Claire Morissette

Claire Morissette (April 6, 1950 – July 20, 2007) was a Canadian cycling advocate who fought for equal cyclists' rights in Montreal since 1976. She was a member of the group Le Monde à Bicyclette. Notable were the stunts they organized to raise consciousness of automobile transportation's negative impact on cities and their inhabitants, such as bringing snow skis and toboggans on subways to protest the exclusion of bicycles and a die-in on the corner of St. Catherine and University streets in which 100 people lay in the street adorned with fake blood and surrounded with wrecked bikes.

Sign for Claire-Morissette bicycle path on Maisonneuve Boulevard

She published one book in 1994, Deux roues, un avenir[1] (Two Wheels, One Future), available only in French. The book promotes using bikes for urban transportation.

In 1999, she founded Cyclo Nord-Sud, an organization that gives used bikes to third world countries.[2] They have shipped over 20,000 bikes to 13 countries. In the same year, she also founded Communauto, a car-share company.[3]

She died on July 20, 2007, aged 57, following a battle with breast cancer. In her honour, on June 16, 2008, Montreal's city council voted unanimously to name its De Maisonneuve Boulevard bicycle path after Morissette. [4]


Bibliography
  • Deux roues, un avenir : le vélo en ville (Two Wheels, One Future)(1994), écosociété. ISBN 978-2-923165-55-4[5]

Awards
  • 2007 - Prix Thérèse-Daviau (awarded posthumously)[6]
  • 2017 - Honoured in the exhibition "Place aux femmes" at City Hall as part of Montreal's 375th anniversary[7]
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References
  1. Deux roues, un avenir [ancienne édition]: Amazon.ca: Claire Morissette: Books
  2. L'équipe - Qui nous sommes - Cyclo Nord-Sud Archived August 15, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  3. Claire Morissette Archived July 16, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  4. O'Hanley, Stephanie (2008-06-26). "De Maisonneuve bike path named for Claire Morissette". Hour. Archived from the original on 2012-09-03. Retrieved 2008-08-30.
  5. Écosociété | Deux roues, un avenir (in French). 2009-08-09. ISBN 978-2-923165-55-4.
  6. "Ville de Montréal - Développement social et diversité - Prix Thérèse-Daviau". ville.montreal.qc.ca (in French). Retrieved 2020-05-09.
  7. "Montréal au féminin". La Presse+ (in French). 2016-03-05. Retrieved 2020-05-09.
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