Brigette DePape

DePape attended Collège Jeanne-Sauvé in Winnipeg, Manitoba. She was a recipient of the Loran Award in 2007 in part for her association with Students without Borders: Afrique 2007 and fundraising efforts for Senegal.{{cite web|url=http://www.loranaward.ca/uploaded_files/2007%20Loran%20scholars.pdf|title=2007 Loran Scholars|author=Canadian Merit Scholarship Foundation|author-link=Canadian Merit Scholarship Foundation|date=March 10, 2007|accessdate=Feb 5, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130905085711/http://www.loranaward.ca/uploaded_files/2007%20Loran%20scholars.pdf|archive-date=September 5, 2013|url-status=dead}}

While a participant in the Canadian Senate Page Program in 2011, DePape stood in protest during the Throne Speech in the Senate, silently holding up a sign that said "Stop Harper!" This action led to her prompt dismissal, for breaching the non-partisan nature of the page position and disrupting the Governor General in Parliament.{{cite news| url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/senate-page-fired-for-anti-harper-protest-1.1057092| title=Senate page fired for anti-Harper protest| last=Payton| first=Laura| date=June 3, 2011 |publisher=CBC| access-date=June 3, 2011}} In a subsequent interview, DePape explained that she disagreed with Prime Minister Stephen Harper's policies.{{cite web| url=https://www.ctvnews.ca/page-with-stop-harper-sign-fired-from-senate-1.652652| title=Page with 'Stop Harper' sign fired from Senate| date=June 3, 2011| publisher=CTV| accessdate=June 5, 2011| url-status=live| archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606121316/http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Canada/20110603/throne-speech-protester-110503| archivedate=June 6, 2011}}

In an interview, then Opposition Leader Jack Layton voiced disapproval of DePape's protest, stating "We have been pushing for decorum in the House of Commons. You don't have decorum if people are standing up holding up signs in the middle of debates and solemn moments... We encourage protests... But it should be happening at the proper place and at the proper time."{{cite news|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/celebrity-and-controversy-surround-parliaments-rogue-page/article2048127/|title=Celebrity and controversy surround Parliament's rogue page|publisher=The Globe and Mail|accessdate=2011-06-07|date=June 6, 2011|location=Toronto|first=Anne|last=McIlroy}} DePape's protest featured as the front cover illustration for the book Contempt of Parliament by Kieron Wood, published in Ireland in January 2012.{{cite web| url=http://www.claruspress.ie/shop/contempt-of-parliament/| title=Clarus Press| publisher=Clarus Press| date=January 8, 2012|accessdate=January 9, 2012}}

A few days after her protest in the Senate chamber, Michael Moore offered DePape a job.{{cite news| url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/michael-moore-offers-job-to-fired-senate-page-1.1086008?ref=rss| publisher=CBC| title=Michael Moore offers job to fired Senate page| date=June 6, 2011| access-date=July 4, 2012}} DePape stated that she had also received job offers from the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) and the Council of Canadians.

On June 8, 2011, DePape announced the creation of a "Stop Harper Fund" to support "organizations and individuals engaging in creative non-violent direct actions against the Harper government's agenda." The fund planned to organize an advisory committee to direct funds to selected organizations, and legal and fiscal governance to ensure the donations were spent in accordance with the fund's stated mandate.{{cite web| url=http://www.stopharperfund.ca/| title=The Stop Harper Fund home page| date=June 8, 2011| publisher=Stop Harper Fund| accessdate=June 9, 2011| url-status=dead| archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110612054352/http://www.stopharperfund.ca/| archivedate=June 12, 2011}}

Between June 26–27, 2010, DePape participated in protests at the G20 summit in Toronto.{{cite web| last=Drake| first=Tomasz| title=Interruption du discours du trône: Qui est Brigette DePape?| url=http://www.polyscope.qc.ca/spip.php?article1752| publisher=Le Polyscope| accessdate=June 12, 2011| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726165217/http://www.polyscope.qc.ca/spip.php?article1752| archive-date=July 26, 2011| url-status=dead}} On September 26, 2011, she took part in a protest on Parliament Hill against Alberta oil sands development and TransCanada Corp.'s proposed Keystone XL pipeline.[http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/09/26/anti-oilsands-protesters-arrested-at-parliament-hill-rally/ Anti-oil sands protesters arrested at Parliament Hill rally] by Carmen Chai, Postmedia News (National Post), September 26, 2011. On April 23, 2012, DePape was again silently protesting in an unofficial page uniform, this time outdoors and apparently against Alberta's provincial Wildrose party, when she was photographed holding a sign reading "Stop Harper's Gang" when Danielle Smith (leader of the Wildrose party) cast her vote.[https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/rogue-ottawa-page-protests-silently-as-wildroses-smith-votes/article2411107/ Rogue Ottawa page protests silently as Wildrose’s Smith votes] by The Canadian Press, April 23, 2012

On November 20, 2014, DePape was arrested as part of a protest against Kinder Morgan on Burnaby Mountain, BC.{{Cite news|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/protesters-arrested-at-burnaby-mountain-anti-pipeline-demonstration/article21668755/|title=Protesters, police clash over Trans Mountain pipeline site|last=Woo|first=Andrea|date=November 20, 2014|work=The Globe and Mail|access-date=2019-01-21}}

DePape wrote the one-woman play She Rules with Iron Stix, which she performed in Ottawa, Winnipeg, and Saskatoon at fringe theatre festivals,{{cite web|url=http://www.getguerilla.ca/past-issues/archive-18/36-features/141-brigette|title=Twirling in a Fringe Factory|publisher=Guerilla Magazine|accessdate=June 3, 2011}} as well as the TEDxYouthOttawa conference.{{cite web|url=http://www.tedxyouthottawa.org/?page_id=13|title=TEDxYouthOttawa - Presenters|publisher=FYBY (For Youth, By Youth) News|accessdate=June 4, 2011|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130905194541/http://www.tedxyouthottawa.org/?page_id=13|archivedate=September 5, 2013}}{{cite web|url=http://www.tedxyouthottawa.org/?page_id=2|title=TEDxYouthOttawa - About|publisher=FYBY (For Youth, By Youth) News|accessdate=June 4, 2011|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100929172742/http://www.tedxyouthottawa.org/?page_id=2|archivedate=September 29, 2010}} DePape missed her convocation ceremony at the University of Ottawa to do media interviews.

{{Reflist}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20110612054352/http://www.stopharperfund.ca/ Brigette DePape's fund to support organizations in opposition to Stephen Harper's political agenda], June 9, 2011
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VX5I1hRcLNU The CBC's Evan Solomon speaks with Brigette DePape about the incident on the Senate floor], June 3, 2011
• {{Citation | title = Brigette DePape, Senate Protester And Performance Artist, And Her Instant Rise To Fame (VIDEO) | newspaper = Huffington Post | date = June 9, 2011 | url = http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2011/06/04/brigette-depape-senate-protest-marcelle_n_871331.html | accessdate = June 9, 2011}}

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Category:Living people

Category:Canadian activists

Category:Canadian women activists

Category:People from Winnipeg

Category:University of Ottawa alumni

Category:Year of birth missing (living people)