Michèle Audette

{{Infobox officeholder

| honorific_prefix = The Honourable

| name = Michèle Audette

| image = Michèle Taïna Audette (cropped).jpg

| alt =

| caption = Audette in 2021

| office = Canadian Senator
from De Salaberry

| appointed = Mary Simon

| nominator = Justin Trudeau

| term_start = July 29, 2021

| term_end =

| office1 = Government Liaison in the Senate

| leader1 = Marc Gold

| term_start1 = August 9, 2023

| term_end1 = December 26, 2023

| predecessor1 = Patti LaBoucane-Benson

| successor1 = Frances Lankin

| birth_name = Michèle Taïna Audette

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1971|7|20}}

| birth_place = Wabush, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada

| death_date =

| death_place =

| party = Non-affiliated
(2021; since 2023)

| otherparty = Independent Senators Group (2021-2022)
Progressive Senate Group (2022-2023)

| occupation = {{hlist|Politician|activist}}

| years_active =

| known_for = President of the Native Women's Association of Canada

| notable_works =

}}

Michèle Taïna Audette (born July 20, 1971) is a Canadian politician and activist. She served as president of Femmes autochtones du Québec (Quebec Native Women) from 1998 to 2004 and again from 2010 to 2012. She was also the president of Native 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 into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. In 2021, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau nominated her to the Canadian Senate, as a Senator for Quebec.{{Cite web|url=https://pm.gc.ca/en/news/news-releases/2021/07/29/prime-minister-announces-appointment-senators|title = The Prime Minister announces the appointment of Senators|date = 28 July 2021}}

Life

In 1971, Audette's mother was returning to Schefferville from Sept-Îles by train when she unexpectedly went into labour.{{Cite web |last=Curtis |first=Christopher |date=2016-08-05 |title=Michèle Audette "a fighter" for missing and murdered aboriginal women |url=https://montrealgazette.com/news/michele-audette-a-fighter-for-missing-and-murdered-aboriginal-women |access-date=2022-05-03 |website=montrealgazette |language=en-CA}} The train stopped and her mother was airlifted by helicopter to the nearest hospital, in Wabush, Labrador, where Audette was born. She grew up in Schefferville, Maliotenam, and Montreal. Audette is from the Innu community of Uashat mak Mani-Utenam in Quebec.{{Cite web |last=Canada |first=Senate of |title=Senator Michèle Audette |url=https://sencanada.ca/en/senators/audette-michele/ |access-date=2022-05-17 |website=SenCanada |language=en}} Her mother, Evelyne St-Onge, is Innu and her father, Gilles Audette, is French-Canadian from Montreal. The family was denied a house on her mother's reserve under federal law because her mother married a non-Native man.{{Cite journal

|last=García

|first=Leani

|date=Spring 2013

|title=Politics Innovator: Michèle Audette, Canada

|url=http://www.americasquarterly.org/content/politics-innovator-mich%C3%A8le-audette-canada

|journal=Americas Quarterly

}}

St-Onge co-founded the Quebec Native Women Association in 1974,{{Cite web |date=2021-07-29 |title=MMIWG inquiry commissioner Michèle Audette appointed to Senate |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/michele-audette-indigenous-womens-rights-advocate-senator-1.6123340 |website=CBC News}} which fought against the clause in the federal Indian 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.

As Audette grew up, she too became an activist in Indigenous affairs. She served as president of Femmes autochtones du Québec (FAQ) from 1998 to 2004, and from 2010 to 2012, then led the Native Women's Association of Canada (NWAC) from 2012 to 2014, the youngest women to be elected.{{Cite web |last=Shingler |first=Benjamin |date=2016-08-03 |title=Michèle Audette to help lead MMIW inquiry |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/michele-audette-mmiw-inquiry-1.3705514 |website=CBC}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.journaldequebec.com/2015/12/08/michele-audette-en-larmes-lors-de-lannonce-de-la-tenue-dune-enquete-sur-les-femmes-autochtones-disparues-ou-assassinees|title=Michèle Audette en larmes lors de l'annonce de la tenue d'une enquête sur les femmes autochtones disparues ou assassinées|last=Déry|first=Emy-Jane|website=Le Journal de Québec|access-date=July 31, 2016}} She also acted in one of the short film vignettes on Canadian history known as Heritage Minutes as a member of an Attikamek family teaching early French settlers how to make maple syrup.{{cite web |url=http://www.historicacanada.ca/content/heritage-minutes/syrup |title=Syrup |publisher=Historica Canada |date=1997 |accessdate=March 14, 2018}}

