Marlene Jennings (born November 10, 1951) is a former

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. She was a member of the Liberal Party of Canada in the House of Commons of Canada, and represented the riding of

Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine (formerly known as Lachine—Notre-Dame-de-Grâce) was a federal electoral district in Quebec, Canada, that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1997 to 2015. Its population in 2006 was 104,715. ...

from 1997 to 2011. Jennings was born in

Longueuil Longueuil () is a city in the province of Quebec, Canada. It is the seat of the Montérégie administrative region and the central city of the urban agglomeration of Longueuil. It sits on the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River directly ac ...

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 ...

. Her father, Preston Jennings,was Black American from Alabama and immigrated to Canada as a CPR Sleeping Car Porter. Her mother, Gilberte Garand was Franco-Manitoban of Belgian & French-Canadian ancestry. Jennings is a former lawyer and senior public servant. She is the former Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for International Cooperation and the former Parliamentary Secretary to the

Solicitor General of Canada The Solicitor General of Canada was a position in the Canadian ministry from 1892 to 2005. The position was based on the Solicitor General in the British system and was originally designated as an officer to assist the Minister of Justice. It was ...

. From 2004 to October 2005, she was Parliamentary Secretary to the

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 i ...

with special emphasis on Canada-U.S. relations. Jennings was the first

Black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ...

woman from

to be elected to Parliament. She was also one of the few parliamentarians with a physical disability, having become partially blind due to an illness in early 2010; she used visual aids and a white cane until late 2011. Over seven surgical procedures successfully restored her vision. She is also a past 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 ...

Electoral history

Jennings succeeded Warren Allmand, the MP for

Notre-Dame-de-Grâce Notre-Dame-de-Grâce ( en, Our Lady of Grace), also nicknamed NDG, is a residential neighbourhood of Montreal in the city's West End, with a population of 166,520 (2016). An independent municipality until annexed by the City of Montreal in 1910, ...

, in the reorganized riding of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine upon its creation in 1997. She was elected five times in the riding with consistent margins of between 10,000 and 20,000 votes, and her riding was considered one of the safest Liberal seats in the country. However, she fell to Quebec's "orange wave" 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 Marc ...

, losing her seat to Isabelle Morin of the NDP.

Later life and career

In January 2012, it was reported that Jennings was considering an offer to run for the Coalition Avenir Québec in the

2012 Quebec general election The 2012 Quebec general election took place in the Canadian province of Quebec on September 4, 2012. Lieutenant Governor Pierre Duchesne dissolved the National Assembly on August 1, 2012, following Premier Jean Charest's request. The Parti Québ� ...

. She ultimately declined. In a February 2012 Facebook post, Jennings explained that she had declined because she had never had a "passion" for provincial politics. For close to two years (2012 and 2013) she was the executive director of the Montreal YMHA. She had let her Liberal Party of Canada party membership lapse but re-joined in 2014. Source
Elections Canada
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Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

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hold , align="right", Swing , align="right", -3.85% , align="right", Note: Conservative vote is compared to the total of the Canadian Alliance vote and Progressive Conservative vote in 2000 election. Note: Canadian Alliance vote is compared to the Reform vote in 1997 election.

References

External links

Official websiteOfficial Youtube ChannelOfficial Twitter SiteFacebook Page
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jennings, Marlene 1951 births Anglophone Quebec people Black Canadian politicians Women members of the House of Commons of Canada Lawyers in Quebec Liberal Party of Canada MPs Living people Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Quebec People from Longueuil Women in Quebec politics Blind politicians Université du Québec à Montréal alumni Canadian blind people Canadian women lawyers Black Canadian lawyers Blind lawyers Canadian politicians with disabilities Black Canadian women 20th-century Canadian lawyers 21st-century Canadian politicians 21st-century Canadian women politicians 20th-century women lawyers 20th-century Canadian women politicians