Bernadette Clement (born May 17, 1965) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

politician, who was appointed to the Canadian Senate as an independent Senator on June 22, 2021. She was previously mayor of

Cornwall, Ontario Cornwall is a city in Eastern Ontario, Canada, situated where the provinces of Central Canada, Ontario and Quebec and the state of New York (state), New York converge. It is the seat of the United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry, Unit ...

, having been elected in the

2018 Ontario municipal elections The 2018 municipal elections in Ontario were held on October 22, 2018. Voters in the province of Ontario elected mayors, councillors, school board trustees and all other elected officials in all of the province's municipalities. Electoral perio ...

, after serving three terms as a municipal councillor. A

Black Canadian Black Canadians (also known as Caribbean-Canadians or Afro-Canadians) are people of full or partial sub-Saharan African descent who are citizens or permanent residents of Canada. The majority of Black Canadians are of Caribbean origin, though t ...

,"Bernadette Clément, mairesse de Cornwall"

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Toronto, February 24, 2019. she is the first woman and first person of colour to serve as mayor of the city, and the first Black Canadian woman to serve as a mayor in Ontario. Born and raised in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, as the daughter of a

Trinidadian Trinidadians and Tobagonians, colloquially known as Trinis or Trinbagonians, are the people who are identified with the country of Trinidad and Tobago. The country is home to people of many different national, ethnic and religious origins. As a ...

father and a

Franco-Manitoban Franco-Manitobans (french: Franco-Manitobains) are French Canadians or Canadian francophones living in the province of Manitoba. According to the 2016 Canadian Census, 40,975 residents of the province stated that French was their mother tongue. In ...

mother, Clement attended the

University of Ottawa The University of Ottawa (french: Université d'Ottawa), often referred to as uOttawa or U of O, is a bilingual public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on directly to the northeast of Downtown Ottawa ...

, earning degrees in both civil law and

common law In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omnipresen ...

and was called to the

Ontario bar The Law Society of Ontario (LSO; french: Barreau de l'Ontario) is the law society responsible for the self-regulation of lawyers and paralegals in the Canadian province of Ontario. Founded in 1797 as the Law Society of Upper Canada (LSUC; f ...

in 1991. She moved to Cornwall to begin working at what is now the Roy McMurtry Legal Clinic, ultimately becoming its executive director, and continued to work there up to the time of her appointment to the Senate."Cornwall's new mayor says if her election is 'a message to little girls, and little girls of colour ... that would be pretty nice'"
''

Ottawa Citizen The ''Ottawa Citizen'' is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. History Established as ''The Bytown Packet'' in 1845 by William Harris (journalist), William Harris, it was renamed the '' ...

'', October 25, 2018. She was first elected to Cornwall City Council in 2006 as a city councillor. She conducted her mayoral campaign on the themes of developing a more collaborative team-oriented approach to managing the city, as well as seeking a way to advance the city's proposed but long-delayed waterfront redevelopment project. Clement also ran as a

Liberal Party of Canada The Liberal Party of Canada (french: Parti libéral du Canada, region=CA) is a federal political party in Canada. The party espouses the principles of liberalism,McCall, Christina; Stephen Clarkson"Liberal Party". ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' ...

candidate for the electoral district of

Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry (formerly Stormont—Dundas and Stormont—Dundas—Charlotenburgh) is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1968. Geography The d ...

in the

2011 Canadian federal election The 2011 Canadian federal election was held on May 2, 2011, to elect members to the House of Commons of Canada of the 41st Canadian Parliament. The writs of election for the 2011 election were issued by Governor General David Johnston on March ...

and the

2015 Canadian federal election The 2015 Canadian federal election held on October 19, 2015, saw the Liberal Party, led by Justin Trudeau, win 184 seats, allowing it to form a majority government with Trudeau becoming the next prime minister. The election was held to elect m ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clement, Bernadette Living people Mayors of Cornwall, Ontario Black Canadian politicians Black Canadian women Women mayors of places in Ontario Liberal Party of Canada candidates for the Canadian House of Commons Politicians from Montreal Canadian people of Trinidad and Tobago descent Franco-Ontarian people University of Ottawa alumni Lawyers in Ontario Black Canadian lawyers 1965 births Canadian senators from Ontario Independent Canadian senators Women members of the Senate of Canada