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 for Aboriginal Nations, a news magazine broadcast on Télé-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. 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. Their final report, delivered to the federal government in 2019, included 231 calls for justice.{{Cite web |date=2021-07-29 |title=Michele Audette, commissioner of MMIWG inquiry, among five named to Senate |url=https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/michele-audette-commissioner-of-mmiwg-inquiry-among-five-named-to-senate-1.5528092 |access-date=2022-05-03 |website=CTVNews |language=en}}

In May 2021 she appeared on Ici Radio-Canada's literary debate show Le Combat des livres, advocating for Michel Jean's novel Kukum.[https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1779680/combat-livres-2021-cinq-personnalites-canada "Cinq combattantes et combattants dans l’arène pour le Combat national des livres"]. Ici Radio-Canada, April 1, 2021. The novel won the competition.[https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1791100/combat-livres-2021-gagnant-kukum-michele-audette "Michèle Audette remporte le Combat national des livres 2021 avec Kukum"]. Ici Radio-Canada, May 7, 2021.

=Politics=

Some years after her first government service, Audette decided to enter electoral politics. In the 2015 Canadian federal election, she ran as the Liberal candidate for the Quebec riding of Terrebonne{{Cite web|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/08/21/michele-audette-liberals-terrebonne_n_8020630.html|title=Michèle Audette To Run For Liberals In Quebec Riding Of Terrebonne|last=Lévesque|first=Catherine|newspaper=The Huffington Post Quebec|date=August 21, 2015|access-date=August 21, 2016}} and was defeated to Bloc Québécois candidate Michel Boudrias.{{Cite web|url=http://aptn.ca/news/2015/10/20/former-nwac-president-audette-misses-red-wave|title=Former NWAC president Audette misses red wave|newspaper=APTN National News|date=October 20, 2015|access-date=July 31, 2016}}

In July 2021, she was appointed a senator for Quebec.{{Cite web |last= |first= |last2= |first2= |date=2021-07-30 |title=Senate appointments include Michèle Audette, MMIWG inquiry commissioner |url=https://www.nationalobserver.com/2021/07/30/news/michele-audette-commissioner-mmiwg-inquiry--five-senate-appointments |access-date=2022-04-22 |website=Canada's National Observer |language=en}} Initially non-affiliated, she joined the Independent Senators Group on September 27, 2021.{{cite news |title=Michèle Audette Joins Independent Senators Group |url=https://www.isgsenate.ca/single-post/michele-audette |access-date=7 August 2022 |date=September 27, 2021}} On June 27, 2022, she joined the Progressive Senate Group.{{cite tweet| user=SenatorCordy |author=Jane Cordy |number=1541483029566263296 |title=Senator @michele_audette will bring her strong voice and impressive abilities to @Prog_Senate. We look forward to her valuable contributions to our discussions and work as we walk forward together. Welcome, Senator Audette! #SenCA #cdnpoli}}

On August 9, 2023, she was appointed Government Liaison by Representative of the Government in the Senate Marc Gold. The role entails acting as a whip to secure votes for government legislation in the Senate.{{cite web |title=Senator Audette named Government Liaison |url=https://senate-gro.ca/news/senator-audette-liaison/ |access-date=October 6, 2023 |work=Senate Government Representative’s Office |date=August 8, 2023}} She subsequently left the Progressive Senate Group and became once again non-affiliated.

Personal life

Audette, a mother of five, lives in both Wendake near Quebec City and the Innu reserve of Maliotenam near Sept-Îles, Quebec,{{Cite web |last=Macdonald |first=Nancy |date=2017-09-13 |title=Lost and Broken |url=https://www.macleans.ca/lost-and-broken/ |access-date=2022-10-11 |website=Maclean's}} with her domestic partner Serge Ashini Goupil. She is a consultant with the indigenous rights group Nation Innue.

Awards

Woman of Distinction Award in the Inspiration category from the Women’s Y Foundation of Montréal (2018)
Woman of the Year in by the Montreal Council of Women (2014){{Cite web |date=2021-07-28 |title=Michèle Audette |url=https://pm.gc.ca/en/news/backgrounders/2021/07/29/michele-audette |access-date=2022-07-13 |website=Prime Minister of Canada |language=en}}
Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal (2012)

Electoral record

References

External links

{{Canadian Parliament links|ID= 20206}}
{{Twitter|michele_audette}}
{{IMDb name|nm0041554}}