Women We Should Know

New Brunswick is full of women, past and present, whom we should all know. Though they may not all be university degree recipients, these women have all impacted their areas of expertise as well as the lives of other women.

• • Dr. Elizabeth Cordelia Eaton, who was born in South Wales, studied medicine at London University at the Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine for Women at the age of 19 and in 1935, graduated with a bachelor of medicine and a bachelor of surgery. In 1938, Dr. Eaton met and married her husband, Robert Burnell Eaton, while he was completing his post-graduate studies in surgery. The married couple emigrated to Canada shortly after to open a dual practice in Amherst. After the Second World War, they moved to Sackville, NB and then eventually relocated to Moncton. She served the St.John Ambulance for many years, first in Amherst as Examiner in First Aid, then Cadet Surgeon with St. John Ambulance Cadets for twenty years.

    • She served on the board of VON Moncton branch. She has been honoured as Serving Sister in the Order of St. John (1963), Officer in the Order of St. John (1974) and awarded the Victoria Medal and Bar.

    • In 1970, Dr. Eaton found herself writing licensing exams for the Medical Council of Canada in order to be able to practice medicine in NB. At the age of 60, she had passed the exams and, with her husband, set up office once again.

    • In 1982, the esteemed Dr. Eaton was elected a life member of the New Brunswick Medical Society. Dr. Eaton was also a mother and golfer. She joined CFUW, first in Sackville NB in 1946, and then CFUW Moncton in 1950 and was the Club's Honorary President until her death in 2014 at 104 year old. She holds the Club distinction of being the first President of the Moncton Club (1956) to be pregnant in office!

    • Dr. Eaton's father was the late Idris James Morris of England, who was made a companion of the Imperial Service Order by King George VI for his work during World War Two. In his memory, 96-year-old Dr. Eaton donated $100,000 to Atlantic Baptist University as a new entrance scholarship intended to be used to attract prospective students, especially the athletes entering the university's athletic program.

  • Carol Dorothy Proctor, C.M., M.S.W. An advocate for social work, she has been a pioneer in every aspect of the profession in New Brunswick. Her quest to deliver the best possible service led to new professional standards. Through her vision and leadership, innovative groundbreaking programs were established for clients and their families. Her dedication has also extended to volunteering her time, thus ensuring that the gaps in services were filled. On the eve of her retirement, she added to her legacy by co-founding the program Help Au Secours, a 24-hour telephone help line.

    • Carol Proctor, resident of Moncton NB, was appointed as a member of the Order of Canada in November 2001.

  • Leone Boudreau-Nelson, C.M., M.A. Professor Emeritus and founder of the "Société d'art oratoire" of the University of Moncton, she has devoted over half a century to teaching French phonetics. An enthusiastic supporter of ties between Acadia, France and Louisiana, she actively participates in the "Société historique acadienne" and is the founder of the France-Canada Association.

    • Leone was appointed as a member of the Order of Canada October 1990.

  • Flora M. Dell, C.M. A committed volunteer and activist, Flora Dell has long worked to improve the health of older Canadians. Building on her experience in the field of gerontology in New Brunswick, she has shared her broad knowledge with groups such as the Active Living Coalition for Older Adults, Osteoporosis Canada and the Canadian Centre for Activity and Aging. She has designed programs to teach seniors to deliver exercise classes in their communities, and forged partnerships among experts, hospitals and associations to provide improved health care services for seniors. She continues to inspire Canadians of all ages to embrace an active lifestyle.

    • Flora Dell, resident of Moncton NB, was appointed a member of the Order of Canada in May 2007.

  • Audrey Lampert. In 2012 long-time educator and human rights activist Audrey Lampert was inducted into the Order of New Brunswick, the province's highest honour. Audrey is a long-time member of CFUW Moncton.

    • Moncton resident Lampert says not once did she think about being rewarded for volunteering within her community, and her work with various human rights organizations.

