Maka Kotto

Born in Douala, Cameroon, Léopold-Marcel Kotto-Maka{{cite web |last1=Boivin |first1=Simon |title=Vous pouvez m'appeler Léo |trans-title=You can call me Léo|url=https://www.lesoleil.com/actualite/politique/maka-kotto-vous-pouvez-mappeler-leo-7f26189d67ebf1bc04a8d02418288d48 |website=Le Soleil |access-date=9 December 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210618001315/https://www.lesoleil.com/actualite/politique/maka-kotto-vous-pouvez-mappeler-leo-7f26189d67ebf1bc04a8d02418288d48 |archive-date=2021-06-18 |language=fr |date=2016-07-12}} graduated from high school at Lycée Henri-Martin in Saint-Quentin, France. He studied law, politics, dramatic art and cinema in Nanterre, Bordeaux and Paris. Kotto immigrated to Quebec in 2006.{{Cite news |last=Perreaux |first=Les |date=September 18, 2013 |title=PQ minister's advice for religious minorities: Accept Quebec values |work=The Globe and Mail |location=Quebec City, Quebec |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/pq-ministers-advice-for-religious-minorities-accept-quebec-values/article14393844/ |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220705123350/https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/pq-ministers-advice-for-religious-minorities-accept-quebec-values/article14393844/ |archive-date=July 5, 2022 |access-date=January 2, 2024}}

Before becoming a politician, Kotto was an author, actor, and stage director. He appeared in the 1989 movie How to Make Love to a Negro Without Getting Tired (Comment faire l'amour avec un nègre sans se fatiguer), based on the novel by Dany Laferrière. He also appeared in a second film in 2000, Lumumba, starring as Joseph Kasa-Vubu.

Kotto was also an educator in dramatic art for nearly 15 years in France and Quebec.

Kotto was elected to the House of Commons of Canada, representing the Bloc Québécois in the 2004 Canadian federal election. In that election, he defeated incumbent Liberal MP Yolande Thibeault and five other candidates. Upon winning the Saint-Lambert riding, Kotto became the first black Canadian Member of Parliament for the Bloc. He was re-elected two years later, winning a comfortable, but reduced, popular vote and a much larger plurality in the 2006 Canadian federal election. He defeated five other candidates to win his second term in office.

Kotto served as the Bloc's critic for Canadian heritage.

On November 12, 2007, Kotto announced that he would be the candidate for the Parti Québécois in the provincial riding of Bourget in Montreal to fill a vacancy created by the resignation of former PQ house leader Diane Lemieux. It was his second attempt at provincial politics; he was defeated in his previous candidacy in Viau by former Liberal MNA William Cusano.{{cite news |url=https://www.tvanouvelles.ca/2007/11/12/maka-kotto-fait-le-saut-au-pq |title=Maka Kotto fait le saut au PQ |language=French |trans-title=Maka Kotto jumps to the PQ |date=November 12, 2007 |last=Rhéaume |first=Normand |work=TVA Nouvelles |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240102170956/https://www.tvanouvelles.ca/2007/11/12/maka-kotto-fait-le-saut-au-pq |archive-date=January 2, 2024 |access-date=January 2, 2024}}

Kotto resigned his seat in House of Commons of Canada on March 5, 2008, in order to run in the provincial by-election. His vacancy was officially recognized by the Speaker on March 13, 2008.{{cite news |url=https://www.hilltimes.com/story/2008/03/10/bloc-mp-kotto-resigns-seat-to-run-in-provincial-byelection/240156/ |title=Bloc MP Kotto resigns seat to run in provincial byelection |author= |work=The Hill Times |url-access=subscription |date=March 10, 2008 |access-date=January 2, 2024}}

On May 12, 2008, he won the Bourget by-election as a Parti Québécois candidate with 40% of the vote.{{cite news |url=https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/396476/partielles-resultats |title=Coup dur pour Dumont |language=French |trans-title=Tough blow for Dumont |author= |date=May 13, 2008 |work=Radio-Canada |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240102172107/https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/396476/partielles-resultats |archive-date=January 2, 2024 |access-date=January 2, 2024}}

