Manon Massé (born 1963) is a Canadian politician in

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 ...

and one of the two current leaders for

Québec solidaire Québec solidaire (QS; ) is a democratic socialist and sovereigntist political party in Quebec, Canada. The party and media outlets in Canada usually use the name "Québec solidaire" in both French and English, but the party's name is sometimes ...

since 2017. She has represented

Sainte-Marie–Saint-Jacques Sainte-Marie–Saint-Jacques is a provincial electoral district in the Montreal region of Quebec, Canada that elects members to the National Assembly of Quebec. It comprises part of the borough of Ville-Marie and part of the borough of Le Plateau ...

in the

National Assembly of Quebec The National Assembly of Quebec (officially in french: link=no, Assemblée nationale du Québec) is the legislative body of the province of Quebec in Canada. Legislators are called MNAs (Members of the National Assembly; french: link=no, déput ...

since the 2014 general election. Before her time in political office, she was a community organizer and one of the co-founders for the political movement

Option citoyenne Option citoyenne was an alterglobalization, sovereigntist and feminist political organization in the Canadian province of Quebec. The group was created by Françoise David in 2004; David and François Saillant were its official spokespersons. O ...

Biography

Massé was born on 22 May 1963 in

Windsor Windsor may refer to: Places Australia * Windsor, New South Wales ** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area * Windsor, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland **Shire of Windsor, a former local government authority around Wi ...

, to Fernande Migneault and Gilles Massé, both factory workers by profession. She spent the first seven years of her childhood in Windsor until her family moved to

Boucherville Boucherville is a city in the Montérégie region in Quebec, Canada. It is a suburb of Montreal on the South Shore (Montreal), South shore of the Saint Lawrence River. Boucherville is part of both the urban agglomeration of Longueuil and Greate ...

, a suburb of

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 ...

. She studied at

Cégep Édouard-Montpetit Cégep Édouard-Montpetit is a public Francophone college in Longueuil, Quebec, Canada. Approximately 7,300 (fall 2016) students (as much in the Continuing Education programs) are enrolled in the 2 campuses, the main one located in Longueuil and ...

before pursuing a major in

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

at the

Université de Montréal The Université de Montréal (UdeM; ; translates to University of Montreal) is a French-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university's main campus is located in the Côte-des-Neiges neighborhood of Côte-de ...

. Massé worked with various community organisations, social causes, and political movements, including the Comité social

Centre-Sud The Centre-Sud is a neighbourhood located in the easternmost edge of the Ville-Marie borough of the city of Montreal. Home to Montreal's Gay Village and to the Sainte-Marie area, the Centre-Sud has long been seen as one of the city's most c ...

and

Fédération des femmes du Québec The Fédération des femmes du Québec (FFQ; English: "Quebec Women's Federation") is a feminist organization binding individuals and groups in a common goal to "promote and defend the interests and the rights of women and to fight against all forms ...

(''trans.'' Women's Federation of Québec). She was also on the coordinating committees for the

Marche mondiale des Femmes The Marche mondiale des Femmes or World March of Women is an international feminist movement that advocates for gender equality and aims to take action against discrimination against women and reduce violence towards them. History The Marche mon ...

in 2000 and the Marche du pain et des roses in 1995. In 2011, she was also part of the

Freedom Flotilla II "Freedom Flotilla II – Stay Human" was a flotilla that planned to break the Blockade of the Gaza Strip (2007-present), maritime blockade of the Gaza Strip by Israel by sailing to Gaza on 5 July 2011. Ultimately, the sailing did not take pl ...

, representing Québec solidaire on the Canadian Boat for Gaza, Tahrir.

Political career

Manon Massé was the first-ever candidate to stand for political office under the Québec Solidaire banner, doing so in the 2006 by-election for the Sainte-Marie–Saint-Jacques constituency she now represents. She received 22% of the vote. She was elected to the

in the 2014 election, her fifth attempt and winning the party its third seat."Manon Masse officially wins seat for Quebec solidaire"

CTV Montreal CFCF-DT (channel 12) is a television station in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, part of the CTV Television Network. It is owned and operated by network parent Bell Media alongside Noovo flagship CFJP-DT (channel 35). Both stations share studios at ...

, 11 April 2014. Due to her narrow margin of victory over

Quebec Liberal Party The Quebec Liberal Party (QLP; french: Parti libéral du Québec, PLQ) is a provincial political party in Quebec. It has been independent of the federal Liberal Party of Canada since 1955. The QLP has always been associated with the colour red; e ...

candidate Anna Klisko of 91 votes, a request for a

judicial recount An election recount is a repeat tabulation of votes cast in an election that is used to determine the correctness of an initial count. Recounts will often take place if the initial vote tally during an election is extremely close. Election reco ...

was filed by Klisko. The request was rejected by the presiding judge on 11 April, on the grounds that Klisko did not have sufficient evidence of any irregularities in the election process.

Party Spokesperson, 2017–present

Massé, along with activist

Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois (born May 31, 1990) is a politician from Quebec. With Manon Massé, he is the co-spokesperson of the left-wing party Québec solidaire since May 21, 2017, and was elected as a member of the provincial legislative assembly ...

, was elected co-spokesperson for Québec solidaire at the party's conference in May 2017. This is a continuation the party's tradition of allocating the role to a woman and a man to serve concurrently. In her role, she was proposed by the party as their candidate for

Premier of Quebec The premier of Quebec ( French: ''premier ministre du Québec'' (masculine) or ''première ministre du Québec'' (feminine)) is the head of government of the Canadian province of Quebec. The current premier of Quebec is François Legault of the ...

in the

2018 Quebec general election The 2018 Quebec general election was held on October 1, 2018, to elect members to the National Assembly of Quebec. The election saw a landslide victory for the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) led by François Legault, which won 74 of 125 seats, ...

. In this election, the party tripled its seat count from three members to ten, the party's best performance to date and bringing the party to third party status, ahead of the traditional major sovereigntist party,

Parti Québécois The Parti Québécois (; ; PQ) is a sovereignist and social democratic provincial political party in Quebec, Canada. The PQ advocates national sovereignty for Quebec involving independence of the province of Quebec from Canada and establishin ...

. In the

trial of Catalonia independence leaders The trial of Catalonia independence leaders, legally named and popularly known as the , was an oral trial that began on 12 February 2019 in the Supreme Court of Spain. The case was tried by seven judges and was chaired by judge Manuel Marchena. ...

she testified at the

Supreme Court of Spain The Supreme Court ('', TS'') is the highest court in the Kingdom of Spain. Originally established pursuant to Title V of the Constitution of 1812 to replace —in all matters that affected justice— the System of Councils, and currently regulat ...

on 29 April 2019 due to her role as international observer in the

2017 Catalan independence referendum An independence referendum was held on 1 October 2017 in the Autonomous communities of Spain, Spanish autonomous community of Catalonia, passed by the Parliament of Catalonia as the Law on the Referendum on Self-determination of Catalonia and cal ...

Electoral District

Personal life

Massé is a noted feminist and social justice activist in and around

. She is an out

lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...

and partner to Ghislaine Goulet.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Masse, Manon 1963 births 21st-century Canadian politicians 21st-century Canadian women politicians Activists from Montreal Canadian LGBT people in provincial and territorial legislatures Canadian women activists Canadian anti-poverty activists Lesbian politicians Living people People from Windsor, Quebec Politicians from Montreal Québec solidaire MNAs Women MNAs in Quebec Université de Montréal alumni