The Honourable Monique Begin, a former federal cabinet minister and academic, will be awarded the degree of Doctor of Laws, honoris causa, at the 9:30 a.m. ceremony on Tuesday, June 7, “in recognition of an outstanding contribution to the lives of Canadian women and the accessibility to the Canadian health-care system for all.”
In 1972, Monique Begin was among the first women from Quebec to be elected to the House of Commons. She served as minister of national revenue in 1976-1977 under Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and as minister of national health and welfare between 1977 and 1984. During that time, the Child Tax Credit (now the National Child Tax Benefit) was created and the Canada Health Act came into force. After leaving politics, she became a professor and was the first holder of the Joint Chair in Women’s Studies at the University of Ottawa and Carleton.
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.
She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and has received several honorary doctorates in recognition of her contribution to human rights and public policy. In 1998, she was invested as an Officer of the Order of Canada.