The daughter of Co-operative Commonwealth Federation founding leader J. S. Woodsworth and the wife of long serving CCF MP Angus MacInnis, Grace MacInnis championed issues such as family planning, affordable housing, abortion rights and women's equality.

[3][4] After attending the University of Manitoba and the Sorbonne, she became a teacher, but soon left her career to serve as an assistant to her father in 1931, and later acted as secretary of the CCF party.

In 1967, she was responsible for bringing the issue of housing to the government's attention, arguing that it was the main problem in Canada.

She explained that Canadians couldn't qualify unless their income was at least $8,000 a year(the equivalent of $62,101.69 in 2020 dollars) and for those who could afford it, it was costly to carry a loan for an extended period.

[3][6] At the same meeting, MacInnis addressed abortion and how it is necessary for the option to be available for women if the child has a possibility of being born unhealthy, their physical or mental health was imperilled or the pregnancy was caused by rape.

Her precautionary measures for abortion rights were that two registered physicians had to prescribe it for any of the previous reasons and she emphasized that anyone could apply.

[3][6] One problem that MacInnis recognized during her time in Parliament was that men don't usually engage in issues involving women.

She highlighted the importance of the ability for women to not have to choose between work and having children, and considered the need for more childcare centres so this could be made possible.

[3][7] MacInnis' papers (1.6 m) are held by the special collections division of the library of the University of British Columbia.