belonged to them I attended Gaelic classes, sang in their little choirs.” In the later decades of her life she lived in Toronto but often revisited GC. She died in Toronto East General Hospital. Burial was at Gordon Cemetery, St. Elmo. She was unmarried. She was the sister of Elizabeth Blair and of Christena and Martin Ferguson, who are all in the present dictionary.

Glengarry News 26 Jan. 1994 * Edith Ferguson’s report on her employment history and list of her publications, prepared 1979 for Ewan Ross and Royce MacGillivray, with covering letter to Ewan Ross 24 Sept. 1979 which forms part of report (copy in present editor’s files) * Campbell (1990) 102-108 (portrait) * Order of Canada: GN 21 Oct. 1976 (repr. in The Loyalist Gazette Autumn 1976); QAR March-April 1977 * A. MacDermaid & G. F. Henderson, A Guide to the Holdings of Queen’s University Archives (1986), II (1987), 82 (lists recording in series of interviews with women at Queen’s) * Gaelic prize at Queen’s: Cornwall Standard 30 Jan. 1930, Cornwall Freeholder 15 March 1930 (editorial) & 2 April 1930