She is described as a champion for northern B.C. not just in her own community, but for women in politics.
Alice Maitland’s contributions were honoured last week by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) as she was bestowed with the 2020 Ann MacLean Award for Outstanding Service by a Woman in Municipal Politics.
Maitland began serving Hazelton, located under 450 km west of Prince George, in 1956 to help map property locations to update the Village’s municipal status.
She was first elected to council in 1965 and eventually voted in as mayor in 1976.
B.C.’s longest-serving mayor was defeated in the 2018 municipal election by Dennis Sterritt after 42 years in the big chair, but during that time, she was also director of the Regional District of Kitimat-Stikine (RDKS).
According to FCM, Maitland advocated strongly for rural and remote communities, including Hazelton residents, and encouraged more women to get involved with northern B.C. politics
“The women Maitland mentored say that she blazed the path for other women looking to get into politics and personally helped them to be bolder, stronger, more confident and to raise issues of social equity in their political careers,” reads an FCM release.
“On a personal level, they appreciate her honesty, candor, and absolute dedication to municipal politics.”
Maitland is also known as a ‘pioneer when it came to combining politics and environmental causes,’ particularly for the neighbouring Gitxsan nation against controversial forestry practices.
She also worked at Northwest Community College in Terrace and was an integral part in bringing the recently completed Upper Skeena Recreation Centre to Hazelton in September 2019.
Maitland was also given the lifetime award for her service back in 2016 from the Union of B.C. Municipalities (UBCM).