    • 'Being honoured was not even my vision so it was quite a surprise, a very pleasant one,' she said. 'I did what I believed I needed to do, did what I thought was right, and pushed for the recognition of rights of individuals, without discrimination, without being harassed or bullied. That's what has guided me throughout my career.' Lampert worked for the former School District 2 for four decades, assuming a variety of roles, including principal, vice-principal and teacher. She also worked as an instructor at New Brunswick Community College.

    • She has fought in support of minority language rights and for the retention of the Early French Immersion program in Metro Moncton and throughout the province.

    • But her greatest battle was during her tenure as a school board member in the 1980s.

    • As a young, Jewish mother serving on the Moncton District School Board, she challenged the district's employment of a well-known teacher who wrote anti-Semitic books. Despite being marginalized and harassed herself, she persevered and the teacher was eventually removed from the classroom.

    • 'What really launched me into my work was my own position back then, but I found out that not everybody thought the same way with respect to fairness, acceptance, tolerance and equality.' More recently, Lampert has participated in many public speaking engagements, focusing on education and human rights issues. In 2007, she was appointed to the NB Human Rights Commission and was honoured for her work on behalf of human rights by the Friends of the Simon Wiesenthal Center of Toronto.

    • -Allison Toogood, Times & Transcript. 08/08/2012

  • Dawn Arnold. After dedicating the last 13 years to volunteering full-time at the Frye Festival, Dawn Arnold was elected as Councillor at large for the City of Moncton in 2012. The recipient of the Order of New Brunswick, the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal and the YWCA's Women of Distinction Award is a proud Monctonian who believes in giving back to her community.

    • Arnold has been a tireless volunteer for the Frye Festival since its inception in 1999. Thanks to her extraordinary efforts it has become one of the most highly regarded and successful literary events in all of Canada. For over 10 years the festival has brought together local, national and international authors with audiences of all ages in a unique, bilingual celebration of literature.

    • Dawn is a graduate of the University of Toronto, Harvard and Université Paul-Valérie. She has served on the boards of the Capitol Theatre (2002-04), Vitality Moncton/In Motion (2002-2011) and the city's Cultural Board (2011-present).

  • Elizabeth Weir is used to establishing firsts. She was the first female leader of the NDP in NB (and the first woman leader of any political party in the province) and the first woman leader of a political party elected to the provincial legislature. And in 2005, she became the first president and CEO of Efficiency NB, a crown corporation whose goal is to help NB residents and businesses save energy and money... She was instrumental in helping to establish a natural gas policy in the province... In 2010 Efficiency NB won the International Star Award for Energy Efficiency by the Alliance to Save Energy. The agency is the first Canadian organization to win the honour... For Weir, the honour continues a pattern of firsts.

    • [excerpt from Ocean Resources, June/July 2011]

  • Dr. Mary Majka. Dr. Mary Majka. Born in Poland, Dr. Mary Majka immigrated to Canada over 50 years ago. Since 1961, when she arrived in NB, she has been an untiring champion of this province. Her love and knowledge of nature and history led her to start a variety of ambitious undertakings promoting the understanding, protection and conservation of valuable and unique features in this, her beloved new home. She spearheaded the establishment of naturalist and heritage organizations, wrote articles and books, organized workshops and conferences, served on national and provincial boards and councils, established two nature centres, hosted a TV show, and saved from demolition a number of historic structures and sites. Through her efforts, the Black-capped Chickadee became our provincial bird. Majka has been honoured with various awards including an honorary doctorate from the University of New Brunswick. Her family home is at Mary's Point in Albert County. Mary started the Moncton Naturalists' Club, now Nature Moncton; was a founding member of Conservation Council of NB and a founder of the NB Federation of Naturalists; was instrumental in establishing the Fundy Hiking Trail Association, the Fundy Guild (a cooperating association working with Fundy National Park) and the Albert County Heritage Trust. Mary has been honoured and written about many times at local, provincial and national levels. These included a Heaslip Award for environmental stewardship in 1981, a National Heritage Award in 1987, a lifetime achievement award from Environment Canada and a Gulf of Maine Visionary Award in 1996, an honorary doctorate from UNB in 1998, the Order of New Brunswick in 2005 and a member of the Order of Canada in 2007.

