Monique Bégin

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The Honourable Monique Bégin P.C., O.C., F.R.S.C., B.A., M.A., Ph.D., D.Sc., m.s.r.c.

Member of the Canadian Parliament
for Saint-Michel (1972-1979)
In office
1972 – 1984
Preceded by Victor Forget

Member of Parliament
for Saint-Léonard—Anjou (1979-1984)
Succeeded by Alfonso Gagliano

Born March 1, 1936
Rome, Italy
Nationality Canadian
Political party Liberal
Occupation administrator
sociologist
Website Parliament of Canada biography

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

Begin was born in Rome and raised in France and Portugal before immigrating to Canada at the end of World War II. She received a Master of Arts in sociology from the Université de Montréal and a Ph.D. from the Sorbonne.

In 1967, she became executive secretary of the Royal Commission on the Status of Women, which published its report in 1970. She won election to the Canadian House of Commons 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.

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.

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.


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