Hedy Fry
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Hedy Madeleine Fry, (born August 6, 1941) is a Trinidadian-Canadian politician and physician who is currently the longest-serving female Member of
Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
, winning nine consecutive elections in the constituency of
Vancouver Centre Vancouver Centre (french: Vancouver-Centre) is a federal electoral district in British Columbia, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1917. It is the riding with the biggest Japanese community in Canada. As ...
including the 1993 election, when she defeated incumbent Prime Minister
Kim Campbell Avril Phaedra Douglas "Kim" Campbell (born March 10, 1947) is a Canadian politician, diplomat, lawyer, and writer who served as the 19th prime minister of Canada from June 25 to November 4, 1993. Campbell is the first and so far only female p ...
.


Early life and career

Fry was born in San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago. She is of Scottish,
Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
,
Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...
, and
Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...
ancestry. After declining an English Literature scholarship to Oxford, Fry earned her equivalent of a BA in Science in one year and then went on to receive her medical training at the Royal College of Surgeons in
Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
,
Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
. She immigrated to Canada in 1970 and established a practice in
Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
. Fry worked at St. Paul's Hospital (Vancouver) for 23 years. She served as president of the
British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
Federation of Medical Women in 1977. She was president of the Vancouver Medical Association in 1988–89, the
BC Medical Association Doctors of BC, formally known as the British Columbia Medical Association (BCMA), is a professional organization that represents 14,000 physicians, medical residents and medical students in the province of British Columbia. Its goals are to prom ...
in 1990–91, and chaired the Canadian Medical Association's Multiculturalism Committee in 1992–9. She volunteered as a Tawny Owl as a member of the
Girl Guides of Canada Girl Guides of Canada (GGC; french: Guides du Canada) is the national Guiding association of Canada. Guiding in Canada started on September 7, 1910, and GGC was among the founding members of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (W ...
, leading a Brownie group. Fry was also a host on the nationally televised CBC show Doctor Doctor.


Federal politics

Fry sought and won the
Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...
nomination for
Vancouver Centre Vancouver Centre (french: Vancouver-Centre) is a federal electoral district in British Columbia, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1917. It is the riding with the biggest Japanese community in Canada. As ...
for the 1993 federal election over lawyer David Varty and college lecturer John Lang in March 1993. She was elected to the
House of Commons of Canada The House of Commons of Canada (french: Chambre des communes du Canada) is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the bicameral legislature of Canada. The House of Common ...
, defeating Progressive Conservative
Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
Kim Campbell Avril Phaedra Douglas "Kim" Campbell (born March 10, 1947) is a Canadian politician, diplomat, lawyer, and writer who served as the 19th prime minister of Canada from June 25 to November 4, 1993. Campbell is the first and so far only female p ...
. Fry was only the fifth person to unseat a sitting prime minister, and the first to do so on his or her first try for office. Fry has been re-elected in every subsequent election (
1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...
,
2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...
,
2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...
,
2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...
,
2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
,
2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...
,
2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...
,
2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...
and
2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...
).


Chretien and Martin governments

She served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Health and Welfare from 1993 until 1996 when she was appointed to the
Cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...
as Secretary of State for Multiculturalism and Status of Women. Fry apologized to the people of Prince George, B.C. after she said in the House of Commons that “crosses are being burned on lawns as we speak”. Fry did not remain a minister after cabinet was
shuffled Shuffling is a procedure used to randomize a deck of playing cards to provide an element of chance in card games. Shuffling is often followed by a cut, to help ensure that the shuffler has not manipulated the outcome. __TOC__ Techniques Overh ...
in 2002. When
Paul Martin Paul Edgar Philippe Martin (born August 28, 1938), also known as Paul Martin Jr., is a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 21st prime minister of Canada and the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada from 2003 to 2006. The son o ...
became
Prime Minister of Canada The prime minister of Canada (french: premier ministre du Canada, link=no) is the head of government of Canada. Under the Westminster system, the prime minister governs with the Confidence and supply, confidence of a majority the elected Hou ...
at the end of 2003, he made her Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration with special emphasis on Foreign Credentials. After the 2004 election, she was named Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration and the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development with special emphasis on the Internationally Trained Workers Initiative.


