Monique Bégin
Professor emeritus, Faculty of Health Sciences and Visiting Professor, Health Administration, Telfer School of Management, University of Ottawa.
Last Contribution:
Paying Down The Democratic Deficit
Contributor Biography
A sociologist, Monique Bégin was the Executive Secretary of the Royal Commission on the Status of Women in Canada (1967-1970) before becoming the first woman from Québec elected to the House of Commons (Liberal, 1972). Re-elected in 1974, 1979, 1980, she was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs (1975-1976) by Prime Minister P.E. Trudeau. Sworn in as Minister of National Revenue (1976-1977), she then became Minister of National Health and Welfare (1977-1984). She remains best known for the Canada Health Act (1984).
She left politics in September 1984. A university professor since, Monique Bégin was the first holder of the Joint Chair in Women's Studies at Ottawa and Carleton Universities. Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at University of Ottawa (1990-1997), she also co-chaired the Royal Commission on Learning of Ontario (1993-1994) and was a member of the International Independent Commission on Population and Quality of Life (1993-1996). A Visiting Professor with the Health Administration Program at the Telfer School of Management since 1998, she was appointed in 2005 to the WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health. Since 2009, she has been the Deputy Chair of the Institute of Wellbeing Advisory Board.
She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (1996) and has received several honorary doctorates in recognition of her contribution to human rights and to public policies. In 1998, she was invested as Officer of the Order of Canada.