    • Mary was the first winner of the NB Lieutenant-Governor's Award of Excellence in Land Conservation (2012). Mary died February 2014

    • In 2010 Deborah Carr published the biography entitled "Sanctuary: The Story of Naturalist Mary Majka".

  • "Our own" CLAUDETTE BRADSHAW is certainly a deserving candidate for our "Women We Should Know" roster. She has given a lifetime of service to her community, firstly through Headstart, an organization helping many unfortunate Moncton people, and later through politics. She served as Liberal MP for the riding of Moncton-Riverview-Dieppe from 1997 to 2005. She worked as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Cooperation and Minister Responsible for Francophonie, then became Minister of Labour and finally Minister of State (Human Resources Development). From 1999 until 2004 she was the Federal Coordinator on Homelessness. She was appointed as special advisor to Liberal leader Shawn Graham for the last NB election campaign. Most recently she has completed her work as head of the NB Community Non-Profit Task Force.

  • Lucy Maud Montgomery is one of the greatest Canadian females. What other woman in Canadian history has had such a profound affect on so many people both nationally and internationally for her writing, especially for her book "Anne of Green Gables". In that book she created a character so real that many people today believe Anne was a real person.

    • Lucy Maud Montgomery was born in 1874 in Clifton, PE (now New London). She graduated from Prince of Wales College in Charlottetown in 1894 and received a first class teachers licence. She then taught in Bideford PE for a year. She saved up enough money that year to pay for 1 year at Dalhousie University in Halifax. She thought that a course in English Literature might aid her writing career. While in Halifax she received her first payment for a poem. While there she also worked as a reporter for the Daily Echo.

    • In her lifetime she published 20 novels, 500 short stories, 500 poems, two collections of short stories, 1 volume of poetry and contributed 3 short biographies to the Volume of Courageous Women. For years she gave public readings and talks and wrote articles for newspapers and magazines.

    • Lucy Maud Montgomery was much honoured in her lifetime and continues to be so today.

      • In 1919, Francis Marion, the greatest female scriptwriter of early Hollywood, scripted a silent film "Anne of Green Gables".

      • In 1923, she was the first Canadian woman to be made a Fellow of the Royal Arts of Great Britain.

      • In 1935 she was elected to the Literary and Artistic Institute of France and also made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire.

      • In 1936 the government of Canada purchased land in Cavendish, PEI, and designated it for a national park. This was largely due to the fame of Lucy Maud's book "Anne of Green Gables".

      • In 1943 Lucy Maud Montgomery (MacDonald) was declared a person of national historic significance.

      • The musical "Anne of Green Gables" has been performed continuously each summer at the Confederation Centre of the Arts in Charlottetown for over 45 years.

      • In 1999 she was voted one of the top 20 heroes of the Twentieth Century.

      • Today her novels are still international best sellers.

    • [info compiled by Myrna Balderston, for CFUW Moncton's "Greatest Canadian Female" contest]

  • Ruth Stanley, a long time member of the former CFUW Sackville, was active as an advocate for gender equality, youth, health care and the arts. Her advocacy stemmed from a strong belief in the importance of being involved in her community and in the promotion and preservation of the cultural and historical heritage in NB.

    • The former Provincial First Lady represented many firsts throughout her life. She was the only woman and gold medalist in her class at McGill Law School in the first year women could practice law in Quebec. She was admitted to the Bar of Montreal in 1945. She was the first woman to chair a hospital board in NB and also the first feminine member of the Fredericton Garrison Club.

    • Dr. Stanley understood young people and encouraged them in their endeavours. She connected with youth across the province, particularly young girls through her role as Honorary Commissioner of NB's Girl Guides of Canada.

    • As an advocate for improved health care, Dr. Stanley used her determination and negotiation skills to ensure that the present day Sackville Memorial Hospital was built and has remained an up-to-date facility. Dr. Stanley was the Honorary President of the NB Mental Association and felt strongly that this area of health needed a higher profile.

