Catherine Macleod

Catherine Macleod (10 June 1948 – 8 March 2021) was a Scottish-born Canadian feminist, trade unionist, poet, writer and playwright.

Biography Early life Born into an extremely poor family in Glasgow, Macleod emigrated to Canada in the 1950s. As a young woman, she left Kincardine for Toronto and the Yorkville hippy scene. There she discovered Leonard Cohen, Judy Collins, Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell, and found her own voice as a feminist, socialist and artist.

Career Macleod wrote Waking Up in the Men’s Room: A Memoir, published by Between the Lines Press in 1998. Toronto Star columnist Thomas Walkom called the book "a wry, articulate, unsparing and often poignant story." Macleod wrote three volumes of poetry, a chapbook titled Lessons Never Learned, The Telling Time published by the Ginger Press, and Re:late. Macleod's play Glow Boys was based on her family's experiences living beside Ontario's Bruce Nuclear Plant and was first performed in Kincardine and Port Elgin in 1985. Macleod co-directed (with singer Lorraine Segato) and produced Worth Every Minute, a 1987 NFB documentary about Pat Schulz, a working class socialist and child care activist. In 2007, Macleod edited The Kincardine Scottish Pipe Band: The First Century with author Basil McCarthy.

Macleod worked as a communications specialist in the Ontario labour movement for Bob White at the Canadian Auto Workers for a number of years, and as Director of Communications for Rosario Marchese, Ontario's Minister of Culture from 1990 to 1991. She also served as the acting Human Rights Director and later the Communications Director for the Ontario Federation of Labour. Macleod co-founded the Toronto's Mayworks Festival of Working People and the Arts and the Canadian Women's Educational Press, later called the Women's Press. Macleod strongly believed that everyone has the right to produce and enjoy art and culture. One of her favorite quotes was William Morris' "I do not want art for a few; any more than education for a few; or freedom for a few."

Personal life In 1992, Catherine moved back to Kincardine and married her high school sweetheart Martin Quinn. Macleod and Quinn were active in community heritage and gardening projects, co-publishing Grass Scapes: Gardening with Ornamental Grasses in 2004.

Death Macleod died in Goderich, Ontario on 8 March 2021, aged 72.

Works Pandora Ferns Glow Boys, 1985 Worth Every Minute, 1987 Lessons Never Learned, 1995 Waking Up in the Men’s Room: A Memoir, 1998 The Telling Time, 2002 Grass Scapes: Gardening with Ornamental Grasses, 2003 The Kincardine Scottish Pipe Band: The First Century, (co-editor) 2007 Re:late, 2021