Madeleine Parent was born in Montreal on June 23, 1918. She was recognized as an ardent feminist and trade unionist until her death in 2012. She grew up next to Parc La Fontaine and began her secondary studies at the Villa-Maria convent, but did not like the injustices caused by the nuns and she decided to complete her secondary studies at the English school Trafalgar, a school which is still located in downtown Montreal. She then continued her university education at McGill University and obtained a bachelor's degree in sociology in 1940.
When Madeleine was only 21, she first demonstrated her courageous and empathetic character by saving a young boy from drowning.
It was at the end of her studies at McGill that she met Léa Roback, who was herself an activist for women's suffrage in Quebec. Together, the two women led several struggles for the status of women.
It was also at McGill that Madeleine campaigned within the Canadian Student Assembly committee, a committee which fought to obtain scholarships for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.
In 1942, Madeleine met the man with whom she would share her life, trade unionist Kent Rowley.
UNION STRUGGLES
Madeleine's first union experiences took place in the early 1940s in the textile industry. It was under the banner of the American union United Textile Workers of America (UTW) that she faced numerous employer movements in several Dominion Textile factories both in Montreal and Valleyfield.
In 1952, Madelaine Parent and Kent Rowley left Quebec for Ontario following their expulsion from UTW under pressure from American unions, in a situation where Maurice Duplessis had accused them of being communists!
This, however, had positive repercussions, because during their exile, the couple founded the Confederation of Canadian Unions in 1969. (In 1968, the rate of Quebec workers affiliated with an American union was 70%.)
The couple was arrested several times during their numerous union fights. Rowley even spent time in prison.
It is good to remember Madeleine Parent's involvement in numerous social struggles. She is one of the founding members of the Action Committee on the Status of Women in Ottawa, where she served to represent Quebec from 1972 to 1983. It was during this period that she defended the rights of indigenous women as well as fighting for equal pay. After the death of her husband Kent Rowley in 1978, Madeleine returned to Quebec, but did not stop fighting. In 1979, Madeleine joined employees of the Purtex company who launched a strike to protest against the surveillance of workers' actions through cameras. To begin the decade of the 1980s, she campaigned for Yes during the 1980 Referendum.
Madeleine also participated in the Bread and Roses March in 1995 and the March Against Poverty and Violence Against Women in 2000. She also denounced NAFTA and the Gulf Wars of 1991 and 2003.
It was in Montreal, at the CHSLD Reine-Elizabeth on Northcliffe Street, that Madeleine Parent died on March 12, 2012.
GREAT HONORS
Madeleine Parent received numerous honorary awards from universities across Canada: Athabasca, Carleton, Concordia, Laurentian, Trent, Windsor, York and the United Church of McGill University.
Since 2013, the Madeleine-Parent Bridge, on the Steel Freeway (A 30) in Beauharnois, has spanned the Beauharnois Canal and the St. Lawrence Seaway.
In 1997, several feminist organizations opened Maison Parent-Roback, which still has its head office on Jean-Talon Street in Montreal today.
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