    • Her contribution to the arts and culture in NB is something of which Dr. Stanley is particularly proud. She was president of the Sackville Art Association as well as the Honorary President of the Board of the NB Museum, and is an Honorary Life Member of the NB Craft Council. A strong supporter of provincial heritage preservation organizations, Dr. Stanley was awarded honorary degrees by Mount Allison and St. Thomas Universities.

    • In November 2010 Ruth Stanley received the Order of New Brunswick for long and active dedication to the arts, health care and the promotion of gender equality.

  • Marilyn Trenholme Counsell (from Wikipedia), ONB (born October 22, 1933 in Baie Verte, New Brunswick) is a former Canadian Senator.

    • Born Marilyn Trenholme, she is the daughter of Mildred Baxter Trenholme and the late Harry Frederick Trenholme. She married Kenneth Walter Counsell in 1972.

    • She was appointed to the Senate in 2003 by Governor General Adrienne Clarkson, on the advice of Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, and sits as a member of the Liberal caucus. She previously served as Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick from 1997 to 2003.

    • Prior to her appointment as Lieutenant-Governor, Trenholme Counsell, who has an undergraduate degree from Mount Allison University and a medical degree from the University of Toronto, worked as a nutritionist and family physician in Sackville, New Brunswick. She entered politics and was elected as the member of the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick for Tantramar between 1987 to 1997. She also served in the cabinet from 1994 to 1997 as Minister of State for the Family and Minister of State for Family and Community Services.

    • As a Senator, she was a tireless advocate for literacy. On September 8, 2006, she took her campaign to the Westmoreland Correctional Institution in Dorchester, New Brunswick as part of International Literacy Day where she lauded Turning a New Page as well as the Corrections Canada staff and the inmates for their steadfast efforts to bring literacy to the children of Moncton's District Two. She reached the mandatory retirement age on October 22, 2008. In June 2012, she was made an Officer of the Order of Canada (OC).

  • MURIEL McQUEEN FERGUSSON was a lady of many accomplishments. She earned the admiration and respect of Frederictonians, and of Canadians from coast to coast. She was the first woman city councillor in Fredericton, first woman from Atlantic Canada to become a Senator, and the first woman to be appointed speaker of the Senate. She was born in Shediac 1899, and came to Fredericton in 1947 via Grand Falls and Saint John. She trained as a lawyer but said she never set specific goals for her career. She simply did what appeared right at the time. Her accomplishments have improved the lives of many and added to the basic rights of Canadian women. She worked hard and successfully to eliminate the regulations which had kept women from running in civic elections, and then proceeded to run herself and was elected - the first woman city councillor in Fredericton, and eventually she became deputy Mayor. She actively battled discrimination on the basis of sex both provincially and later at the federal level, and helped overturn rules that kept women out of positions for which they were qualified.

    • This legacy of efforts to improve the lives of women continues in the work of the Muriel McQueen Fergusson Foundation on the UNB campus. She was kind, caring and efficient - and will not soon be forgotten.

  • Frances Lillian Fish was born in Newcastle in 1888. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from UNB and a doctorate of philosophy from Chicago Univ. But she had always wanted to be a lawyer. She completed a law degree in 1918 at Dalhousie Law School in Halifax, the first woman to do so. She became the first woman admitted to the Nova Scotia Bar. She ran unsuccessfully in the 1935 provincial election in Newcastle, the first woman to seek election to the N.B. Legislature. She was appointed deputy magistrate for the County of Northumberland in 1947, the first woman to hold such a position in the province.

  • Excerpt, Celebrating our Progress by the Advisory Council

  • Mary Electa Adams (1823-1898) paved the way for women's access to Canadian universities. She increased the teaching standards in women's colleges where she worked as principal and teacher, notably at the Mt Allison Academy in Sackville.

