Monique Bégin

Monique Bégin, PC OC FRSC (born March 1, 1936) is a Canadian academic and former politician.

The Honourable Monique Bégin PC, OC, FRSC
Member of Parliament for Saint-Michel
In office 1972–1979
Preceded by	Victor Forget
Succeeded by	Thérèse Killens
Member of Parliament for Saint-Léonard—Anjou
In office 1979–1984
Preceded by	first member
Succeeded by	Alfonso Gagliano
Personal details
Born	(1936-03-01) March 1, 1936 Rome, Italy
Nationality	Canadian
Political party	Liberal
Occupation	administrator sociologist
Website	Parliament of Canada biography

Early life

Bégin was born in Rome and raised in France and Portugal before emigrating to Canada at the end of World War II. She received a MA degree in sociology from the Université de Montréal and a PhD degree from the Sorbonne. She describes her early life in Montreal as challenging, but credits community groups and her childhood role as a Girl Guides of Canada member as "sav(ing) her life".[1]

Political career

In 1967, Bégin became executive secretary of the Royal Commission on the Status of Women, which published its report in 1970. She won election to the House of Commons of Canada as a Liberal candidate in the 1972 election. Bégin, Albanie Morin and Jeanne Sauvé, all elected in 1972, were the first women ever elected to the House of Commons from Quebec.

She was appointed to the Canadian Cabinet by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau as Minister of National Revenue in 1976, and served as Minister of Health and Welfare from 1977 to 1979 and from 1980 to 1984 during which the Canada Health Act was enacted.

Post-politics

In 1986, she joined the University of Ottawa and Carleton University as the first joint Ottawa-Carleton Chair of Women's Studies. From 1990 to 1997, she was the University of Ottawa's dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences and continues teaching to this day as a professor emeritus. From 1993 to 1995, she also served as co-chair of Ontario's Royal Commission on Learning with Gerald Caplan.

In 1997, she was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. Bégin currently serves as the Treasurer for the International Centre for Migration and Health.

In 2018, she published the memoir Ladies, Upstairs!: My Life in Politics and After.[2]

Electoral record (partial)

1980 Canadian federal election: Saint-Léonard—Anjou
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	Monique Bégin	42,228	81.12
	New Democratic	Filippo Salvatore	3,741	7.19
	Progressive Conservative	Pierre Gauthier	2,972	5.71
	Rhinoceros	Pierre Guzzo-Céros	1,569	3.01
	Social Credit	Gaétan Bernard	1,194	2.29
	Union populaire	U.P. Nelson Bouchard	260	0.50
	Marxist–Leninist	Caroline Commandeur-Laloux	91	0.17
Total valid votes			52,055	100.00
Total rejected ballots			607
Turnout			52,662	66.44
Electors on the lists			79,266
Source: Report of the Chief Electoral Officer, Thirty-second General Election, 1980.

References

1. "Monique Bégin: The feminist trailblazer - Macleans.ca". Macleans.ca. 2017-11-07. Retrieved 2018-12-01.
2. "Ladies, Upstairs!: My Life in Politics and After, by Monique Bégin". Quill & Quire, March 2019.

External links

• Monique Bégin – Parliament of Canada biography