Last March, as part of the “A coffee with” section, I interviewed the DD Mylène Drouin, regional public health director of Montreal. To the question “Who would you like to bring together around a table?” », she replied: Louise Arbour, Pauline Marois and Françoise David 1.
We took her at her word. What initially seemed like the ascent of Everest was a long, quiet river. In three strokes of the spoon, everything was organized.
The meeting took place last month in a lounge at Brasserie 701 at the Place d’Armes hotel. From the outset, the four women agreed to abandon the vow. Mylène Drouin, responsible for leading the discussion, arrived with an ambitious interview plan that could have kept her guests for two days.
I feel a little nervous, but above all very happy. The three women she meets for the first time are inspiring figures, models of determination and courage. That’s why she wants to hear them.
The interviewer for a day first wants to know what was the trigger that made these women want, one day, to get involved in multiple causes through politics, activism or law. .
Pauline Marois breaks the ice. “I think it comes from the confrontations I had, as a teenager, with bourgeois circles. I came from a working-class background with exceptional parents. I was studying at Collège Jésus-Marie in Quebec [que Mylène Drouin a aussi fréquenté] where there were girls from all social classes. It was a brutal shock and the beginning of my commitment. It made me want to fight for equal opportunities. »
Françoise David then demonstrates that appearances are often deceptive. “My story is both the same as Pauline and the opposite. I come from a bourgeois background [elle est la fille du cardiologue et ancien sénateur Paul David et la petite-fille de l’homme politique Athanase David]. But at school, I was the type to give speeches asking the girls to collect food for those who had nothing to eat. Pauline had to go through difficulties that I did not experience. I often say, I had every chance. »
Just like Pauline Marois, Françoise David first took the path of social and community work. “I worked in the Center-South and I didn’t say what background I came from. A woman from the neighborhood who followed the news said to me one day: “Françoise, you are going to stop hiding from us that you come from Outremont, we know that. And you’re going to stop wearing ripped jeans. It’s not because you work in a poor neighborhood that you have to look poor, we have our dignity.” What a lesson I received. »
Louise Arbor grew up in a “broken” family. His parents divorced at a time when permission from the Federal Parliament was required. Since mainstream girls’ colleges were private, her mother first made her take aptitude tests. “She wanted to be sure of her decision,” said the former Supreme Court judge. At one point, she could no longer pay for my music lessons. Hallelujah! I hated it so much. Lacking money is good sometimes. »
Mylène Drouin is visibly delighted to hear the words of her three guests who continue to discover commonalities, such as having been part of the Young Christian Students (JEC). “I would have preferred to be part of the Christian Workers’ Youth [dans les années 1960, la JOC était considérée comme plus à gauche], adds Louise Arbor. The Catholic petty bourgeoisie was not my fit. »
Women inspired by women
After about fifteen minutes, it becomes clear that the early discovery of social inequalities had a profound impact on these women. Added to this is the strong influence of a feminine environment. “The one who mattered the most was my mother,” says Françoise David. She was very Catholic and spoke to me about the social message of the Gospel. She kept telling me that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. »
Louise Arbor grew up almost exclusively with women. “I never doubted the competence of women, because I was first surrounded by competent women. The only man at my school was the chemistry teacher. When I arrived at the law faculty and saw the guys from Brébeuf, I said: Ouch ! »
Once the entry has barely been served, the subject of feminism causes the group to slide onto that of the summer film: Barbie!
Louise Arbor found the shock of “ordinary patriarchy” in this film which she loved. “I didn’t see it, I lacked courage,” said Françoise David. “I definitely want to see it, because I’ve heard all kinds of very interesting comments,” adds Pauline Marois.
The discussion on barbie ignites these four feminists. The scene is both amusing and surreal!
Who is at the table?
Louise Arbor
After studying law, Louise Arvour became a law clerk for Justice Louis-Philippe Pigeon at the Supreme Court of Canada and a teacher at Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto. In 1987, she became the first French-speaking woman to sit on the Supreme Court of Ontario (now the Superior Court of Ontario). In 1996, she was appointed by the United Nations Security Council as prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. Appointed by Jean Chrétien in 1999 to the Supreme Court of Canada, she served until 2004, the year in which she became UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. She resigned in 2008.
Françoise David
The baccalaureate in social work that Françoise David obtained in 1972 led her to first work in this field. In 1987, she became coordinator of the Regroupement des centers de femmes du Québec before being elected president of the Fédération des femmes du Québec in 1994. The following year, she organized the Women’s March Against Poverty Bread and roses. In 2004, she founded the Citizen Option party. Its merger two years later with the Union of Progressive Forces party led to the creation of Québec solidaire. Françoise David and Amir Khadir are the co-spokespersons. In 2013, she was elected deputy in Gouin, then re-elected in 2014. She left the political scene in 2017.
Pauline Marois
Pauline Marois studied social work at Laval University at the end of the 1960s. She was elected a member of parliament for the first time in 1981 under the PQ government of René Lévesque. After a defeat in 1985, she was re-elected in 1989 in the constituency of Taillon, a seat she held for 17 years. During her career as minister, she led nine ministries (Status of Women, Workforce and Income Security, Education, Family, Health and Social Services, etc.). From 2007 to 2014, she was leader of the Parti Québécois. In 2012, she led the party to power. She becomes the first woman to hold the position of Prime Minister of Quebec. She called a general election after 18 months and, following her defeat, stepped down as party leader.
The DD Mylène Drouin
Mylène Drouin completed her medical training at the University of Sherbrooke in 1996. She then spent a few months in Guinea-Bissau as a research agent for a child vaccination and HIV screening project. She began her specialization in public health at the University of Montreal in 1997, then was appointed medical chief at the Montreal Regional Public Health Directorate in 2008. In 2018, she became the first woman appointed to the Regional Public Health Directorate of Montreal. Montreal. In 2020, it was propelled into the public space with the COVID-19 pandemic.