  • Molly Kool Carney was born in Alma NB in 1916. She became the first woman licensed Sea Captain in North America and the second in the world, in 1939. Her status entitled her to command a steam or motor propelled vessel anywhere on the coast of North America. Because of Molly's licensing, the shipping laws of Canada had to be rewritten to incorporate women at the helm.

  • Rose-Marie Losier-Cool is a retired Canadian Senator for New Brunswick. A member of NB's Acadian community, Losier-Cool worked as a teacher for thirty-three years, two decades of which were spent at école secondaire Népisiguit in Bathurst. She was elected the first woman president of the Association des enseignantes et enseignants francophones du Nouveau-Brunswick in 1983 and has sat on the board of directors of the Canadian Teachers Federation. She was awarded the Teacher of the Year Award for non-sexist teaching by the NB government in 1993. In 1994-95, she was Vice-President of the NB Advisory Council on the Status of Women.

    • Losier-Cool was appointed to the Senate on March 21, 1995 on the advice of then Prime Minister of Canada Jean Chrétien sitting as a Liberal. In 2004, she was appointed Government Whip in the Senate, the first woman ever to hold this role. Loisier-Cool left the Senate upon reaching the mandatory retirement age of 75 in 2012.

  • Antonine Maillet, PC CC OQ ONB FRSC (born May 10, 1929) is an Acadian novelist, playwright, and scholar. She was born in Bouctouche, NB and lives in Montreal, QU. Following high school, she received her BA from the Université de Moncton, followed by an MA from the same institution. She then received her PhD in literature in 1970 from the Université Laval. She taught literature and folklore at Laval, then in Montreal between 1971 to 1976. She later worked for Radio-Canada in Moncton as a script writer and host. In 1976 she was made an Officer of the Order of Canada and was promoted to Companion in 1981. Maillet was awarded the Royal Society of Canada's Lorne Pierce Medal in 1980. In 1985 she was made an Officier des Arts et des Lettres de France and in 2005 she was inducted into the Order of New Brunswick. She is a member of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada. In 1979 her work Pélagie-la-Charrette won the Prix Goncourt, making her the first non-European recipient.

    • In 1988, Antonine Maillet hosted the French-language Leaders' Debate for Radio-Canada TV between Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, Liberal Party of Canada Leader John Turner, and New Democratic Party leader Ed Broadbent.

    • From 1989 to 2000, she served as chancellor of the Université de Moncton.

    • In 1994, the College Militaire Royal theatre group performed in a play by Antonine Maillet both at CMR and at Royal Military College of Canada. Ms Maillet was granted an Honourary Degree from RMC in 1995.

    • [From Wikipedia]

    • A prolific writer of more than a dozen plays and almost 20 novels, Maillet published her first play, Poire-Acre, and first novel, Pointe-aux-Coques, in 1958. Her works celebrate the dialect and heritage of the Acadian people; Maillet herself has been called "the soul of contemporary Acadian literature." After the success of her play La Sagouine (1971; tr 1979) and the novel Pelagie-la-charrette (1979), which charts the triumphant return home of the Acadian people after the 1755 expulsion, or le Grand Dérangement, Maillet dominated contemporary Acadian literature.

    • [From Canadian Encyclopedia]

  • Portia White was a black contralto and voice teacher from Nova Scotia who became one of the greatest vocalists in Canadian history. For more information see Portia White's entry in Wikipedia.

  • Rina Arseneault, Associate Director of the Muriel McQueen Fergusson Centre for Family Violence Research, received her medal as a Member of the Order of Canada in Ottawa on September 12, 2014.