With the election of the Parti Québécois on September 4, 2012, Kotto became Minister of Culture and Communications.{{cite news |url=http://www.lapresse.ca/debats/chroniques/nathalie-petrowski/201209/26/01-4577663-maka-kotto-le-role-de-sa-vie.php |title=Maka Kotto: le rôle de sa vie |language=French |trans-title=Maka Kotto: The role of his life |date=September 26, 2012 |last=Petrowski |first=Nathalie |work=La Presse |url-access=registration |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220929133522/https://www.lapresse.ca/debats/chroniques/nathalie-petrowski/201209/26/01-4577663-maka-kotto-le-role-de-sa-vie.php |archive-date=September 29, 2022 |access-date=January 2, 2024}}

Kotto was re-elected in the 2014 Quebec election with a smaller margin, but the Parti Québécois government of Pauline Marois was defeated and Kotto became a member of the Official Opposition caucus.{{cite news |url=https://montrealgazette.com/news/montreal/quebec-votes-2014-below-the-surface-changes-afoot-in-the-east-end |title=Changes afoot in the east end |orig-date=April 6, 2014 |date=April 8, 2014 |last=Wilton |first=Katherine |work=The Gazette |url-access=registration |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240102173001/https://montrealgazette.com/news/montreal/quebec-votes-2014-below-the-surface-changes-afoot-in-the-east-end |archive-date=January 2, 2024 |access-date=January 2, 2024}} He was defeated in the 2018 election.

Kotto is the husband of former Longueuil mayor and Bloc Québécois caucus colleague Caroline St-Hilaire, and is the father of four children.

• How to Make Love to a Negro Without Getting Tired (Comment faire l'amour avec un nègre sans se fatiguer) - 1989
• The Night of the Visitor (La nuit du visiteur) - 1990
• Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea - 1995
• Beaumarchais - 1996
• The Caretaker's Lodge (La Conciergerie) - 1997
• Lumumba - 2000
• On Your Head (Le Ciel sur la tête) - 2001
• A Silent Love - 2004
• Looking for Alexander (Mémoires affectives) - 2004
• On the Verge of a Fever (Le Goût des jeunes filles) - 2004
• How to Conquer America in One Night (Comment conquérir l'Amérique en une nuit) - 2004
• Zim and Co. - 2005
• A Sunday in Kigali (Un dimanche à Kigali) - 2006

{{Canadian election result/top|QC|2014|Bourget (electoral district)|Bourget|percent=yes|change=yes}}

{{CANelec|QC|PQ|Maka Kotto | 12,525|37.78|-7.90}}

{{CANelec|QC|Liberal|Jean-Pierre Gagnon |9,567|28.86|+9.45

{{CANelec|QC|CAQ| Sylvain Medza |6,510|19.64|-1.29}}

{{CANelec|QC|Québec solidaire|Gaétan Chateauneuf |3,714|11.20|+1.77}}

{{CANelec|QC|Green |Thomas Lapierre |489|1.48|-0.02}}

{{CANelec|QC|Option nationale | Diego Saavedra Renaud|243|0.73|-1.23}}

{{CANelec|QC|Marxist-Leninist|Claude Brunelle |101|0.30|+0.11}}

}}

{{Canadian election result/total|Total valid votes|33,149|98.29|–}}

{{Canadian election result/total|Total rejected ballots|577|1.71|–}}

{{Canadian election result/total|Turnout|33,726|68|+22.26}}

{{Canadian election result/total|Electors on the lists|49,334|–|–}}

{{end}}

{{2012 Quebec general election/Bourget}}

{{2008 Quebec general election/Bourget}}

{{2008 Quebec provincial by-elections/Bourget}}

{{Canadian election result/top|CA|2006|Saint-Lambert (electoral district)|Saint-Lambert|percent=yes|change=yes|expenditures=yes}}

