A long-time politician, writer, and political activist, Rowley served as a school trustee in the former Toronto borough of East York.

She has been a member of the Central Executive of the Communist Party of Canada since 1978[1] and has campaigned for office many times at the municipal, federal and provincial levels.

Born in British Columbia in 1949, Rowley attended the University of Alberta in Edmonton, and was active with the Young Communist League of Canada.

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.

While campaigning to ban the Ku Klux Klan, Rowley’s apartment was destroyed by arson and, the following year, her car was fire bombed.

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 [2] During her campaign, she advocated for lower property taxes for homeowners, the construction of affordable housing, and a 20-cent bus fare.

Reinstated by the membership, Rowley helped lead an initiative to take Hewison's group to court, becoming the chief negotiator for the pro-Leninist side.

She led the Ontario Committee of the Communist Party in a number of campaigns, including against the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement, as well as the 1990 general election.

The change of leadership followed the retirement of Miguel Figueroa, who stepped down for health reasons after serving in the office for 23 years.