In opposition

In 2006, she beat high-profile NDP activist and former MP
Svend Robinson Svend Robinson (born March 4, 1952) is a Canadian politician. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1979 to 2004, who represented suburban Vancouver-area constituencies of Burnaby for the New Democratic Party (NDP). He is noted as the first me ...
and in 2008 she defeated high-profile Conservative
Lorne Mayencourt Lorne Mayencourt (born 1957) is a Canadian politician, who formerly represented the electoral district of Vancouver-Burrard in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia as a member of the BC Liberal party. Career Mayencourt was first electe ...
. On May 4, 2006, Fry became the 11th person, 3rd woman, and the only Westerner to officially enter the Liberal party leadership race. Fry launched her leadership campaign saying that Canada's diversity is its greatest competitive advantage - "our weapon of mass inclusion" - and called for a "non-ideological" approach to problem solving. She withdrew from the contest on September 25 and announced her support for
Bob Rae Robert Keith Rae (born August 2, 1948) is a Canadian diplomat and former politician who is the current Canadian Ambassador to the United Nations since 2020. He previously served as the 21st premier of Ontario from 1990 to 1995, leader of the ...
. Re-elected in
Vancouver Centre Vancouver Centre (french: Vancouver-Centre) is a federal electoral district in British Columbia, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1917. It is the riding with the biggest Japanese community in Canada. As ...
for a sixth term in 2008, Fry was appointed the Official Opposition Critic for
Canadian Heritage The Department of Canadian Heritage, or simply Canadian Heritage (french: Patrimoine canadien), is the Ministry (government department), department of the Cabinet of Canada, Government of Canada that has roles and responsibilities related to init ...
. On November 21, 2008, Liberal leadership candidate
Bob Rae Robert Keith Rae (born August 2, 1948) is a Canadian diplomat and former politician who is the current Canadian Ambassador to the United Nations since 2020. He previously served as the 21st premier of Ontario from 1990 to 1995, leader of the ...
announced that Fry would serve as his Campaign Co-Chair in
British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
. Fry was re-elected in 2011 by a margin of approximately 2,000 votes. When the Liberals lost power in 2006, Fry was named as Critic for
Sport Canada Sport Canada is a branch of the Department of Canadian Heritage that develops federal sport policy in Canada, provides funding programs in support of sport, and administers special projects related to sport. Its mission "to enhance opportuniti ...
in the Liberal shadow cabinet. In 2011, as the Liberals lost their designation as Official Opposition, Fry was named Liberal Critic for Health.


Trudeau government

In the 2015 election, Fry won her riding once more, becoming the oldest Canadian MP and the longest serving female MP. During the 42nd Parliament, she was appointed to the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians, which provides oversight to Canada's security services and requires a Top Secret security clearance. In the 2019 Election, Fry once again won her riding for a 9th consecutive term. She currently serves as the Special Representative for Gender Issues at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's Parliamentary Assembly, a role she has held since 2010. Fry is also a member of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development, and the Special Committee on the COVID-19 Pandemic.


Family

Fry has three adult sons and four grandchildren. Her eldest son,
Pete Fry Pete Fry is a Canadian politician and business owner in Vancouver, British Columbia, who has served as councillor on the Vancouver City Council since 2018. He is a member of the Green Party of Vancouver. Owner of a graphics and communications age ...
, was elected to
Vancouver City Council Vancouver City Council is the governing body of Vancouver, British Columbia. The council consists of a mayor and ten councillors elected to serve a four-year term. Monthly, a deputy mayor is appointed from among the councillors. The current may ...
in the 2018 municipal election.


Electoral record


References


External links


Official siteHow'd They Vote?: Hedy Fry's voting history and quotes
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fry, Hedy 1941 births Living people Alumni of the University of Oxford Canadian people of Indian descent Canadian people of Chinese descent Canadian people of Scottish descent Canadian people of Spanish descent 20th-century Canadian physicians Canadian women physicians Women members of the House of Commons of Canada Liberal Party of Canada MPs Members of the 26th Canadian Ministry Members of the House of Commons of Canada from British Columbia Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada Politicians from Vancouver Trinidad and Tobago emigrants to Canada Trinidad and Tobago people of Indian descent Women in British Columbia politics 21st-century Canadian women politicians 20th-century Canadian women politicians Women government ministers of Canada 20th-century women physicians