Gretta Chambers ('' née'' Taylor; January 15, 1927 – September 9, 2017) was 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 ...

journalist and former Chancellor of

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous ...

Life and career

Chambers grew up in Outremont and attended Miss Edgar's and Miss Cramp's School and Netherwood School. She received a BA in political science from McGill University in 1947. She worked in radio and television and wrote for several newspapers and magazines. From 1966 until 1980, she was the host of the weekly CBC radio show called ''The Province in Print''. From 1977 to 2002, she had a weekly column in the

Montreal Gazette The ''Montreal Gazette'', formerly titled ''The Gazette'', is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Three other daily English-language newspapers shuttered at various times during the second half of th ...

. Since its inception in 1991, until her death in 2017, she was involved with the Montreal Consortium for Human Rights Advocacy Training (MCHRAT) at McGill University. When a MCHRAT project, the McGill Middle East Program (MMEP), took off in 1997, Chambers became a Co-Chair of its Executive and Management Committees. She was Chancellor of McGill University from 1991 to 1999, the first woman to serve in this position. In 2003,

Martin Cauchon Martin Cauchon, (born August 23, 1962) is a Canadian lawyer and politician in Quebec Canada. He is a former Liberal Cabinet Minister in the government of Jean Chrétien. He is married to Dorine Perron and together, they have three children : ...

, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, appointed her to the

Judicial Compensation and Benefits Commission The Judicial Compensation and Benefits Commission is a Canadian commission that recommends judicial salaries for federally appointed judges. The commission was created in 1999 by the government of Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, under the Judges Act ...

, effective until August 31, 2007. Her brother is McGill University philosopher Charles Taylor.Charles Taylor awarded Templeton
/ref> Her husband was

Egan Chambers Egan Chambers (March 22, 1921 – May 5, 1994) was a Canadian politician. Born in Montreal, Quebec, he was educated at Selwyn House School and Bishop's College School. He was elected to the House of Commons of Canada in the 1958 federal ele ...

, former Canadian member of parliament.

Honours and awards

In 1993, she was named an Officer of the

National Order of Quebec The National Order of Quebec, termed officially in French as ''l'Ordre national du Québec'', and in English abbreviation as the Order of Quebec, is an order of merit in the Canadian province of Quebec. Instituted in 1984 when Lieutenant Governo ...

. In 1994, she was made a Member of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the cen ...

, and she was promoted to Companion in 2000.

References

External links

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Chancellor Emerita Gretta Chambers, 1927-2017
McGill Reporter, 9 September 2017 {{DEFAULTSORT:Chambers, Gretta 1927 births 2017 deaths Anglophone Quebec people Canadian women journalists Chancellors of McGill University Companions of the Order of Canada Journalists from Montreal McGill University alumni Officers of the National Order of Quebec Writers from Montreal Canadian women non-fiction writers Canadian columnists Canadian women columnists