150+ Canadians Day 133: Madeleine Parent

Image: Editions Remue Menage

Madeleine Parent contributed to peace as a union organizer and pacifist who fought for social justice in Quebec and Canada. #Canada150

Madeleine Parent (1918 – 2012) was active in the student movement while at university in the 1930s. She joined the labour movement on graduation and helped to organize a union to fight the exploitation of women workers, some as young as 14, in the textile industry. She continued to seek social justice throughout her life, and contributed to the founding of the Confederation of Canadian Unions and the National Action Committee on the Status of Women.

Her activism focused on labour rights and the rights of women, the poor, and indigenous peoples. She opposed all forms of violence and spoke out against the Gulf Wars, 1991 and 2002, and against military intervention in Afghanistan.

She led the way as a woman in the labour movement and as an advocate for women’s rights.

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