    • - from Women Femmes NB - Sept 17, 2014

  • Paulette Sonier Rioux - a committed feminist and member of the Voices of New Brunswick Women Consensus-Building Forum, was one of 100 legendary Canadian feminists from the past century honoured for her contribution to the defence, promotion, and advancement of the status of women. A native of Tracadie, NB, Paulette Sonier Rioux has been and continues to be involved in a number of organizations that support the development and growth of Francophones in minority communities. After spending five years in Africa, two in Chad and three in Senegal, Sonier Rioux now engages in community work, holding the following positions: chair of the Alliance des femmes de la francophonie canadienne, the Réseau des femmes francophones du Nouveau-Brunswick, and the Réseau national d'action éducation femmes; member of the board of directors of the Société de l'Acadie du Nouveau-Brunswick; member of the board of directors of the Regroupement féministe du Nouveau-Brunswick; member of the New Brunswick Advisory Council on the Status of Women; and municipal councillor for the town of Shippagan. She currently sits on the boards of directors of New Brunswick's Vitalité Health Network, the Fonds de l'avenir de la Société de l'Acadie du Nouveau-Brunswick, and the Laméque International Baroque Music Festival, and she is the treasurer of the Alliance des femmes de la francophonie canadienne. In addition, she was awarded a certificate of recognition for her community involvement by the Fédération des dames d'Acadie in Shippagan.

    • - from Women Femmes NB - Nov.12, 2014

  • Nancy J. Hartling, M.A.Ed., R.S.W. Executive Director of Support to Single Parents Inc. has been a pioneer and leader in improving issues around poverty, health, housing, domestic violence and economic development. The agency has been recognized and won several awards for its work and contribution. Such awards include: NB Spiritus Award (1991), NB Family Award (1997), Certificate of Merit (1998) Nurses' Association of NB, Leadership Award (2002) Maritime Centre for Excellence, Dalhousie University, The Women of Distinction Award (2010) YWCA, The Governor General's Commemoration of the Person's Case Award (2011) Government of Canada, Patricia Ball Award (2013) Delta Kappa Gamma International. Presently a Senator in the Government of Canada.

  • Corinne Gallant. Born in Moncton in 1922, Ms. Gallant was a member of the Sisters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart for 26 years, before becoming a lay person in 1970.

    • One of the first Acadian women to earn a doctorate, she had a lengthy career as a professor of Philosophy at the Université de Moncton. It is in this capacity that she launched its first course on feminism, which she led until her retirement in 1994. Ms. Gallant was also the author of a book on feminist philosophy (La philosophie... au féminin, éditions d'Acadie, Moncton, 1984) that was widely used in French language institutions. She was also a president of the first national organization of feminist researchers, the Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women (CRIAW).

    • In addition, Ms. Gallant played a key role in the establishment of the New Brunswick Advisory Council on the Status of Women, and helped establish a shelter for battered women in Moncton. She also worked for Acadian rights, particularly French as an official language, in addition to joining, in person and through her journalistic writings, the struggles of various major causes in the fields of art/the Escaouette theatre and the environment/the Petitcodiac River.

    • Ms. Gallant has several awards to her credit, most notably the Order of Canada in 1989, the Governor General's Award in Commemoration of the Persons Case in 2012, and attaining the rank of full professor at the Université de Moncton.

    • The New Brunswick Human Rights Award was established by the Human Rights Commission in 1988 to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Each year, the award is presented to an individual or group in New Brunswick that has shown outstanding effort, achievement and leadership on a volunteer basis in the promotion of human rights and equality.

    • The Human Rights Award for 2014 was presented to Corrine Gallant for exceptional work advocating for women.

    • Excerpts - WomenFemmesNB - Sept.17,2014

  • Kathryn Barnes

    • A former deputy mayor of Moncton, Kathryn Barnes dedicated her entire adult life to Home and School and community activism as well as public office.

    • She served five terms as a councillor-at-large at Moncton city hall, including three as deputy mayor.

    • As a Federation of Canadian Municipalities Regional Champion and as a local mentor, Barnes helped raise the percentage of women appointed and elected to municipal positions to 30 per cent.

    • Through the YWCA, Barnes hopes to continue to offer support as a mentor for women in the community.

    • Barnes was active in the restoration of the Free Meeting House and Treitz Haus, the development of City Hall Plaza, Irishtown Park and Mapleton Park. She also led in developing Active Transportation in the city and various environmental initiatives.

    • She has won local, regional and national recognition for her volunteer service and in 2012 she received the Queen's Jubilee Medal.

