Monique Bégin
Canadian academic and politician (1936–2023)
title: "Monique Bégin" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1936-births", "2023-deaths", "canadian-academics-of-women's-studies", "university-of-paris-alumni", "academic-staff-of-carleton-university", "ottawa-university-faculty", "academic-staff-of-mcgill-university", "university-of-notre-dame-faculty", "canadian-university-and-college-faculty-deans", "women-deans-(academic)", "fellows-of-the-royal-society-of-canada", "fellows-of-the-canadian-academy-of-health-sciences", "liberal-party-of-canada-mps", "members-of-the-20th-canadian-ministry", "members-of-the-22nd-canadian-ministry", "members-of-the-23rd-canadian-ministry", "members-of-the-house-of-commons-of-canada-from-montreal", "companions-of-the-order-of-canada", "members-of-the-king's-privy-council-for-canada", "women-members-of-the-house-of-commons-of-canada", "université-de-montréal-alumni", "women-in-quebec-politics", "ministers-of-health-and-welfare-of-canada", "politicians-from-rome", "women-government-ministers-of-canada", "20th-century-canadian-women-politicians", "21st-century-canadian-women-writers", "21st-century-canadian-memoirists", "politicians-from-ottawa", "canadian-women-memoirists", "italian-expatriates-in-france", "italian-expatriates-in-portugal", "italian-emigrants-to-canada", "governor-general's-award-in-commemoration-of-the-persons-case-winners", "20th-century-members-of-the-house-of-commons-of-canada", "canadian-women-civil-rights-activists"] description: "Canadian academic and politician (1936–2023)" topic_path: "politics" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monique_Bégin" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Canadian academic and politician (1936–2023) ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox officeholder"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| honorific-prefix | The Honourable |
| name | Monique Bégin |
| honorific-suffix | |
| parliament | Canadian |
| office1 | Minister of Health and Welfare |
| term_start1 | March 3, 1980 |
| term_end1 | September 16, 1984 |
| primeminister1 | Pierre Trudeau |
| John Turner | |
| predecessor1 | David Crombie |
| successor1 | Jake Epp |
| term_start2 | September 16, 1977 |
| term_end2 | June 3, 1979 |
| primeminister2 | Pierre Trudeau |
| predecessor2 | Marc Lalonde |
| successor2 | David Crombie |
| office3 | Minister of National Revenue |
| term_start3 | September 14, 1976 |
| term_end3 | September 15, 1977 |
| primeminister3 | Pierre Trudeau |
| predecessor3 | Bud Cullen |
| successor3 | Joseph-Philippe Guay |
| office4 | Member of Parliament for Saint-Michel |
| term_start4 | October 30, 1972 |
| term_end4 | May 22, 1979 |
| predecessor4 | Victor Forget |
| successor4 | Thérèse Killens |
| office5 | Member of Parliament for Saint-Léonard—Anjou |
| term_start5 | May 22, 1979 |
| term_end5 | July 9, 1984 |
| predecessor5 | first member |
| successor5 | Alfonso Gagliano |
| birth_date | |
| birth_place | Rome, Italy |
| death_date | |
| death_place | Ottawa, Ontario, Canada |
| nationality | Canadian |
| party | Liberal Party |
| occupation | Administrator |
| sociologist | |
| website | Parliament of Canada biography |
| :: |
| honorific-prefix = The Honourable | name = Monique Bégin | honorific-suffix = | image = | parliament = Canadian | majority = | office1 = Minister of Health and Welfare | term_start1 = March 3, 1980 | term_end1 = September 16, 1984 | primeminister1 = Pierre Trudeau John Turner | predecessor1 = David Crombie | successor1 = Jake Epp | term_start2 = September 16, 1977 | term_end2 = June 3, 1979 | primeminister2 = Pierre Trudeau | predecessor2= Marc Lalonde | successor2= David Crombie | office3 = Minister of National Revenue | term_start3 = September 14, 1976 | term_end3 = September 15, 1977 | primeminister3 = Pierre Trudeau | predecessor3 = Bud Cullen | successor3 = Joseph-Philippe Guay | office4 = Member of Parliament for Saint-Michel | term_start4 = October 30, 1972 | term_end4 = May 22, 1979 | predecessor4 = Victor Forget | successor4 = Thérèse Killens | office5 = Member of Parliament for Saint-Léonard—Anjou | term_start5 = May 22, 1979 | term_end5= July 9, 1984 | predecessor5 = first member | successor5 = Alfonso Gagliano | birth_date = | birth_place = Rome, Italy | death_date = | death_place = Ottawa, Ontario, Canada | nationality = Canadian | spouse = | party = Liberal Party | relations = | children = | residence = | alma_mater = | occupation = Administrator sociologist | profession = | religion = | signature = | website = Parliament of Canada biography | footnotes =
Monique Bégin (March 1, 1936 – September 8, 2023) was a Canadian academic and politician.
Early life
Bégin was born in Rome to a Canadian-born sound engineer Joseph Lucien Bégin (1895–1964) and Belgian-born accountant Marie-Louise Vanhavre (1906–1967) and raised in France and Portugal before emigrating to Canada at the end of World War II. She received an MA degree in sociology from the Université de Montréal and a PhD degree from the Sorbonne. She described her early life in Montreal as challenging, but credited community groups and her childhood role as a Girl Guides of Canada member as "sav(ing) her life".
Political career
In 1967, Bégin became executive secretary of the Royal Commission on the Status of Women, which published its report in 1970. She won election to the House of Commons of Canada as a Liberal candidate in the riding of Saint-Michel in Montreal 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.
Bégin was appointed to the Canadian Cabinet by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau as Minister of National Revenue from 1976 to 1977, and served as Minister of Health and Welfare from 1977 to 1979 and again from 1980 to 1984 during which she introduced the Canada Health Act in Parliament which was passed unanimously in 1984 by the House of Commons and is still in force today. She declined to run again in the 1984 election and retired from politics.
Post-politics
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 continued teaching as a professor emeritus. From 1993 to 1995, she also served as co-chair of Ontario's Royal Commission on Learning with Gerald Caplan.
In 1997, she was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. Bégin served as the Treasurer for the International Centre for Migration and Health.
In 2015, she was a recipient of the Governor General's Award in Commemoration of the Persons Case.
In 2018, she published the memoir Ladies, Upstairs!: My Life in Politics and After.
Bégin was elevated to a Companion of the Order of Canada in 2020.
Death
Monique Bégin died in Ottawa on September 8, 2023, at the age of 87.
Electoral record
Archives
There is a Monique Bégin fonds at Library and Archives Canada.
References
References
- "Bégin, Hon. Monique, P.C., O.C., F.R.S.C., B.A., M.A. | Encyclopedia.com".
- "Hommage à Madame Monique Bégin".
- (November 7, 2017). "Monique Bégin: The feminist trailblazer – Macleans.ca". Macleans.ca.
- (13 September 2023). "Pioneering Quebec MP Monique Bégin helped save medicare".
- Communication, Status of Women Canada. "2015 Recipients Governor General Awards in Commemoration of the Persons Case".
- [https://quillandquire.com/review/ladies-upstairs-my-life-in-politics-and-after/ "Ladies, Upstairs!: My Life in Politics and After, by Monique Bégin"]. ''[[Quill & Quire]]'', March 2019.
- (November 26, 2020). "Governor General Announces 114 New Appointments to the Order of Canada".
- [https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/the-honourable-monique-begin-passes-away-1936-2023-840837738.html The Honourable Monique Bégin passes away – 1936–2023]
- "Finding aid to Monique Bégin fonds, Library and Archives Canada".
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