{{CANelec|CA|BQ|Maka Kotto|20,949|45.3 |-3.5| $45,282}}

{{CANelec|CA|Liberal|Jean-Jacques Hermans|10,777|23.3 |-13.6| $57,186}}

{{CANelec|CA|Conservative|Patrick Clune|9,097|19.7 |+13.6| $36,940}}

{{CANelec|CA|NDP|Ronaldo Garcia|3,404|7.4 |+2.6| $1,200}}

{{CANelec|CA|Green|Sonia Ziadé|1,819|3.9 |+0.8| }}

{{CANelec|CA|Marxist-Leninist|Normand Fournier|196|0.4 |+0.1| }}

{{Canadian election result/total|Total valid votes/Expense limit|46,242|100.00| $77,306}}

{{Canadian election result/total|Total rejected ballots|562| 1.2|-0.7 }}

{{Canadian election result/total|Turnout|46,804| }}

{{end}}

{{Canadian election result/top|CA|2004|Saint-Lambert (electoral district)|Saint-Lambert|percent=yes|change=yes|expenditures=yes}}

{{CANelec|CA|BQ|Maka Kotto|22,024|48.8 |+10.7| $44,877}}

{{CANelec|CA|Liberal|Yolande Thibeault|16,654|36.9 |-8.5| $51,431}}

{{CANelec|CA|Conservative|Patrick Clune|2,739|6.1 |-7.2| $16,096}}

{{CANelec|CA|NDP|Monique Garcia|2,130|4.7 |–| $984}}

{{CANelec|CA|Green|Diane Joubert|1,404|3.1 |–| }}

{{CANelec|CA|Marxist-Leninist|Normand Fournier|145|0.3|–| }}

{{Canadian election result/total|Total valid votes/Expense limit|45,096|100.0| $77,333}}

{{Canadian election result/total|Total rejected ballots|861| }}

{{Canadian election result/total|Turnout|45,957|1.9}}

{{end}}

{{Canadian election result/top|QC|2003|Viau|percent=yes|change=yes}}

{{CANelec|QC|Liberal|William Cusano|17,703|65.13|-4.95}}

{{CANelec|QC|PQ|Maka Kotto|6,142|22.60|–}}

{{CANelec|QC|ADQ|Paolo V. Tamburello|2,406|8.85|-10.61}}

|-

{{CANelec|QC|Bloc Pot|Guillaume Blouin-Beaudoin|426|1.57|-4.66}}

|-

{{CANelec |QC |UFP |Jocelyne Dupuis |384 |1.41 |–}}

|-

{{Canadian party colour|QC|Independent|row}}

|No designation

|Yannick Duguay

|align="right"|121

|align="right"|0.45

|align="right"|–

|}

• Kotto, Maka. Femme : libre exaltation poétique. Outremont, Québec: Lanctôt, 2002. 93 p.; 21 cm. (Series: J'aime la poésie 12^e) {{ISBN|2-89485-213-4}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{IMDb name|0467846}}
• [http://webinfo.parl.gc.ca/MembersOfParliament/ProfileMP.aspx?Key=78561&Language=E House of Commons of Canada: Maka Kotto]
• {{Canadian Parliament links|ID=12545}}
• {{QuebecMNAbio|kotto-maka-41}}

{{Marois Ministry}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kotto, Maka}}

Category:1961 births

Category:Black Canadian male actors

Category:Black Canadian politicians

Category:Bloc Québécois MPs

Category:Canadian poets in French

Category:Cameroonian emigrants to Canada

Category:Francophone Quebec people

Category:Living people

Category:Male actors from Montreal

Category:Members of the Executive Council of Quebec

Category:Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Quebec

Category:Naturalized citizens of Canada

Category:Parti Québécois MNAs

Category:Politicians from Montreal

Category:Canadian actor-politicians

Category:People from Douala

Category:People from Saint-Quentin, Aisne

Category:Male actors from Hauts-de-France

Category:21st-century Canadian poets

Category:Writers from Montreal

Category:Black Canadian poets

Category:Canadian male poets

Category:21st-century members of the House of Commons of Canada

Category:Canadian male film actors

Category:Canadian male television actors

Category:21st-century Canadian male writers

Category:Quebecor people

Category:21st-century members of the National Assembly of Quebec

Category:Black Canadian non-fiction writers