    • She was honoured in 2013 with the YWCA Woman of Distinction Award.

  • Marie-Claude Blais

    • Prior to joining the law firm McInnes Cooper Marie-Claude had a distinguished career as a cabinet member in the former David Alward government in New Brunswick. Most notably she was the first woman in New Brunswick history to serve as Attorney General and Minister of Justice and Consumer Affairs. She was later named Minister responsible for the Women's Equity Branch. After her term as Attorney General and Minister Justice she was appointed Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development. She continued to serve in that role until the 2014 General Election.

    • Marie-Claude was also President of the Select Committee on the Revision of the New Brunswick Official Languages Act. Marie-Claude was instrumental in restoring the New Brunswick Small Claims Act and led development of the Linguistic and Cultural Development Policy.

    • Marie-Claude has law degrees from both the Université de Moncton and the Université de Sherbrooke. She is a member of the New Brunswick Law Society and is also a member of the Barreau du Québec. She received her Queen's Counsel designation in 2010.

  • The Honourable Margaret Norrie McCain O.C., O.N.B., B.A. (Hon.), B.S.W.

    • First woman Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick

    • She received her early education in Quebec, Nova Scotia and Ontario, where she earned Bachelor of Arts degrees from Mount Allison University and the University of Toronto. She has also received honourary doctors of law degrees from several Canadian universities.

    • Throughout her career, Mrs. McCain has been active in organizations that promote women's rights, social equality, education and the arts. She is the founding member of the Muriel McQueen Fergusson Foundation in New Brunswick whose mission is the elimination of family violence through public education and research. In 1994, Margaret was appointed the first female Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick. Since moving to Toronto, Mrs. McCain has been involved with a number of organizations including the National Ballet and Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. Mrs. McCain has also involved herself in many educational and youth-oriented pursuits such as Ontario's Promise, a non-partisan initiative for children and youth.

    • Mrs. McCain was co-chair with Dr. Fraser Mustard of the highly regarded The Early Years Study: Reversing the Real Brain Drain (1999) and was the Children's Champion of the Voices for Children initiative. (lfcc.on.ca)

    • Honours and Awards: Dame of Grace of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem (1994); Officer of the Order of Canada (1998); Order of New Brunswick (2004); YWCA Toronto Women of Distinction Award for Philanthropy and Volunteerism (2005); Order of Canada (2014)

  • Cathy Rogers

    • Honourable Cathy Rogers, Minister of Social Development, and Minister of Healthy and Inclusive Communities. She has been a lifetime advocate for prevention, support, and early intervention, and is concerned for the quality of life and well-being of vulnerable families. Honoured for her community service work by the YWCA of Greater Moncton in 2011 with a Woman of Distinction Award for Education, Training, and Development, she also received Stephen & Ella Steeves Excellence in Service Award from Crandall University in 2012. Priorities focus on women's issues, improving the statistics for women on boards, and improving economic and social development for women.

    • Elected as Liberal MLA in 2014. Cabinet minister.

  • Ginette Petitpas-Taylor

    • The former chair of the New Brunswick Advisory Council on the Status of Women and a member of the Coalition for Pay Equity, Ginette Petitpas Taylor will be a strong voice in Ottawa for the people of Moncton-Riverview-Dieppe.

    • With a passion for battling social issues, Ginette has volunteered with several community organizations, both provincially and locally, including the Coalition Against Abuse in Relationships and the Canadian Mental Health Association's Suicide Prevention Committee in Moncton.

    • Ginette was the Codiac RCMP Victim Services Coordinator, where she provided crisis counselling, domestic violence intervention, and domestic violence risk assessment to victims of crime. She also served on the City of Moncton's Public Safety Advisory Committee, which was commissioned by Moncton City Council in 1996, to proactively influence the community through crime prevention promotion and to help Council respond to problematic issues as they arise.

    • Ginette grew up in Dieppe and graduated from l'Université de Moncton with a degree in social work. Elected in 2015 as Liberal MP.