Michèle Audette | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Audette in 2021 | |
| Canadian Senator fromDe Salaberry | |
| Assumed office July 29, 2021 | |
| Nominated by | Justin Trudeau |
| Appointed by | Mary Simon |
| Government Liaison in the Senate | |
| In office August 9, 2023 – December 26, 2023 | |
| Leader | Marc Gold |
| Preceded by | Patti LaBoucane-Benson |
| Succeeded by | Frances Lankin |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Michèle Taïna Audette (1971-07-20)July 20, 1971 (age 53) Wabush,Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada |
| Political party | Non-affiliated (2021; since 2023) |
| Other political affiliations | Independent Senators Group (2021-2022) Progressive Senate Group (2022-2023) |
| Occupation |
|
| Known for | President of theNative Women's Association of Canada |
Michèle Taïna Audette (born July 20, 1971) is a Canadian politician and activist. She served as president ofFemmes autochtones du Québec (Quebec Native Women) from 1998 to 2004 and again from 2010 to 2012. She was also the president ofNative Women's Association of Canada from 2012 to 2014. From 2004 through 2008, she served as Associate Deputy Minister at the Ministry of Relations with Citizens and Immigration of the Quebec government, where she was in charge of the Secretariat for Women.
In 2017, she was appointed as one of the five commissioners of the government's national inquiry intomissing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. In 2021, Prime MinisterJustin Trudeau nominated her to theCanadian Senate, as a Senator for Quebec.[1]
In 1971, Audette's mother was returning toSchefferville fromSept-Îles by train when she unexpectedly went into labour.[2] The train stopped and her mother was airlifted by helicopter to the nearest hospital, inWabush, Labrador, where Audette was born. She grew up in Schefferville,Maliotenam, andMontreal. Audette is from the Innu community of Uashat mak Mani-Utenam in Quebec.[3] Her mother, Evelyne St-Onge, isInnu and her father, Gilles Audette, is French-Canadian fromMontreal. The family was denied a house on her mother's reserve under federal law because her mother married a non-Native man.[4] St-Onge co-founded theQuebec Native Women Association in 1974,[5] which fought against the clause in the federalIndian Act that stated that a Native woman who marries a non-Native man did not have the right to live in her reserve community. Native men who marry non-Native women do not suffer such restrictions.[4]
As Audette grew up, she too became an activist in Indigenous affairs. She served as president ofFemmes autochtones du Québec (FAQ) from 1998 to 2004, and from 2010 to 2012, then led theNative Women's Association of Canada (NWAC) from 2012 to 2014, the youngest women to be elected.[6][2][7] She also acted in one of the short film vignettes on Canadian history known asHeritage Minutes as a member of anAttikamek family teaching early French settlers how to makemaple syrup.[8]
Audette was appointed as Associate Deputy Minister at the Ministry of Relations with Citizens and Immigration Quebec government, in charge of the Secretariat for Women, serving from 2004 through 2008. She has conducted public relations for and acted as coordinator of many festivals. She has also worked as a researcher forAboriginal Nations, anews magazine broadcast onTélé-Québec.
In 2017, Audette was appointed as one of five commissioners to the national inquiry:Missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls to raise awareness and gain government action on the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women in Canada.[2] The inquiry, which had an estimated cost of $53.8 million, examined the factors and institutions that contribute to a high rate of violence against Indigenous women and girls.[6] Their final report, delivered to the federal government in 2019, included 231 calls for justice.[9]
In May 2021 she appeared onIci Radio-Canada's literary debate showLe Combat des livres, advocating forMichel Jean's novelKukum.[10] The novel won the competition.[11]
Some years after her first government service, Audette decided to enter electoral politics. In the2015 Canadian federal election, she ran as theLiberal candidate for the Quebec riding ofTerrebonne[12] and was defeated toBloc Québécois candidateMichel Boudrias.[13]
In July 2021, she was appointed a senator for Quebec.[14] Initiallynon-affiliated, she joined theIndependent Senators Group on September 27, 2021.[15] On June 27, 2022, she joined theProgressive Senate Group.[16]
On August 9, 2023, she was appointed Government Liaison byRepresentative of the Government in the SenateMarc Gold. The role entails acting as awhip to secure votes for government legislation in the Senate.[17] She subsequently left theProgressive Senate Group and became once againnon-affiliated.
Audette, a mother of five,[6] lives in bothWendake nearQuebec City and theInnu reserve ofMaliotenam nearSept-Îles, Quebec,[18] with her domestic partner Serge Ashini Goupil.[2] She is a consultant with the indigenous rights groupNation Innue.[2]
| 2015 Canadian federal election:Terrebonne | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
| Bloc Québécois | Michel Boudrias | 19,238 | 33.01 | +2.23 | $17,316.45 | |||
| Liberal | Michèle Audette | 16,316 | 27.99 | +21.07 | $28,471.60 | |||
| New Democratic | Charmaine Borg | 14,928 | 25.61 | -25.93 | $66,226.31 | |||
| Conservative | Michel Surprenant | 6,615 | 11.35 | +3.28 | $4,734.68 | |||
| Green | Susan Moen | 1,016 | 1.74 | -0.95 | – | |||
| Strength in Democracy | Louis Clément Sénat | 171 | 0.29 | – | $1,208.41 | |||
| Total valid votes/expense limit | 58,284 | 97.89 | $222,232.39 | |||||
| Total rejected ballots | 1,256 | 2.11 | – | |||||
| Turnout | 59,540 | 70.46 | – | |||||
| Eligible voters | 84,502 | |||||||
| Bloc Québécoisgain fromNew Democratic | Swing | +14.08 | ||||||
| Source:Elections Canada[20][21] | ||||||||
