Louise Marguerite Renaude Lapointe, (January 3, 1912 – May 11, 2002) 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 a Senator. She was among the first Canadian women to work as a professional journalist and the first French-Canadian woman to preside over the Senate. Born in

Disraeli Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, (21 December 1804 – 19 April 1881) was a British statesman and Conservative Party (UK), Conservative politician who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He played a centr ...

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 ...

the daughter of Joseph-Alphonse Lapointe and Marie-Louise Poulin, she worked as a journalist in the 1940s and 1950s at ''

Le Soleil Le Soleil ("The Sun") is the name of several newspapers: * ''Le Soleil'' (Quebec), a French-language daily newspaper in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada, founded in 1896 * ''Le Soleil'' (French newspaper), a defunct daily newspaper based in Paris fro ...

'' in

Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the metropolitan area had a population of 839,311. It is t ...

. In 1959 she joined the staff of

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

's '' La Presse''. A member of the Liberal Party of Canada, she was appointed to the Senate in 1971 by Pierre Trudeau and served until her retirement in 1987. From September 12, 1974 until October 4, 1979, she was Speaker of the Senate. She was also Speaker ''pro tempore'' from June 9, 1982 until November 30, 1983. In 1989 she was invested as a Companion 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 ...

External links

*
Order of Canada Citation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lapointe, Renaude 1912 births 2002 deaths Canadian senators from Quebec Speakers of the Senate of Canada Companions of the Order of Canada Journalists from Quebec People from Chaudière-Appalaches Liberal Party of Canada senators Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada