Distinguished Fellow 2008
Monique Bégin is Professor Emeritus in the Telfer School of Management, University of Ottawa. A sociologist by training, Dr. Bégin served as executive secretary of the Royal Commission on the Status of Women and subsequently became the first woman from Québec elected to the House of Commons. Re-elected three times, she was appointed to Cabinet by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau as Minister of National Revenue in 1976, and as Minister of Health and Welfare from 1977 to 1979 and from 1980 to 1984.
An academic since she left politics, Dr. Bégin taught in Women’s Studies at Ottawa and Carleton Universities, served as Dean of the University of Ottawa Faculty of Health Sciences from 1990-97 and has taught at the Telfer School of Management at the University of Ottawa. Monique Bégin co-chaired the Royal Commission on Learning of Ontario and served on the International Independent Commission on Population and Quality of Life. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, she received several honorary doctorates in recognition of her contribution to human rights and to public policies. In 1998, she was invested as an Officer of the Order of Canada. In 2008, she was one of 20 commissioners who prepared the long-awaited World Health Organization report titled “Closing the Gap in a Generation: Health Equity through Action on the Social Determinants of Health”.
Among her many achievements, Monique Bégin remains best known for the Canada Health Act of 1984 that enshrined the five core principles of universality, comprehensiveness, portability, accessibility, and public administration into Canada’s health care system.