Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Great Women of the Outaouais

Facing Ottawa on the north shore of the Ottawa River, in the province of Quebec, is the city of Gatineau, founded circa 1800 as Wrightstown and renamed Hull in 1875. Incredible women from this region have influenced the history of the Ottawa-Gatineau region, the province of Quebec, and indeed all of Canada.


Karine Cellard
Author, professor

Born in Chelsea, Quebec; works in Montreal.

The only woman from the Ottawa-Gatineau region to be nominated for a Governor General literary award in 2011, for her book Leçons de littérature : un siècle de manuels scolaires au Québec (non fiction).


Chantal Hébert
Columnist and political commentator

Born in Ottawa (Hull) c. 1955.

Educated at Glendon College of York University.

Senior Fellow of Massey College at the University of Toronto.

Began her media career in 1975 at the regional television and radio newsroom of the French language Radio-Canada facility in Toronto.

Appointed by Radio-Canada to cover federal politics on Parliament Hill, and worked as bureau chief for Montreal's Le Devoir and La Presse.

Respected for her straightforward and factual approach to political issues, over the years her columns have also been published by the London Free Press, the Ottawa Citizen and the National Post and currently in Le Devoir and the Toronto Star.

Published French Kiss: Stephen Harper's Blind Date with Quebec in 2007.

www.nsb.com
www.rrj.ca/issue
www.wikipedia.net

Mireille Apollon
Politician

Born in Haiti. Moved to Canada in 1982.

Presently city councilor in Gatineau, QC.

Served as Canada's Consul to Senegal and as a manager at the Canadian International Development Agency, where she was actively involved in Canada's efforts to improve living conditions for disadvantaged people.

Was a member of the board of directors of A-Dialogue, President of the Association des femmes immigrantes de l'Outaouais, and a key member of Femmes, politique et démocratie, a cornerstone of the Centre de développement femmes et gouvernance (Centre for Development of Women in Governance) at Quebec's École nationale d'administration publique.

Received the Ordre de Gatineau medal in 2008.

http://www.gatineau.ca
www.mireilleapollon.com

Donalda Charron, 1886-1967
Union militant; “foreman” at E.B. Eddy

First woman president of a union (syndicate) in the Outaouais.

Leader of the “famous strike” by matchmakers in 1924 which greatly improved working conditions for the women working at E.B.Eddy.

www.cmsq.qc.ca
www.lesjardinsdusouvenir.com

Yvette Debain
Pioneer in visual arts

Founded the L'Imagier exhibition centre in 1975 in Aylmer. Over the past 30 years, l'Imagier has exhibited works by at least 300 professional artists from the region and elsewhere.

In 1986, Ms. Debain also spearheaded the creation of parc de l'Imaginaire.

Received the Ordre de Gatineau medal in 2005.

http://www.gatineau.ca

Laurette Larocque-Auger, 1905-1965
Actress, author and critic

Born in Hull.

Better known in French Canada under her pen name Jean Despréz.

Is an integral part of the history of French Canada's theatre, radio, cinema and television. The concert hall Jean-Despréz located at 25 Laurier Street in Gatineau was named in her honour.

freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/

Louise Tanguay
Photographer

Born in Hearst, Ontario; lives in Aylmer, Quebec.

For over 40 years, has been photographing the world around her and has won many awards for her work.

Her photographs have been published in newspapers and magazines such as La Presse, The Globe and Mail, Canadian Geographic and Winds, Japan Air Lines' in-flight magazine. Her slideshows and lectures have travelled extensively, and her photography workshops have drawn participants from the four corners of Canada. Her work has been exhibited in galleries in both Ontario and Quebec.

Has authored many articles on photography, published many works and produced two coffee-table books, NATURA and FLORA. The Reford Gardens and Treasures of Reford Gardens, books illustrated with Louise's photographs, made the best-seller lists of the summers of 2004 and 2005.

She has also produced the photographs and did the layout for a series of Guides to the Gardens of Quebec, published in both English and French. The collection currently groups six volumes.

Has published. Jewels of Hawai’i describing Allerton Garden and McBryde Garden on the island of Kauai.

http://louisetanguay.com

Nycole Turmel
Politician

Born 1943.

Elected to the Canadian House of Commons in the 2011 election.She represents the electoral district of Hull—Aylmer as a member of the New Democratic Party. Presently interim leader of the NDP (as of July 2011).

Upon her election in 2011, she was the first non-Liberal to win the area in 120 years.

From 1979 to 2006, she held different Union positions at the local, regional and national levels. Upon retiring, she was National President of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, the first women to ever hold that position.

From 2007 to 2011, she was Vice-President of the Ombudsman Office of the City of Gatineau.

A Research Academic Chair at UQAM on public spaces and political innovations was named in her honor.

http://nycoleturmel.ndp.ca/about
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nycole_Turmel

Abigail Wyman Wright, 1760-1828

Pioneer woman
Arrived in the area in 1800.

Wife of Philemon Wright whose group from Woburn, Massachusetts were the first permanent settlers in the Ottawa / Hull / Gatineau Canada area in 1800.

No comments: