Marie-Claude Bibeau (born April 4, 1970) is a Canadian politician who was elected to represent the riding of

Compton—Stanstead Compton—Stanstead is a federal electoral district in Quebec, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1997. It was created in 1996 from Mégantic—Compton—Stanstead and Richmond—Wolfe ridings. Geography ...

in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

in the 2015 federal election. A member of the Liberal Party of Canada, she was sworn in as

Minister of International Development An International development minister is a position in many governments responsible for development aid and international development. Country-related articles and lists *: Minister for International Development *: Minister of International D ...

and

La Francophonie LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figur ...

on November 4, 2015. She was appointed the first female

Minister of Agriculture An agriculture ministry (also called an) agriculture department, agriculture board, agriculture council, or agriculture agency, or ministry of rural development) is a ministry charged with agriculture. The ministry is often headed by a minister ...

on March 1, 2019.

Career

Bibeau was born and raised in

Sherbrooke Sherbrooke ( ; ) is a city in southern Quebec, Canada. It is at the confluence of the Saint-François and Magog rivers in the heart of the Estrie administrative region. Sherbrooke is also the name of a territory equivalent to a regional cou ...

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 earned a bachelor's degree in economics and a graduate diploma in environmental management from

Université de Sherbrooke The University of Sherbrooke (French: Université de Sherbrooke) (UdS) is a large public French-language university in Quebec, Canada with campuses located in Sherbrooke and Longueuil, a suburb of Montreal approximately west of Sherbrooke. It i ...

. Following her graduation, she worked for the

Canadian International Development Agency The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) was a federal Canadian organization that administered foreign aid programs in developing countries. The agency was merged into the Department of Foreign Affairs in 2013 by the federal governmen ...

, and was variously posted in Ottawa,

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 ...

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria t ...

and

Benin Benin ( , ; french: Bénin , ff, Benen), officially the Republic of Benin (french: République du Bénin), and formerly Dahomey, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the nort ...

. After leaving the agency, she returned to Compton, and spent 15 years operating a successful tourism business. In her capacity as minister, Bibeau helped shape

Trudeau's foreign policy The foreign policy of Justin Trudeau is Canada's foreign policy since Justin Trudeau became Prime Minister in November 2015. Mélanie Joly has served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs since October 2021. Trudeau's premiership has been marked ...

. She served a two-year term as member of the

World Bank Group The World Bank Group (WBG) is a family of five international organizations that make leveraged loans to developing countries. It is the largest and best-known development bank in the world and an observer at the United Nations Development Gr ...

’s (WBG) Advisory Council on Gender and Development from 2015 until 2017. In September 2016, Bibeau was appointed by

United Nations Secretary-General The secretary-general of the United Nations (UNSG or SG) is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the six principal organs of the United Nations. The role of the secretary-g ...

Ban Ki-moon to serve as member of the Lead Group of the Scaling Up Nutrition Movement. Also since 2016, she has been serving on the board of the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children. In 2017, she served on the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of ...

Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, commonly known as the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) or the United Nations Human Rights Office, is a department of the Secretariat of the United Nati ...

High-Level Working Group on the Health and Human Rights of Women, Children and Adolescents, chaired by

Tarja Halonen Tarja Kaarina Halonen (; born 24 December 1943) is a Finnish politician who served as the 11th president of Finland, and the first woman to hold the position, from 2000 to 2012. She first rose to prominence as a lawyer with the Central Organisa ...

and Hina Jilani. As Agriculture Minister failed to implement a ban on the export of live horses for raw consumption as directed by the Prime Minister in her mandate letter.

Personal life

She is married to

Bernard Sévigny Bernard Sévigny (born December 18, 1961) is a Canadian politician, who was mayor of Sherbrooke, Quebec from 2009 to 2017. Education Sévigny has a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and French from the University of Alberta. He has a certif ...

, former

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

of Sherbrooke.

Electoral record

References

External links

Official WebsiteBio & mandate from the Prime Minister
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bibeau, Marie-Claude Living people 1970 births Liberal Party of Canada MPs Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Quebec Women members of the House of Commons of Canada Université de Sherbrooke alumni Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada Members of the 29th Canadian Ministry Politicians from Sherbrooke Women government ministers of Canada 21st-century Canadian women politicians